Music Is My Medicine

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Jack Mercer, aka VC Pines, is an alternative soul artist who mixes up punk and poetry with a unique eclectic sound. With his latest EP, Skully, he garnered praise from BBC Radio 1 and 6, as well as Daily Star, Spindle, DIY Magazine and many others.

At a very young age, Jack found out he suffered from epilepsy. Instead of surrendering to the illness, he decided to use it as a tool in his creative process. Through his deep and meaningful songs, he talks about modern life’s challenges, self doubt, loneliness and being true to yourself.

Listen to his story now and get inspired!

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Juanita Euka is a LUKAS award-winning singer-songwriter. She was born in Congo, grew up in Buenos Aires and moved to the UK when she was 14. Her charismatic and magnetic voice opened doors to numerous collaborations with Afro-Latin, Funk and Jazz bands. Recently her solo track ‘Alma Seca’, led to a live appearance in the BBC blockbuster series ‘Killing Eve’.

On the podcast Juanita talks about her international background, music influences, concerts at Ronnie Scott’s and artistic advice she received from none other than Paloma Faith. Juanita also opens up about the difficulty of being from a multicultural background, social inequalities and the process of building her own identity.

JUANITA: Music can always bring people together. Music, what it does is magic. (...) It brings you an emotion and it also inspires you. To me, music always has been a refuge of positivity, clarity, discipline, joy - so many things that make me who I am today.

FEATURED SONGS: ‘Alma Seca’ - Juanita Euka; ‘Tiempo’ - WARA; ‘Power To The Women’ - London Afrobeat Collective

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This episode presents not one but two guests. The first one is an alternative RnB singer Chrissy Day. She joins the podcast with her agent and creative collaborator, Jason AKA Agent Soulman. The two not only work together but also support each other as friends. On the podcast they talk about how 2020 is changing the world and the importance of diversity. Chrissy and Jason also open up about their recent losses of parents that they had to face in the lockdown. 

CHRISSY: When you lose someone, it’s fine to feel the pain. It’s not a thing of neglecting it or convincing yourself that you’re not in pain. I went through that motion, I went through the crying stage, I went through the breakdown and heartbreak. But I think it’s about moving through that, not just staying in that. Moving through the pain and transmitting the pain into something else. 

JASON: That’s the beauty of what has just happened. It made me appreciate every single moment and every single day. And the fact that I get to wake up and I get to breathe...

FEATURED SONGS: 'Addict' - Chrissy Day; 'Gotham' - Boy Nash, Kammy Slime, Parris Wright, Ko-Jo Cue, Chrissy Day; 'Something I Need' - Chrissy Day.

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Brook Baili is a super-talented singer and songwriter, based in London. She attended the world-famous Brit school (the same institution that formed talents like Adele and Loyle Carner) and worked with an extensive list of UK grime artists and producers such as The Arcade (Iggy Azaelia, Maroon 5, Kendrick Lamar) and Luke Reid (Drake, Tinie Tempah). Brook’s music is a blend of pop and R&B, coupled with powerful storytelling and a very distinctive sound. Although her songs are positive, empowering and healing, Brook had to overcome personal challenges tragedy at a very young age. She tragically lost her sister to cancer just 5 days before turning sixteen. Overwhelmed with grief Brook turned to her music, using it as her therapy and finding solace.

BROOK: I don’t think that trauma can ever vanish. It’s always gonna be there in some ways. But once you’ve learnt your triggers and how to manage yourself when you’re feeling a bit stressed out, I think it’s fine. For me, my main thing is to take responsibility for my feelings and to make sure that I’m not reacting because of something that I’m not dealing with. I don’t ever want to project my issues onto other people. So I’m always doing the groundwork. Always. Even when I’m feeling good. You just need to make sure you’re always doing it. When it becomes a problem, it is when you don't deal with things step by step.

FEATURED SONGS: 'Cycles' - Brook Baili; 'Louder' - Brook Baili; 'Self Love' - Shocka ft. Brook Baili; 'Summertime High' - Brook Baili

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KdotMelody is a songwriter and rapper from North London. With his clever, poetic and often hard-hitting lyrics, he wants to challenge his listeners to reflect. In the past couple of years he released two successful albums, Spectrum and Late shft, and played concerts in the UK and America.

K DOT MELODY: I started making music a long time ago. I think it was my 16th birthday when my parents got me a really small studio setup. And it was at a crazy time in London when a lot of people were getting in lots of trouble or getting hurt. They were seeing that I was having interest, but thanks to mum and dad it really worked out. (...) I wasn’t even aware of the fact that it was keeping me away from anything else, I just knew it was something really cool to do.

FEATURED SONGS: 'Rough round the edges' - KdotMelody; 'Starry Eyed' - KdotMelody; 'If all fails' - KdotMelody.

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Lemzi is a hip-hop artist from East London who abandoned plans to become a lawyer to focus on making meaningful music. Apart from writing positive, soothing and motivating songs, he also comments on social problems in his community, like knife crime. His music has been featured on Sky News, BBC One, London Live and many British radio stations.

LEMZI: Musical therapy is a real thing! It’s actually something that I was looking into where I’ve gone through bouts of, if it’s not depression, then it’s deep repression. (...) Typically finding and discovering new music that I actually enjoy is a huge factor of taking me out of that zone. When I get to the point that I discover something new that really resonates, I start feeling better. I’m pretty sure that everyone in this day and age has a playlist (...). If everyone sat down and said - what is it all about these songs that actually makes me feel good? - there would definitely be a common component within all the songs. I don’t know what it is, because it’s different for everyone, but once you know what that is, then you will be like ‘oh I’ve got this! I should be feeling good all the time!’. Music is always there as a tool (...), it can always adapt our frequency. Because everything about the sound is about vibrations. So if you’re vibrating on a lower frequency, music can take you out of it.

FEATURED SONGS: 'Curious Kids' - Lemzi; 'W.O.D.A.T.' - Lemzi; 'B.O.T.S.' - Lemzi.

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Shocka has already seen a huge success in music. A few years ago he was playing with famous artists like Skepta, and touring the country with his rap trio Marvell. Then he had it all taken away and that led him to a breakdown and mental health hospital. After a long recovery, Shocka came back to music and released a very honest and positive song called “Self Love”. The song has been viewed by millions and shared on social media by many artists, including Snoop Dogg. Now he’s with us to share his story of "the rise, the fall and the come back".

SHOCKA: When I was in hospital, I could have ended it all. I shouldn’t be here today. I know what I went through, going through hospital three times. I saw so many traumatic things that I should not be here. But, I thought, if I’m going to stay here, it’s so important that people see that. Because they may want to end it and they could see me and say: oh look what he’s achieved by staying here and sticking it out, maybe I should continue?

FEATURED SONGS: 'Self Love' - Shocka ft. Brook Baili; 'Vent' - Shocka; 'Single Mothers' - Shocka ft. Dun D; 'Warn Me' - Shocka ft. Dun D.

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