Up-and-coming pop artist, Ian Oshér, gives a new meaning to the word honest. Oshér never fails to deliver danceable songs with feel good vibes, while also revealing a deeper side of himself through his lyrics. Whether you're listening in a club or your room, Oshér's music will move you--both literally and figuratively.
Oshér, a senior at Chapman, gave The Collective a look inside his brain, talking about upcoming projects, who inspires him, and how his journey to sobriety impacted his music. Holding nothing back, Oshér’s story is necessary and inspiring.
The following interview contains references to addiction and self-harm.
First of all, how old are you?
I’m 24.
And you’re a transfer student?
Yeah, so I went to Wisconsin for a couple of years.
How was that?
It was wild.
Really?
Yeah, especially for an addict and an alcoholic. There was a lot of partying. It’s a huge state party school. There’s football. I joined a frat.
What are your thoughts on the frat experience?
I was the pledge chair, so I was like the face of the frat. It was like living on a yacht. I thought I was fucking indestructible.
But you realized you weren’t?
Oh, yeah. Eventually, of course. I burnt out and my addiction and alcoholism got the best of me, which I’m glad it did because I figured it out at a relatively young age. At 21 I was like: “I need help." So, that’s why I’m an older senior.
You just released a song, right?
I’ve been like boom, boom, boom these days. I came out with an EP last September and that was a covid EP that I made by myself. Well, with producers, but I recorded it by myself in my mom’s closet. Now I have a manager who is really, really solid--works in the industry and has a ton of connections, which has been super cool. I’m in the midst of a release cycle for a project I call “Alien”. Two of the songs have come out. The first song is “Love It Again” and that came out two months ago. “Undercover” came out a month later. “Eyes Closed” is coming out October first.
October 2nd--which is my sobriety date--we’re coming out with the music video for “Love It Again” because that song is about loving life again and burning bridges. Like: I fucked up life, but I'm starting to love it again. So, I figured it would be cool to put it out on that day.
Then, I have two more songs coming out. There’s one called “Cruise” which is my favorite song that I’ve ever made; that’s coming out next month. If I’m being honest, “Eyes Closed” is a good song, but it’s not my best work. I like it and it fits my brand and the type of music I was making when I made it, but the song that comes out next month is going to be really good. I started working with a producer in LA and I really feel like we’ve found my sound. I’m super excited about it.
So do you feel that you’ve been making music that you want to make or music that fits a brand?
For a while, it was music that fits a brand. It’s been either: find a beat online and make a song to it and be limited in my skill sets or pay a ton of money and have somebody sit down with me and make a song. The first one, I could make more music and I liked the music better. It felt good. I thought it was good music, but it wasn’t what I 100% wanted to make. Now my music feels right. I don’t listen to my music a lot but I wrote three songs over the weekend and I’ve just been listening to it because I’m like, “Oh my God. This is just right." My little brother is like my best friend and I’ll send him all my shit. The night I made my upcoming song “Never Alone”, which comes out in November, I was texting him the whole process. It took four hours to make the song; I can kind of crank out songs pretty quickly. From start to finish, we found the sample, I wrote all of it just sitting there, we recorded it, mixed it, then recorded it again, mixed it, and all this stuff. I was texting him the whole time like, “Bro, holy fuck. Just wait, just wait.” Then I sent it to him and he FaceTimed me and he’s like, “Dude, you found your sound.”
How long have you been making music?
My whole life, I grew up playing guitar and singing. I was doing the finance thing at Wisconsin. I was a business bro--like all that shit. Then, my depression got really gnarly after I got a head injury and I was in a toxic relationship. Things just got really gnarly and I was like, “I need to switch shit the fuck up.” I would go to these banking interviews--I’m like a total leftist, anti-capitalist now--and I’d walk into the bank and there’d be people outside protesting. I’d be wearing my suit and shit, trying to keep my head down, and I remember thinking, “I’m probably the one in the wrong here. They’re probably right. I’m not going to think about it too much, but I’d probably agree with what they’re saying if I really listened." So, eventually, I switched it up . One of my friends in college was a producer and he needed a vocalist on a track. My whole frat knew I sang; when I was a pledge they would have me go sing for their girlfriends and shit. So, at first I was featured on this song of his. It got like 100,000 plays on Spotify. Then he was like, “Okay, let’s start making music." We made a couple songs. We made “Crazy Eyes”, which is still my most played song, and that was just super cool. Then I moved home--I dropped out of school--and I was like “I need to be making music, I need to be making music."
I came out with “Crazy Eyes” and it got probably 50,000 plays really quickly. Now it’s at like 120,000. It was just like a lot of pressure. I didn't have the means or any idea how to go about making more music. I couldn't function because I was just getting high and drunk all day, every day. I was cutting myself and the depression was super gnarly. I was getting calls like, “Hey man, I’d like to manage you,” and I couldn’t navigate it because my emotions were fucking shot. It was like the weight of the world. Then, when I went to rehab, I was like “I still need to be making music, I still need to be making music." I met a songwriter there who was really cool and we wrote a bunch. He wrote “Underpressure” with me, which was the first song I came out with after rehab. We wrote it there and then I went to my aftercare thing out in California.
Can you describe your experience at rehab?
It was pretty intense. I like to explain it as the hardest thing and worst thing, but also exactly what I needed. It was like phasing me towards real life and now I have the tools to stay sober, but not just to stay sober: to function.
What inspires your art?
That’s a really good question. I try to get into the real, deep emotions and a lot of that goes back to relationships. One relationship in particular that was super painful. So, I write about that a good amount. It was really good and it was really bad, so I can kind of tap into the different parts of that to write the different types of songs that I need to write. Like if I hear an instrumental or I’m working on something and I’m like, “This song should be about a girl,” I go back to that place. But a lot of my stuff is about recovery. “Love It Again” and “Good Morning” are directly about recovery, but a lot of them are kind of indirectly about recovery. Like the song “Cruise” that’s coming out is very much about wanting to chill and enjoy life but there are stressors coming in. I guess that’s not necessarily about recovery--everybody experiences that shit--but that’s something that feels like a part of my recovery, at least.
You said that you turn to your brother a lot for your music, but are there any other role models or people that you draw inspiration from?
Artist wise, I listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Somebody who got me through some gnarly stuff was Lil Peep. It just got me through a really dark time. I love shit like that--kind of like sad boy shit--but I also listen to a lot of pop music. The kind of stuff I like to make. I really like ROLE MODEL. I was listening to ROLE MODEL drum kits and I was like, “This would be cool." Something that’s pop but a real drum set. So, that’s kind of what I was modeling that “Never Again” song after. From Lil Peep, he layers his vocal like crazy and I’ve kind of done that historically. I like doing layers; I like doing harmonies; I like doing octaves. That’s kind of something that has carried throughout all of my music. The newer stuff that’s coming out next project, I do a little bit less of it, but I’m still doing it. Usually, my whole song I’ll do crazy fucking layers because I love that sound. I think it makes it a little more airy, but at the same time you lose a little bit of the emotion in it.
So would you say that the version of you you’re presenting now is a little more stripped?
No, which is really interesting. I’ve got some friends that, when I make music, they want to hear it. They’ll give me some thoughts. My friend said that my new music sounds more real. It sounds like real music. I think that’s a really funny way of putting it and very true. I don’t think it’s more stripped because of course there’s production and effects or whatever, but I guess it sounds more like what you would hear on the radio. So, it’s not stripped, but it’s cleaner.
What do you hope people get from your music?
I think my music can help people feel good and relaxed and comfortable. There are levels to it. There’s what people can get from listening to my music; listening to one song and not knowing who I am or anything about me. Then there's people who actually know me and if people are reading this then they’re getting to know me a little better. From the first group, I think my music is good vibes, generally. If you listen to the lyrics you’re like, “Oh wow, this guy has been through some shit. I can relate to that." I’ve got friends who deal with the same depression as me and they’ll listen and be like, “Good shit!” Also, not everybody deals with heavy shit like that, so it’s also accessible to that crew. But then, on the second level, it’s the people who are getting to know me a little bit.
My story’s a little unconventional. That’s why my current project is called “Alien”. My handle is @ianisanalien. I have alien tattoos and shit. I’ve always felt a little different and I used to be like: Ian is an alien--I’m super different. Now it’s like: Ian is an alien, but I think we’re all kind of an alien in a way. We can all feel like aliens at times. I think it’s totally natural to feel different and it’s okay. I think we’re all together in feeling different. So, from that aspect, I want people to feel like it’s okay to be on your journey and be where you’re at. You’re right where you’re supposed to be, doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, and it’s okay to feel weird or different.
Do you have a dream collaboration--alive or dead?
It would be super cool to make a song with a Diplo or DJ Snake kind of guy and that would be like their song with me as the vocals or featuring me, but it would also be super cool to work with some producers that have a crazy history in pop. Like a Mike Ronson type. See their process and actually write some music with them. Singer wise, I’d love to work with a ROLE MODEL type or like Lauv or Quinn XCII or Jeremy Zucker. It would also be super cool to work with a rapper I love; get like Kota the Friend to do a verse or Isaiah Rashad.
What advice would you give to artists who are just starting out?
Man, I’m just starting out, but take risks; ask for help. It’s okay not to have all the answers. That goes for everything, not just music. Just trust the process. I know that sounds gnarly and kind of corny but I feel like it’s easy to compare yourself to others. I fall victim to that and I’ll be like, “That’s where I need to be and I’m not so I can’t be happy." But no, I’m on my journey and I’m on my path and this is where I'm supposed to be right now.
I know there’s a very big difference between Frat Boy Ian and where you are now. What would you say to Frat Boy Ian if you could talk to him?
I don’t know that Frat Boy Ian would have heard anything that I would have said. I think about this actually sometimes. I had to go through exactly what I had to go through to be where I am, and I’m right where I want to be. The one thing is that I definitely created a lot of harm. Some of my relationships were reparable, you know--like my parents and my brothers, of course. I made some amends that were gnarly and there’s some relationships that are just gone. They’re just gone. The amends is not hitting those people up and just letting them live their lives. There’s obviously the one in particular that I’m thinking of--the ex. Of course, I would love to tell my old self, “Ian: get sober and stop being a fucking dick”, but I needed to have that catalyst to push me to get sober. I needed to burn that bridge. I needed to be in that much pain to ask for help.
Thank you for sharing this with me. I know it’s a very vulnerable thing to talk about.
It’s part of my story, you know. I want to share my story. I could hide it and come up with a false narrative to push, but it’s a lot more comfortable not needing to keep my story straight if I just tell the truth.
Image Credit: David Hinsch, Ryan Doody, and Nick Lemmer.