From struggles to success: Hoang shares how music changed his life

Music has the power to heal, motivate, and inspire us. It is a perfect source of comfort, a means of escape, and sometimes it provides us with a sense of direction. For fast-rising electronic music producer and DJ Hoang, music was the catalyst that transformed his life.

Mike Hoang, popularly known by his artistic name Hoang, became interested in music at a young age. By the time he was 8, he could write and produce music. He is also a skilled pianist and was classically trained in piano as a child. But Hoang didn’t start recording until a few years ago.

Society pushes the narrative that a career in art and music is not a ‘real career’, and artists are starving, making many shy away from the industry. To be on the ‘safe side’, Hoang got a sales job after he completed school. He did this until 2016 when he finally decided to quit and follow a path he actually liked.

“Heading into 2017, I knew I had to take real action if I wanted to become an artist. I had been writing and producing music for years, but it was not something I took seriously compared to other aspects of my life. Yet music was what brought me much joy and peace. I decided to take the risk and left the sales job to focus on my artistic brand,” Hoang says.

Hoang has released several top songs since his debut. He wrote and released the famous track “Million Days”, which has over 31M plays on Spotify. “Million Days” was released on Monstercat.

Other songs by Hoang include “Run Back to You”, “Don’t Say”, “When You are Lonely”, and the most recent release, “People Change”. Combined, Hoang’s music has 100M+ streams on Spotify alone. He has nearly 1M monthly listeners and has had several sold-out shows across the country. Hoang has performed at notable Breakaway Music Festival (Bay Area Edition), Hollywood Palladium (LA), Stereolive (Dallas/Houston), Webster Hall (NYC), and Showbox Theatre (Seattle), to name a few.

According to the EDM producer and DJ, one of his goals is to create music people need. He aims to write songs that impact the listener. Through sharing his journey, Hoang also wants to help others see why it matters to do something you like and the importance of taking action on your goals.

Hoang made the decision to leave his job and invest in music. While the journey was challenging, he doesn’t regret his choice. His biggest challenge was conquering his negative thoughts about how others would perceive his work. He slowly managed to overcome this by believing more in his craft.

Hoang has worked on multiple projects and is still working on more. He recently supported ELEPHANTE on a city-stop tour across the US. In the coming years, he sees himself writing, continuing to make songs that he loves, and performing to experience his life through music. Hoang also wants to create a platform where he can really help other artists grow in the scene. “Being an Asian American artist is something you don’t often see within the electronic music scene, and I want to change that,” Hoang says.

Image Credit: Hoang (Press) / Provided by Ascend Agency