Thaarmin

Thaarmin was first captivated by the wonders of music and how it could make people feel at the early age of 7. He fondly recalls memories of stealing his brother's iPod to listen to popular artists like Coldplay and Frank Ocean. This passion sparked his aspiration to work in the music industry and laid out a clear career path for him to strive towards. He first started attending keyboard lessons where he learnt his favourite songs by ear. As the years passed, he picked up other different instruments like guitar, and violin and was able to make progress on singing. With his extremely supportive family on his side, his progress in pursuing music was a huge success. His interest in music is mostly inspired by the common human experience of being drawn to music.

As for how his works come together, Thaarmin feels he starts with a mix of melodies, and lyrics and just works around a concept. Lyric ideas sometimes pop up at random during his regular day-to-day life, which he records in his voice memos and notes. For melodies, it's usually concepts shaped individually and they blend with his other concepts, by what he calls "marrying."

Thaarmin would describe the sound of his upcoming EP to be more piano-driven, but generally, it involves all types of genres. The vocal choices in his songs also have a distinctive R&B feel to them (according to our team at least), and while he claims that they're not quite R&B, he would love to create more music with a similar sound. But generally based on his released music, he would describe his sound as “pop/alt-rock.”

Artists who have influenced him play an extremely big part in his music. Other than Coldplay and Frank Ocean, Mariah Carrey and Whitney Houston inspire him vocally as seen in his powerful vocals from “circles”. Billie Eilish inspires his background vocals and his R&B feel is inspired by Omar Apollo and Frank Ocean. His alt-folk songwriting is inspired by Chris Martin, who writes directly as opposed to using flowery language and metaphors, or as Thaarmin would say, “like something very casual your friend would say on text”. Above all these artists, Coldplay is his biggest inspiration instrumentally due to the similarities in their guitar and piano. Carnatic Indian culture is also a big inspiration as it is a huge part of his identity, with him listening to many Tamil songs growing up. He hinted that the instrument "tabla" will also be used in one of the songs in his upcoming EP.

Thaarmin's latest song "circles" is also his lead single, with it being the number one streamed song on his Spotify. It was first written when he was 13, although it was eventually left behind in his drafts. At that age, he initially wrote it about something frivolous like a fleeting crush, but to him now, it could be about anything — from futile efforts to relationships and careers and his pursuit of them. In general, it's about the concept of chasing an ideal and "going in circles", hence, its name.

At first, Thaarmin began by uploading song covers on Instagram and YouTube at 13. He had always loved performing live and thought it was an opportunity to connect with his audience more. Seeing each audience as unique, he is driven to give his fullest since he will never get to see the same audience again. At the age of 17, he started performing at Junior Colleges for the VIA concerts that schools host. Sometimes he does mash-ups of hit songs and his concerts turn into mass karaoke sessions with his audience, and this makes his concerts more lively and personal for both. He especially loves performing his song "beach" as he once got his audience to get on their knees before the drop, and it's fun elements like these that allow him to engage with his audience.

Thaarmin loves talking to people he comes across at music events, and to him, it doesn't feel like a chore but is something he genuinely enjoys. Moreover, since it's a small community and he sees the same people repeatedly, these interactions sometimes even lead to collaborations! Thaarmin shared a fascinating anecdote where he once attended the concert of his friend, popular local singer-songwriter Linying. After the concert, a “random cool-looking guy” standing by the entrance approached and started talking to him since he had recognized Thaarmin and his music. He discovered that that man was the programmer of Esplanade and was looking for artists to put on stage, and invited him. So, Thaarmin had a 15-minute show at a local music festival, and afterward, the people there picked some people to perform for the New Year's countdown. This was the biggest rite of passage of Thaarmin's career. With connections with Esplanade, he got more and more opportunities from them, one of them to perform for Red Dot August, a Singaporean music festival. Seeing the shows and music he posted, the National Arts Council also got in contact with him. Now, his manager/producer who he met in 2022 makes sure he gets into good contracts and is also his drummer at concerts. Ultimately, he finds that showing genuine appreciation and love for local music helps him with all these connections.

Thaarmin feels the most rewarding part of his music journey is “truly the friends (he’s) made along the way.” He emphasized the sense of warmth he gets from his community and the pride he has for his race to be part of something bigger. For instance, before the New Year's show, a fan came up to him and said his song "shaking" got them through a difficult period and it nearly brought him to tears. This meant a lot to him because he knows the impact artists have on their audiences and was taken aback yet thankful that he had an impact on his audience as well. 

Now let's get into the news we've been waiting for - his new EP! The songs on his upcoming first EP were written when he was 13-15 and show different facets of his personality as he grew up. The first track is about hopelessness as a Gen Z, how we have to deal with the consequences of the previous generation, how it's perceived that our lives are easier nowadays when they aren't and our restrictions are youths, relatable, isn't it? This EP has songs that are sad and melancholic, a song that's happy and lively which has a call and response, essentially a mix of many different feels. These songs are also less structured and more free due to the age he wrote them. We can also look forward to a re-recording of his first song "shaking" which he did all by himself.

For those just starting in music, here's some good advice from Thaarmin! You need an unwavering dedication to your craft and identity. You need to have a distinct vision and personality as individuality is what people are drawn to. Don't be someone you're not as you can only have an identity if you're truly yourself. Always look to improve on the essentials like vocal stability and accuracy, production techniques, setlist planning or just educating yourself on new things. Go for every opportunity like it's your last and give your best and fullest for all shows. Pace yourself well, and know how to schedule as well as your limits.

When asked if he had anything to add, Thaarmin mentioned that he wanted to address something - the impact of social media. Many people expect musicians to constantly put out content and act as influencers, and while he thinks social media marketing is an advantage, do not get too lost in creating content to get your music out there. Hate comments are part and parcel of being "out there" and no one can please everyone. 

One last notable point that Thaarmin made is, “Most of the music we listen to comes from the West but there are so many people in Singapore who make music and do it for a living. Local music can be so much more personal and connect with us on much deeper levels, so let's not overlook it as there's always so much to discover.” Through cultural connections, shared experiences, local pride, and authentic representation, there is so much about the Singaporean music scene to unravel. We're bringing the spotlight to our underground local artists, here at Unravel magazine.