We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Goldlove. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Goldlove below.
Goldlove, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
Growing up in South Carolina, resources to learn music were very limited. Besides piano lessons and school concert band, there were no mentors or teachers we had who knew how to create music (writing, production, etc.). The two of us sought out a jazz guitarist in our community who had done a few recording sessions, and we would take weekly lessons with him. He critiqued our amateur productions despite not being a producer himself, but he was able to give us a lot of basic production knowledge/instinct that we didn’t already have.
However, most of our production was learned from YouTube videos. It was a bit monotonous to watch video after video, without any real-time feedback, but this patience and discipline to self-teach was essential in getting us to where we are now. Learning on YouTube was difficult at times, as there was no way to ask questions on topics we didn’t understand, but until we were able to take live music classes in college, YouTube was the best teacher. After we went to our respective schools (USC and NYU), we were able to enroll in production classes with Grammy-winning professors, which improved our skills exponentially.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Goldlove is an Asian-American pop production duo made up of twin sisters JaJa and JoJo, based across the country in Los Angeles and New York respectively. After taking up piano lessons at age four, we began writing music in elementary school, mostly writing simple piano compositions. Around middle school, we started writing songs with lyrics, as these were what we liked to listen to daily as well. In high school, we discovered production and started putting together and releasing albums, enlisting in friends to record vocals.
In 2020, we decided to begin releasing music under our own artist project, Goldlove, and since then, have developed an eclectic sound inspired by pop, alternative, and folk genres. Our goal is to bring more representation for Asian women in music, and also create introspective, thought-provoking, reflective songs centered around topics besides love. For example, our song “The Popular One” is an acoustic-pop song about feeling lonely despite being surrounded by friends, and “Our Future” is an emotional ballad about society’s disassociation to a friend’s accident.
More recently, we released our single “Marble” with long-time collaborator and ex-Broadway singer Hayley Brooke. “Marble” tells the story of a girl who is judged for not fitting in, but knows she will be “something great one day” because she is working toward her own goals. Additionally, we also produce for artists like Hannah Fergyson, Coco Xu, and the USC Songwriting Club, amassing close to 200 releases.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Our goal driving our creative journey is to create music that expresses shared feelings and struggles of being a young adult. Through our last few years of starting/graduating college and entering the adult world, we found ourselves grappling with a lot of inner conflicts. Our method of coping is to write all of these struggles into songs. Most of our music revolves around topics like empowerment, social awkwardness, and introspection. We strive to tell relatable stories that young people our age can relate to, other than love.
Another main mission for us is to increase Asian-American and female representation in the music industry, especially in production. Only 6% of producers today are female, and a similar percentage are Asian. As a part of both of these underrepresented groups, we hope to show similar young women that they can pursue production as well.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having fans enjoy our music. When fans tell us how much a song has impacted them, or how much they relate to a song, it provides validation for all our hard work, and inspires us to make more music. The highlight of our day is receiving a random message from someone expressing how much they like a particular song, or that they just added the song to their personal playlist. These little moments make the whole music journey worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wearegoldlove.wixsite.com/goldlove
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldloveofficial/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@goldloveofficial
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@goldlove_official
