Check Out ARISHA’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to ARISHA.

Hi ARISHA, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am one of those very lucky people who knew exactly what they wanted to do from a very early age. I’m only 24, but I’ve been pursuing music for almost 20 years.

When I was four years old, I heard a beautiful song in a movie and became completely obsessed with it. I kept singing it over and over until my mom realized I might actually have something. She took me to a vocal school in my hometown, Saratov, Russia, where they normally didn’t accept children that young. Somehow, the teachers and the director were so fascinated by me that they made an exception. By five, I was already performing, and throughout my childhood I was constantly rehearsing, dancing, singing, and performing. At one point, I was doing close to 100 performances a year.

Then puberty came, and I lost my singing voice. I couldn’t imagine giving up music, though. So instead, I picked up the saxophone, which changed my whole life.

I started as a classical saxophone player, joined a local orchestra, and eventually traveled with them to perform in Abkhazia. I was only 14, but something about traveling to different places with my instrument and performing music stayed with me. I remember realizing that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

My family didn’t initially understand that dream, and I had to fight for the chance to pursue it. Eventually, I left my hometown and decided to pursue jazz in Moscow. I was initially told by a teacher that I probably wasn’t good enough to get into the music college I wanted. Instead of accepting that, I spent months traveling 30 hours hours by train every weekend to study with him in person while preparing for my exams. I eventually got in.

Later in Moscow I became interested in jazz, grew as a saxophonist, and eventually graduated as one of the stronger players in my class. That was also when Berklee College of Music started becoming a dream of mine — although at the time, it felt completely unreachable.

My mom pushed me to apply for a Berklee College of Music’s summer program in 2019. I barely spoke English and honestly didn’t expect much, but I received a scholarship and went to Boston. That experience changed what I believed was possible for me. I practiced like crazy, sometimes until my lips were literally bleeding, and eventually auditioned for Berklee. I received a major scholarship that later became a full scholarship with additional financial aid.

In 2021, I moved to Boston to study Music Business at Berklee. I became fascinated with everything behind an artist — branding, marketing, artist development, and the business of music. But eventually I realized that I didn’t just want to understand the industry. I wanted to create my own world within it. That became possible in Los Angeles.

LA was where I started producing my own music and finally experienced the creative freedom of being able to take the sounds in my head and turn them into something real. I began developing the sound I describe as “Electronic Soul”, heavily influenced by The Weeknd, whose music has inspired me since 2015.

For the first time, I felt like all the pieces started slowly coming together. And then I had to leave.

Because of immigration and financial circumstances, I eventually had to self-deport myself home just as I felt like my life and career in LA were finally beginning to move in the direction I had dreamed about for years. Leaving behind the community, the people, and everything I had been building for the past 4 years was incredibly painful. For a while, it genuinely felt like I had lost it completely.

Right now, I’m rebuilding. I’m continuing to write, produce, DJ, perform, and play saxophone while finding my way back into the international music scene. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to get where I want to be, or how long it will take. But I know for a fact I’m going to get there.

I’ve already had to reinvent my relationship with music once when I lost my voice. I found the saxophone, and it took me around the world. Now I’m just finding my way forward again

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I think the hardest part of pursuing something creative is realizing that loving what you do, working hard, and even building the right connections still don’t guarantee that it will work out.

I experienced that very strongly in Los Angeles. I had spent four years building a life and a career there from scratch, and just when I felt like things were finally starting to come together, I had to leave because of circumstances outside of my control. Losing everything I had built in another country from zero was one of the hardest experiences of my life. It left me with a serious creative block that took me almost a year to get through.

After that, I had to ask myself a really difficult question: Do I start all over again, or do I choose a more “normal” life and live with the feeling that something is missing?

I think a lot of creative people eventually face some version of that question. You can know that you’re talented, hardworking, and genuinely believe in what you’re creating, but still go unnoticed for a long time. There are moments when you wonder, How much longer can I keep doing this before I give up?

I still don’t have an answer to that. I just know that, so far, I haven’t been able to choose anything else.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I do quite a few different things within music, and I’ve learned not to see that as indecision. I’ve been pursuing music for almost 20 years, so naturally I’ve had the opportunity to explore different sides of the industry and discover where I feel most creatively fulfilled.

Right now, my main focus is being an artist and producer. I write and produce my own music and heavily incorporate saxophone into my sound, which is probably the combination that feels most uniquely “me” at the moment. I’m also a saxophonist, EWI Player, DJ, songwriter, and I work with other artists on things like vocal arrangements, songwriting, branding, and music-business strategy. I’ve also written music for projects outside of traditional artist releases, including anime and advertising.

I think my biggest differentiator is my work ethic. Anyone who has worked with me will tell you that when it comes to work, I don’t play. I’m extremely disciplined, professional, and persistent, and I care deeply about doing things properly. I may have a lot of different skills, but they all come from the same place: I genuinely love music and I want to understand every part of it.

At this stage, though, my biggest passion is bringing everything together — writing, producing, singing, and playing saxophone on my own records. That combination is where I feel like I’m building something that is truly mine

What makes you happy?
It’s gonna sound weird but I’m the happiest when I’m busy and overwhelmed with music.

Whether I’m producing my own music, writing, performing, playing saxophone, DJing, working with another artist, or doing a project for a company in Japan, I love having a million things going on at once. That’s when I feel the most alive and hsppy.

I’ve been doing music since I was four, so at this point it’s not just a career or something I enjoy. It’s such a huge part of who I am that my happiness is very connected to whether I’m creating.

Of course, the people I love, having healthy relationships, and feeling connected to the people around me make me happy too. But when I’m making music, I know I’m good. When I’m creatively blocked, I feel like something is off.

It probably sounds very obsessive, but it is what it is. Oh… also cats make very happy, i just love them so much

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_arishamusic/