Natalie Jinju Turned Her College Application Into A Debut Album

Natalie Jinju is not your average college student. At just 19 years old, she has a debut album underneath her belt and a record deal worth writing home about, and she is well on her way to half a million monthly Spotify listeners. Most artists spend years shmoozing potential publicists and rubbing shoulders with label execs before accomplishing even one of these career milestones, but for Jinju (born Natalie Jones), all it took was a really great college application.

As a lifelong piano player, the Redondo Beach native had aspirations of attending the Popular Music program at the University of Southern California’s Thorton School of Music — despite having no original songs to her name. To improve her chances of getting in, Jinju called in the reinforcements (see: a friend of her father’s who owns a studio) and got straight to work recording a handful of songs that, up until that point, she never intended for anyone else to hear. “I just thought that I would never be an artist who put out music because of how shy I was,” she tells NYLON. “I did not think that any of this could happen.”

A few songs became 11 tracks, which became Jinju’s full-length debut album Last September. A jazz-leaning singer-songwriter record in the vein of Norah Jones and Laufey, the project soon piqued the interests of TikTok users and hungry A&R reps alike. A year later, Jinju has the acceptance letter (she’s currently a freshman at USC) and a record deal with Capitol Records, and she is completing her victory lap of a year with a brand new single, “Buttons.”

As a burgeoning It-Girl-to-watch, we caught up with Jinju over Zoom to chat about recording her debut, new music, and balancing her music and college careers.

Start from the beginning. When did you first start playing music?

[My twin sister and I] were put in piano lessons. I don’t even know how old I was. I just always remember taking them. I did not like them as a child, but then one day in the third grade, I started to really enjoy it, I think because I understood it. I was not horrible at it anymore. From that point on, my parents had to drag me away from the piano, and I started to beg for more lessons.

Did you have an interest in music before starting piano lessons, or is that just something that your parents threw you into?

As a kid, I really wanted to be a pop star. I would put on my princess slippers and jam out to Katy Perry and dance around. I was like, “This is what’s going to happen. I’m going to be Katy Perry.” I was really into it. But the piano lessons, those were forced. My mom was like, “You have to do it. It’ll be good for you.” And she was right. I hate to admit that, but she was definitely right.

When did you start making your own music?

I was in high school, [and] I was writing songs because everything is changing when you get into high school — you’re discovering things about yourself and you have relationships with people, and those relationships sometimes fall apart. So I was writing these songs, and my parents would overhear them and be like, “You should record those.” And my dad, one of his friends that he sometimes jams out with for fun, he has a little studio. So we asked him if we could record a couple songs and he said yes. He ended up recording the whole album and it turned into something very special that we didn’t even imagine could happen.

You made your album in a span of three months. What was the plan behind the release? Did you always intend to release it so that people beyond the admissions team at USC could hear it?

There was honestly no plan. I didn’t even consider that I could get signed or get recognition for my music. [I figured] there’s no better time to just try something out, because I still have support from my parents and I might as well just try it. So after I released that, I was just like, “Well, I might as well promote it because why not?” Let’s see what happens.

When did you start to notice the album catching fire and catching people's attention?

It was one TikTok video that I posted. My Spotify numbers started going up because of that video, and then after that, I got a bunch of calls from these people who were like, “Oh, I’m A&R at blah, blah, blah.” And I'm like, “What is that? What is an A&R? I don’t know.” And I was like, “Mom, I got an email from this random person. I’m scared.” So we had to look up all these people and be like, “Oh, that’s a real person, and they’re actually at this label.” It was insane. We could not believe it.

It really sounds like you just fell into the spotlight.

It was always a dream pushed in the back of my head. I’ve always wanted to be a performer and share my music with people, but I was also a very realistic person. I was like, “I need to make a living, and I can’t just chase something that’s not going to happen.” But then it did happen and I was like, “Wow, maybe I should believe in myself a little more.”

What’s it like putting yourself out there for public consumption at such a young age?

To be honest, it’s really scary. Not dealing with strangers, but dealing with people that I know. I graduated high school in June, [and] people at my high school... It was interesting. I got weird attention about it. People would kind of make fun of my videos or show their phones to me and be like, “Is this you?” And it’s like, “Yeah, that clearly is me. It’s a video of me.” [But then] everyone was pretty nice and supportive about it when they found out that I got signed. Once they found out that it was a thing, they were less rude about it.

How do you balance being a college student and having a music career?

It's not that hard because I’m studying music, so I feel like everything that I learn in my classes here, I can put to use in my project, like music theory skills or oral skills or my songwriting class. I’m getting lots of great feedback that I can put towards my new songs. And it’s just really good to have that practice and support from professors.

You’re obviously writing music for class now, and I’m sure being a freshman in college has been very creatively fulfilling. Are you working on a new album at all?

I’m working on some new things. I don’t think an album is in the cards at the moment, but we’ll see.

Do you ever take the songs that you write on your own time to your songwriting classes or do you just write songs specifically for those classes?

I try really hard for those classes. We’ll get a prompt, and I will try to write within the prompt, but I’ll try to make it my own so that I can work on the song later or use the feedback to improve on the song and hopefully release it one day. I think it’s a great opportunity to write more and write with the guidance of someone who’s been doing it for much longer than I have.

What’s been the best thing you've learned in school so far?

It’s about songwriting. I noticed that in a lot of my songs, I just describe what I’m feeling, and I don’t actually get into it and let myself be uncomfortable in my thoughts. So that’s something I’m trying to work on is being a little bit more vulnerable in my songs because a lot of them are like, “I’m in love. I’m so happy.” So trying to show that other side of myself as well.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.