Daniel: Welcome to our ZTalent Community Member of the Month feature, where we spotlight the remarkable talents and stories within our vibrant ZTalent universe. Today, we're thrilled to have Tej with us, a groundbreaking artist whose innovative approach is reshaping the landscape of music through the lens of web3 technology. Tej, it's an honor to have you join us.

Tej: Thank you, Daniel. I'm really excited to be here and share my journey with the ZTalent community.

Davyd: Tej, your journey is quite unique. Let's start from the beginning. Where did your passion for music come from?

Tej: There was a point in my life where I had everything figured out. Everything felt like it was meant to be. But one day, I had a shocking realization that, “how come everything is perfect?”. It felt like I was walking straight into chaos. But in the chaos, I’ve found my destiny. This feeling of passion ignited after I saw Charlie Puth making music just out of a keyboard and a computer and nothing else. Ever since that day, I never looked back and music has never failed me in any aspect of my life.

Daniel: That's a powerful origin. At what age did you realize you wanted to pursue music professionally?

Tej: Every artist/musician knows how hard it is to pursue music full-time. Luckily I realized this early on in my career. I started from scratch when I was 17 and put my everything for two years learning the craft. I got my first ever real job as a producer when I was 18 making a good amount. I think that’s when I knew I was ready for a professional career.

Davyd: Shifting gears to the web3 world, what are your aspirations there?

Tej: One thing that fascinates me in web3 is that we don’t need a million fans to actually make a living off of music. As they say, “your 1000 True Hard Core Fans” is my ultimate goal and what I aspire to achieve. Once I build my tribe, I think the possibilities are endless.

Daniel: And looking forward, what do you see in the future of your music on the web3?

Tej: Honestly, it’s not the technology that I’m excited about. It’s the innovative ideas that new artists bring in. There are artists that make NFTs without actually making NFTs. Now, with blockchain and NFTs, I hope people continue being innovative with their music distribution and building a career.

Davyd: Your music seems to resonate deeply with people. How has it impacted those around you?

Tej: I had a friend who was completely lost at that point in his life. His career was taking unexpected twists and turns. I wrote a breakup song and sent it to him. He said, “I saw my life in the character of the song, now that I think about it, there’s nothing much to worry about it, right?” My music is literally what I’m going through in my life. It’s all up to the listener’s interpretation and what they’re going through. As long as they stop worrying about things instead of doing something about it. At least that’s my job as an artist, to make people’s lives easier.

Daniel: As a web3 native artist, how do you plan to leverage blockchain technology to distribute your music?

Tej: As I said, there’s so many innovative ideas that could be born with new tech and I’ve been learning from a lot of artists that with blockchain, music can now be a tool to solve real-world problems. I’ve seen an artist bringing their community together to clean the beach. That’s the power of a strong community and I hope to bring people together and make the world a better place THROUGH music.

Davyd: Your creative process must be quite intricate. Can you share a bit about it?

Tej: It can get a little stressful when you’re the only one doing everything including writing, singing, producing, composing, engineering, etc. But I’ve been meticulous trying to keep learning every day. Because I want to represent that artists these days don’t need fancy gear and huge studios to get a professional song done. I enjoy all the aspects of making music but my most favorite is songwriting. That moment when a melody pops in my mind to the moment the song finishes itself with the lyrics. Then my second favorite is production where all of it comes to life and honestly the song ends up sounding way different than when I wrote it. There’s many other things that go into making a Pop song and every step is super interesting and cool!

Daniel: What challenges have you faced as an artist stepping into the web3 space, and how have you overcome them?

Tej: The main challenge was the amount of things I had to learn in order to understand blockchain, web3, and NFT music. It certainly is one of the problems that will take a while to be solved but luckily there’s many people in the space that are super willing to help each other out which is why web3 is absolutely a friendly ecosystem. Crypto world never sleeps, if you have something to ask, there’s always someone or something that can help you.

Davyd: Who are your biggest musical influences, and how do they shape your sound and artistic vision?

Tej: My biggest musical influence is Charlie Puth. When I saw the making of the song ‘Attention’, my honest reaction was, “how is that even POSSIBLE?”. That was literally the day I chose this as my career cus’ I fell in love with the process. I always wanted to learn how to produce, write and sing by myself and I believe that gives me the most freedom and control with my music. I want to spread the same thing to as many artists as possible.

Daniel: Lastly, in what ways do you believe the ZTalent community can support your journey as a web3 artist?

Tej: ZTalent community has some of the best people, most talented artists, and many more who share the same vision of building on blockchain in innovative ways. As an artist, I couldn’t ask for anything more than what I already got, which is a great community of people and it’s our responsibility to bring more people in. That’s the foundation for any artist or brand. I hope our visions align and my story resonates with people and I’m always open to connect with as many people as possible ❤️

Davyd: Tej, it's been enlightening to hear your story and your vision. Thank you for sharing your journey with us and the ZTalent community.

Tej: Thank you, Daniel and Davyd, for this opportunity. It's been a pleasure sharing my journey and I'm excited about what the future holds!