Dressed in sweats and a baseball cap, it would’ve been easy to confuse the singer for a student at Point Loma Nazarene University. But taking center stage on Jan. 11 was Jordy Searcy, a local songwriter who has amassed over 93 million Spotify streams on his 2018 hit, “Love & War in Your Twenties.” That night, the courtyard between Rohr Science and Sator Hall was transformed into a stage scattered with speakers and guitars.
The “Welcome Back Spring Concert” was hosted by PLNU’s Associated Student Body (ASB) as a way to kick off the new semester. With churros and yerba mates being handed out on Caf Lane and live music steps away in the courtyard, between 200 and 300 students were in attendance, according to Josh Hamman, ASB director of activities. Kathy Lee, director of student experience at PLNU, said the event was a success.
“Jordy has been a great local artist to work with and has had a lot of interest in continuing to come back and partner with Point Loma,” Lee said in an email interview. “He is always eager to bring a great experience for our students and always works with us to meet our needs.”
Searcy said he’s lost count of how many times he’s played at PLNU, but has played a show every January for the past few years leading up to the release of a new record. He said this year was no different.
“I’m about to put out a new record called ‘Mt. Tam’ at the end of the month,” Searcy said. “I love the tradition of trying the songs from the new record out for the Point Loma homies.”
As he performed new songs, including his recent single “Lost Boy,” students got a preview of the upcoming album set to release on Jan. 30. Searcy also surprised fans with two special guests, Julianna Zachariou and SHUA, which is the first time he’s brought other artists with him to a PLNU show.
“[Zachariou and SHUA are] two amazing artists and close buddies of mine from San Diego,” Searcy said. “I just love playing songs for the people of Point Loma, and it’s always a wonderful time.”
Lee said that Searcy has been a great artist to work with for the past few years. Hamman echoed this.
“Kathy and I both have a passion to help and promote, and give opportunities to local bands and businesses, especially when they are so easy to work with and love Loma,” Hamman said in an email interview. “It was a pretty easy decision [to bring him back].”
Vivyan Gripp, a third-year mechanical engineering major, said it was her first time seeing Searcy in concert and thought the event was fun.
“I got to see a bunch of friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, and the music was good,” Gripp said. “I usually don’t listen to his genre … so it was a unique experience.”
Lee and Hamman said they hope to have more events like this in the future.
“We’re exploring what the spring start will continue to look like moving forward,” Lee said. “I think orientation & ASB hopes to collaborate to be able to have a fun welcoming experience for new students and welcome back experience for returning students moving forward.”
