Life & Work with jdv plus
Today we’d like to introduce you to jdv plus.
Voyage LA: Hi jdv, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
jdv plus: Thrilled to share it with you. As an introduction, my name is Jaime de Venecia, and my stage name combines my initials with ‘plus’: meaning “more,” or “better.” The plus is an emblem of my commitment to continual evolution and growth, both spiritually and artistically. My music evokes the atmosphere of a nighttime drive, fusing emotive vocals with crisp R&B-influenced production and indie pop-inspired guitar riffs.
I was born and raised in Makati City, Philippines until I was 18 years old. I took classical piano from the ages of 7-14 and taught myself the guitar when I was 11. I’ve been a performer since elementary school and really got my start playing Battle of the Bands as a solo act throughout high school. I learned how to DJ and produce music the summer after my freshman year at Wesleyan University, after which I began uploading tracks to SoundCloud as ‘jdv plus’. As my songs gained traction online, I became a resident DJ/performer at venues on campus and regularly opened for visiting artists. I self-released my first full-length project “重量 (weight)“ in 2013. I would go back home to the Philippines for the Christmas holidays and play DJ sets around hometown spots; one of my best memories was packing out an underground club with a 2-hour midnight set right at the beginning of 2015.
For my senior thesis, I composed my second full-length project “empty_mirror” and performed it live to a filled-out auditorium. After graduating, I moved to LA. The change brought a new, radiant warmth to my life and my sound. It was here that I shifted my focus to developing as a songwriter & artist. I collaborated with four artists on my 6-song EP “Advance” (2016), and my single “Dragonfly” was a semifinalist in 2017’s International Songwriting Competition. In 2018, I put out “cuatro”: a self-produced rap mixtape performed as my alter ego ‘deli¢adeza’. To support the project, I played two shows – one in the Philippines and one here. Since living in LA, I’ve performed at The Satellite, The Hotel Café, and Cassette.la in Chinatown. I’m currently working on my debut album and have been taking my time with it. It’s going to be my definitive artist statement, showcasing my personality through the lyrics and my aesthetic style through the instrumentation & production. Every song blends my roots as a guitarist & singer with the production skills I’ve developed over the last several years. I can’t say when it will drop, but I can promise it’ll come out of nowhere when it does.
VLA: 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?
jdv+: Pursuing a career in music constantly has its ups & downs, and I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. I’m immensely grateful to do this professionally and for the amazing opportunities and people I’ve come across through it all. The journey to personal success is never easy – I think that’s true for anything worth working towards – and I can admit that I’ve struggled through some dark lows with depression, insecurity, feelings of isolation, and drugs along the way. It’s easy to feel alone in this world, and I want anyone experiencing that to know that you most definitely aren’t. Choosing to turn your creative passion into a professional or entrepreneurial venture can be a double-edged sword in that it changes your relationship to your craft. Sometimes I’ll be making/writing music for pleasure and to simply feed my soul, but then the little voice in the back of my head chimes in to remind me that it needs to make money or else it isn’t worth it.
Other times I’ll catch myself falling down the Instagram rabbit hole of comparing myself to other creatives and thinking that what I’m doing isn’t nearly enough. The prevailing ethos in the music industry is that the only way to succeed as an artist or creator is to be working constantly, 24/7, or else you’re falling behind. I don’t know how healthy that mindset necessarily is, and I feel that the pressure can often be overwhelming and at times even discouraging. I personally oscillate between periods of intense creative productivity and long stretches of downtime when I am simply living my life / having feelings / gaining new experiences to inspire my next project. This structure is what works for me and helps me produce my most honest and original work, and I imagine that many other artists feel a similar way. I’d like to see a music industry where different approaches to creative work are normalized and talked about more.
VLA: Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
jdv+: I primarily produce, write, and perform original music. I do my own production and instrumentation, recording, mixing, and I write & sing all of my own lyrics. This is how I’ve operated for most of my career… Perhaps it’s because I was raised an only child and need to have creative control of everything. My girlfriend is also a musician, and we built a recording studio in our cozy Westside apartment. It has been the vessel for the majority of our respective professional work. I’ve composed music for short-form documentaries, short films, branded content, and commercials during my time in LA. I love collaborating with filmmakers and content creators. I made a guitar sample pack for producers earlier this year, which has led to a lot of awesome guitar-for-hire work in recent months. I’m glad I’ve been able to flex that muscle throughout the madness of this year.
I’m known for and most proud of my energetic, soulful live performances. It’s the thing I miss the most about the world pre-COVID and can’t wait to perform live as soon as it’s deemed safe. I’m definitely planning a show via livestream in the new year, so stay tuned for that. What sets me apart is my unique international background and ability to bring different kinds of people together. I want my music and the themes in my songs to connect people across the world and help them recognize the humanity in others, no matter how different we may seem on the surface. I love people more than anything and want to share that love with the world.
VLA: We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
jdv+: The most important lesson I’ve learned from the pandemic is that adaptability is everything. It is crucial to not only success but survival as well. Bruce Lee once said, “Be formless, shapeless – like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. […] Be water, my friend.” I feel that now more than ever and am constantly reminding myself to breathe deep and practice gratitude for the moment whenever I can. Everything can truly change in an instant – nothing is promised.
