Here’s an introduction to JAE.CI, the soprano, music director, educator, and performing artist also known as Jillian “Jae” Carelli. If you appreciate music that transcends traditional boundaries, you will find JAE.CI’s work both compelling and deeply personal. With a solid background in classical voice and training in piano, organ, flute, and harp, JAE.CI combines these varied musical experiences to create a different kind of classical and contemporary performance that invites you to hear stories that often go unheard.
As a singer/songwriter, JAE.CI dedicates their voice studio to empowering individuals silenced by stigma and society. Through this work, JAE.CI encourages you to embrace the power of vocal expression and sing your truth. This mission directly informs their artistic output, culminating in the release of their debut 7-track album, American Doll. This album offers you a genre-defying experience, exploring deeply personal narratives related to transracial and international adoption. The music captures the complexities and emotional layers of being an adoptee through powerful storytelling and vulnerability, available now on all streaming platforms.
You might be interested to know that JAE.CI’s inspiration for American Doll came in part from attending the Korean Adoptee/Adoptive Family Network Conference in 2023 alongside their sister. At the conference, they engaged with a session exploring the seven core issues of adoption: loss, loyalty, control, identity, abandonment, trust, and shame. These themes resonated strongly with their life experiences and informed the album’s conceptual framework, especially since some of the songs were already aligned with these ideas.
If you experience or want to learn about adoption from a fresh perspective, you will find that American Doll and JAE.CI’s solo musical narrative show, Homeward Bound, offers much insight. This show connects the emotional core of the album with storytelling that ranges from poignant to humorous, pairing intimate vocals with arrangements that span genres. Witness how JAE.CI challenges dominant narratives that have historically minimized adoptee voices and critiques for-profit adoption systems that commodify children.
A heartbreaking revelation reached JAE.CI in September 2024: South Korea, the world’s largest exporter of adopted children, had profited from their adoption, along with that of their siblings and over 250,000 others over the past 70 years (NYT, March 2025). You may relate to the frustration experienced when the dominant narrative suggested gratitude for being adopted—saved from poverty and hardship—while ignoring the adoptee’s pain. JAE.CI refuses to be silenced by this white savior complex, choosing instead to reclaim their story and sing their truth.
Through their art, JAE.CI embodies contrasts that may resonate with you personally, balancing their dual identity as Korean and Italian American, sacred and rebellious, studied, and spontaneous. The innovative fusion of classical and contemporary vocal techniques transforms American Doll into both a sonic journey and a cultural reckoning that invites you to explore complex identities and histories with an open heart and mind.
More Read
What first got you into music?
Symphonic music—I listened to the fugue of Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten and knew I had to follow the music for the rest of my life. I studied piano, flute, and harp, then pursued classical vocal performance for my undergraduate degree.
How would you describe your music—does it have rebellious, unconventional, or unusual elements?
I use a lot of religious metaphor and imagery in my lyrics and explore how Christianity and evangelism, as well as colonialism’s role in international adoption. I’ve rebelled against the religious themes that influenced my upbringing and my music career.
What are your future ambitions as a songwriter and musician?
I am hoping to continue performing and developing my solo show over the next year. I am in a master’s program in voice pedagogy and am focusing my research on teaching and supporting transgender voices and singers.
What is your current music project about?
My album’s concept is based around my experience as a Korean adoptee and my journey with the 7 core issues of adoption: rejection/abandonment, trust/intimacy, control/mastery, shame/guilt, loss/grief, loyalty/family, identity/belonging. I also wrote and programmed a two act solo show pairing the 7 songs from the album with 7 new classical works by modern composers, with narrative storytelling, which had a sold out premiere in NYC, and also a Boston premiere as well.
What has been the most challenging aspect of your current releases?
My music for this project is directly related to the source of my first and traumatic life experience. I have had a lot to process, especially when the PBS Frontline documentary came out last September as I was preparing the production process for the album and show. My experience is not just personal; it’s part of a greater political influence that shaped the lives of me, my 4 younger siblings, and hundreds of thousands of other international adopted people.
When did you start writing music?
I began writing music when I was 13 but shied away from it after writing one song and went the classical singing route out of fear. I returned to it 10 years later when I was 23 and wrote my song “Sugar” during the pandemic.
What strategies do artists in this industry employ to remain competitive amidst intense competition? What is the secret to making yourself noticed?
Stay in your own lane and focus on yourself and your message, and forget about competition. Create community and collaborate. There is room at the table for everyone, and if not, then go build your own table and welcome others to it. I have no time for competition when I could be connecting with other artists who inspire me to be my best and supporting my creative community—and that mentality has brought me endless support and success.
If you were to write an autobiography, what would the title be?
Cocaine in H Mart- This is a part of my narrative show, so when you see it, you will get it ????
You are a new addition to a crayon box. What color would you be and why?
some shade of green or gray—crayons are also a part of my narrative show, so come see why ????
What actor would play you in a movie about your life?
Sabrina Joy Jieafa.
What is your most expensive piece of clothing?
I am so proud of my thrift finds—I found a pair of Chloe boots (retailing at $595.00) at the Buffalo Exchange in Somerville MA and snagged them for $75.
If you had to describe yourself as a flavor, what would it be?
Omija- the 5 flavor Korean berry—sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory.
