Music

New kid on the block, 19 year old MJin from Penampang has just released a new single titled Let Me Love You. Breeze had a chance to sit down with him and get an insight of the mind of a prodigy in the music scene.

Introduce yourself. My name is Micah Simanil Jintony. My stage name is MJin, which is a combination between my first and last name.

Have you always been into music? Honestly, I wasn’t until I was 12. I saw my dad playing a guitar and thought “I could do that as well”. Admittedly, it was hard in the beginning, but once I got the hang of it, I tried learning other instruments. That’s how I actually got my start in music. Now it’s the biggest thing in my life.

How did you produce all your songs? My friend introduced song production to me when I was 16. At the time, I would only string together simple beats with the instruments I played, just for fun. I dragged and dropped free presets I got from the internet in the beginning. Only when I discovered the art of mixing did I understand its importance. It just makes things sound more appealing and natural. I do all my recordings in my own room.

Do you stick to one genre of music? I am not a “one-genre artist”. I rotate between pop, rap, and R&B in my songs. In terms of my inspirations, Imagine Dragons is definitely the biggest one. The bass played by Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers also provides me inspiration on what type of sound I’m looking for.

Tell us about Let Me Love You. Surprisingly, it took me only a few days to finish it. Once I got the beat and melody down, I immediately wrote the lyrics. Basically, I want to portray how one’s love towards another can give them strength to conquer the struggles and challenges of life. It’s subtle, but it is a reference of my experience in the past. Writing lyrics like this helps me express my thoughts and feelings to people.

Anything you’d like to add? For the people who are trying to succeed, persevere and do it at your own pace, or else, you’ll be easily discouraged when you don’t see the results of your labour. If you’re like me and still studying, then juggling both is pretty much a given. For me, picking one or the other isn’t the way to go. It is difficult, but when you do succeed, it’ll be twice as satisfying in the end.

Let Me Love You by MJin is available on Spotify. Follow @mjinbeats on instagram.

by Noel Jinguli Images | MJin & Adynnie