With four singles under their belt, indie pop duo JUICYPEAR are definitely dishing the emotions you will remember for a long time. We caught up with Jasmine Mayeda to ask the duo more about their music and the colours behind them.
Bursting in the scene in 2020, JUICYPEAR gave us songs to revel (our hearts) in, bringing with them a little bit of disco, a little bit of funk and a whole lotta soul. Their dosage of levity is a breath of fresh air as well.
From the sun-kissed summer jubilee of ‘Golden Sky’ that feel like light leaks on photographs to the hip-bobbing sway-twilight feeling of βRollercoasterβ to the power-ripping incandescent guitar ripples of ‘Caught Up’, we are feeling it allβ¦ and perhaps more!
‘Caught Up’ is definitely my favourite piece in their repertoire – mostly for the spotlight-shining vocals by Jasmine, that is almost as heart-wrenching as it is iridescent.Β
βI didnβt know that I needed. But Iβm relieved itβs finally here.β Chills…
The husband-wife duo consisting of Jacob and Jasmine Mayeda recently released another bop – ‘Keep Your Love On’ – a chillwave-inflected groovy piece, reminiscent of the intimate gigs we all dearly remember, filling those endorphins yet again.
Also read: JUICYPEAR drop feel-good love song βKeep Your Love Onβ
AL365: Hi JUICYPEAR, Vanessa here from AsiaLive365. Thanks for taking the time to have this interview with us. Congrats on your latest release ‘Keep Your Love On’. We love the vibes off the song – itβs such a mood! What was the songwriting process like for this song?
JUICYPEAR: It was like many of our other songwriting sessions. We met at our producerβs studio, we made some coffee, and chatted about life. Jacob shared a sick guitar lick that he came up with the day before and we started writing about what we were talking about earlier — life. Jacob and I were learning about the importance of loving each other, especially when we donβt feel like it, and this inspired our lyrics. Jacob actually wrote the majority of the lyrics for this song and he says he just thought of all the things I normally say to him when he is in a bad or grumpy mood to get him to communicate haha, like βuse your words.β After a few hours in the studio we had a new song βKeep Your Love Onβ, something about the process always feels magical.
AL365: So… ‘Keep Your Love On’ huh. How did you guys celebrate Valentineβs Day recently?
JUICYPEAR: Aww, well we are currently in Nashville, Tennessee and we were able to make dinner reservations at a romantic restaurant on 12 South, which is a cute neighborhood just outside downtown Nashville. We had dinner and exchanged Valentineβs Day cards during dessert. It was a simple yet wonderful night.
AL365: Thereβs a gorgeous Portra or fun Polaroid feel to all your songs such as ‘Golden Sky’, ‘Rollercoaster’, ‘Caught Up’ and now this new piece. If you could describe each track in a colour – what would it be? Any personal favourites?
JUICYPEAR: Oh, this is a cool question, weβve never been asked this before. If we could describe each track in a color weβd say… ‘Golden Sky’ is a sunset yellow orange. ‘Rollercoaster’ would be a rich rust red. ‘Caught Up’ is either a midnight blue or a glittery gold. And ‘Keep Your Love On’ I think would be close to the album cover color like a retro dark pink lipstick.
Jacobβs favorite is ‘Caught Up’ and my favorite is ‘Keep Your Love On’ for sure.
AL365: What sort of music did you both listen to growing up and how have those influences (you feel) shaped your music right now?
JUICYPEAR: Jacob grew up on a classic rock kick βGuns & Rosesβ, βQueenβ, and βLed Zeppelinβ to name a few. I (Jasmine) grew up listening to Top 40 hits on the radio. Mainly hip- hop, R&B, pop, and Alt. Rock. All these artists and genres have totally played a part in the music we are creating today. I mean, during Jacobβs guitar solo in KYLO, you can feel the Eddie Van Halen vibes shining through. And while I was inspired by artists like Christina Aguilera, TLC, and Usher to start singing my music style and vocal tone today is more influenced by artists like Emily King and Pharrell Williams.
AL365: What made you decide to form JUICYPEAR?
JUICYPEAR: We decided to form our band after the first song we wrote which was βCaught Up.β We wrote it and we were so excited like βwhat is this?! We just struck pure gold!β So we discovered the sound, style, and vibe of JUICYPEAR before there even was JUICYPEAR. Once we wrote βCaught Upβ and uncovered this laid back, So-Cal, retro yet fresh sound we said to each other weβ have to keep creating this kind music because it is so good.Β
JUICYPEAR music has brought so much life to us as musicians and songwriters. We are so thankful to our producers and our label AESTHETYK who have nurtured and helped develop all that JUICYPEAR is today.
AL365: What in the pipeline (music-related or otherwise) for you at the moment and what are you most excited about for 2021?
JUICYPEAR: Well, we have a βKeep Your Love Onβ remix coming out soon featuring another dope artist Que Parks, so look out for that! And we wrote another song before the new year and it should be coming out in the next few months.Β
This new song is definitely a little different from all our other songs (ooh suspense), but we like it like that. It is always cool to see bands show their versatility. Other than that we are so excited for more collaborations, writing more music, and learning new things in 2021.
AL365: Is there anything you like to add or say to your fans out there?
JUICYPEAR: AH! Yes.THANK YOU! Wow, thank you for listening and for being there and for sharing our music. It is seriously so cool that we have people that would listen to our music and like it and write about it and share it with their moms. Yβall are amazing and so loved by us!
