By: Isabella Luciani — Fiction Editor and Music Coordinator
The recent events of the pandemic have affected our lives in countless ways, some of which we may not even recognize at first glance. Over the past year, we have consumed much more media than we ever had previously, but we never stopped to think about how the media itself was affected. The music industry and its artists were greatly affected in many ways. This made me wonder how the pandemic affected small and new artists, so I decided to reach out to a few of Penn State’s own musicians.
Jack Roses, a junior computer science major, was the first student I spoke to. Jack is from the South Hills of Pittsburgh and releases his music under the name Jack Roses. Jack’s music is rap-based but also heavily influenced by punk, rock, metal, and alternative genres. He has been writing songs ever since he was a kid but hadn’t released anything until six months ago.
When I asked Jack what it was about the pandemic that finally got him to release his music, he responded with a reason that will resonate with many people: time.
COVID is the whole reason why I ever actually had the chance to start releasing music.”
He explained that the pandemic sent him home to Pittsburgh from State College and gave him time to really dive in and learn how to finish a project. “Basically it gave me a lot of time to focus on it and get good at it.”
Considering the pandemic and all of the resources that probably weren’t available at the time, I asked Jack about how he is able to write and produce his music. Jack does it all by himself, and all within his own home.
He explained that his father is a very talented musician with his own band called Falling Into Red, so he taught Jack how to play guitar and how to mix and master music at a young age. His dad has an in-house studio where he is able to record vocals.
Jack’s first release was a song titled STONEWALL, and he has released 10 other songs since then, five of which make up an EP, swords. His latest release WALLOW is available to stream on SoundCloud. He is currently working on his next project that he will be releasing as a single in May.
The next student I spoke to, Eric Damiano from Downingtown PA, had some similar opinions when it came to the effect of the pandemic. Eric is also a junior but is majoring in advertising. Eric has been into singing his whole life and started taking vocal lessons, studying music production, and writing when he was 17. A few years later, he started writing his own music and released his first two singles. Eric writes mostly contemporary pop and has influences from artists like Lauv, Justin Bieber, and Shawn Mendes.
I also asked Eric about how the pandemic affected his writing and releasing and got a very similar response to Jack. He explained that although established artists probably took a hit, new emerging artists seemed to benefit.
“In terms of trying to get my music off the ground, it gave me a good opportunity to stay at my house and work on what I needed to work on,” he explained. Eric is the sole writer for his music, but he collaborates with music engineers when it comes to mixing and mastering the final product.
Eric began to build his brand on social media by posting covers and original songs on his Tik Tok account.
“Covid made Tik Tok and other social media extremely big, so it’s easier as an independent artist to get more attention when there are more people online,” Eric said when I asked more about COVID’s impact on music. He began taking advantage of this increase of users on Tik Tok and now has 60.9k followers on his account. Through this, his music was able to gain traction. One video of his second single got around 700k views and in turn around 2500 pre-saves on streaming platforms.
Eric also mentioned that he and a lot of other Penn State musicians often discuss the difficulty of being an emerging artist at college, as it’s very difficult to work in dorm and apartment settings with lots of roommates. Although Penn State does have a music school, it is mostly geared toward classical music, and the facilities are only available for students in the program. Eric asked:
How can an artist maximize their potential in a place where it’s so hard to get these good recordings and to really get things going for yourself?”
Because of this lack of resources, he and other Penn State musicians have been trying to push for opening a recording studio for musicians in State College to give these emerging artists an option when it feels like they have none.
In the past two weeks, Eric has released a new single, Letting Me Know You, that is now available on streaming services.
Isabella Luciani is a junior English and Psychology double major. Isabella has been reading and writing stories for as long as she can remember. She’s also on the Fiction and Copy-Editing Committees of Kalliope, Klio’s sister magazine. She is a member of the Volé dance org and has been dancing for seventeen years. In addition to writing fiction stories, Isabella also enjoys writing and playing music on her piano and guitar. She loves hiking, traveling, spending time outside, and archery. In the coming years, Isabella hopes to write and publish her first novel.
Jack Roses is a rap and alternative punk-based musician that is a junior computer science major. He hails from the South Hills of Pittsburgh has been writing music and playing guitar since he was a child.
Eric Domiano is a contemporary pop artist from Downingtown Pennsylvania. Eric is a junior in Advertising student. He has a past in professional vocal and piano lessons and has carried these skills into his music writing.
published 4-8-21