We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenn Tam. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenn below.

Jenn, appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

I feel that the biggest unexpected problem I faced in my creative journey of wanting to pursue music is… myself. My fears of being seen and heard stopped me from putting my music out into the world for year–for years I let my music gather dust in my phone recordings and I would maybe post a video here and there of an orginal song, but wouldn’t dare to show my face in the videos. Being hyper self conscious was such a challenge and to this day, still is.

Performing my music to a live audience, and putting my music out there for the world to hear and to put my face and who I am out there in a way that feels authentic to me is HELLA hard. I live and breathe with a lot of anxiety and insecurities, but through the years I have just had to actively push myself and learn to value myself–to slowly grow my confidence and push through the fear, I would make sure to just force myself to do an open mic, even if I was freaking out, connect with producers and take that initiative–and to just bum rush through the fear.

It’s just about taking a shot–even if you miss a bunch of times or fall a bunch of times. And that is something I have learned and am still working on to resolve the those issues in this creative journey.

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.

My name is Jenn Tam, I am Chinese-American, born and raised in Queens, NY. Growing up I’d always kind of hum and sing along to Britney Spears songs or Backstreet Boys, but always in private. When I was around 25 my brother gave me a used acoustic guitar and started to teach me how to play it. After that, I started practicing on my own using YouTube tutorials–one of the first songs I learned to play and sing to was Michelle Branch’s “Goodbye to You.”

As I was singing along with the chords in my room I realized oh hey, I think I sound pretty good singing. And that’s when i started just recording myself on my phone for fun (but I would never put my face in the videos). I posted a random cover of a song on my Facebook, and my friends started commenting and raving about my voice and from there it boosted my confidence to start to step into that world a bit more–to lean in.

I have always been an introvert, introspective and love to write, and being that I never was the type to actually talk about my emotions and feelings articulately to others, I began to start songwriting. It’d start off with be being upset about someone I had unrequited love for and where I’d be staring at the sky looking at the stars, waiting to make a wish, and from there, having that visual of stars, I would start just writing a song about wanting to see only stars, but not this guy’s face in them. All my thoughts, hopes, dreams, anxieties and fears all just poured out as I would play chords and see what sounded good together. Music became like my therapy and my healing sessions. Singing is where I find solace.

From there I began to also push myself to do open mics here and there and even got to do a show at this spot called Toshis (now closed unfortunately) with an impromptu live band which was incredible. And now, since 2024, I started to finally write more seriously and get my songs produced professionally–not just video recordings, or my shoddy Garageband skills. And now I have two songs, and more coming out on all music platforms! My EP is on the works, and by 2026, I hope to have it complete and out in the universe.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I want to be able to impact anyone with my music, whether it empowers them, inspires them, moves them, gives them joy, or they truly resonate with them. My goals would be to play with a live band and do more intimate acoustic sessions of my music like Tiny Desk, get my music into sync libraries and have it possibly be picked up in a movie or Netflix show, To also create cool music videos to go with my music, because I love the power of storytelling in art and music.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to express words, messages and stories about myself that are so deeply personal, authentic and meaningful to me out into the universe and in the form of music is so rewarding. Also the opportunity to emote that through singing and to have your soul literally be heard is amazing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jenntam16
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenntam16/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/angelxwhisper
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jenntam
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Y3KeIW71bRxeAb5NA8YWS

Image Credits

Jenny Jaser Photography