Kirby Jamail has been a fan of the DJ duo the Jane Doze for four years now. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2013, the fitness instructor from Houston, Texas listened to the Jane Doze to help her make it through.
"It was love at first mashup,” Jamail told the Daily Dot in an email. “I kept up with The Doze on Soundcloud for a couple of years and used their tracks in the group exercise classes I taught. Their music then and now constantly leaves me with good vibes, energy always up and just straight happy.”The Jane Doze, which is comprised of Jen Mozenter and Claire Schlissel, usually specializes in killer mashups. But in April the duo released its debut single, “Lights Go Down," featuring Curtains. On Monday, the duo released a special video featuring Jamail.
Mozenter and Schlissel first interacted with Jamail via Twitter in late September 2013.
"Almost a month into my cancer, I was catching up via telephone to a close friend in Cali[fornia,]" Jamail told the Daily Dot. "One of the topics was how excited he was that he just started working with a DJ Duo in NYC and when he mentioned their name, I was jumbling words and couldn't get them out fast enough. Fast forward, Jen and Claire used Twitter to send me a note for health and well wishes. I was on Cloud 9!"
Shortly thereafter, Jamail sent a video of one of the duo's songs being played at a breast cancer bike ride organized by friends and family in her honor. "I wanted them to know that their music was reaching something bigger a few hundred miles away."After Mozenter and Schlissel realized just how big of a fan Jamail was of their work, they decided to surprise her at her studio. She was invited on stage to join them at the show, and from there a friendship blossomed.
After their initial meeting, Mozenter and Schlissel sent Jamail on a First Descents trip, which are outings organized for young people struggling with cancer. They even traveled to New York City together this winter.
"Meeting Kirby was one of the most exciting and inspiring moments of our entire career," the Jane Doze said in a joint comment to the Daily Dot via email.
"Kirby is this video," they added. "She brings the song to life. We are so grateful to her for letting us be a part of her journey, and feel incredibly lucky to have her in our lives. She is strong, resilient, graceful and kind - and she inspires us to keep our heads up..even when the lights go down."
While Twitter often gets a bad rap for empowering trolls and giving people a platform to share ignorant views, Jamail is grateful for the medium. After all, it helped connect her with her heroes."I'm actually not a big Twitter user at all. Not the slightest bit," she said. "I should consider jumping on the wagon though, possibly! I mean, it did connect us to one another. Hello, Twitter. Thank you for being invented."
Screengrab via The Jane Doze/YouTube