Few artists can diversify their expertise in the way that Los Angeles-based artist Highschool Jacob can. Highschool Jacob is a sound engineer for cinematic scoring by day and synth-pop creative by night. The singer started releasing music under his alias in 2017 and has not slowed down since. His new single 'Not Worth Dying 4' takes listeners on a dramatic, emotional joyride into the complications and questions of love. The song is one piece of a four-song puzzle that makes up an animated, interactive saga backed by unique video games. Listeners can challenge themselves through these games' obstacles that you can find on the singer's website while nodding heads to the song that inspired them.
We had a chance to sit down with Highschool Jacob and learn more about his vision, love for video games, and the singles that accompany them.
What prompted you to name yourself "Highschool Jacob," and how did your high school experiences frame this project?
When I first started this project, I called myself tiny hands right after college because of over this, my hands. And I love that name. My sister gave me the idea and informed me about this weird name, which kind of just grabbed attention. But then, during the 2016 election, right when I was, you know, thinking about starting a project and had some songs in the works, you know, Trump came along, and there was the joke about him having tiny hands. And I was like, that's so much like, my name. And I would play, you know, local shows around LA. And after the show, people would come up to me and say, Hey, I love the show, is like a Trump thing with the tiny hands. It's so funny. And I was like, Well, no, I'm not too fond of Trump. So I was actually at a party with my ex-girlfriend. She was my ex-girlfriend at the time from high school. And she was introducing me to some of her friends. It's like, Hey, you know, this is Jacob, you know, my, you know, exporting from high school. And people were like, Oh, your high school, Jacob. And this is the weekend when I needed a new name like the video coming out the next Thursday. And I turned to the person that said that I was like, that's a perfect name.
What was the first instrument or music talent that you picked up, and at what moment did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in music?
I started playing the piano when I was four. I played classically because I felt like I had to. Then I wanted to learn how to play the guitar when I was eight and that I liked the idea of playing guitar, and I loved Bob Dylan when I was younger, and I was like, Oh, I want to be like a folk singer. But then, as I got older, I had a piano teacher named Billy, who is no longer with us, which is sad. But he turned me on to more jazz music, more blues, and just made the piano just a lot more fun for me. And that's when I started being like, wow, like, I love this, I finally felt like I was good at the instrument. And that's when I began to think like, oh yeah, this is just a part of my identity. Suddenly, by the end of high school, I was taking music theory classes. Music was my identity and always a part of me. I always wanted to be an artist to perform and record my music. But it didn't happen until I graduated and started doing tiny hands were just like, doing it regularly. Before then, I focused on being a jazz piano student, and, you know, learning classical composition and conducting. So that was my focus in college.
Being an engineer for cinematic production aimed at TV/Film, how has that influenced your sound?
I think what it did do for my sound was it's just forced me to engage. The thing about being a composer, especially today, is that there's, you need to know, there are so many different ways to go with your sound, you know, it's not just like, like, for example, not to go rambling. We are working on a movie right now. That is, you know, about EDM, a girl who wants to become an EDM DJ. And so we have to make songs for that. So I'm going from creating, you know, just more classical, piano-based stuff for this last movie I worked on, and then I'm doing like a dubstep track and then old house from the '90s. So it's allowing you to explore new sounds and engage with the material more like an academic exercise. It just forces you to think outside the box, and then it brings that into the fray. When you're creating, you're like, oh, let me use this old like, 90s piano sound on top of like, these new splice samples I just got. It allows you to keep expanding your head, but most music producers, I think, do that anyway, but for me, there's only so much you can do, and it sort of just forces you to engage with that.
What inspired you to create a unique video game for each single?
The person I do all my art with is my best friend from childhood. And now, Jacques Herzog, who's a talented artist, he and I have very similar interests. And we've he's been there from the start of the project. We were brainstorming about ideas that we just for the artist static for these four singles. And I was like, we're thinking and I like I always like the idea of like movie posters, like the sort of old school Star Wars posters, and I like the idea of like, well let's get like the high school Jacob character me in there in weird ways. And we kept expanding, and then suddenly, he came to me with a mood board of just like old video game advertising from the 80s like before they knew what a video game was and how to sell it. So it was just all these different kinds of colors and designs, and you know, it could be just like a 2D like to sprite guy jumping over like a thing. I love video games; I'm a big gamer. He and I are nerds like that, too. So we just decided, like, why don't we take me and turn them into a sort of Mario like figure that would give us the flexibility to engage with these sort of just very different looking designs, but they're linked together with the threat of only video games. And I think that's what my sound has been, you know, it does not always sound the same. We'll get to that later because, you know, the sounds get different, but there's still like a link there, which is me, and that's what the artist did for these video games. They're all distinct and different.
What does your creative process look for these new singles' projects, and how will listeners see the stories aligning in the end?
What always starts with the songs for me. I've been working on a bunch of different music, and I have these singles, just that I loved, that we're all varying work like sometimes I work with the producer, here and there, that was different. But then, once I linked them all together, they were all different. And some specific, they're on legs like they're singles and themselves. But it was just sort of like where I was going from an artist just a little bit more, trying to be a little bit more polished, but also trying to keep that high school Jacob sort of like low finance going on. And once I had that music together, I just mentioned Jack again; I played it for him. And I was like, are these two different and a couple we decided, like, these don't fit, these don't sound good. And then we decided on these four is like individual entities, they're good songs. It became a project of linking them together with the artwork because obviously, they're very different sounding things. That the creative process was like, I like all these singles let's try to make way for them to coexist excitingly and think that we've been able to do that.
"Not Worth Dying 4" seems to pivot to a darker place than "Die 4 U" what happened between the two that made you revoke this?
I think that I was working with my friend Nick in his studio, and we were working on some stuff, and I had just on Stacy and was just very sort of dance-focused at the time, not dance. I was not dancing music, but like, you know, just me more upbeat. And we worked on this, and I was like, it fell into place where I wanted to say something that was on my mind a little bit. And while it still had a groove, engage with what I had been thinking of is a song that instead of thinking about what the lyrics were, at the time, I just sort of like I didn't try to pay l enough attention to a lot of stuff, I just kind of kept writing ideas. And lyrically, and sort of just committed to it only as an exercise. And that was where that came from; it was a stream of consciousness. And I think that's reflected in how the verses are constructed. Sort of long phrases, I think that's how that song came about this a little bit more darkness there because I think I felt like dying for you. And Stacy could be more of the pop-song of them; I didn't want to be taken entirely out of context. I always want my music to be engaging, both musically and in an exciting way. But also, like, if you pay attention to what I'm saying, I want it to be something that you can think about, even if it's just a pop song, like, or just a love song or something. But I wanted to write a song that wasn't just a love song; I wanted to write a song that was engaging with just sort of my feelings on certain specific things that were going on. And I think that's how it came up. I keep calling it like a sort of millennial or Gen Z, love song, actually, and all the press material that I've been doing, because that is kind of what it is, it's a critique on sort of in-depth analyses of those generations. And the more I thought about it; the more is there's like a sense of humor there. But I just wanted to engage with that frustration a little bit more in a way that didn't seem necessarily angry or upset, but slightly more thoughtful and only for a change, do something a little bit more different. Because mostly because the rest of the songs that we're running at the time were a little bit just more like, you know, relationship-focused. So it was just sort of instead of thinking now, I want to do a love song, just really letting my mind kind of go in a specific direction and committing to it as I went along with not a lot of second-guessing.
What should fans expect and brace themselves for with the final single released in the series?
The last single is the most different because it's its, I recorded it at a studio called moose cat in West LA, a more analog studio. I wanted to have not many synthesizers, not a lot of electronics in there; I just wanted to have one song that was just a little bit somber. And it's looking at the story that I was trying to sell. So that it's going to be a left turn from not worth dying for, but it's shared that same realness of just sort of honesty in your face some universality or specificity. And only one last plug that will play into this answer. So I developed eight-bit video game versions of all the songs, like on the video games' background. So that was so much fun for me to do because it was just a new way of, you know, that composer brain of like, how do I make this work.
Where do you see the Highschool Jacob project at one year into the future (November 6th, 2021)?
My goal has always been, and the reason I started making music first is to perform and play music. So that's always been my focus. I was developing a band right before Corona hit. And so we're going to start getting rehearsals going again soon, hopefully. So that's a goal just personally to have a band together. So it's not just me during my one-person show; it's hard to tell where live music is going to be in the next couple of months, let alone a year. I want to be playing for people that engage with me on a fan level to have an audience that engages with the material. As far as long-term goals are concerned, obviously like just playing and touring, I want to get back as that was our focus this year.
Check out the new single and be sure to play the computer game that Jacob created to accompany it on his website linked below.
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