We were lucky to catch up with KRAUZER recently and have shared our conversation below.
KRAUZER, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
From a young age, I felt an undeniable pull toward creativity. I was always in plays, making music, and building worlds in my mind.
As a teenager, life shifted in many ways, but my drive to create never dimmed. Singing became my deepest desire, not for recognition, but because it gave me a sense of joy and freedom nothing else could. I wasn’t born with a natural gift for it, but that only pushed me to work harder, to study and grow.
Before I turned 20, I took some time to ask myself, “what kind of future do I want?” The more I thought, the clearer it became: this wasn’t a choice. Ignoring the call to create left me with regret, while following it gave me purpose. I realized I would rather try, fail, and pour everything I have into my art than live with the weight of never pursuing it.
That’s when I understood—this wasn’t just something I could do. It was something I had to do.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up surrounded by music in public school. I played violin in the orchestra and eventually sang in choir. A high school trip to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City lit a spark in me. I knew then I wanted to live in New York someday and pursue music. Years later, at a breaking point in my life, I abruptly left my small West Coast town with no money and no safety net, but with the determination to build a new life from scratch.
When I arrived, a close and very special sponsor helped me attend a one-year music production and audio engineering program in NYC. That experience gave me the tools to take full control of my sound and refine the work I had already been chasing for years.
Now, I’m preparing to release my debut EP and an accompanying short film in 2026. Every detail from writing, producing, and composing to recording and finalizing, has been done by me. Through my photography and video business, KRAUZER HAUS, I’ll also be handling the visual side of the project. It’s been nearly a decade practicing music, training my ear, learning to sing, failing and trying again, and finally shaping songs I’m proud to share. The album will be called “Run”, with the very modest and somber first single, “Time to Leave”, out now.
The album follows my journey from leaving home to arriving in New York. It traces heartbreak, grief, survival, but also wonder, love, and hope. Sonically, I fuse electronic and acoustic textures into a cinematic-pop sound designed to elevate the emotion in the lyrics. My falsetto is something I worked tirelessly to develop and it is at the heart of the record. I’ve always been drawn to the vulnerability and power of my higher register, and I wanted to capture that intimacy and rawness in my voice.
My background as a violinist also shaped how I compose. I had the opportunity to co-develop two albums (Secrets & Magic / Lost & Found) for the Summoned Series (by author M.B. Thurman), performed by Cherish Danae. Those orchestral, cinematic projects stretched my skills far beyond my own work and gave me a different palette to draw from.
For me, being an artist isn’t about fitting into a single box—musician, photographer, or producer. It’s about vision. I learn whatever it takes to bring that vision to life. My goal is to create a career that unfolds like a story, almost like a television series, where each album is a new season but all connect into one larger arc.
From someone who once could barely hold a note to now creating a complete, honest, and high-quality body of work, it’s proof of what this journey of passion, persistence, and imagination can build.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One thing a mentor told me after my program was, “You’re going to need some time to unlearn everything you’ve been taught.”
For years I focused on technique, theory, milestones, and structure. But eventually, I realized that if I stayed in that mindset, I’d lose the very reason I started making music in the first place. I had to relearn how to let go—how to use all those skills as tools, not rules.
That meant giving myself permission to follow intuition instead of perfection. To let the music lead me somewhere unexpected. To stop polishing something endlessly and accept that there’s no “perfect” version, only an honest one. At the end of the day, it’s not about proving technical ability for me. It’s about creating something meaningful and connecting with myself and others. That’s the lesson I had to unlearn, and it’s something I keep coming back to every time I sit down to create.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Two books that deeply impacted my creative and entrepreneurial mindset are Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Big Magic changed the way I view myself and the role of an artist. Gilbert talks about how ideas, stories, and inventions choose us, almost like living forces looking for someone willing to bring them into reality. If you don’t act on an idea, it will move on to someone else. That perspective helped me break down my ego and see creativity as less about control and more about showing up with consistency and intention. I compare ideas (whether it’s a story, song, business, invention, painting, etc.) to a block of stone waiting to be carved. The statue is already there, but it’s our job to reveal it. That shift reminded me that my responsibility is simply to honor the work by showing up, not by forcing perfection.
The War of Art was another turning point. It put words to the contradictions and struggles that come with pursuing a creative career—the resistance, the doubts, the traps. It also challenged me to recognize how easily the joy of making art can be lost if the focus shifts too much toward money or external validation. Pressfield’s message helped me see that creating from love and discipline—not fear or pressure—is the only way to sustain this path.
Together, these books taught me the importance of defining my North Star. When I start to slip, face setbacks, or lose clarity, I return to that bigger purpose, and it always guides me back to the path I’m meant to walk.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.iamkrauzer.com
- Instagram: @iamkrauzer ( https://www.instagram.com/iamkrauzer/ )
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamkrauzer
- Other: My music is available under the artist name KRAUZER.
Here is my first song (available on streaming): https://artists.landr.com/056870471419My photography and video business I mentioned earlier (KRAUZER HAUS), if you want, has a website as well: www.krauzerhaus.com
Here is music I’ve recently collaborated on (summoned Series):
https://www.mbthurman.com/music
Image Credits
Cover / main photo was me through my business KRAUZER HAUS
Image 3 & 5 are also me through my business KRAUZER HAUS
Image 4 is Dakota with the @twilightphotogpraher on instagram