Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Rubin.
Hi Josh, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve loved music ever since I was a little kid. I definitely got it from my Dad who would spend a lot of his free time playing guitar and so of course, I wanted to learn too. Guitar was the first instrument I learned and that was back in 6th grade. I took lessons for maybe four months before I did my first talent show and that’s when I realized I loved performing. Halfway through high school, I started taking piano lessons as well and that’s also around the time when I really discovered my voice. I did choir all throughout middle and high school and as my voice developed, I started getting better and better and also more confident. By my senior year of high school, everyone knew me as the music guy and by that time, I was writing my own songs and playing them out at talent shows, high school parties and pretty much anywhere there was an audience that would listen. Music was still a huge part of my life when I got to college but at that point, I was trying hard to take the ‘normal’ path that most parents want their kids to take. Finish college, get a degree, get a good job, get married and have kids. But I really struggled my first few years in college to the point I had to take a hard look at my life and my passions and decide if that path was right for me. So I dropped out of UT Austin and went to The Recording Conservatory of Austin where I learned sound engineering. At this point, I knew music was what I wanted to do with my life and being able to record, mix, and master my own music was a game-changer.
And thankfully, my parents have always been so supportive of me and my dreams and will always be my biggest fans. I started releasing my own music around 2011 and through that, I discovered a much larger community of other artists and creatives. I knew that singing and writing vocals was my strong suit and my favorite part of the process, so I began reaching out to other producers in hopes of finding people that would be down to collaborate. I had my first few label releases in 2015 and one of them ended up getting over a million plays on Youtube. So as my releases became more and more successful, my name started getting out and I was able to work with bigger names and more established artists. At this point, I’ve released songs on a multitude of different labels and have had the opportunity to work with such a wide variety of artists, some of whom I was a fan of before I ever got to work with them. I even had one of my more recent songs in the video game Rocket League which was pretty awesome! Now that I’ve had plenty of time to explore different sounds and genres and discover who I am as an artist, I’ve been more focused on developing my solo project and I’m very excited about the material I’m sitting on now. Even though I’ve been doing this for 8 or 9 years, this really does feel like just the beginning.
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?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I’ve had my fair share of bad record deals, I’ve had artists ghost me after I’d already put in hours and hours of work on their projects. But they say failure is the best way to learn and if I could go back, I honestly wouldn’t change a thing. I’m so much wiser now and have so much more knowledge about the whole music industry and business behind it. And that’s allowed me to navigate my own deals and negotiate at a much higher level. Up until last year, I was managing myself so I was having to learn at a much more rapid pace in order to keep up with my growing career. I didn’t mind managing myself because I do tend to be a bit of a control freak at times but I couldn’t be happier that I found my current manager Tarek. He’s helped me take things to the next level and also has really helped me stay organized and on top of this intense workload. His drive and discipline when it comes to his job has really inspired me to push myself harder and I now also consider him a really close friend. I feel more confident than ever going into this next chapter of my music career.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m mostly known for my features on a whole bunch of EDM music. Typically a producer will send me an instrumental and I write, record, and produce my own vocals which I then send back to them to work back into their mix and finish up. That’s definitely how I’ve built my name and the audience I have now. But I always knew being just a featured vocalist was not gonna be enough for me. I have my own vision for how I want my music career to go and I’ve finally begun putting that plan into motion. I had a bit of trouble deciding what my sound would be since I love so many different genres of music and I spent 2019 and 2020 experimenting with different styles and released a few different solo projects. I’ve finally pinpointed my favorite music to write which is Rnb and pop with some electronic influence. I just recently dropped the first single off of my upcoming EP which I wrote during quarantine and I’m so excited to finally be releasing the full EP this summer.
With that being said though I’m already sitting on so much more new material that we’ll start planning to release after the EP comes out and I think with these next few releases people are really gonna be able to see what Josh Rubin is all about. I also recently launched a new brand to go along with the Josh Rubin project and that will be my way of connecting all of my music and creating this giant storyline that will continue through all of my releases from now on. The brand is called OVRTHNKR and is a true representation of who I am as a person. To me, it’s not just a brand, it’s a movement. Something that people can relate to and latch onto when they’re feeling down and hopeless. I want it to become a community of people advocating for more ways of improving both mental and physical health so that we can all maximize our potential and live our best lives. The idea is to not look at being an overthinker as a bad thing but instead something we can learn to channel and use to our advantage to fully discover ourselves and grow as individuals. We just debuted a bunch of teasers for OVRTHNKR across my social media platforms and planned on releasing the first batch of merch this summer around the same time as the EP release.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t really believe in luck. I am a big believer in the idea that the universe gives back what you put out. So as long as you have a clear vision of what you want and how you want your life to go, I truly believe the universe will deliver. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll happen when you think it’s gonna happen or when you had wanted it to happen but I think there’s a reason for that. I think the universe has a plan for us all and it’ll happen exactly when it’s supposed to.
Contact Info:
- Email: tarek@aramanagement.com
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7e1qyhWgdVEnEjG7Sbb5W0?si=ELeHMhnqS0On2QBSDJCRBA
- Instagram: instagram.com/joshrubinmusic
- Facebook: facebook.com/joshrubinmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/joshrubinmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JoshRubin
- SoundCloud: Soundcloud.com/joshrubinmusic
Image Credits
Steven Souza
