Karan Aujla on overcoming tragedy to become a history-making global superstar

Growing up in India, Karan Aujla remembers being a happy kid until tragedy struck his family. He was nine when his father died in a bike accident and 14 when he lost his mother to cancer.

Confronted with grief, Aujla also had to deal with new responsibilities, like sorting out his documentation to come to Canada, where his two older sisters lived. At that age, he wasn't even sure what trauma was, let alone how to process it.

"I feel like it just opened my eyes too early," he tells Q's Tom Power today in a Canadian exclusive interview. "I don't know why that happened so early, but maybe it was meant to happen."

It's been 10 years since Aujla moved to Canada and rebuilt his life from scratch, and now he's one of the most popular Punjabi artists in the world. Earlier this year, he made history as the first Punjabi artist to win a Juno award, and today, he was named the latest addition to Apple Music's Up Next program, which makes him the first Punjabi artist to join the global artist initiative.

If you aren't familiar with Aujla yet, you'll likely start hearing his name everywhere. Today, he drops his latest EP, Four Me, and this summer he'll embark on an arena tour, which kicks off on Aug. 10 at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena.

Aujla's rise to fame is a truly Canadian story of perseverance and determination. Here's how he managed to become one of the fastest-growing artists in the world right now.

Songwriting as therapy

Shortly after his mother's death, before moving to Canada, Aujla turned to songwriting as a way of coping with his emotions.

"I still remember my first song was a sad song," he says. "I was writing about how I felt like I basically don't have no reason to live. That was the chorus of that track.… I didn't know how to talk to anybody, you know? And then I slowly started realizing, 'OK, maybe I could turn this into a hobby and then a profession.'"

By 15 or 16, Aujla gave one of his songs to a big local singer in Punjab, which got him some attention back home. It was his first taste of success.

"That song released when I came to Canada," he says. "So it took over two years to get that out, but that kind of gave me recognition around my village."

Making his first big hit, Don't Worry

At 20, Aujla landed a part-time job as a longshore worker in Surrey, B.C., which allowed him to pick his hours and make music on the side. By that time, he was regularly selling his lyrics to Punjabi singers, though he was much more interested in recording his own music.

"I wanted somebody to give me attention as a singer, not as a writer," Aujla tells Power. "I recorded some of my songs and everybody around me started realizing, 'OK, you actually sing better than other people. You give your songs to other people [and] they can't deliver the same.'"

Aujla put out two tracks on his own, but they didn't work out. Rather than giving up, he shifted his focus to building relationships with producers in Canada by trading his lyrics for their music. "There was no money involved," he says. "It was just about creating a masterpiece."

With some help from his friends, Aujla created his own YouTube channel where he started sharing his music and racking up millions of views. In October 2018, he released a track called Don't Worry, which changed everything for him.

"It was doing like five million views a day," he says. "Now it's 50 mil, now it's 60 mil…. That's when I made the decision … to stay independent most of the time and just put my own music out and write for myself."

The Punjabi wave

After Don't Worry blew up, it wasn't long until Aujla started working on his next single. He knew that if he wanted to be successful, he really had to go for it.

"I just kept making music," he says. "Back then, I was basically dropping every month. So I feel like that played a big, big role in my career — just being consistent…. I dropped a track called Don't Look and it popped off in Punjab and that was my dream. After that, things just got better." 

Aujla is one of a handful of artists in Canada, such as AP Dhillon and Ikky, who are leading the so-called Punjabi wave of South Asian diasporic artists who are blurring the boundaries between genres and reaching massive audiences.

When he got to Canada, Aujla started listening to hip-hop music with the new friends he made at school. Influenced by rappers like Jay-Z, J. Cole and Kanye West, he started blending Punjabi lyrics and melodies over hip-hop and trap beats. Jay-Z's smash hit remix of Mundian To Bach Ke was a big inspiration for him.

"Who knew a Punjabi track would be playing at raves," he says. "I feel like that needs to come back again with another track."

I'm trying to make that one track that'll just go everywhere.- Karan Aujla

Today, Aujla is heartened to see his music amassing billions of streams. He has complete faith that he'll soon have his "Despacito moment," where one of his songs breaks into the mainstream in the same way that Latin artists are now dominating charts in and out of Latin America.

"It's so nice to see that the world is more open to new music and new languages," he tells Power. "Music is music…. I'm trying to make that one track that'll just go everywhere."

Looking back on his journey, Aujla says he was able to channel his pain into his passion for music, but finding the perseverance to keep going wasn't always easy.

"You got to get up and just do your thing," he says. "What drives me is just that journey I went through. I really believe that my parents are still watching over me and I just want to make them proud every day. That's what's driving me."

The full interview with Karan Aujla is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Karan Aujla produced by Vanessa Greco.