ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — For Jack Taylor, summer is more than a collection of beach days, late-night drives and crowded parties.
It is also heartbreak, uncertainty, nostalgia and the quiet realization that the season will eventually end.
Taylor, an independent artist and producer from Orange County, California, explores those contrasts on his upcoming album, “HAGS,” short for “Have A Great Summer.” The 18-track project is expected to arrive in summer 2026.
“I wanted the album to feel like a real summer, not just the highlight reel,” Taylor said.
The project moves across EDM, melodic rap, hip-hop, pop, reggae and Latin-inspired sounds. Taylor, whose music is currently released under the name Jack Taylor Wellness on streaming platforms, said the variety reflects how he approaches songwriting.
Rather than deciding on a genre before starting a song, Taylor begins with the story or emotion and allows the production to develop around it.
“I don’t believe stories should be forced into one genre,” he said. “Every song starts with the story, and the sound follows.”
That philosophy has guided Taylor through a career he did not initially expect to have.
Born Brent Dennard, Taylor began making music as a producer. He was especially drawn to electronic dance music because of the technical demands involved in creating it. He studied melody, arrangement, sound design and mixing while learning how to build an emotional experience without relying on lyrics.
At the time, he had no plans to become the person behind the microphone.
“I never planned on becoming the vocalist,” Taylor said.
That changed as personal and professional experiences became harder to express through production alone. Instrumental music no longer felt like enough. Taylor began writing and recording his own vocals, using songs to process situations he did not want to debate publicly.
“Eventually, life gave me things that couldn’t stay instrumental,” he said.
Taylor said music became a form of therapy and a way to document his side of difficult experiences. He has written more than 100 response records and diss tracks, though he said the songs are rarely about traditional conflicts between artists.
Many respond to failed relationships, playlist companies, marketing agencies, industry scams and situations in which he felt independent musicians were being misled or exploited.
“When something happens to me, I don’t argue online,” Taylor said. “I write a record.”
He said the songs are not intended to destroy reputations or create controversy. Instead, they give him a healthier outlet for frustration while allowing listeners to connect with the emotion even when they do not know the full story.
Taylor believes a song should work on more than one level.
Listeners who know the background may hear additional meaning, he said, but the record should still be enjoyable for someone hearing it without context.
That balance is central to “HAGS.”
The album is designed to capture the energy commonly associated with summer, including open windows, warm evenings, road trips and social gatherings. But Taylor also made room for the more complicated moments that occur beneath the surface.
Some songs are built for celebration. Others focus on loneliness, relationships and personal reflection.
The result, Taylor said, is an album that feels closer to an actual season than a carefully edited version of one.
One of the project’s most meaningful tracks is “Blue Meanie,” a song tied to an early turning point in Taylor’s career.
The original version was released before he regularly sang on his own records. At that stage, Taylor often produced songs featuring female vocalists while remaining primarily behind the scenes.
After releasing “Blue Meanie,” Taylor went to sleep with a small number of monthly listeners. By the next morning, the song had gained thousands of streams and new listeners after being added to playlists.
The response was not massive by major-label standards, but it was significant to Taylor.
“That was the first moment I realized the music could find people on its own,” he said.
Bringing “Blue Meanie” back for “HAGS” allowed Taylor to revisit one of the earliest songs that gave him confidence in his work. He approached the new version with the experience he has gained through years of producing, writing and releasing music independently.
Taylor said his catalog has now generated more than 130 million streams across platforms. He said the growth was achieved without a record label, a major promotional team or a large advertising budget.
According to Taylor, he has spent less than $500 on promotion.
That unusual growth has created a situation in which many listeners know the songs before they know the artist.
“The music is finding people before they find me,” Taylor said.
The collaborative nature of “HAGS” also reflects the way Taylor’s music has become increasingly connected to his everyday life.
One song, “Riddem Things,” developed after Taylor discovered that his boss at his full-time job had previously played in bands and was an experienced guitarist.
She sent him musical ideas, and the two began experimenting with them. Those sessions eventually became a finished track.
“One of my favorite parts of the album is that my 9-to-5 world and music world unexpectedly crossed over,” Taylor said.
He typically keeps his professional and creative lives separate, but the album created space for those worlds to overlap.
“Work is work, music is music,” Taylor said. “But ‘HAGS’ became this place where real life started bleeding into the record.”
Other collaborations developed in similarly informal ways. Friends and people around Taylor contributed melodies, vocals and ideas that he later shaped into complete songs.
Taylor said that process is one of the parts of producing he enjoys most. A small moment in a room can become the foundation of a finished record.
Although he hopes “HAGS” introduces his work to a broader audience, Taylor said the album is not solely about commercial growth.
He would like to perform at major festivals, work with artists he admires and reach more listeners around the world. But he continues to view those achievements as consequences of the creative process rather than the reason for it.
“I don’t need people to listen to my music to survive,” Taylor said. “I need to make music to survive.”
For Taylor, “HAGS” is both a summer album and another chapter in a career that began unexpectedly.
The producer became the artist. Private experiences became public songs. And a catalog created largely without traditional industry support began reaching listeners around the world.
“Sometimes it results in a hit,” Taylor said. “Everything else that’s happening is happening because of that.”