sunshine blvd.

Jason Barican, better known as sunshine blvd., is an indie pop singer with an incredible sound. The Filipino artist only wrote his first song back in 2017 entitled “this isn’t a love song”. It was a clearly one that changed everything for the teen; the record, released on his debut album “nosedive”, is currently his biggest hit to date, earning over 72 thousand Spotify streams. A unique talent, Barican uses his knack for melodic artistry and songwriting to produce the beautiful harmonies heard on “waffle fries” and “Madeleine”. In less than two years in the industry, sunshine blvd. has grossed over 170 thousand streams across multiple platforms. His latest song, “strawberry ice (with Xtine)” was released on July 10th. We recently spoke to the up and coming artist about his dream collab, plans for the future, and more!

How did you start making music?

I actually had a really late start to songwriting compared to other artists out there whenever I read their backstories. I see some starting early as the age of 8, and here I am who wrote my first song at the age of 17, which was “this isn’t a love song.” I’ve always been exposed to music ever since I was a kid, but the first actual time that I “got my hands dirty” happened later down the road.

What do you like to do when you’re not making music?

I’m kind of a nerd for video games (I know. It’s a really generic answer). I enjoy getting to have fun with a good group of friends just doing who knows what in whatever online game we’re playing. Other than that, I guess I really enjoy breathing and blinking, so yeah.

Every artist has dreams of performing at certain venues. What are some of yours?

I don’t really have a set venue in mind. Generally speaking, however, I dream of performing in front of large crowds for outdoor music festivals. I watch live videos of my favorite artists performing at these massive festivals where every single person in the audience recites your song; and you can’t help it as an artist but to just stand there in awe the first time you get exposed to that. Getting everyone to sing the song that you made, as well as vibe and dance to the music, is the biggest accomplishment that an artist could have in my opinion.

It’s collab time. Who are you choosing to make a song with?

If it comes to an artist in the same genre, I would say Dayglow just because we both sort of have the same goal with music: which is to spread positivity and happy vibes all around (despite the more moody and sad meaning behind some of my songs supported by a jumpy backing track.) But when it comes to like in general, I would easily say The 1975; Maybe just a writing sesh with Matt Healy simply because of the complexity of his lyrics and how I want to go behind the scenes into his writing process. All my songs have some sort of stupid backstory behind each one, and getting to collab with Matt would be amazing just to get a sort of “behind-the-scenes” tour of his writing process.

Can you walk us through your creative process? 

This is a topic I used to look up every single time as I was curious how people go about making such amazing songs. But after making more than 10 songs now, I still don’t have a set process/ guide that I follow. Might be a really messy response to the question, but I think the variety of approaches that one can take when writing a song is what makes the song special. Sometimes, I’ll come up with a full song on the spot; and other times, it would take me months as I compile bits and pieces of words and voice memos into a complete song. To summarize my answer, it’s a hot mess; but it works for me. So just go with whatever works for you!

Which of your songs was your favorite to write and why?

All of my songs have a dash of stupidity behind the meaning of every lyric. But even with that in mind, I would say the one I enjoyed writing the most was “odyssey” just because of how vibey the song is, as well as how the song was inspired by a Minecraft server that I played in when I was a kid. But yeah, all my songs have really silly meanings/backstories; but “odyssey” would be the one I enjoyed the most.

What future projects do you have for fans to be excited about?

I have a new song entitled “strawberry ice”. Pretty excited about this one as me and my good friend wrote this, and some of my other friends told me that this is my best release yet; so I’m just really pumped to share it with everyone!