Jae Jin was never supposed to make it to 42. Diagnosed at 17 with a terminal rare illness and given two months to live, the Seoul-born, Virginia-based singer-songwriter went through experimental chemotherapy twice in five years. He left a path toward an MD/MBA to instead pursue music full-time at the age of 30, believing his time was short. Today he’s a two-time survivor with a fifth album just released. ‘Praying With Eyes Open,’ preceded by two singles, the gentle and luminous “Through The Waves” and the playful, upbeat “Crayons,” which are both out now with their respective music videos.
“Through The Waves is the first single, and the first track, on the album and is a peaceful acoustic-driven song that I wrote about my own struggle with and through my own faith journey,” Jin says. “It’s about acknowledging that there are highs and lows in life but that in times of darkness, I can still remember what I believed in light.”
The chorus says it beautifully: “I need the night to see the stars that slumber away / With you by my side, tomorrow’s better than today.” Cellist Matt Butler, who also tours with Maren Morris and Kirk Franklin, glides over simple acoustic guitars, while a haunting slide guitar drifts through the background. Jin co-produced the album with his friend and longtime mentee Aaron Hayes. Hayes played acoustic, electric and slide guitars, bass, drums, piano and percussion, arranged strings, sang backing vocals and engineered, mixed and mastered the songs on the album.
The album exists thanks to Jin’s fans. Jae launched his first Kickstarter campaign since his 2015 debut, with an all or nothing goal of $20,000.
“I was uneasy and uncertain about whether I could reach my goal,” Jin says, “but to my surprise, in the first two days we reached my goal and, in the end, ended up raising $34,000. While the finances sound nice, to me what was most compelling was that so many supporters and friends told me that this was a representation of the fact that my supporters and fan base believed in the quality of the prior music and in what would be delivered.”
Kickstarter gave the campaign its “Projects We Love” badge, and Jin spent the summer of 2026 recording in Nashville with Hayes. Every note was played by real musicians on vintage microphones and analog gear.
“Amidst all the craziness of AI and lack of authenticity in music, the underlying idea behind this album musically was to once again create a body of work that would be timeless and made completely by human beings,” he says. “For all of my albums in the past, I have never used samples, beats or fake instruments.”
Lyrically, ‘Praying With Eyes Open’ circles one big theme.
“I wanted to pull together a body of work that challenges listeners to think about what they believe especially in the context of the one common denominator that none of us can buy more of… which is time,” Jin says.
That theme runs through the whole record. On the playful “Crayons,” “even the broken ones…still color the same.” “All Creation Groans” was written for his wife after she lost her father. “Walking Each Other Home” is a tribute to his late friend Daniel, who died of cancer before Jin could play it for him. “Bittersweet” came straight from his journal, with reflections on his life at this point in time.
“My illness story is centered around my going into music full-time at the age of 30 because I was supposed to die in my 30s,” he says. “As someone that somehow made it to 42, I wanted to write from an honest place of how with every challenge and thorn, there is also a blessing. Life truly is bittersweet.”
Since 2015, Jin has independently released four albums: ‘Kairos,’ ‘Baltimore Boulevard,’ ‘Letters and Drinks’ and ‘The Seasons In Between.’ His songs have earned GRAMMY consideration on every one of them, most recently “Lifelines Always Have Two Ends,” considered in three categories including Song of the Year. “11:11” won the John Lennon Songwriting Award, and he has also taken 1st place in the International Songwriting Competition. His music has appeared in more than 100 Korean dramas and TV shows, and he has been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday Christian and Acoustic Coffeehouse editorial playlists, as well as K-LOVE playlists. He has played nearly 800 concerts in cities across North America, Europe and Asia. Along the way he has sung on The Voice, acted in House of Cards, given a TEDx talk and taught contemporary vocals and songwriting at NYU Steinhardt. Atwood Magazine said his voice “appeals to the deepest part of our souls.”
The album was released on November 6, which was also his birthday. It’s one more year Jae Jin was never promised, and he’s spending it singing about holding on through the waves.
YouTube | Spotify | Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram