Throughout her sophomore year, some of Jaime Wouters’ friendships ended.
To give her negative feelings surrounding the rifts a positive outlet, she started making pop music.
The result is her single, “Mistakes,” which hit Spotify and Amazon Music in February. The junior media studies and production major wrote the lyrics, which reflected the rocky period in her life. Wouters said “Mistakes” is part of her upcoming seven-track album, likely to be of the same name, which will debut this month.
The album is produced by Bell Tower Music, Temple University’s student-run music agency. Wouters signed to the label in January 2018.
On her upcoming album, Wouters plans to collaborate on a song with Justin Hayes, a junior media studies and production major who has worked with Wouters since she started at Bell Tower Music.
“When I met her, I was like, ‘Oh man, she really has it,’” Hayes said. “Our song is about one person having feelings for another person, but being afraid to admit it.”
Another song on the album will be called “Me, Myself and I.” Wouters said it “will stand out.”
“It is my favorite song that I have written and it’s just so much fun,” she added. “People can listen to it while they are putting their makeup on and it’s really relatable, too, so I hope that everyone likes it as much as I do.”
Recording songs like “Mistakes” gives Wouters an outlet for her emotions, she said.
“Singing the song really helped me cope,” Wouters said. “It was obviously about a boy hurting my feelings, so just to think that people…were like, ‘This is really good,’ I’m like, ‘Thanks,’ because it’s just really about my life.”
Studio time proves Wouters’ deep dedication to her music, Hayes said. She puts a lot of effort, emotion and time into her work, he added.
Julian Harris, a 2013 communication and media studies alumnus who produces most of Wouters’ songs at Bell Tower, said that’s what makes Wouters stand out as an artist.
“She is very dedicated,” Harris said. “She wants to get better and she wants to get feedback.”
Wouters credits Harris with helping her develop her sound. She describes her style as hip-hop with a splash of R&B that is “very catchy and very different.”
“[Wouters] is dope and I think that people really haven’t heard anything like this,” Harris said. “Her music sounds a lot different than regular pop because it is darker and heavier.”
This summer, Wouters hopes to start performing at cafes, coffee shops and other venues in Philadelphia. She sings to provide relatable content on topics like relationships and friendships and hopes her music career can set an example for others, Wouters said.
“You are going to find your coping mechanism, whether it is listening to songs that are really good or making your own,” Wouters said. “Everyone should follow their dreams and don’t give up, because I never thought that people would find out about my music.”
Be the first to comment