INTERVIEW
After making his first solo performance in church at age 12, and then spending his teenage years taking private vocal lessons and learning how to sing from his aunt and uncle, the music career Jay Anthony once envisioned had become a distant memory by the
After making his first solo performance in church at age 12, and then spending his teenage years taking private vocal lessons and learning how to sing from his aunt and uncle, the music career Jay Anthony once envisioned had become a distant memory by the time he finished school and got a regular job.
But then, in one of his life’s darkest moments, Anthony heard a melody.
“I was having a conversation with my cousin and he was saying you need to put out some music, what are you doing with your music?” Anthony recalls. “I said “Cuz, I’m over music.”
It was 2020 and the family had just lost their grandmother, sending Anthony into a depression. After returning home from her funeral, a melody entered his head: Life is still worth living, it’s going to be alright my child, don’t you give up.
“I got up and said, ‘Bro what’s that sound?’ It was so perfect and beautiful,” he recalls. “I laid back down and started crying again.”
Three months later, in early 2021, Anthony was taking a shower when he heard the melody again: Life is still worth living, it’s going to be alright child, don’t you give up. He jumped out of the shower and ran to his phone, then quickly sang and recorded the melody before he lost it again. Now Anthony knew what he had to do: finish the song, find a producer and record it.
“Through the most high end therapy I was able to find my voice again and find a passion for music and I got back in the booth, back in the studio, back in this environment that was inspiring,” he says.
Eventually he discovered a beat from a producer on YouTube and that melody in his head was a perfect fit. In March 2024, when he finished mixing and mastering the song in the studio with engineer Yung Rocko, he finally sat back and started to cry.
“I’m like this song is so moving, I can’t stop crying,” Anthony says. “I played it for my mom, didn’t tell her about my experience in the studio and she had the same reaction and started crying. I said mom, that’s the same thing I did. If it’s moving us, what can it do to the whole world?”
Now, the song “Worth Living” is the finale on Anthony’s debut EP, Music & Me, which he released in November. And while he initially planned on promoting the project’s opener, “Beautiful,” as a single, it was after losing his nephew early last fall that he prayed and found a video encouraging people not to take their own lives.
“I said you know what, ‘Worth Living,’ that’s my sign. I’m going to put out ‘Worth Living,’” he says. “In days when we are going through so much, and around the holidays when some of us have lost loved ones, it all brings back memories and emotions. With this song it gave me hope to complete the entire EP, I was inspired by that song.”
Anthony showcases his deep baritone voice and R&B, pop and gospel stylings on the six-track project. He got his start in gospel music but also counts as influences crooners like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He’s a big fan of the “King of Soul” Sam Cooke, as well as Luther Vandross. His biggest influence, though, thanks to an introduction from his dad, is Michael Jackson.
“We’ve covered a lot of ground on this EP,” he says. “We have a lot of songs with a throwback feel but they sound fresh. I grew up listening to lots of different music and that’s evident in this work. It’s got that late 90’s feel, that early 2000s feel, a classic ballad from the 80’s or 90’s. I’m just singing and telling a story, it’s a mixture of all of it on this EP.”
With his debut project out, Anthony hopes to continue his growth as a writer and artist and get back to performing, preferably with a live band––he hopes to capture the liveliness of his music from the studio and bring it to the stage. In the meantime, he’s relishing in the impacts his music is already making.
“I’ve been hearing from people that listen to it and how it’s inspired them to get through their depression,” he says. “It’s also opened up communication for people to be honest about what they’re experiencing, especially men. We don’t talk about it but a lot of us struggle with depression. I didn’t even know I was depressed until it was brought to my attention, and one of the signs was me losing passion for music. Now people are telling me this song has inspired them to get the help they need or it gave them hope to keep going. It’s been a blessing to hear that. I’m just a vessel, I don’t like taking credit. I’m just a vessel to deliver it, but the song was already written.”
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