Imagine you’re on a long drive; you don’t know where you’re coming from and you don’t know where you’re going. You’re in your own head, trying to find out who and where you are. Your only point of reference is this stupid little gas station in front of you.

At just under 7,000 streams on Spotify, Jamie Aronson’s first song release called “Stupid Little Gas Station” paints this ominous picture. Aronson, a junior double majoring in music and film and media studies, uses the stage name Shortcake for her music career. Shortcake, which comes from a combination of various nicknames, encapsulates Aronson’s sweet and bubbly personality.

“I like to write stories,” explained Aronson. “I woke up in the middle of the night during [winter] break and I couldn’t fall back to sleep, so this idea just popped into my head about just being in quarantine and those days when you’re just mindlessly driving and you keep filling up your gas with no destination in particular.”

The song was made in the two weeks before fall semester finals. After Aronson created the chord progression, she started messing around with vocals, melodies and harmonies. The darker twist in the storyline of the song stems from a dream she had, which inspired her so much that she finished the lyrics within the day. “Stupid Little Gas Station” was eventually submitted as a final project for Aronson’s digital music studio course.

Aronson’s current schedule is consumed by music. She’s taking five courses this semester, four of which are music-related. She plans on focusing her independent study next spring on making her own music. Around campus, she’s involved in other musical activities such as singing in Colgate University Chorus and co-hosting a show on WRCU called “Vinyl Countdown.”

With music theory, composition in historical styles and modern composition classes under her belt, Aronson is able to apply bits and pieces from her education here at Colgate to her budding music career. The intersection of academics and this passion project allows Aronson to find what works for her.

 “It wasn’t a balance between school work and producing music, it was more of them working hand in hand. That was one thing that I’m really grateful for because if I had to balance school work and making music like how I am now, it would’ve been harder for my first song. Now that I know what to do, it makes it a little easier,” Aronson says.

Aronson says she can’t pinpoint the specific genre of her music, opting instead to float the lines of many stylistic elements across genres.

“I’m definitely in the realm of experimental pop but I also like to mess around with synths and I like all of the electronic stuff. I play piano and guitar and whatnot but I like to do it with the software I have called Logic.” 

Aronson is still figuring out who Shortcake is. To follow her developing journey, you can stream her music on all platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube by searching “Shortcake.” Her next song, Alter Ego, comes out on March 12 and can be pre-saved on Spotify.