Jad Montenegro is proud to be from Davao City. Her band has represented Mindanao in The Converse Get Loud Band Competition, and have been made Featured Artist by different online like Radio Republic from Manila, Alt Manila, Lieu Magazine, and Davao Music Nation. She has also been featured in print publications like Pulp Magazine’s Homegrown, M Magazine, and Zee Lifestyle’s The Kids are Alright.
Jad released her first EP Fixed Points and Pendulums on June 22, 2012, where all cds sold out before their show started.
She released her second EP Detours on June 23, 2013 to an equally appreciative crowd, selling more EPs than the first launch.
Muzika del Sur has awarded Jad Montenegro Best Pop Artist of 2009, and Best Music Video of 2010 for her song The Backyard.
Her song Invincible was included in Radio Republic’s One List to Rule Them All.
Heavy Hearted (Jon Game’s remix) was included in Vandals on the Wall’s Top 100 Filipino Tracks.
Jad’s song This Machine was included in Best Songs of 2014 by Radio Republic.
Jad was chosen as one of the 60 musicians comprising the final batch of the Elements Songwriting and Music Camp, mentored by the likes of Ryan Cayabyab, Ebe Dancel, Gary Granada, Ogie Alcasid, Chito Miranda, Gabby Alipe, and many more. Her song “Ano” was picked as a Mentor’s Choice which was given to only 12 artists.
Jad was also invited to become the new vocalist/guitarist of Imago after the original vocalist separated from the band. She decided not to pursue this offer because it required her to live in Manila.
She was awarded Winner of Best Sound and Aural Orchestration by the Young Critics Circle Film Desk, UP Diliman, for her scoring work on independent film Sonata Maria.
Her song Gray was included in Radio Republic’s Best Music of the Year.
Jad has also been an Awitenista judge for several years.
During the pandemic Jad has focused on music collabs with fellow musicians, releasing some songs on Spotify such as Perfect Storm with Dom Contrata of The Sound of Go, and Slow Ember with Chuck Bollozos of Gasulina. She is currently working on another one with musician abzdmachinist.
Jad’s work can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud, under the artist name Jad Montenegro. Their band page is Jad Montenegro Music on facebook.
Jad is married to Eisner-nominated sequential illustrator John Amor, creator of popular webtoon Urban Animal (over 31 million views).
“Jad’s eccentricity and being experimental resonates in her music. [I] can only describe her music as brave, aside from beautiful and lovely. Her guitar-plucking, I think, is the most prominent element in her songs, though. But, what I like the most in her songs are the playful tricks she incorporates in them—like backtracked vocals and cymbals as accompaniment on her tracks like Ano and Invincible; that weird but beautiful combination of the electric and acoustic guitars in Devil in You; and the xylophones in Invincible.” – Lee Cepeda, altMNL