On May 7th, 2024, Toronto based TikToker, content creator and influencer JJ Lee debuted with the single “Medusa”. JJ Lee grew up in a musical environment thanks to his family. His mom was also a singer-songwriter and all of his siblings play instruments. Being surrounded by music from a young age, JJ Lee began songwriting when he was 13 and started playing guitar. Ever since, he dabbled in guitar, piano, bass, drums, saxophone, clarinet and even music production. He says, “I knew that becoming a recognized artist was going to be difficult because of all the talented musicians around me. How was I to stand out and make a career of something I love if I know I’ll never be the best at what I do? So I set out to find my musical voice by trying different genres. (This resulted in hundreds of demo songs that will never be released.)”

He began posting to his social media accounts which on TikTok he has garnered over 1.2 million followers and Instagram over 300K. Growing this fanbase gave him hope that one day when he does release music, people will listen to it.

We had the opportunity to talk to JJ Lee a little bit about his musical journey and his debut song “Medusa” in which he felt the need to be vulnerable and talk about something he never really spoke about before. He says, “I was supposed to debut with a single back in 2022, but I was in an accident that resulted in me losing my fingers along with my passion for music. After the accident, I was not able to play guitar or any other instrument that required more than 8 fingers to play. I was also in a lot of pain trying to get back to where I was pre-accident. The last 2 years have been a desperate effort at recovering and trying to make up for loss time. Now I’m finally back and found my passion for music again. So this first song “ ”Medusa” means a lot to me and is a testimony of how I’m going to continue making music even after my injuries. A lot of people may see me as TikToker turned artist, but 4 years ago I was artist turned TikToker. Now I’m finally putting part 2 of my plan in motion. It was honestly hard to choose which song to be my debut release. But I finally settled on “Medusa”.”

“Medusa” is a song about a toxic relationship/situationship when you know someone is bad for you, but you just can’t help yourself. JJ Lee says, “I originally wrote “Medusa” on piano as a concept of this love tangled with definite death. I never expected this to be my first release until I got into the studio with my producer. I showed him a guitar part I wanted for a whole different song and as I was scrolling through my notes app I came across “Medusa” so I decided to try some of the parts I’ve already written on guitar. Now the catchy small melody of “Medusa Medusa” was born. I ended up free styling a lot of the parts that you now hear in the song and we actually have like 3 different versions of the song. Shoutout to my producer dyse for putting up with me and my decisions in the studio.”

Around four studio sessions later, the wonderful and meaningful song “Medusa” was created. We are so excited to be a part of JJ Lee’s debut and cannot wait to see him grow as an artist.

A special note from JJ Lee: “I have so many more songs I’d like to mass release, but I’ll take my time with it and try to perfect each one for my followers. I really wouldn’t be able to have my dreams and wishes come true without the support of my followers. They’re my dream and the people I’ll always work to please with my platform, I’d be nowhere without them.”

“Medusa” is now available on all streaming platforms so, make sure to listen to it here.