{"id":441344,"date":"2025-12-12T01:39:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/441344\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T01:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:39:15","slug":"dallas-fort-worth-singer-jonavi-draws-international-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/441344\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Fort Worth Singer JONAVI Draws International Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"DFW-based
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJONAVI’s latest single was a certified “Fresh Find” on Spotify.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Lucy (@ganlu)<\/p>\n

For the past 10 years, DFW-based singer-songwriter JONAVI has been on a journey of personal discovery through music, and recently she has picked up a growing number of fans worldwide<\/a> joining in that journey. <\/p>\n

The newest single from the pop artist, whose full name is Jojo Villagonzalo, is titled \u201cIf Only We Knew,\u201d recently sat on Spotify<\/a>\u2019s editorial \u201cFresh Finds Pop\u201d playlist for three weeks. Paired with a delicate music video directed by Lucy (@ganlu), the track builds upon themes of vulnerability, generational trauma and the difficulties of love.<\/p>\n

While JONAVI didn\u2019t always plan to pursue a music career, music played a large role in her Filipino household. Born in Cebu, Philippines, JONAVI grew listening to her parents sing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey met in choir, which is how their love story started,\u201d she says. \u201cWe did a lot of karaoke. We love listening [to] ballads. My dad would play Barry Manilow.\u201d <\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t until college, however, that she decided to become JONAVI. The family moved to the States and eventually to Texas in 2011, where she studied accounting and finance, but her passion for music allowed JONAVI the rare opportunity for a non-music major to perform in the music program\u2019s showcases.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnically, you can only be a part of [the showcase] if you\u2019re in the music program,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

When the program\u2019s evaluators told her they would make an exception for her, it gave her added encouragement to record and release her own music.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Her first track came in 2015, though\u00a0her debut EP,\u00a0Blue Hour<\/a>, wasn\u2019t released until nearly a decade later in 2023. The delay came about through a process of distillation, as she wanted to make sure to \u201cfeel it was true to my own kind of sound.\u201d Shedding her resistance to making music that might seem \u201ctoo pop\u201d was a years-long process, but she says it allowed her to find her true identity as an artist.<\/p>\n

Since then, JONAVI has been preparing for her second EP, releasing a set of singles intermittently, as well as booking steady live performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last two years, [live shows] have been pretty consistent,\u201d she says. \u201cI think I perform at least like, 10 to 15 times a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the forthcoming release, JONAVI also has her sights set on exploring other creative endeavors to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from the album, I really want to write and help produce [and] direct a short film,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

At the root of all of her creative expression, though, is pride in her heritage. Partnerships with local Asian American organizations have allowed her to grow as an artist. Groups like the Dallas Asian American Art Club and mHart, an Asian American-forward label from Austin, have helped cultivate her career across the state. It\u2019s this support from Texas\u2019 Asian-American community that has been critical to her success, but she says the support is a two-way exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being Filipino,\u201d she says. \u201cSo whenever I can, I try to support the Filipino community.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JONAVI’s latest single was a certified “Fresh Find” on Spotify. Lucy (@ganlu) For the past 10 years, DFW-based…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":441345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,1149,14838,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-441344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-interviews","11":"tag-local-music","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115704048767990072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}