Artist Profile: Jake Minch on Songwriting and Curiosity

Jake Minch, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Connecticut, has broken into the music world with lyrics driven by curiosity and honesty. Minch started writing at 12 years old as he went through a universal experience: his preteen emo phase. When his little sketches in hidden notebooks proved insufficient for his big preteen feelings, Minch found himself writing music one Christmas day — a little drunk off of Jello shots, but sober enough to hit record on the Voice Memos app and craft an idea.

During COVID-19, his writing took off. Describing the transformation in his music over the past few years in an interview with The Crimson, Minch said, “Everything changes when you have something to say.” No longer writing “Lizzy McAlpine knockoffs,” Minch began finding his own voice in his music. Specifically, he discovered what he found exciting about songwriting: “The most interesting music is curious music.”

It was during these years that Minch started posting videos of his original music on TikTok and began amassing audiences, including fellow singer-songwriters, who were drawn to his curiosity and relatability. Although he continues to enjoy people engaging with his music through social media, he recognizes the difficulty of keeping music and artistry authentic on platforms like TikTok.

“A smart dude should never have to repeat himself, because then he just sounds like a dumb dude,” he said.

Even with music as his career, Minch has been able to preserve a sense of realness and earnestness on his page. Stripped of the popular TikTok trends, Minch’s page is full of videos of him with his guitar, singing a song (with the occasional video of his comedic sketches).

When asked if he thinks about audience reception or his next post on TikTok as he writes his music, Minch said, “I think I need to think about that more.”

Minch’s music truly captures the curiosity of a 22-year-old. Even though he’s a new artist whose career has just begun, Minch stands out for his risk-taking and not feeling the need to craft a perfectly unobjectionable or safe artist persona.

“I enjoy new ideas and saying shit that sometimes, I feel like, pushes a boundary,” he said.

For Minch, this new boundary is discussing moments when he knows he is in the wrong.

“I have that internal complex of, ‘I’m the worst person on the planet. Like, I’m evil.’ And I feel like there’s not a lot of music now that is that. A lot of people write victim music, so it’s fun to write villain music,” he said.

As more people were discovering Minch’s original and distinct lyricism, he left Connecticut and moved to Los Angeles, signing with Republic Records. Luckily, Minch had full support from everyone back home.

“Even the super sporty guys, they were like, ‘Oh, Jake, he’s just like that,’” he said.

Like many small-town kids in L.A., Minch found the experience had its ups and downs. He enjoyed some big city moments where he could step back and ask himself, “If I was gonna paint this, how would I do it?” Yet, no one can live life as a spectator forever. He also struggled with feeling like the Los Angeles environment is relentlessly career-oriented and discussed how difficult it is to not get sucked into the transactional and work-centric mindset.

“I don’t want to want things from people. The issue is it never starts that way. It always is someone with good intentions, but for there to be just any kind of power imbalance at all. It just makes it hard to form friendships out of,” he said.

Jake has since moved back to Connecticut.

“For the first time ever, despite all instinct, I’m letting people need me,” he said.

He is currently living with his friend for 100 days while her mother goes into surgery, navigating the young artist’s balance between an ambitious music career and a life outside of it.

Nevertheless, Minch’s music career stands strong. He is currently on tour with Grace Enger, and is working on his first album that recently got submitted for masters. He is building on his currently released music which consists of an EP titled “how many” and several singles. Looking ahead, Minch plans to have the album out by the end of summer and hopes to headline his own show in the fall.

In Jake’s most-streamed song, “Handgun,” he sings, “Learned the worst part of growing up is learning how young you are.” Yet he doesn’t let his young age stop him, and continues to take risks and be curious in every song he writes.