Today we’d like to introduce you to D Ari.
Hi D Ari, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Dallas, Texas, not really concerned about music at all for most of my life. When I was 14 one of my closest friends and I started writing rap songs, and I quickly fell in love with the process of making art. I started to make music by myself, I was writing and recording songs every day in my room after school. After about a year of this process I realized that I wanted to make the sound of D Ari something that was unique to me, so I started producing my own music. I had a goal to produce one instrumental every day for 4 months, and I stuck to it. At first it was easy rap beats, but they quickly grew into interesting and unique arrangements. Roughly, a year and a half later a friend of mine introduced me to rock music. For a long time I didn’t really care too much about the genre, but when I was 16 it was all I listened to. I began going to shows and doing research on my favorite bands. I started to put together who I wanted D Ari to be and how I wanted my music to sound. Since then, my music has changed a bit, it leans into electronic production more and the vocals have strong influences from pop and rap. I’ve always been very captivated by the pop music from the early 2000’s and 2010’s because that’s what I grew up listening to, so I love to incorporate that with my love for rock music. My music now takes inspiration from a lot of different corners, such as shoegaze, nu metal, emo rap, pop, and even electronic music. In Fall of 2023, I moved to Hollywood to attend Musician’s Institute to further refine my skills and learn more about who I am as an artist. In the past two years, I realized that I also love to create videos that convey the meaning and energy of the music I’m releasing. I aim to create abstract, maximalist short films that hold distinct visuals showcasing my interpretation of the music. In October 2024, I dropped a trailer for my EP, ‘Love is Dread’, that combined all four songs into one ominous music video. This video and project has is exactly what I’ve been meaning to put out for years. It has an individualistic sound combining rock and pop, accompanied by a breathtaking video, I could not be more proud of this project. In the upcoming months, I plan to give even more to my audience with interesting videos and captivating music.
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?
I wouldn’t say it’s been easy by any means. When I began making music, I had no sense of what it meant to be a musician, I just knew that I liked to make songs. I had to learn from scratch how to sing, which has been one of my favorite processes I’ve ever been through. I didn’t grow up around any musicians in my life so everything was brand new to me, and I think that’s why I’m able to enjoy everything as much as I do. I’ve had a lot of people strongly critique my work and people that have told me that I’m never going to make it and I’m just wasting my time, along with discouraging moments where people have told me that I can’t sing or that I’m not a real musician, but this has only caused me to work harder. In fact, most of my friends from my hometown did not care to support my music and my journey. I’ve always been serious about my work, since the day I made my first song, so I’ve always remained very driven and have never stopped creating. This is what pushed me to move to Hollywood, I wanted to be around likeminded people and I wanted to reinvent my person.
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?
My most defining skill is my sense for production and songwriting. From the second I hear an idea for a song I know exactly how I want it to sound and I know exactly how to get there. Even when I’m in the studios with others there is never a question about my vision for a song, I know exactly how to structure it, exactly how to execute it, etc. What sets me apart from others is my willingness to be creative and try out completely new things. In almost every song I make, I try to do something different or making something sound like nothing I’ve heard before. I have pages and pages written down of different musical ideas, so many that I don’t even know where to start. Another thing is that I will not settle for anything that I don’t absolutely love. There has been many different songs where I have stood around thinking for one song lyric for hours, for example, my song Id Ego, which is about an intense acid trip that caused me to have an ego death, took me roughly 13 hours to write the second verse. I remember standing and walking around my room with the song on repeat trying to get an idea of how I wanted that part of the story to go. In fact, most of my songs cause me to have moments like this, but since then I’ve found different strategies to pull ideas out of me.
What were you like growing up?
Honestly, before I started making music I didn’t have that strong of an identity. This could’ve been because I was really young, but I remember feeling pretty lost and not knowing who I was at all. I had a lot of different interests in my life back then, like gaming, drawing, coding, and even building computers. I think for a long time I was a people pleaser, I had no backbone, and I was way too passive. If you told me I would’ve been an artist and a performer when I was 13, I never would have believed you. I just wasn’t the type of person that would be on a stage. I’ve always been very driven and ambitious, though, which is why I’m able to keep myself going despite everything else.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/im_d_ari
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deespaceari
- Twitter: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fim_d_ari
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@im_d_ari
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/im_d_ari
