Written by Jesh Orquina / Photos were taken by Jesh Orquina and edited by Karl Batungbacal / Graphics by Kitkat Tan

Micah Jane performing at last year’s Euro Pop Contest

Before November 2017, the name “Micah Jane” probably wouldn’t have rung any bells. But since placing third at last year’s Euro Pop competition, she has slowly been making a name for herself in the music industry. Just last month, Micah Jane released her single “Last Round”.

Despite gaining popularity because of it, there’s more to Micah Jane than winning a competition abroad. To find out more about who she is as an artist, what advice she has for other musicians, and why she thinks her single “Last Round” is the song that changed her life, keep reading.

Micah Jane talks about her experience as an artist during our interview

5 Surprising Things We Learned about Euro Pop Placer Micah Jane

5. She almost gave up on music.

“Don’t do what I did, that I almost gave up. Just keep going because you never know what’s coming.”

Micah Jane has always been a musician. As a college student, she became president of the UP Musician’s Organization. Her peers know her as someone who not only has an amazing voice, but also as someone who writes great songs.

However, after graduating from college, Micah Jane chose to focus on their family business. She still wrote songs for organizations, such as The Farm at San Benito, but she felt like there weren’t any opportunities opening up for her music career.

Micah Jane’s passion for music shows whenever she performs onstage (Photo courtesy of Euro Pop Facebook Page)

During one of her business ventures, she introduced herself as a songwriter to 5th Gen and Charie Vega of VEGA Entertainment Productions. She originally planned to write songs for other singers, but she wasn’t able to as time went by.

Eventually, she saw one of her friends post about the upcoming Euro Pop competition looking for singers. She decided to submit her application.

4. She initially thought she didn’t get into Euro Pop.

“I didn’t get any updates for a long time, so I wasn’t expecting anything anymore.”

After submitting her application, Micah Jane didn’t hear back from the event organizers for nearly a month that she actually thought she didn’t get in. She was at work when she finally got the call.

“For me, kailangan mo rin talaga maging assertive. Pag naghintay ka lang, talagang walang mangyayari. (For me, you really need to become assertive. If you just wait, nothing will ever happen.)”

Micah Jane flew to Europe in November 2017 to represent the Philippines in the competition. For the competition, she performed one cover and one original song. Being a songwriter, Micah Jane opted to write the original song herself instead of having someone else write for her. Inspired by personal experiences, Micah Jane came up with the song “Last Round”, which she has now released as her single under VEGA Entertainment Productions.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiHt0zoBA-2/?taken-by=micahjanemusic

Micah Jane was the only Asian among her competitors, but that didn’t faze her. At the end of the competition, she was awarded third place.

3. Euro Pop was the first singing contest that she joined.

“I consider ‘Last Round’ as the song that changed my life because after that – after winning the competition with that song – that’s when everything changed.”

Given that Micah Jane placed in the Euro Pop competition, you might think that she’s used to joining singing contests. You’d be surprised to know that the Euro Pop competition is actually the very first singing contest she joined! Yes, she went to Europe to give singing competitions a try for the first time and she went home with a trophy.

Micah Jane’s trophy from last year’s Euro Pop Contest

2. She wants to keep writing her own songs.

“I would like to be the kind of writer her writes her own songs.”

When asked to choose between songwriting and singing, a hesitant Micah Jane answered, “Do I really have to?” She later decided that she would probably choose singing because she likes performing, but she would like to write songs for herself. In fact, she would also like to write for other singers. It’s in her future plans to write songs for other Filipinas who will be competing internationally in the coming months.

Photo taken from Euro Pop’s Facebook Page

Micah Jane also has plans of playing live in the future. “Just like BP Valenzuela,” she says. For now, she does her Monday Covers where she takes either OPM classics or new OPM songs and does her own rendition of them. All of her covers are posted on her Facebook page.

1. She’s a real fighter.

“I almost gave up on music.”

Micah Jane poses with her trophy during our interview

Last year, Micah Jane was thinking about giving up on her pursuit of music. Now, she has an international award, a single on Spotify, an upcoming music video, and a whole lot of other plans for her music career. For Micah Jane, winning the Euro Pop competition is just the beginning of an exciting adventure.

For other aspiring musicians, Micah Jane’s advice is to never give up and to just keep practicing. All of these small steps will eventually lead you to where you were always destined to be. It is also important to remember who you are as an artist and not get insecure by comparing yourself to others. The best lesson she learned through everything? It’s that you should never be afraid of rejection.

Micah Jane will be releasing the music video for her song “Last Round” before she flies off to Malta for her next competition in Europe.

Micah Jane

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/micahjanemusicph
Instagram: @micahjanemusic
Check out her new single here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5dkj4y7Jj8PGuhDYIcNImy

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