I’m Aria Starling, an electronic pop and dance artist drawn to the moments that feel larger than life, the ones that happen under neon lights, above the clouds, or in the split second when someone decides to leap before fear catches up.
Music wasn’t where my creative journey began. I started as a writer, fascinated by the way a single melody could change the emotional heartbeat of a story. When I began studying music, the first piece I composed was a theme for one of my own novels. That project convinced me that songs can tell stories every bit as vividly as words on a page.
(Important note: I do NOT write as Aria Starling. Someone else already does. I might eventually share my writing name, but today is not that day.)
As I kept writing, one idea surfaced again and again: carpe diem. A songwriting instructor once pointed out that many of the songs I loved shared that thread, and suddenly everything clicked. I wasn’t chasing a genre as much as I was chasing a feeling…the rush of living before the moment slips away.
That philosophy became personal after a concussion from figure skating forced me to rebuild confidence from the ground up. Aviation reinforced the lesson. As a licensed pilot, I’ve learned that you don’t wait until uncertainty disappears. You prepare, make the best decision you can, and move forward.
Those experiences shape every song I write.
Much of my recent work lives After Dark: songs about desire, temptation, obsession, freedom, and the electric energy that comes alive when the sun goes down. They’re built for midnight drives, crowded dance floors, and the quiet hours when emotions stop pretending to be sensible.
But the lights eventually come back on.
The same artist who writes about longing at two in the morning also writes about resilience, movement, ambition, history, flight, and finding the courage to keep going when the easy choice is to stay grounded. Night is where many of my stories begin, not where all of them end.
If there’s a thread connecting everything under the name Aria Starling, it’s this: life is short, fear is loud, and the best stories usually belong to the people who forge their way forward anyway, determined to live each day and night to its fullest potential.
Sound is power. Story is legacy.