From Boyhood to Boy Band: Where Sunrise Academy Started
Yakob Dye (left) and Julian Jordan (right)
Yakob Dye and Julian Jordan are not brothers by blood, but the bond that binds them runs deeper than family ties ever could. A chance meeting at summer camp blossomed into a lifelong friendship—and a career devoted to keeping the spirit of their childhood alive.
The Start
Born in Ethiopia, Yakob Dye found a new home in Texas when the Dye family adopted him at the age of four. He was surrounded by siblings, being one of ten kids in his rambunctious childhood home. He took piano lessons throughout his youth, fostering a lifelong love of music.
By the time he got to college, he was mixing melodies and writing songs with his older brother, Donny. They formed a band together, calling themselves Domino Effekt. Their sound, which combined a synthetic and organic energy, brought listeners into a state of melancholic zen; perfect for vibing alone or setting the tone for a relaxing evening with friends.
His love of producing didn’t stop there. He began making music under his own name, Yakob Dye. He decided to share his story on social media through a swipeable series of images set to his own music. The engaging post went viral and he soon had nearly 50 million eyes on him.
Julian’s upbringing is not dissimilar to Yakobs. His mother was in a rock band that had success in the early 2000’s called Polyphonic Spree. “I don't think I had one day growing up that I wasn't listening to music all the time,” he reflected. He spent most of his childhood backstage at shows or in a studio with his mom. Melody and harmony enveloped his DNA from the start.
At a church summer camp, Yakob and Julian met and instantly clicked, their shared love of music becoming the bond that tied them together. Playing guitar fireside would become the heartbeat of their future sound as a band; a warm nostalgia for childhood memories and a familiar longing for summer.
Building the Band
After camp, Julian and Yakob would continue to make music together. They’d jam at Julian’s place in Dallas or Julian would make the 3 hour trek to College Station where Yakob was attending college. They only managed to pump out one song per year due to the distance and the busy nature of life.
After Yakob’s graduation from Texas A&M, he and Julian decided to chase music full-time. Yakob moved to Dallas, and soon their shared home became a nightly workshop of sound, rhythm, and inspiration.
They started out calling themselves ‘Sol and Dye’, making music that was more rap leaning. ‘Sol’ is Julian’s middle name, and even though the edgy title ‘Sol and Dye’ likely paired well with the type of music they were creating, it wasn’t quite right. I asked the duo how they found their sound and Julian chimed in: “I think it comes from just like the summer camp vibe,” he noted, tracing back their roots to where they first met.
Obviously, the duo decided to not keep the name ‘Sol and Dye’, so I was curious how they came up with Sunrise Academy. Julian explained that while on a roadtrip across Texas, they were workshopping names and already had a long list of options. “There was a daycare in the middle of Texas and it said Sunshine Kids Academy and I was like ‘that’s kind of cool,’ so I wrote it down. It was too long though.” They shortened the name and played around with a few ideas before finally landing on Sunrise Academy.
They started releasing music under this new name and were slowly gaining some traction with it. They spent a few years dropping a single song annually, but eventually Yakob knew they needed to do more than just release music—they had to promote it.
Yakob was still working on his own music at this time. He reflected on that time and the vision for their work. “I remember I called Julian and I was like ‘Dude we’re making like one song a year. What would happen if we just promoted it?’ Because we would do one Instagram post like every three months and then take it down because it wouldn't do anything.”
They made a music video for ‘Peace of Mind’ and “got a second wind”, as Julian called it. Yakob had decided to post something for his personal music account. “I was like why do I make music? It’s all to tell a story. It’s very personal, and what’s more personal than my story.”
After his post went viral, gaining a whopping 45 million views, he decided to try the same method with Sunrise Academy’s Tiktok. “Why don’t I tell the story of us– Our brotherhood?” he thought. Once again, the views and likes started flooding in.
The amusing aspect of the clever marketing campaign they had launched was the ambiguity of the story. You wouldn’t necessarily know where the story was going as you swiped through photos of the two young friends. The music's playing in the background but you don't realize what's going on until the very end.
“Everyone was like, ‘What’s next—are they getting married?’” Yakob laughed. “Almost all of them were like, ‘This is so cute.’” Their promotion plan rocked their world as they gained thousands of followers through a simple story of friendship and music.
Sunrise Academy started ripping out hit after hit with songs like ‘Wondering Why”, ‘Dinner Date’, and ‘Sunkissed.’ They told me the story of how they created Dinner Date, working on melodies and beats over facetime when Yakob was still in College Station.
“I came over to his house. I remember we were making the song in his studio and some friends from College Station were in the other room,” Julian reflected.
“We were making the song. It was like three in the morning, and for some reason, they were still there. They came inside and they were like, ‘I already know the whole song. I already memorized it.’ They liked it that much.” Dinner Date currently has 4.8 million streams on Spotify.
They continued to post consistently for a year and the results were spectacular. They started receiving emails from labels and agents around the US. “We didn’t know what we were doing, we just knew we weren’t signing anything. So the first thing was to get a lawyer,” Yakob stated.
They were introduced to a lawyer who eventually connected them with their now manager, Matt. “He’s the chillest guy,” Julian expressed. “He worked with us for a year and never asked for a dime.” Sunrise Academy was on the map.
Julian and Yakob would answer emails and meet with labels over the phone while on their lunch breaks or in between customers at their respective jobs. Yakob works in sales in Dallas and has a very flexible work schedule which allows him to continue pushing Sunrise Academy’s presence online and workshop new music.
Julian noted that he had a few hard years working in different industries and was even unemployed for a time. He reflected on that time with a serious tone, “It's a mental thing. Like your structure starts to slip–It was tough. To be honest, it kind of gave me inspiration to show up for Sunrise, but it was a testing time.” He ended up going back to school online and obtained a communications degree from Lamar University.
With their music gaining traction and their monthly listeners climbing by the day, they were finally starting to see their hard work pay off. Literally.
With the dividends from their endeavors streaming in, Julian was able to pay off his college debt, his car, ensure rent was covered, and still had some left over to put into savings.
The reality of their success started to weigh heavy on their shoulders. They both expressed that they wanted to stay true to their story and their vision, no matter what the follower count looked like.
They pointed out that some artists make music purely for the money—and you can hear the lack of heart in it. For Julian and Yakob, it’s essential that every song carries a piece of their soul. “The stuff we make comes from a place of authenticity. I think I'm doing myself a disservice if I betray that,” Julian remarked.
He continued, “You can slowly start comparing. I've started to realize that I have to stop looking at that stuff. It's going to sound so cringe, but you have to just believe in what you do. It's almost like a delusional self-belief. Like I know that what I'm going to do is good.”
I asked them what it has been like seeing their online success and watching the views, comments, and likes climb higher every day. “I think people think going viral is like, you start floating or something. But it's really just kind of quiet,” Julian stated.
Yakob chimed in, “You write music because it gives you this nostalgic feeling and then suddenly, you just post a silly video and now 50 million people are like, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing.’” “It's weird to think about that,” he continued. “You're like, dude, what the heck? I literally just recorded this with a pizza on my lap.”
Their favorite releases so far include “Dinner Date,” “Wondering Why,” and “Skeletons” which is from their latest EP, Big and Strong. “Wondering Why was like the first real song we wrote together and I can picture literally every day when we wrote it,” Yakob reflected.
“We were getting Sonic slushes, eating pizza and playing Fortnite, and then we would just hop in the studio and be talking about some girl that you see on the beach.”
He continued, “That's probably why Skeletons is our favorite too. Because I remember when we wrote that song, I ran to Julian's house and it was a cold night. We were just drinking some beers and making music. We made it in one night.”
The two friends have built a community of like-minded people searching for an escape into the nostalgia and simplicity of childhood. “I feel like everyone's a kid inside of an adult's body.” Julian said with a soft smile.
I wondered if they had any creative differences that would cause them to butt heads in the studio. “I wouldn't really call them differences, but we have a lot of creative blending that we do,” Julian added poetically. “I’m good at playing instruments and figuring out harmonies and he’s good at finding the melody, but he's also good at camera work. He's so good at seeing the vision and making things on video,” Yakob pointed out.
Julian's many talents extend not only to music, but also cinematography and videography. A high quality camera that he bought to use for personal film work has been the star of their music videos of late. Clearly, the creative genes were given in spades with these two.
They find inspiration from life’s simple pleasures like escaping into nature, a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning, or the kiss of sunlight on a summer day. They expressed that nature has been a huge asset to their creative flow.
Julian reminisced about a night he and Yakob spent on the Dye family’s land, tucked away in the Texas countryside. “We went and camped out there and it was crazy the amount of perspective change I had just in being able to see the stars again.” He left me a piece of advice for anyone needing a fresh outlook: “Go to the country. Be in silence. See what comes to you in it.”
Current
The duo now has nearly 80,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and almost 570,000 followers on their Tiktok account with 20 million likes to boot.
They are currently working on an EP that will be released next spring called ‘Don’t Miss the Field Trip’. “It's bright and fun, but it's also a little more grounded in adulthood–It's basically a collection of songs that are about maintaining innocence as an adult,” Julian explained with bright eyes.
“I can't believe we're working on an album already,” he continued. “That's something that was a shock to me in the music industry; how quick paced it is. When you drop something, people want to see what's next.”
Sunrise Academy hopes to be able to travel the world with their music one day, but for now, they are focusing on hitting the stage, playing shows, and meeting the fans who’ve been streaming their songs on repeat.
“We're going to do a lot of college shows. We're going to play at A&M. It's time to see the 5 million people who are streaming it,” Yakob said excitedly.
I asked the guys if they had anything they wanted to relay to their avid listeners and all the people that have supported them over the years. They had this to say: “We’re grateful, we don’t take it for granted, and there’s more coming.”
They also wanted to note that “they really are best friends”. “That’s not a game; I literally live with him,” Julian teased.
Final Thoughts
From the quiet woods of a Texas summer camp and the strum of a guitar, a brotherhood grew into a band beloved by hundreds of thousands worldwide. The warm energy of Sunrise Academy refreshes memories of childhood and invites nostalgia in like a tight hug. Each song is crafted to awaken the inner adolescence and wrap listeners in a youthful whimsy that keeps their feet moving to the beat.
As they spoke about their music, it was evident to me that this band means the world to them. I was inspired by their passion and it gave me a renewed sense of purpose with my own endeavors.
It’s not hard to find inspiration in the stories of young artists—Those who do what they love regardless of any outcome. Sunrise Academy began when two friends making music for fun realized they could create something bigger than themselves. They bonded over a shared love for the innocence and simplicity of childhood — and knew their audience would feel the same.
Sunrise Academy is poised to become a familiar sound in households across the country — and, if their track record is any indication, around the world. Wherever the next few years take them, Yakob and Julian will keep crafting music true to themselves — authentic, spirited, and impossible not to move to.
