Born in Athens Greece, Arva moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 19 in order to pursue studies in Music and Entertainment. Shortly after, he successfully worked as an actor and singer, producing his own songs on TV and stage. In less than a year, Arva was able to garner massive audiences on multiple social media platforms, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, millions of views, and a huge fanbase making him one of the fastest growing social media stars in Europe. His YouTube channel “Arvaofficial” is featured on YouTube’s most viewed videos on a weekly basis. Arva has dropped quite a few tracks, all supported by his fun-filled and entertaining videos. His latest being the Trap-infused single, “Aladdin”.
What is immediately evident on this track even more so than on his previous mind-bending performances, is the vocal polyphony that he employs. His tongue in cheek lyrics match levels of speaking past most mother tongue rappers, and the way in which he says what he says has evolved to another level catchy cleverness.
There’s a surface-level explanation for this. In his songs Arva adopts multiple personas – some his own, others he’s stylizing off others. Each of his tracks reveal a new level of commitment, which makes you wonder if he is saying something literal and personal or simply playing a parody of his chosen subject. Either way his performances are always compelling, as it is on “Aladdin”.
Lyrically, the track sticks to the genre’s hottest and trendiest tropes: “Aladdin Aladdin Aladdin, Fucking your bitch on a carpet. Pick up your bitch in a market, Aladdin Aladdin Aladdin,” but everything is so rooted in the cosmic surrealism of his voice that it virtually ceases to matter.
Arva is far from your average rapper. He is the type of artist who doesn’t fit into the square boxed dichotomy of modern hip-hop. Instead, he completely flips the table on this debate. Arva is clever, colorful, and incredibly unique; has something to say, but it’s not complicated nor overbearing. He takes the trap-rap style and simply pushes it into his own direction. Its sugarcoated beat with a multicolored melody and cleverly explicit wordplay illustrates his creative vision.
The production on “Aladdin” is unsurprisingly strong, as I’d already heard some of his other tracks and knew the kind of quality to expect. Rich synths weave through the mix of heavy bass, a thumping kick drum and aggressive hi-hats.
The track has a punchy yet almost aqueous sound that compliments the vocals perfectly, and emphasizes the spontaneous quality that gives Arva’s words such raw power. The artist plays many roles in his songs, but all of them are directly connected to the overarching persona that Arva really is.
Arva who regularly straddles the line between anomaly and conundrum, is already something of a rousing raconteur and adventurer on YouTube. The fact that he keeps getting better is pretty exciting, if only to see just where he is capable of reaching!
