Today we’d like to introduce you to Jerrica Alyssa.
Hi Jerrica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a music-loving, immigrant Filipino family in Vancouver, Canada. We have a large extended family that remains very close and celebrates all our holidays together, singing karaoke, dancing, and enjoying great food.
My Lola (grandma) was a piano teacher and encouraged me to start piano lessons at a very young age… and to practice, practice, practice! That’s how my musical journey began.
With my parents playing non-stop classic R&B, Soul & Dance music in the house, as far back as I can remember, my passion for all things dance and music started before I was enrolled in school. At age 5, I joined a Polynesian dance troupe, which eventually led to membership in a touring dance group performing internationally throughout North America, Asia, and Polynesia.
For as long ago as I can remember, my Vancouver Filipino community encouraged me to sing and dance at every function all over town. So naturally, through the next few years, my passion for music blossomed into a rich parallel path to dance: a conservatory education in piano and voice.
Crazy thing is, I took a brief detour from the arts to get a B.S. in Genetics! That was the only time I strayed off my path in music, though my acquired discipline to study and tackle complex subjects, totally set me up for a life of learning. Case in point: in my current musical and video production workflow, I am one of the first to figure out the new software or learn new techniques.
One more shout-out to my conservatory training in piano, playing in cover bands, and learning from all of the great players around me! It helped a bunch early on.
Fast forward to today and I have to say, moving to Nashville and working in Los Angeles has changed my life. This has played a crucial role in my journey as an Artist, Musician, Songwriter, and Producer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The pandemic was the ultimate test for me as an artist.
In the beginning, with everyone in lockdown, I was prepared for the hard road ahead. I was totally freaked out about not being able to go home to Vancouver.
And the downside for all of us live performers was the collapse of our live performance life. It was such a terrible time for artists and crew who relied solely on live gigs, big and small.
Then, imagine how shocked I was when people started coming out of nowhere asking me to virtually coach them on piano, voice, and songwriting. Then, after a few months, the pandemic isolation kicked up everybody’s streaming game, followed by non-stop zoomitis. In the meantime, my technical production chops for musical and visual projects improved rapidly.
I will be forever thankful for how our world changed with technology during lockdown. However, I’m happy to say that my writing, studio, and production work became the center of my world. Then social media kicked in big time for many, me included. With the release of my next single in a few weeks, my TikTok followers total 1.4M, and my YouTube subscribers are 1.2M. My total views number across those two platforms has exceeded the millions, which is completely mind boggling!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Music is the center of my life. It started so young for me, always living music and dance. Now, I’m blessed to be able to live an artistically abundant life through my music and other artists, past and present.
As a live performer: Dance was such a huge part of my life as a kid, touring with a Polynesian dance troupe. So, to this day, whenever I am on stage, the dancer part of me still influences my musical performance. The other undeniable influence that has shaped my live show is the Filipina love singing and, yes, heartfelt ballads.
As a recording artist: My studio work is chasing the quest for pop perfection while trying to maintain my quest for performance perfection. A very rough balancing act
Today I’m not only involved in production for sound but picture production work for myself and other artists. As an avid tech geek, I get up super excited to learn another piece of software, a new keyboard, tackle a new groove or learn a new picture editing tool. Artistic or technical, I can’t imagine a life without expressing myself in music, dance, and pictures.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m all about taking risks. I took a major leap by leaving my hometown of Vancouver, B.C., moving out of Canada to Nashville, and never looking back. This one turning point in my life is the hardest concept to explain to folks who never leave their place of comfort, what they have known all of their life. to pursue bigger opportunities in Music City and Los Angeles.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/jerricaalyssa
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerricaalyssa/
- Facebook: https://www.tiktok.com/@jerricaalyssa
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JerricaAlyssa
- Other: https://ffm.to/jerricaalyssa
Image Credits
JerrBer Media
James Grey
Madeline Roberson
