Rising Stars: Meet Pranav Menon of Orange County, CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pranav Menon.

Hi Pranav, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started playing piano when I was around eight or nine years old and spent much of my childhood studying classical music. By 14, I had completed the final level of California’s Certificate of Merit program. At that point, though, I was pretty burnt out. I had a strict teacher and had spent years approaching piano more as something I had to master than something I genuinely enjoyed, so I stepped away for a little while.

Eventually, I realized I had spent such a huge part of my life learning an instrument I loved, and I didn’t want to let that go to waste. I came back to piano on my own terms and started learning the music I actually listened to—pop, R&B, Bollywood, and Indian music—rather than focusing only on the classical and Baroque pieces I grew up playing.

Then COVID happened in 2020, and suddenly I had a lot more time at home. I spent a huge amount of that time playing piano, experimenting, and learning songs. Around then, I also started posting simple piano tutorials on TikTok for both English and Indian music. I wanted to make songs feel approachable for people who might not have formal training, and over time that community grew to more than 30,000 followers.

That has honestly become one of the most rewarding parts of music for me. I’ve had the opportunity to teach people piano directly, help people learn specific songs for major moments in their lives like weddings, and hear from people of all ages who were excited because they were finally able to play a song they loved. Seeing someone get that little spark of excitement from learning something reminds me of how I felt when I first started playing more than 15 years ago, and that means a lot to me.

During that same period, I also started getting more involved in performing and collaborating with other musicians, including joining a music group called Kochuveetil Beats. What started as another opportunity to make music with people I enjoyed being around eventually led to some experiences I never would have imagined when I first joined. The group has gone on to perform on some incredible stages, including Coachella, backing one of the fastest-growing artists in the world. Being part of that journey and surrounded by musicians operating at that level pushed me to think about music beyond just playing piano and eventually led me toward writing and production.

I started coming up with my own melodies, teaching myself the basics of production, and recreating some of my favorite songs to understand how they were built. One of the first times I publicly shared something I had written was at one of my closest friends’ weddings. I wrote an original song for their first dance, which they performed in front of more than 500 people. We kept it a secret that it was an original until afterward, and hearing people say they were trying to Shazam the song was a pretty surreal moment. That was probably the first time I really thought, “Maybe I can actually do something with this.”

Since then, I’ve just kept learning, writing, producing, performing, teaching, and connecting with other artists. I’ve now released three original songs—two in Hindi and one in English—and each one has taught me something new about the kind of artist and producer I want to become.

I still have a completely separate professional career, so music has always remained something I pursue because I genuinely love it. Whether it’s releasing my own music, collaborating with other artists, performing, or helping someone learn a song that means something to them, I’m excited to keep building on it and see where it takes me.

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’d say it’s been smooth in the sense that I’ve never put too much pressure on myself about where music has to take me. I started doing this because I genuinely love music, wanted to explore a different side of myself creatively, and wanted to see what I could create and who I could meet along the way. Everything that has come from it—releasing songs, performing, teaching, growing a community, and getting to work with some incredibly talented people—has felt like a bonus.

That being said, the actual creative process is definitely not always smooth. I’ve learned that having an idea for a song and turning it into something you’re truly comfortable releasing are two completely different things. Production, vocals, revisions, mixing, mastering—you can spend months listening to the same 30 seconds over and over again trying to make it perfect. There have definitely been times when I’ve gotten burnt out or wondered if I was overthinking something that was probably already finished.

I think one of my biggest challenges has actually been learning when to let something go. There are probably more than 10 songs sitting in my Google Drive right now that I started, got close to finishing, and never released. Sometimes I’ll write something that perfectly captures how I’m feeling at a certain point in my life, but by the time I come back to finish it months later, I’m not in that same place anymore. The emotion that made the song feel so important in the first place has passed, and it becomes harder to reconnect with it. In a weird way, I think I’ve accidentally killed some songs just by waiting too long.

Other times, it’s simply perfectionism. You convince yourself that one more production change, another vocal take, or another mix revision is going to finally make the song “ready,” when really you’re just finding reasons not to let it go. I’ve had to learn that sometimes great really can be the enemy of good. A finished song that gets released and connects with someone is worth a lot more than a theoretically perfect song sitting in my Google Drive that nobody ever hears.

Balancing music with a completely separate full-time career can also be challenging. And coming from a South Asian family, there have definitely been some funny conversations with my parents about why I’m spending so many hours on music after going to college and building a career. But they’ve also gotten to see how much it means to me.

The way I look at it, though, this was never a road I was expected to take. I went to college, started my career, and music was something I chose to build alongside all of that simply because I loved it. So whether the road is smooth or rough almost doesn’t matter to me. It’s a road I’m building for myself, and I think that’s what makes the entire journey so rewarding.

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 work with music has grown into a few different areas. I write and produce original music, play and perform piano, create tutorials and offer virtual lessons, and perform at weddings, restaurants, and other events. I’ve released music in both Hindi and English, and I really enjoy being able to move between Western and South Asian music rather than feeling like I have to fit into one specific genre or style.

Performing has become a huge part of that journey as well. I’m part of a group called Kochuveetil Beats, and we perform at weddings and other events, bringing the energy, hype, and traditional feel of South Asian music into some of the biggest moments of people’s lives. Weddings are already filled with so much emotion, culture, and celebration, and there’s something special about getting to contribute to that through live music. Some of my favorite memories as a musician have come from looking out at a room full of people dancing, singing along, and celebrating together and knowing that we get to be part of a moment they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.

Teaching has also become a big part of what I do. Through my tutorials and lessons, I try to take songs that people love and make them feel approachable, even for someone who may have little or no formal piano experience. I’ve also worked with people who want to learn a specific song for an important moment in their life, especially weddings and other special occasions. There’s something really rewarding about helping someone go from thinking, “There’s no way I can play this,” to actually performing it for the people they care about.

On the creative side, I love the entire process of taking a melody that might start as a random idea at the piano and developing it into a finished record. Producing has also allowed me to collaborate with vocalists, engineers, musicians, choreographers, dancers, directors, and other creatives who bring completely different perspectives to something that originally existed only in my head.

More recently, I’ve also started exploring the visual side of being an artist. I’ve acted in music videos created around my own releases, which has been a completely different experience from sitting behind a piano or producing a song. It has pushed me outside of my comfort zone and made me think about storytelling beyond just the music—how the visuals, performance, choreography, and song can all work together to tell the same story. Seeing something that started as an idea at my piano eventually become a full song and then an entire visual production has been one of the coolest parts of this journey.

What I’m most proud of is probably the fact that music has become bigger than just something I do for myself. Whether it’s someone listening to one of my original songs, a person learning piano through one of my tutorials, a couple celebrating while we perform at their wedding, or someone performing a song I helped them learn for someone they love, I get to see music become part of these little moments in people’s lives.

I think what sets me apart is that I don’t really view myself through just one musical lens. Depending on the day, I can be a pianist, producer, songwriter, performer, teacher, or even find myself in front of a camera for one of my own music videos. I grew up with formal classical training but eventually found my own way into pop, Bollywood, Indian, and contemporary music, and that combination has shaped how I approach everything I create.

More than anything, I want music to feel accessible, emotional, and fun—the same things that made me fall in love with it in the first place.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Honestly, some of my biggest resources are probably the platforms I use every day. Social media has been incredible for connecting with other creatives, discovering new music, learning different techniques, and also sharing my own work. It still blows my mind that I can post something from my room and end up hearing from musicians or people who want to learn piano from completely different parts of the world. Some of my favorite collaborations and opportunities have started with someone simply reaching out online.

AI has also become a really useful creative and learning tool for me. I use it to explore ideas, learn new concepts, brainstorm, or sometimes just get myself thinking about something from a different perspective. I think there are so many tools available now that make it easier than ever to teach yourself something if you’re genuinely curious and willing to put the time into it.

But probably my favorite resource is music itself. I love studying songs I already love and asking myself why I love them. I’ll listen closely to the chords, melodies, production, instrumentation, transitions, or even one tiny moment that gives me a certain feeling, and then try to understand what created it. Recreating songs was actually a huge part of how I taught myself production. I think there’s an endless amount you can learn just by really listening to the music that inspires you.

Outside of music, I also love reading. Two books that have really stuck with me are Atomic Habits by James Clear and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. They’re both pretty well known, but I think there are lessons in each that apply to almost anything you want to pursue.

Atomic Habits reinforced for me how much progress comes from small things done consistently. Whether that’s sitting at the piano, learning a new production technique, writing for 30 minutes, or finishing something even when I’m not completely inspired that day, those little efforts compound over time. A lot of what I know about music today didn’t come from one breakthrough moment—it came from thousands of hours of being curious and continuing to work at it.

And The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck helped reinforce something a little different: being comfortable with yourself and not allowing other people’s opinions to dictate what you pursue. I think that’s applicable to life in general, but especially when you choose to do something that people around you might see as unconventional. I have a completely separate professional career, and spending nights and weekends producing songs, performing, making music videos, or posting piano tutorials isn’t necessarily the path everyone expects you to take.

At some point, though, you have to stop worrying so much about whether other people think something is cool, practical, or worth pursuing and ask yourself whether it makes you happy. Music does that for me. I think learning to trust that has probably been as valuable a resource as any piece of software, platform, book, or production tutorial I’ve ever found.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranavjmenon24/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@pranav0824