We were lucky to catch up with Arjun Singh recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Arjun thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

One of the kindest experiences in my music journey has been the support of someone who I would consider a father figure, a man named Kamran. I met Kamran randomly in Hollywood several years ago during one of my trips, and he graciously offered me to stay at his house so I could focus on writing during my time(s) there. Him being from an Iranian family, and myself Indian – I was lucky to have someone fall into my life the way he did. He is someone who has helped guide me and help maintain my roots and sense of self along this journey.

Arjun, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My journey in music started very early, from adolescence through high school, and I was very clear on remaining committed to it long term in one form or another. It is truly what I love and I never want to take it for granted. As far as breaking into music as an industry, my honest answer is that there never was or has been one specific break. It’s been a collection of pieces and moments. When I was still in high school, the internet scene of music had only just started, and I remember naively reaching out to established industry people simply through myspace, by which to my surprise – many responded. One of them became one of my best friends of many years and a positive influence in my life to this day [ DJ Jamad ] who was an original member of the Aphilliates with Don Cannon and DJ Drama in Atlanta.

I pushed myself to take small trips where it seemed relevant, such as to LA. In the early days of innocently leaving home to see however I could find connections, one such thing I crossed paths with was a program and national circuit known as iStandard. The best way for me to describe iStandard would be a music producer’s version of American Idol, but with more of a focus on the inner music industry community. The events were held in clubs, concert rooms, and stages at major cities with industry decision makers present. I was lucky to win my first event in Chicago, and to appear subsequently in New York, Colorado, and at home in Michigan when they would visit Detroit. Through this experience I also gained one of the most important people in my life, my engineer and music mentor Brian Cabanatuan. Much of the modern trap and drill that has become so popular, is a sound originally molded by Brian in the early days of the scene when it was first becoming popular in Chicago. In the early days of us meeting I even discovered Brian had engineered some of the biggest ( and my favorite ) records I had grown up on in high school.

I have come to believe one of the biggest themes of my life to be ‘connection through meaning’. I really believe the people that have come to stay in my life are no accident. What they mean to me and their role in my music is something very hard for me to explain beyond the fact that I honestly can’t explain it. It all just feels very full circle. Fast forward to today, I’m currently very fortunate to be developing and writing music through the founding partner of iStandard, Don Dinapoli. In this regard, I feel simply lucky for the people who have come my way and stayed.

As far as being proud, that’s simply not the kind of person I am. I guess the only real pride I even have is in my ethics and my integrity related to music as a business, and how I believe in caring about others. As much as I love music, I don’t believe in the idea of competition. I’m not a star, nor do I want to be. For me, my music is about the perspective I hope to contribute to both the culture and community of music as a whole, and to ultimately leave something behind which adds to the bigger picture. In other words, my music is bigger than myself.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I unlearned through my journey in music was realizing there really is no right way to do anything. This is something growing up in the Midwest and modern schooling that I think was a common theme for my friends and I when we were kids and even going through college. While the education I received gave me a solid foundation, it was the lessons I learned outside of it which proved to be the most valuable. My music experiences have exposed me to things and people I simply never would have encountered by restricting my education solely to school. While I was fortunate to have a formal education, my music education is an education no amount of money can ever buy.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

To me I think it would be incredible if more schools could build programs similar to the USC Iovine and Young academy. As an alumni of UofM, a program like theirs is something I would have loved to have had the opportunity to graduate through. I love learning, and I am very much a nerd at heart. With that said, my relationship with school was always a painful one because it conflicted with the creative in me, and I never felt at home in any classroom. The closest thing to enjoying school, particularly in college – was my art history classes.

Contact Info:

• Website: arjunsinghjohar.com
• Instagram: @arjunsinghjohar

Image Credits
Emma Burcusel