Breaking Out on TikTok, The Y2K Aesthetic, ‘Industry Plants’ and Following Your Dreams with Mana Garden
I first came across Josh during one of my late-night TikTok deep dives.
It was akin to finding out about a musician before everyone else jumps on the hype train—and I have no doubt Josh, aka Mana Garden, is going to take off.
A mix of alternative indie rock à la The Strokes and electronic, hyperpop influences, “Do You Wanna Stay” is an intoxicating single I haven’t been able to get out of my head.
With one of us in Portland, Oregon and the other in Perth, Western Australia, we sat down to chat about this promising new era of independent, digitally bred artists that we find ourselves amongst in 2022.
“As a teenager, I was totally convinced I was going to be a successful recording artist in some capacity.”
Josh was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. It was the backdrop for a musical childhood, in which Josh would remake his favourite songs, create beats, join a choir and eventually learn how to use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
He’s now based in Portland, working as a full-time baker.
“I’m pretty uninteresting outside of music in all honesty,” he laughed.
“I was totally convinced I was going to be a successful recording artist in some capacity. And then life kind of got in the way of that, I guess.
“I created this huge obstacle of self-doubt and my whole self-esteem just plummeted…I started to build back my confidence to the point where now I’m okay, I’m super excited about all of the things that bring me joy again, especially music—and I feel again like it’s a super viable path and I can totally be a successful artist.”
“(I’m) somebody who basically thrives off the DIY nature of things.”
Releasing his first ever single as Mana Garden, Josh has had to grapple with not only his mental health journey, but the DIY nature of being an independent artist.
Lucky for him, that’s the most enjoyable part.
“Some people don’t want to do everything themselves, which is totally understandable. But for me, it’s the challenge that drives me.
“If you’re an artist just starting out and you don’t have a recording studio to go to and you don’t have a producer to work with or a mixing and mastering engineer—of course you’re gonna want to learn how to do all those things yourself. And I am the type of person who gets excited by that.
“I’m working on no budget, doing everything myself,” he explained. “I’ve always been a bit into digital art and I do consider myself a multimedia artist. I shot (the cover art) on my iPhone, in my bedroom.
@managarden also this song comes out thur. apr 28!! presave is in my bio!
♬ original sound - managarden
“The aesthetic of that photo is straight up Y2K, like an advertisement. I felt like it was perfect, because it looks like it could be ripped out of a magazine, you know?”
“There’s a natural progression of collective nostalgia that’s happening right now with Y2K.”
Josh has a certain infatuation with the era of the 2000’s.
He cited it as an “emergence of a specific type of electronic music and people starting to be a little bit more experimental."
“To me, in a way, it was like this new genre of ‘the indie artist’, the dude who was finally making beats on his own, in his room with drum pads and whatnot," he said.
I agreed, commenting that “it’s kind of like the 2000’s were a renaissance of DIY musicians or the underdogs coming out—and that’s kind of happening again now."
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“Absolutely,” Josh said. “I think what people are drawn to is what’s currently counterculture. And I feel like our youth are really tired of hearing super pristine, perfect pop records.
“It’s interesting to see how because of TikTok and ‘bedroom’, independent artists who are doing everything on their own, people are drawn to this sort of lo-fi indie sound."
This brought us to an interesting discussion about the moral dilemma of ‘industry plants’ which are emerging across all platforms and imitating the lo-fi sound.
“(Industry plants) are basically just trying to emulate what’s cool. So I get why it’s being done.”
When we issued a poll several months ago to understand how people respond to industry plants, the responses erred on the side of indifference.
I raised this with Josh, echoing concerns of culture critics regarding the infamous ‘Wikipedia blue hyperlink’ attached to pop musicians’ names, whose immediate relatives are record executives or well-connected in the industry.
Josh, too, had encountered “seeing eight people with big names who worked on one song” by a supposed ‘independent’ artist. But he’s not too bothered by it.
“It’s being sold like they’re just this independent artist in their bedroom. It’s basically just trying to emulate what’s cool. So I get why it’s being done.”
“I feel like I’ve started to build my little community of people who are stoked for my music.”
Josh’s TikTok following, which led to fans pre-saving his singles and following his journey, began with posting hyper-pop covers.
“I knew that if I posted enough, people would start to follow along—and that started to happen. I got this little group of people who were excited about that release…I was ecstatic to get that level of success on my first release because an independent artist’s worst nightmare is putting out a song and nobody’s there to listen. I knew I couldn’t let that happen to me.
“I would much rather, God forbid, never get on a playlist but build my own loyal community of people who are there for every single release, who will buy my merchandise and come to my shows, rather than get this sort of artificially inflated monthly listener count, where people don’t necessarily care about me, the artist.”
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Josh was referring to musicians who market their singles incredibly well and gain access to popular Spotify playlists or viral sounds on TikTok, but whose presence as an artist doesn’t match the single’s hype.
I’ve observed TikTokers create ear-wormy, 30 second sound-bites in the hopes of going viral all too often.
“Do you feel like when you’re making your music, a little part of you is like, ‘I need to make this bite-sized thing for TikTok for it to go off? Does that mentality influence you at all?” I asked Josh.
“It honestly doesn’t. But I will say that when I’m making a song, I’m thinking, how am I going to engage the listener here? And then how am I gonna keep their attention until this next little segment?
“So naturally, because of that, I include these little parts that grab you. And those are easy to sort of use as your snippet on TikTok.
“I have so much vision I want to give and that I want people to see.”
When I asked Josh if he would take a record deal or stay independent, his answer rested on his strong artistic conviction.
“I think if I was offered the right deal, I would take it. And I think the right deal for me is one that allows me to fully express my creative vision and feel fulfilled by it.
“I don’t want to make compromises with my artistic vision because at the end of the day, that’s why I’m even doing it.”
For now, Josh is focusing on releasing strong singles and equally epic music videos, collaborating with creatives in his area.
Be sure to check out Mana Garden on Spotify, Apple Music and TikTok and get hype for this burgeoning era of independent music. You’ve gotta have this on your radar.
Header image: @managard3n via Instagram.
