Jay Som Belong

In the six years since Jay Som’s critically acclaimed sophomore album Anak Ko, Melina Duterte has kept the kind of schedule that would strike fainter hearts with exhaustion. There’s been collaborations with Troye Sivan, beabadoobee, and Lucy Dacus; production credits across scores of indie records; a whole album with Palehørse’s El Kempner as Bachelor; and extensive touring as part of boygenius’ live band. With all this palling around, it’s not surprising that her third album as Jay Som features some high-powered collaborations: Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins joins in for the surging emo-pop of “Float,” while the chugging alt-rock anthem “Past Lives” features contributions from Paramore’s Hayley Williams. But Belong also finds Duterte picking up exactly where she left off with Jay Som’s recorded catalog, her trademark sense of intimacy and intricate arrangements left fully intact. From the tick-tock guitars of “Casino Stars” to the open-air wistfulness of “Appointments,” Duterte continues to develop her own brand of close-mic’d emotionalism even as her star has grown ever brighter across the 2020s.