Roberts’ interest in music began at a very young age, when he would sing along to whatever was playing on the radio. Growing up, Roberts’ parents consistently played music across a large span of genres. His father enjoyed music, owning a large catalog of digitally downloaded albums and physical CDs. Jason’s favorite songs as a child were "I Wanna Know" by Joe, "Keep Ya Head Up" by Tupac, and "If I Ain’t Got You" by
Alicia Keys. He grew up on the music that the older generation enjoyed, and this influenced his soulful, melodic sound. The Chris Brown and Mariah Carey concerts he attended as a child may have shaped his perspective on musical artists as well. Jason began writing poetry and songs as early as eighth grade, when he noticed the apparent link between written poetry and musical rhythm. In his freshman year of high school, Roberts tried his hand at music production as part of a Technology class centered on Apple products. Naturally, he learned his technique on Garageband, and produced his first instrumental for the class final. His production was compared to that of
Kid Cudi, who he played heavily during his high school days, along with Alternative Rock bands like
My Chemical Romance, Green Day,
Kings of Leon and many others. Roberts started performing live in venues across the Chicago area with the Soul Children of Chicago. This acclimated him to the concepts of live performance and touring, with long hours of practice, sound checks, and extensive travel time. At the University of Pennsylvania, Jason continued to advance his music career, adding a cappella to his growing repertoire. He joined The Inspiration A Cappella Group as a tenor, and had solos on songs like Butterflies by Michael Jackson and Can You Stand the Rain by Boyz II Men. Roberts then left The Inspiration to join The Collctve and explore the more collaborative side of music with “a diverse network of creatives, risk-takers, innovators, and collaborators coast to coast.” (2) Jason recorded two songs with them, titled “Freshman Cypher” and “Don’t Mind.”
2018: Career beginnings and Higher During a self-exploratory gap year from UPenn, Roberts underwent formal musical training for the first time in his life, with Rev. Dr.
Lena McLin, the woman responsible for the musical education of Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson, and R. Kelly. After graduating from UPenn, Roberts returned home to Chicago to being writing drafts for his first EP,
CØMPLIMENTS. In April 2018, Jason began the process of incorporating himself as Jason Ivy LLC, with the help of the legal team at DiSchino & Schamy, PLLC in Miami, Florida. This process was finalized in May 2018, and Jason officially began his career in the music industry, surrounded by the familiar scenery and local artists of his hometown. Roberts recorded, mixed, and mastered his first single, “Higher,” exclusively at Classick Studios with the help of engineers Bryan Schwaller and Elton L10 Chueng. “Higher” received over 100,000 streams on Spotify and Soundcloud combined in under one week of its initial release, as well as praise from musical talent around the world. The cover art for the album is as stimulating, visually, as the music. “Each icon represents one of the six songs from the project. In order, they are: Hate (the spiteful message and angered posture of the astronaut), Foreign (the astronaut itself), Higher (the rocket), Chlorophyll (the sunflowers), Ivythemoon. (the ivy leaves), and Pyre (the woman with the burning heart).” Jason Ivy explains that the “concept behind both the EP and the cover art is that these are all separate concepts that function as a whole, all mostly contained within this jar. Each of the songs addresses the state of the jar — being emotionally empty or filled — which doubles as a graphic metaphor for the state of the narrator’s own emotions.” It is apparent Jason uses his extensive education to clearly convey meaning through the mediums of art and music. ==Artistry==