Jake, 17, Warwick
Before taking part in Progress, Jake felt unmotivated and suicidal. Struggling at school, he was in a dark place and felt trapped in the classroom, getting into trouble for not being interested in the lessons. Music gave him a sense of freedom and the ability to use his creativity to have control over his own narrative, something which he had not felt before.
Thanks to Progress, Jake was able to undertake one to one music production sessions. The production was an important release for him: “I was in a pretty dark place, but the programme was an outlet for me. I channelled my experiences into content for songs and was able to dig myself out of the hole I was in.”
Jake working on his music at the studio, during a private session provided by Progress.
Taking inspiration from rap artists such as XXXTenacion, Ski Mask the Slump God, Bass Santana and Lil Skies, Jake feels in his element in the studio and the sessions have improved his wellbeing as well as pushing him forward in the industry. He said: “It’s hard to explain but when you finally finish a song and you get to hear it for the first time it just makes you feel so happy and it makes me feel relaxed.
“Lil Skies inspires me because he came from a small town. I find relatability in his music being from a small town with no opportunities myself.
“Getting into the production side of things has let me take my music further than I would have been able to otherwise and help with recording means it comes out sounding the way it needs to.
“The music production sessions have given me a reason to go outside but also for something that makes me happy.”
The struggles of Covid restrictions gave Jake the opportunity to connect with people through his music. In May 2020 he got his first 10k streams on one of his songs and received messages from his supporters who said he had helped them through their own personal struggles. This spurred him on to release his first album in October of the same year.
Jakes big aspiration is to start doing shows, he feels this is not only the next step in his career but will give him more of a schedule and balance to his life. Progress will help him get there by expanding his ability and capacity to make and release songs, subsequently growing his following which could lead to live performances.
“I feel like it’s made me more comfortable with collaborating and more confident in general, I’m progressing at a nice pace and it feels like I’m actually getting somewhere”
Jake performs under the stage name Yxng Skxng and his music can be found on Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud.
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