Milwaukee Artist, Jake Budke, to Release New EP “Heart Break Hurts, I Know”

Jake Budke, 20, is an up-and-coming Milwaukee artist who did not start singing until high school and now will be releasing his first extended play called “Heart Break Hurts, I Know” on all streaming music platforms January 4, 2022.  

Born in Minnesota and lived in London for five years, Budke resides as a third-year student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is studying Biology with a plan to attend physician assistant school to focus on sleep medicine or neurology.  

“Honestly, my dreams are a little different than most artists want. Every artist wants to drop out of school and become a millionaire,” said Budke, “The only reason I make music is because it’s the one thing in life I can control and love. A way for me to put my emotions online.” 

Growing up, Budke took piano lessons starting at the age of four and fell in love instantly. It was not until his sophomore year of high school that his father forced him to take choir, Budke thought it was stupid. It was here that he started to learn how to sing and eventually started writing songs.  

“I started writing terrible lyrics in high school. It didn’t get better until sophomore year of college for songs that I could release and enjoy,” said Budke. “The songs that are my best songs, I create in five minutes or less. That’s when lyrics hit me straight on and it just keeps flowing. Then it’s like a masterpiece at the end.” 

The song writing process differs for artists, but Budke channeled his inner emotions of heart break from high school for this extended play. He sometimes grabs objects in his room, analyzes them and starts creating lyrics from there. He will sit down and start to write down what has gone wrong in life, from there he will start to write a song.  

“I want to take what other people have gone through so they can feel connection through the music,” said Budke. “There is always light at the end of the tunnel, I promise.” 

After writing the song, Budke puzzles together the song by adding drumbeats and synthesizers. From there, he took it to a recording studio in Minnesota where he recorded the vocal tracks and had a producer help mix and master the piece.  

“He is able to put into words the feelings you can’t normally describe,” says Kimmy Nelson, one of Budke’s peers at UWM.  

Since his last single release, “Don’t Need You”, the most important lesson Budke learned about his music was that he needed to start writing for himself and not for others. This upcoming extended play will consist of five new songs.