In an interview with Downtown Music, cellist and ‘90’s kid’ The Wong Janice talks about her love of pop music, dabbling with the guitar, getting piano lessons before finding her instrument, and learning improvisation. Journeying through a career in marketing, and discovering meditation before building a career in meditation music — Janice’s biggest life lesson came from uncovering ‘the shackles that hold us back from attaining life-altering goals.’
The following recaps an interview with The Wong Janice as part of Downtown Music’s series, The Music Industry Lives Here. Downtown Music is a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.
Janice was six years old when she picked up piano lessons. Two years later, she discovered the cello. “My main instrument has been cello since I was eight. The sound of cello is so rich and is the closest instrument to the human voice. That spoke to me.”
Talking about ‘love at first listen’ cello, she reveals that her Chinese background led her to music. “It’s quite common for Asian kids to play the piano and stringed instruments. I dropped the piano in my teens because it got too difficult to keep up both instruments at the same time.”
The orchestra also left an imprint on Janice’s music. Her life was heavily classical, and her parents wanted her to play the orchestra ‘because it’s nicer for a child to have a more social environment.’
Janice was thirteen when a chance discovery took her from classical to pop music. When a teacher urged Janice to join a band and play the song ‘Shimmer,’ she learned she had the skill to replicate any song on the cello.
“From then on, I really started to use the cello in pop music — which was my first love.”
Alongside that first love, Janice also recalls the ‘first rejection’ that altered the trajectory of her music career. “I got an audition with a very famous singer at the time. I’d practiced everything perfectly on the album. Afterwards she said, play something of your own to my music. Let’s just jam. And I froze.”
Discovering that she didn’t have the skill to improvise was a defining moment for Janice. “I never got to tour with her, which was my dream. So, I decided I’m going to learn how to improvise.”
In an attempt to excel at what she believed was ‘holding her back,’ Janice played pop music with different bands — even an electronic dance band.
But around that time, a music teacher she ‘really respected’ told Janice that she ‘didn’t have what it takes to be a solo classical musician.’
Those words left a mark on Janice, and steered her off the music track. She left classical music behind, went on to earn a master’s degree in marketing, and secured an internship at Adidas. “Our biggest ambassadors at the time were Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. I had the best time there and it took me all over the world.”
Soon, things changed in the business, so Janice ‘felt stuck in my life, and in my career.’ Going on a sabbatical, she attended the Vipassana ten-day silent meditation course. There, she discovered that the true ‘shackles to suffering are our reactions to situations.’
“That was my biggest learning, and it was indeed the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. I was working through a lot of things, but by the end of the ten days, I felt free. I learned that I have the key to let go of my suffering and unlock my liberation.”
Following this ‘powerful’ mindset switch, Janice lost her job and instantly identified the silver lining. “It came at the perfect moment. I was ready to move closer to music.”
Janice decided to become a music producer, and studied engineering and music production at Abbey Road Institute in Amsterdam. Although she initially believed that the one year would allow her to make a career switch, it soon became clear that going from a course to proper music production ‘requires some kind of buildup.’
So she took a piece of paper and wrote down all the ways she could make music. “That was a turning point. I had so many ideas. I was really into electronic music at the time, so I thought about making music for games, film, and being a session musician. Actually even did a mock project for my portfolio — making music for a commercial or small film.”
Although the project was an exciting new landscape, she didn’t feel like a composer — so Janice began crossing things off her list. It was this process of elimination that revealed to her the option of becoming an artist. “The crazy thing is, I didn’t even think of the cello.”
Janice says it’s now obvious that cello was always her path. “The teacher that told me I won’t make it was mainly talking about classical music, but it sounded to me like I will never make it in music. I interpreted it myself that I cannot be a cellist.”
She knew she wanted to create something with the cello, but she went ahead with the mindset: what’s the worst that can happen? “So I did some market research, and discovered people listen to cello during very quiet activities like in solitude, in the bath, or at the beach.”
Connecting the dots of her cello background to her enlightening foray into meditation, she recorded her meditative music album within three weeks. Instantly, her research into distributors led her to CD Baby.
“I was ready to upload and my friend showed me how easy CD Baby was. I was really surprised so I thought, okay I can do this. So I put up my first album, and then the second and the third and fourth and fifth.”
For the past year, Janice has been a CD Baby Plus artist, which allows her ‘free submissions that get to platforms in the blink of an eye.’
“I do everything myself so that’s really useful for me. I don’t have a three to six month lead time. I’m like, let’s get this up quickly so my fans have something to listen to.”
After taking a rollercoaster ride to find herself, Janice’s life philosophy is to ‘let go of always chasing more.’ “What I’ve learned from the meditation course is knowing when to stop looking for things that are bigger and better,” she says.
“I would like to continue to make music to feel free, and give my listeners that chance to also let go and be free.”
About The Music Industry Lives Here: Downtown Music’s interview series allows powerful conversations with the voices shaping the music industry. To gain weekly access to exclusive interviews with music executives, artists, record label owners, and influential figures who drive the rhythm of the industry, join here.
