Jason Dhakal is back—but the Filipino-Nepalese singer-songwriter doesn’t think he never really went away.
“I don’t really think I took a break,” he tells HipHopDX Asia over a video interview. Dhakal has been making music since he was 15—though he’s already gravitated towards it as a child—and by the time 2020 rolled around, he emphasized that he just wanted to rest. “I just needed to live life a bit. I can’t write a song if I’m not really experiencing life.”
During the lockdown period—one of the longest in the world—Jason Dhakal spent time with his friends and family. He also made a career move by signing a record deal with Warner Music Philippines. The different changes in his life and the world allowed him to gain a new perspective compared to when he first started music. Now at 21, he’s looking forward to sharing new music.
In August, the R&B-soul artist dropped the sultry “can’t get enough,” his first track in two years. Last month, he reunited with singer Jess Connelly for Luis Villanueva’s “WISH YOU WERE HERE.” His latest single, “ur man,” out this weekend, is his latest single with long-time collaborator LUSTBASS.
As with Jason Dhakal’s previous singles, “ur man” touches on love, in all its sensual and emotional might.“All of these songs are about my life…I’m always just having to live life and [then I] get something out of it.”
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Dhakal tells us “ur man” was the first song he wrote during the pandemic. While the song has been through many iterations over the past two to three years, the singer shares that “it only really came alive” when he and LUSTBASS brought in instrumentalists Pat Sarabia and Reinald Jerome Pineda to play on the track.
“[It] was such a new experience because it [wasn’t] just me and [LUSTBASS] anymore…we all started to become friends…we love hanging out,” he shares of the experience.
“I’m trying to become more intentional when it comes to releasing things now,” he explains. “It’s not like before when I would just be releasing things [for the sake of] releasing them…at my age now, I’m realizing that [everything] I put out is there forever. I’m trying to show you everything I’m doing now has a purpose.”
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This is what drives his intent home: while “can’t get enough” served as his “starter song,” “ur man” serves as his way for listeners to “really get to know” him. However, more than just an introduction, what’s important to him is to be more intentional as a queer artist. He wished he saw more people in the music scene who could look at him and “say that oh, this is normal.” He continues, “There needs to be a space for all of us.”
“Expect the unexpected,” Jason Dhakal says. “Get ready for this project. This is [one] release of many.”
“ur man” premieres on all digital streaming platforms this October 15.
Watch the music video for “ur man” here:
Inline images: Press
