Name: Arz

Where He’s From: Hackney, East London

When He Started: 2018

Genre: UK Chill-Rap

Files Next To: Blanco, Strandz, Scorcher

Sounds Like: “Production-wise, I like spacey beats. I also like vocal samples in my music; sitting in a session and co-producing is something I enjoy doing. Many of my songs sound like the same person who wrote them, and the content and themes are usually vulnerability, emotion, and both extremes of relationships—the good and bad sides.”

First Music That Inspired Him: “I consumed a lot of music from around 12, 13 years old. I was into a lot of grime music at that time, so people like Chip, Stormzy... Abroad, it was artists like Young Steff and the artists on Dreamville Records.”

Arz’s path to streaming success was far from the ordinary walk on the pavement a young Londoner would spend daydreaming, often knowing it would become his reality one day. “I grew up in Stoke Newington until I was 10 years old, and then I moved to Islington when I was about 15, and then that’s when it all started,” he tells TRENCH over Zoom. As an adolescent, Arz had a robust and curious mind; he fell in love with the craft of music when he freestyled with his friends for fun. Encouraged by said friends to take his talent a step further, he eventually dropped out of college to pursue his dream of becoming a household name.

Now, amid a consistent slew of performances, singles, and cinematic visuals, Arz has dropped his much-hyped second mixtape, Honey, I’m Home. Stretched over twelve tracks, each laced with a sense of relatability, Arz details themes of love and happiness throughout the project, which he has always contended for since its inception. “I started making it probably a year and a half ago,” he says. “I’m always in the studio, so I had about five songs from the beginning of the project, but then I started travelling—I went to New York and Paris—having different conversations and meeting different producers to get different sounds. It’s me talking about the two extremes of this relationship thing: it can be nice, lovey-dovey and roses on one side, but on another, it can get intense. It’s just a snapshot of young love.”

Toxic relationships in music often mirror reality by capturing the intense highs and painful lows of love, where passion and conflict intertwine in a cycle that’s hard to break but all too familiar—a reality Arz is eminently trying to express in his music. In a survey by Safelives, 41% of young people said they had used harmful behaviours in a romantic relationship, emphasising, even more, why this subject matter explored in Arz’s music reflects the detrimental experiences of what young love looks like. “I feel like my music will live forever because it’s real and vulnerable,” he says. “People will always go through these problems.”

Themes like this don’t come without a sense of self-reflection. For men, self-reflection can seem like a luxury, a distant dream reserved for those with the privilege of time. It is an indisputable tool Arz has spent time grappling with for himself: “Self-reflection comes at ease for me. I class myself as sensitive, and self-reflection is my natural reaction after something happens. Taking time for yourself daily is important so you can sit with your thoughts.” Now, Arz plans to connect with fans across the UK and Australia through packed venues, turning every performance into a celebration of his rising success. “Australia has been showing me love like crazy—it’s actually quite mad,” he says with a smile on face. “I don’t know how to start over there, and I can't wait to do my debut show.”

Arz’s journey from the streets of Stoke Newington to collecting millions of views on YouTube mirrors his relentless pursuit of authenticity in music and self-reflection. His artistry will undoubtedly deepen as he explores new sounds and experiences, offering listeners a raw, unfiltered glimpse into his world. With his grounded vision and emotional depth, the future of Arz’s music promises to resonate as time passes.