Today we’d like to introduce you to aryy. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Ariel Mancanares aka aryy grew up in a small city in Brazil in the state of São Paulo. Throughout her childhood, she was exposed to an eclectic range of music from The Beatles, to Brazilian MPB, to Simple Plan and Emo music, and to country music, introduced to her by her dad who played in a local band.
At 14, aryy started taking guitar lessons and writing her own songs, slowly building the confidence to perform in front of a camera. That’s how she started her YouTube channel with her shyness gradually fading away owing to the support from her growing fanbase which has now reached over 1 million subscribers, 66 million views, and an average like/dislike ratio of 98%.
Despite the immense early support and indicators of success, not being entirely confident in her own musical abilities and feeling the social pressure to get a degree, aryy went to college and is now fully trained in Dentistry.
However, throughout her studies, she continued to post new YouTube videos and grow her fanbase. It wasn’t until her post-study travels around the US and time spent in Europe doing volunteer work, that she came to the realization that music was her real passion and that she had to put her whole heart and soul into it. After ending a long relationship and identifying herself as a bisexual woman, aryy packed up her life into a few bags, she left her small town in Brazil and moved to New York City in 2018, at 24 years old. Initially, she served tables in a Times Square restaurant to cover rent whilst spending all her free time working towards her goal of becoming a full-time musician. However, aryy soon realized playing at open mic nights and at bars in Brooklyn and in the East Village wasn’t going to be enough to give her the break she needed.
In 2019, aryy took a trip of a lifetime, walking the Way of St. James which runs from the south of France across the width of Spain. Being around nature and with herself and her thoughts for so long gave aryy a chance to reflect and understand more about herself and she realized it was time to really push out of her comfort zone, and make the next step toward achieving her goals by moving to Los Angeles to further her career in music.
Despite only knowing a few people, aryy moved to LA in mid-July 2019. She has since written her debut EP while serving tables in the Valley. Inspired by artists like Cavetown, mxmtoon, and Chloe Moriondo, “get a clue” is a cute and emotions-filled EP exploring her love and life experiences and wishing to inspire everyone who listens to it to also dive deep into their emotions. The EP was followed by her first collaboration with UK-based artist Cameron Sanderson in an emotion-filled cinematical single “coffee & whiskey” and in 2021 aryy released her second EP “Rose Colored Glass” and is now in the studio recording her debut album.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the hardest decisions I had to make was to leave everything behind and move to the US to pursue my music dreams, and now, over 4 years later, I’m so happy I did that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a fully independent artist and I’m a Brazilian who never quits. Nobody is going to make my dreams come true for me. I know what I want and I’m persistent to make it happen. I make indie pop music with a huge ukulele influence.
Any big plans?
I’m starting to record my debut album this month and I’m really excited about the new music I’m working on and to experiment and share this part of myself with the world. My new music is a little different than what I have out so far and I’m really proud of it and of letting myself change and grow and try new things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aryyzona.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aryyzona/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aryyzona
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/aryyzona
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/arielmancanares
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6n3kcf0OFqgZSbwEoelfEI?si=r0zOa20xSVipNyLFoAQasA
