Riovaz
about the artist
Riovaz's music deftly captures the frenetic, unpredictable energy of growing up. Influenced by drum & bass, post-punk and dance composition, his genre-blurring, cutting-edge pop songs are both emotionally rich and dizzyingly varied. On his lovesick 2020 breakthrough "Prom Night," he sang of feeling like death over lilting bedroom pop arrangements. But it's rare that two songs sound exactly the same. Riovaz grew up in Jersey City, NJ surrounded by music which eventually led to him crafting his sound in his parent's basement. By 13, he was making his own songs — flashforward a few years, now 19, he's continuing his…
MoreRiovaz's music deftly captures the frenetic, unpredictable energy of growing up. Influenced by drum & bass, post-punk and dance composition, his genre-blurring, cutting-edge pop songs are both emotionally rich and dizzyingly varied. On his lovesick 2020 breakthrough "Prom Night," he sang of feeling like death over lilting bedroom pop arrangements. But it's rare that two songs sound exactly the same. Riovaz grew up in Jersey City, NJ surrounded by music which eventually led to him crafting his sound in his parent's basement. By 13, he was making his own songs — flashforward a few years, now 19, he's continuing his rise. For Riovaz, everything started to crystallize soon after with "Prom Night." Before uploading the track, which recently eclipsed over 100 million streams, he had been regularly posting music to SoundCloud and Instagram. The formula for "Prom Night" wasn't any more calculated, but there is a spark to the track, which marries brokenhearted aphorisms with shimmering guitar lines. It resonated with listeners quickly. Since then, he's stayed consistent, and now nobody has an excuse to overlook Riovaz.