Rising Artist Erik Aronesty Is Already Breaking Every Rule He Can Find

Erik Aronesty calls himself “a new musician who hasn’t learned his lesson.” It’s a deliberately cryptic introduction that makes perfect sense once you dive into his work—a collection of lo-fi pop singles, children’s music, and what he describes as “bizarre” music videos that somehow manage to be both experimental and deeply personal.

While most people juggle a day job and creative pursuits, Aronesty’s dual identity feels more like living in two different universes. By day, he runs Q32, an artificial intelligence and technology consulting firm that helps startups harness machine learning for everything from resume screening to code review. By night, he’s crafting genre-bending micro-films and dreamy pop tracks that feel like they emerged from someone’s subconscious.

The thing is, the musical side isn’t new territory for Aronesty. He’s been making music since childhood, following in the footsteps of his musician father. These days, you’ll find him performing live vocals, keyboard, and harmonica on stages across Los Angeles every week, with regular Monday night shows at the Clubhouse drawing a growing audience.

His sound pulls from an eclectic mix of influences—Coldplay’s anthemic qualities, Jim Morrison’s poetic intensity, Ween’s genre-hopping irreverence, and the atmospheric textures of Radiohead and Morcheeba. The result is what he calls “Lo-Fi Pop and Dream Pop that’s designed to tell a story,” drawing directly from whatever’s happening in his life.

“It’s just stuff that’s happening in my life,” Aronesty explains about his songwriting process. But there’s nothing “just” about the execution. Operating under the q32 Studio banner, he’s published nearly 30 videos on YouTube, each one feeling like a mini-experiment in visual storytelling.

Take his recent work “Undo,” a breakup story he describes as having “a sad ending.” The track (and video) blends sketch-style visuals with photoreal footage in a single-take sequence exploring that universal desire to reverse time and fix a relationship. Then there’s “Didn’t Happen,” a lo-fi track about disassociating from painful reality, looping through washed-out moments and forgotten memories. On the completely opposite end, “Did You Lose Your Keys?” leans into absurdist internet humor with a song-based parody infomercial, complete with French lyrics and meta-comedy.

His most recent single, “It Goes Like This,” represents something of a departure—a deliberately catchy track designed for maximum TikTok virality. Released on June 1st, 2025, the 2:23 track is available on Spotify and showcases some subtle mainstream ambitions. You can check out more of his music on his Spotify. There’s even a TikTok preview that gives viewers a quick glimpse into the new music video. The song captures that universal feeling of being stuck in patterns—”Up all night, can’t get no rest / Same old song, it’s stuck again”—with a hypnotic repetition that somehow feels both frustrating and liberating. Honestly, after hearing it once, you’ll find yourself humming along whether you want to or not.

What sets Aronesty’s work apart isn’t just the music itself, but how he approaches the entire creative package. His videos span genres from sci-fi to slice-of-life, comedy to noir, always aiming for unexpected narratives and emotional depth. While he incorporates AI tools in his production process—a natural extension of his day job—the writing, directing, and scripting remain firmly human-driven.

“I generate punchy micro-films that span genres,” he explains. “My goal is that every story unexpected and has a twist. This isn’t typical AI-gen sync.” The distinction matters to him, and it shows in the final product.

For Aronesty, the ultimate goal is simple: giving listeners “a sense of play, and fun.” It’s an approach that feels refreshingly honest in an industry often focused on vanity related numbers and metrics. His live performances every other Monday at 7pm at the Clubhouse in LA offer audiences a chance to experience this playful energy in person.

Having recently completed the duet “Undo,” Aronesty continues to blur the lines between his technical expertise and creative output. Whether he’s helping startups implement machine learning solutions or crafting the next weird little movie that makes people think, he’s operating from the same core principle: technology should enhance human creativity, not replace it.

The capacity of his creative output is pretty remarkable when you step back and look at it. From children’s singles to breakup ballads, from absurdist comedy to genuine emotional depth—it’s the kind of artistic range that comes from someone who isn’t trying to fit into a predetermined box. Maybe that’s what he means about not learning his lesson.

At a time when AI and art conversations usually swing between doomsday scenarios or sterile perfection, Aronesty’s work offers something different—a place where the tools serve the story, and the story always comes from somewhere real.