Melina Duterte has gone through musical shifts and personal changes throughout the course of her career, and ‘Belong’ ends up being her fully realized record to date. A constant sift through what it means to belong with or without someone there, paired with some of Jay Som’s clear-cut set of songs to date.

Ever since the release of ‘Anak Ko’ back in 2019, it might be safe to assume that Jay Som has stayed in an idle motion, even when in reality, she hasn’t. Since then, she mainly took the helm of being a producer for acts like Lucy Dacus, boygenius, and Chris Farren, but kept up featured appearances from time to time. The most notable of them is part of the I Saw The TV Glow soundtrack with ‘If I Could’, a sunny pop-rock cut where Jay Som’s vocals sounded bright as usual.

And now, with ‘Belong’, the return to Melina Duterte’s solo project 6 years after her last record presents a turning point for her. An acclimation of what it feels like to get back to the Jay Som name, just now with more insight and confidence that benefits so much of the music on display. ‘Cards On The Table’ immediately makes this heard. The ray of synthesizers bubble over as Jay Som comfortably sings front and center of the mix. “Cards on the table / Lay it all out / Say it / You let me down”, she muses on the hook, tensions within relationships are tested with transparency.

The first half of the project is filled with some of Jay Som’s strongest songs she has written and produced. Going across streaks of punchy indie rock that emotionally keep going on the rocks, with a grounded tone and collaborations that offer more synthesis to this friction. ‘Float’ has Jim Adkin of Jimmy Eat World assist Jay Som, both of their voices barreling through the charged grooves once the hook hits sky high. ‘What You Need’ coax its pop-rock sheen through a dreamy cascade as the drums offer more rhythmic weight. Building some ache across its melancholic writing. One that continues seeping through the neatly arranged balladry of ‘Appointments’ with its shuffling acoustics and chiming keys, and the gradual blasts of ‘Past Lives’ where Jay Som and Hayley Williams synergize and reverberate their vocals together, even if Jay Som can’t quite keep up to Hayley’s sharper intensity.

The album starts losing traction sonically through its back half, replacing firm tones with glossy tones and languid structures. ‘D.H.’ becomes reminiscent of Jay Som’s past dream pop works, despite being more flush with rumbling bass licks and drum flicks, but ends up sticking out like a sore thumb. ‘Meander / Sprouting Wings’ and ‘A Million Reasons Why’ are interesting experiments that end up too short and left hanging in the air, with the former’s spareness feeling like it took some notes from Slauson Malone’s playbook, and the latter’s pitchy modification just kept floating in the air.

However, when paired with its thematic exploration, it does become an intent. Following ‘Past Lives’, the back-half becomes a retreat to the past to keep the relationship together. Always begging to have everything checked on ‘Casino Stars’, but the next two songs become a listless realization. Giving so much but never receiving back, where the lack of interest now clicks. Any prayers for belonging become dire on ‘Want It All’. With Jay Som’s somber delivery and more dry production, the song ends with a bittersweet pang. “You think you want it all / I think you wanna say / The thing you wanna say” is a phrase that becomes repeated, followed by the instrumental passage that gets rougher. Finishing the record with no more words being said, just the feeling of a crumbling truth that is expected may end up coming true after all.

‘Belong’, despite being a bit front-loaded, is a potent return that is worth the wait for those who have been longing for what Jay Som has been pursuing for the past couple of years. Her hand as a songwriter and as a producer has shown strides, with enough intent that gives the writing more weight and the music more room to flourish. Despite the time to make something new, the release of this album shows that Jay Som still has it and deserves to belong in the indie space where she continues to thrive along the way.

Order Belong by Jay Som HERE