Album artwork for Coloma-Nakano's new mele, ʻAu I Ke Kai Loa.
Jetʻaime leaves a beautiful legacy in mele
June 18,
2024
For her senior legacy project, Onelauʻena class of 2024 graduate Jetʻaime Coloma-Nakano created a mele, “Au I Ke Kai Loa”.
The song was released on May 16, 2024, and is available on all streaming platforms. It quickly gained an audience, reaching the KWXX Top 5 at 5 on May 22.
“This mele is dedicated to my family, my loved ones, and my class, Onelauʻena,” shares Jetʻaime. “Though this song talks about many different things, it was written to inspire resilience.”
In presenting her project for her class Senior Expo, Jetʻaime talked about the depth of kaona in the imagery of her mele, and while it is “all over the place” it all comes full circle and is representative of her life. She shared how she learned that the process of writing music is really not that easy, her inspirations and kōkua from other artists like Wehilei, her ʻohana, her classmates and kumu, and how criticism can be difficult for her to not internalize personally rather than on the project itself. But ultimately she was able to finish and release this mele, which now will stand as a beautiful legacy over the test of time.
Attendees of Jetʻaime's Senior Expo presentation in December were fortunate to get a first listen of the mele before it was finalized and released in May.
