Jenn Nucum is an emerging Filipina-Canadian singer-songwriter based in Toronto.
Navigating life as a diasporic queer woman of colour, Jenn’s music deconstructs the complex fabric of identity with dreamy and ambient Alt Rock melodies, honest lyrics, and emotive vocals.
At age 15, Jenn started writing original songs – often locked in her bedroom for countless hours, exploring and trying to make sense of her emotions like any other teenager. She grew up in a typical Filipino household influenced by religion. By default, being Filipino somehow meant also being Catholic and being part of a religious youth group subculture. As an impressionable teen, she found her muse in the form of Christian Rock, while belting out choruses of “praise and worship” songs, hands raised high at several youth church conference auditoriums. Jenn eventually left the faith community, but captured and retained the cathartic elements of its contemporary hymns. Today, her songs explore queerness and social injustices faced by visible minorities, performed against an ambient backdrop with remnants of Christian Rock.
Jenn’s music takes listeners on a reflective and evaluative journey of reconciling identity with reality. She does so by revealing a bit about her personal life as a queer Filipina woman; addressing the uncomfortable trials of assimilating in order to feel validated, alienation amongst her peers, and the anxiety of editing or censoring herself to gain acceptance. Her music aims to empower anyone who has ever felt dismissed or devalued, and lets them know they are seen – starting in Canada, where diversity is touted but conformity is expected.
Coming off the success of her recently released album 'Revival', Jenn Nucum is about to highlight her next single: 'Out For Blood'
Beautiful yet dramatic guitar lines open this haunting piece that will soon merge with the embracing notes generated by a cello. Jenn’s soft voice creates a powerful contrast with the sharpness of the meaning behind this song: a political stance against social inequity but also a quest for kindness. Its chorus arises as gently as a carol and as strong as a statement, thus interspersing the entire song with a very peculiar elegance that, although its subject, incredibly attracts the ears of the listeners. Jenn creates a piece that goes beyond music, something able to raise questions about identity and inequality, even through its stunning beauty.
