Jhameel

Jhameel, an indie pop artist recognized for his provocative androgyny and wide-ranging abilities, carries Korean, Japanese, and Mongolian ancestry and spent his formative years in a quiet Minnesota community. Early on, his inventive drive and command of several languages stood out, yet the steep price of advanced schooling steered him toward a military recruiter. While still completing high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps, securing a place at the University of California, Berkeley, on the condition of a four-year service commitment. That obligation grew harder to accept once his social and political outlook broadened in the school’s notably progressive setting, prompting him to leave the ROTC. Within the next two years he completed a degree in Arabic with summa cum laude distinction, took the name Jhameel while declining to disclose his birth name, and turned to music full time. Citing Prince, Michael Jackson, and the restless, high-voltage electro-pop of Phoenix and MGMT as touchstones, the singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist issued his self-titled debut album independently in 2009. The Dance EP followed in 2011 alongside the full-length sophomore set The Human Condition, and a second EP, Waves, appeared in 2012.