The Thornton School of Music is a melting pot of talent and creativity, housing students from all over the globe. For the class of 2027, one of those rising stars did not have to travel far to wow the audiences of Los Angeles and beyond.

Jordyn Diew, a freshman majoring in popular music performance, hails from the city of Oakland. Diew zeroed in on being a musician in middle school after a rejection from another school put her on the path to performance.

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“I wanted to go to this school my brother went to [that focused on] tech, computer science … I’m not that, so I didn’t get into the school,” Diew said. “My mom was like, ‘Why don’t you go to this art school?’… I auditioned for vocal, and I got in.”

Even before she was born, though, it seemed Diew was destined for the arts and had a knack for music. Diew’s mother, Danine Manette, spoke of her daughter’s earlier signs of stardom.

“When I was pregnant with her, I put Beethoven on my stomach … When she was in her crib, I would turn [on] classical musical tracks,” Manette said. “She always had an incredible imagination, and she was able to beat on pots and pans rhythmically, but I didn’t really see the vocal part coming.”

A witness to Diew’s quick evolution as an artist was her piano and vocal tutor Melanie Rath-Keyes. She first gave Diew piano lessons in Oakland, but soon heard some of the promise and potential in her vocal abilities.

“Her mom enrolled her in piano, and I could tell that she was musical … and I knew that she could sing in tune,” Rath-Keyes said. “I could tell that she had a nice sound to her voice, and she seemed to be very connected when she sang.”

Soon enough, all those around her started to notice Diew’s vocal talent but were also becoming aware of her passion for writing her own songs.

“She had composed a song for her grandmother who had passed … It was so good that I put that as her second piece in [her second ever] recital,” Rath-Keyes said. “She’s telling stories [and] writing them sometimes for people, as a gift.”

Rath-Keyes also spoke on how varied the themes Diew covers in her songwriting are. She said Diew does not shy away from putting herself out there and doesn’t restrict herself to one genre or mold, evoking emotion with profound lyrics in some of her released songs so far.

“[Diew’s songs] weren’t imaginary fluff love songs,” Rath-Keyes said. “She always had a backstory to it … It was telling the story of someone else’s experience or telling the story of something she experienced.”

Her most streamed song to date, “Merry Go Round,” speaks on volatile emotions, feelings of overwhelming pressure and the cyclical nature of some of these thoughts. In another powerful piece, “Eggshells,” Diew is unafraid of being vulnerable, talking about sensitivity coupled with confusion, and always being aware of the emotions of others and her effect on them.

However, even at Oakland School for the Arts, a combined middle and high school dedicated to 10 different artistic disciplines such as Theatre and Vocal Music, not everyone shared her same ambitions and goals. This, Diew said, differs from Thornton, where the best and brightest all seek the same flagpole as her: being a professional musical artist.

“Here, everyone wants to be a singer. You already can start making and forming relationships with people … who actually want to make this a career goal,” Diew said. “I definitely can already see how it’s like the entertainment industry in a way.”

Another aspect of USC’s music program that Diew highlights is how professors encourage her to go beyond her usual style and into situations she has never experienced before.

“I’m getting taught how to interact with the audience, and the style of music that they’re having us learn is way different than any things that I’ve ever done before in the past,” Diew said. “They’re really pushing us to get out of our comfort zones.”

Diew hopes to keep writing impactful music that reaches beyond her community. Rath-Keyes said that no matter where she goes, Diew will always be a strong representative for the place she grew up.

“She’s a good spirit,” Rath-Keyes said. “She has a very high bar … She lived in the real walks of Oakland, went to school downtown, lived right in the heart and always held herself well, and represented Oakland with the best of what we can hope for.”