Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasper Bickers.
Hi Jasper, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Yeah—I was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up just outside of Chicago, Illinois. My parents are both music and theater lovers, so they often took me out to go see concerts and shows. That led me to having many creative pursuits as a child. I wrote short stories, poems, songs, plays, classical music, and a musical that my middle school put on (it’s somewhere out there on the Internet but luckily not too easy to find).
As I got older I got really into pop music (think Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish). Inspired, I wrote angsty teenage songs on the piano in our living room every night, recording them as voice memos on my phone. Eventually, I got sick of the quality of the audio and decided I needed to learn how to produce. I asked my parents for a microphone for Hanukkah, then started making songs with some of my best friends in high school, who were very talented singers, and learned how to mix, master, and release music.
After that I went to Berklee College of Music and continued writing and producing songs every day. I learned way more about recording and production, including my first opportunity to record an album in a professional studio. Later on, I had my first sync and pitching cuts from connections I made at Berklee. In my time there, there were about 50+ songs released that I either wrote, produced, or engineered.
In the summer before my final year at Berklee, I got the opportunity to intern for Suzy Shinn, one of my favorite producers in the music industry. I spent the summer in LA assisting her, including working on the soundtrack for the movie “Freakier Friday”, which came out earlier this year. During that time I lived in Los Feliz and fell in love with the rhythm of life in Los Angeles.
Around the same time, I began releasing music as an artist. I had a ton of songs sitting on my hard drive collecting dust and decided it was time to take the plunge and show them to the world. Over the next year I had a couple of songs get some traction on Instagram and TikTok, leading to some incredible opportunities, like being interviewed by the Washington Post about my first EP and working with producers and writers I’ve been a lifelong fan of in LA.
Currently, I’m a freelance songwriter, producer, and mixing engineer based in my home studio in North Hollywood. I feel so lucky to be able to wake up every day and do what I love. I have a lot of exciting upcoming releases, including some Latin and C-Pop projects, a series of singles I wrote with the artist Vivienne Artur (@vivienneartur), and my own concept EP “CYBORGBOYFRIEND” that I wrote earlier this year and produced with my close collaborator and songwriting partner Nick Trapani (@nicktprod).
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have definitely faced challenges in the music industry due to being gay. Especially on the production and engineering side, sometimes I don’t feel I’m being taken seriously, or that my abilities are doubted due to my sexual orientation. On the songwriting and artistry side, I often feel like I’m boxed in to only writing songs that center on my identity. And although I love writing songs that explore my experience of being gay, I don’t want to be limited to only that.
That said, I’ve been really lucky to find a community of creatives made up of LGBTQ+ people and allies from all around the world that accept me and treat me as an equal. I want to continue building that community and making art that speaks to and explores all of our unique experiences.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in writing, producing, and mixing any kind of pop music. I love taking deep dives with singers, songwriters, and other producers, creating music that they believe in and helping them share it with the world. My passion is working with artists to make the sonic and lyrical world they have in their head become a reality.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Anyone looking to collaborate with me can DM me on Instagram @jasperbickers (yes I check my requests!) or email me at [email protected]. And please do because I love finding new artists/companies to work with! To support me, check out my Instagram or my TikTok @jasperbickers as well or listen to my music on streaming platforms (my artist name is Jasper Bickers). You can also find my work on my website, jasperbickers.com.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasperbickers/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4KvPo3mkJuytiIDieKr2wE?si=aec0dc8ca2ee4508
