Jay Som

Jay Som is the stage name of multi-instrumentalist Melina Duterte.

The daughter of Filipino immigrants, Duterte has always lived in California and became interested in music from a young age, studying trumpet and guitar. She picked her stage name simply by using the "Wu-Tang Names Generator" website, and posted a collection of songs online during her college years. Noticed by a few local labels, she reissued this material in 2016 as an album titled "Turn Into", which also earned her a spot as a support act on Mitski's tour. The following year she released "Everybody Works", her first record conceived as an album proper, even though it was written and recorded in her bedroom. The songs range from experimental to mid-tempo rock, but lean mostly towards dream-pop. The record achieved modest success, spending a week on Billboard's independent albums chart.

In 2017 she began collaborating with singer-songwriter Justus Proffit, with whom she recorded the EP "Nothing's Changed" the following year. Meanwhile, she was also working on her new album "Anak Ko", released in the summer of 2019.

Looking for new directions in her career, Duterte started a new collaboration with singer-songwriter Ellen Kempner, better known as Palehound. Together, in 2021, they released the album "Doomin' Sun" under the name Bachelor.