The results seem surreal. Just over a month ago Pop/R&B singer Lauv uploaded his first track to SoundCloud with high hopes, but little expectations. His track “The Other” created a buzz that is rarely seen in the music industry. Even American actress and model Chloe Grace Moretz took to Twitter to comment on the song saying “Who is this guy #LAUV I’m obsessed w/ his sound”. Ari Leff, who goes by Lauv, is currently a junior at New York University (NYU). After such a successful first track, our TapSongz Team wanted to feature the young singer as the TapSongz Artist of the Month for May to learn more about what the future holds for the college undergrad.
Lauv described his interest in music as a “classic story”, where his parents made him play piano at a young age, eventually turning to the guitar. He grew up listening to a little bit of everything including classical rock, metal and rap. Ari even remembers asking his mom back in the day if he could buy the new Eminem CD, despite it having explicit content. But when he was set to attend NYU, Leff was unsure of what his career path would be. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was interested in music and had been doing covers on YouTube. I came to NYU and got more interested in songwriting and production,” he explained.
NYU features a stellar music program and a strong alumni base of musicians, with most recent success stories coming from Alex Pall of The Chainsmokers, and Sam Lassner, a popular DJ who goes by Prince Fox. Leff, too, had nothing but positive things to say about the program. “Shoutout to Sam he’s my homie and I love Prince Fox. NYU teaches you there’s a lot of hard work to be done. Sam just works insanely hard and those are the people that are so successful,” Lauv said.
Lauv was looking to transition his sheer passion for music into something bigger, becoming more of an artist than just a singer. When asked about being a Music Technology major, Leff responded, “It feels a little ridiculous. There wasn’t anything else I was interested in doing. The fallback was to be an audio engineer,” he said.
After interning with various companies, and gaining experience within the industry, Ari realized that audio engineering was cool, but not for him. Leff teamed up with songwriter Michael Matosic to write “The Other” an emotional mix of Pop and R&B vibes, featuring piano that will get you mixed in your thoughts. “It was a sound that felt really genuine for me. I could be myself,” Lauv recalled. “I didn’t expect such a crazy response for this song. I wanted it to be about me releasing music that I really love and I’m super connected to,” he added.
Leff is currently studying abroad in Prague, where he recently shot a lyric video for “The Other”. “It is a great way to showcase the lyrics and push the song in a new way,” Ari told our TapSongz Team. Expect the lyric video to be released within the next couple of weeks.
As for the big question on everyone’s mind, Lauv has been hard at work in the studio creating a new set of songs that feature his unique sound that everyone has grown to love. He plans on compiling the top tracks into an EP that is set to launch this summer. Ari hopes that after the EP release he will be able to start doing live performances, as well as create a music video for his hit single. We encourage everyone to follow Lauv on the social media links provided below so you don’t miss his next project! Here at TapSongz, we thank you for reading this feature article as we continue finding tomorrow’s greatest music today!
Lauv described his interest in music as a “classic story”, where his parents made him play piano at a young age, eventually turning to the guitar. He grew up listening to a little bit of everything including classical rock, metal and rap. Ari even remembers asking his mom back in the day if he could buy the new Eminem CD, despite it having explicit content. But when he was set to attend NYU, Leff was unsure of what his career path would be. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was interested in music and had been doing covers on YouTube. I came to NYU and got more interested in songwriting and production,” he explained.
NYU features a stellar music program and a strong alumni base of musicians, with most recent success stories coming from Alex Pall of The Chainsmokers, and Sam Lassner, a popular DJ who goes by Prince Fox. Leff, too, had nothing but positive things to say about the program. “Shoutout to Sam he’s my homie and I love Prince Fox. NYU teaches you there’s a lot of hard work to be done. Sam just works insanely hard and those are the people that are so successful,” Lauv said.
Lauv was looking to transition his sheer passion for music into something bigger, becoming more of an artist than just a singer. When asked about being a Music Technology major, Leff responded, “It feels a little ridiculous. There wasn’t anything else I was interested in doing. The fallback was to be an audio engineer,” he said.
After interning with various companies, and gaining experience within the industry, Ari realized that audio engineering was cool, but not for him. Leff teamed up with songwriter Michael Matosic to write “The Other” an emotional mix of Pop and R&B vibes, featuring piano that will get you mixed in your thoughts. “It was a sound that felt really genuine for me. I could be myself,” Lauv recalled. “I didn’t expect such a crazy response for this song. I wanted it to be about me releasing music that I really love and I’m super connected to,” he added.
Leff is currently studying abroad in Prague, where he recently shot a lyric video for “The Other”. “It is a great way to showcase the lyrics and push the song in a new way,” Ari told our TapSongz Team. Expect the lyric video to be released within the next couple of weeks.
As for the big question on everyone’s mind, Lauv has been hard at work in the studio creating a new set of songs that feature his unique sound that everyone has grown to love. He plans on compiling the top tracks into an EP that is set to launch this summer. Ari hopes that after the EP release he will be able to start doing live performances, as well as create a music video for his hit single. We encourage everyone to follow Lauv on the social media links provided below so you don’t miss his next project! Here at TapSongz, we thank you for reading this feature article as we continue finding tomorrow’s greatest music today!
