“Growing up isn’t easy when it feels like the world is against you. No matter who you are or who you love, you have so much potential.” -Adrian Jacob

Adrian Jacob, hailing from Piscataway, New Jersey, is an alternative/pop artist, singer, and guitarist, and is openly a transgender man. He openly advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and mental health. Throughout his life, he has faced many obstacles and challenges. Growing up, Adrian dealt with bullying, harassment, and assault. Once he came out and revealed who he truly was, the situation only became more intense. However, thanks to the support and care of his family and his friends, he was able to overcome these challenges. His family assisted him with his legal name change, and the start of hormone therapy. Through these times, mental health battles and disorders continually increased in intensity. During these times, music was what gave Adrian his safe space.

He always had his favorite artists playing, particularly Blackbear and Twenty-One Pilots. Through listening and singing along to the lyrics, he felt as though he could express himself in ways that he couldn’t through other means. He started teaching himself guitar and ukulele during his early teens and would carry a songbook with him to record any ideas or inspiration he came across. Whether it was lyrics, or a chord that resonated with a certain emotion, he would write it down to combine his ideas later. Adrian is a student, heavily involved on campus in leadership roles in various organizations. He is also an artist on Albright College’s distribution record label, Lion Records.

Throughout his career as a performer, Adrian has performed at several locations in Piscataway and Reading. He has played at Albright College, the Doubletree by Hilton in the city of Reading, Chatty Monks Brewing Company, a restaurant in West Reading, and other various event venues for fundraising, celebrations, and wedding proposals. Adrian is a believer in the power of music, and what it can offer people from all walks of life. In the same way music has impacted Adrian, he hopes he can do the same through his music and performances for others. He aims to reach out to people on a personal level with his music as he tells his stories, conveys emotions, and speaks on mental health struggles. He believes that subjects such as mental health and other complex subjects need to be displayed and interacted with more openly in the music industry.