By Ben Millerman
Having amassed 193,000 TikTok followers, Luther is probably a musician you have scrolled upon. That is exactly what happened to me in May 2022. I was aimlessly scrolling when I ventured onto one of his verse challenges. Now normally, these challenges are of weaker quality, or not to my liking, but this one hit the right buttons. The beat was not like one produced by a random person—it sounded professional. Finding out that the artist was still a high schooler, I was beyond impressed and felt like that could even be me.
I recently found out that Luther went to McGill after seeing a flyer for his Halloween performance posted on social media. Realizing that an artist of that level attends my university, I just had to know more.
For Luther, the growth of that same social media was key to growing his fanbase. Luther says that the key to his success was his consistency. He would go to school, come home, make music, then promote it. This was the cycle he operated on, and it worked. At first, the views were slow, but as he stayed consistent the videos began to perform. All he had to do was break through the barrier of the countless other artists trying to make a name for themselves.
Music is something that Luther has been doing since he was young. He started out on classical piano at the age of 5, thanks to his dad, and has been classically trained since then. He only started producing in his sophomore year of high school. Luther began with using Ableton, but found that it had a larger learning curve than he originally expected—he says, “I really thought I’d have an album out within a month of getting Abletom—but boy, was I wrong.” It took him a full two years before he released any music, but he’s glad that he waited until the music he released was actually good.
Making music requires the ability to create something from nothing, and this was Luther’s reason for wanting to make something that he could call his own. He explains that, when you have control over every part of something you create on your own, it begins to feel like a puzzle where you are constantly looking for the missing piece. That, to Luther, is the most enjoyable part of the whole process: finding what works in his personal creative mission.
Of course, producing music doesn’t happen without inspiration from others. Luther is heavily inspired by Mac Miller, JMSN, and Kendrick Lamar; you can certainly see pieces of them in his work, particularly Mac Miller. However, Luther’s true inspiration is his father. He always sat by Luther’s side as he learned piano, and was the reason Luther picked it up in the first place. Luther shares a special bond with his father through music, a bond that helped him discover his love for playing and that continues to help him discover new music from which to gain inspiration.
When looking into his big album release, The Ages, you see a lot of features from “smaller” artists. Luther found most of these artists organically through TikTok or in real life. These artists helped him create a beautiful album, and to Luther, being able to work with these artists was a great opportunity. He has remained in touch with most of these artists, keeping friendships—this shows the power that music has in bringing people together.
And nothing demonstrates music bringing people together like a band. Luther is a member of the band Pyjama Day, a McGill-formed group. The members (Nia, Jack, and Parker) met in classes and decided to form a band then. Since then, they have gone on to perform some live shows, like the Halloween party, and are planning to do even more live events around Montreal, aiming for one every month. The band is preparing to release a single in the near future, with an EP following shortly after—so stay alert for those.
However, as a student, there are struggles that come with being a musician. For Luther, there was a lot of hate in the early days of being a “high-school musician”. People constantly pushed negativity his way and didn’t take his art seriously until they saw visible success. It’s an unfortunate situation that is common for high school artists. But other than the hate he received, there’s also the responsibility to keep up your grades alongside making music. Luther had a routine in high school: getting home, doing his work, and then using his remaining time to produce. It was a hard routine to uphold, but it paid off. Things have continued to work well since he arrived at McGill last year, and his music has become even better.
In the future, Luther wants to finish his education at McGill, hopefully through the Sound Recording Master’s program. During this time, he hopes to continue to produce more incredible music, reaching a point where he can make money off of what he produces and build a large enough fanbase to be able to go on tour.
A final note from Luther to aspiring musicians: “Make what you truly want to make and work really, really hard at it. The more honest and open you are in your music, the more people will appreciate that about you as an artist. If I had to give one tip, it would be to focus on working as hard as you can on your craft and not let anyone throw you off your path.”