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“Honestly, music is pretty selfish,” said Prazul Wokhlu ’25, who goes simply by Prazul as an artist, in an interview with The Crimson.

Prazul makes music for himself and describes his need to create like a compulsion — not a hobby, interest, or want, but a need.

“Music is such a soul filling thing for me,” Prazul said. “I make music for me.”

Prazul, a recording artist and senior at Harvard College, is the Dallas-born son of Indian immigrants. His music is reminiscent of the indie-pop that has become so prevalent in the modern music scene, but with added elements of jazz, Indian classical music, and African diaspora influences.

Prazul tells stories through his music, which he describes as “cinematic.” His recently released single, “Left Behind,” is part of a larger project of his — a concept album that tells a dramatized version of his journey exploring his heritage and identity.

“I feel like you have to be kind of intentional when you’re listening to it,” he said.

Specifically, Prazul explores navigating a predominantly white community and dealing with issues of internalized racial insecurity.

“It’s about someone that rejected himself so much to where he turned into a bad version of himself,” he said.

Not only has Prazul’s heritage influenced his music, but his exploration of his culture through his music has helped him reconnect with his Indian identity.

“I like these sounds. I think it’s cool; I want to use it. And then, obviously, to use it, you have to learn more about it,” Prazul said.

Despite Prazul’s definition of music as “selfish,” he also appreciates what music can do for others. In high school, he performed with a charity band at homeless shelters. According to him, moments like those showcase the power of music to become a service to others and spread joy.

“Regardless of feelings or thoughts about the world or you know, race, gender, whatever, people can connect on music,” he said.

Although Prazul always had an interest in music — dating back to the first time he picked up a saxophone at 10 years old — being a performing artist wasn’t necessarily always his goal. Prazul entered Harvard as a Computer Science concentrator and originally attempted to pave a career path focused on both computer science and music.

“I was very uncomfortable trying to just pursue music on its own,” he said.

Struggling to reconcile these two interests, Prazul attempted to merge them. He even took a gap year to build a start-up that combined the two. He founded Melo, a social media platform where music creators could share short-form versions of their music — the tagline was “What if TikTok and SoundCloud had a baby?” After initial momentum, however, he realized that this was not the career path for him and returned to Harvard.

Although Melo didn’t take off entirely, the experience provided Prazul with something that may be even more valuable than commercial success: a clear direction.

Prazul realized he wanted to pursue music — just music. Computer science and technology still interested him, but he knew that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life doing something that didn’t truly fulfill him.

“I came back to school and realized all I wanted to do was music,” he said.

Since that revelation, Prazul’s pursuit of music has intensified. “Left Behind” marks his first released song that he produced completely on his own. Although he has collaborated with others as a producer before, Prazul definitely enjoys creating on his own.

This independence meant he could take his time with his music, which he certainly did — he began writing “Left Behind” in 2023 for a class at Harvard. He revisited the song after a breakup, projecting a fresh perspective and new emotional depth. Over the last two years, Prazul experimented with the song, adding and removing new sounds as it gradually developed.

“It’s a very liberating process,” he said.

“Left Behind” definitely has a unique sound, something that Prazul feels is necessary to differentiate his work in an era where so many songs are being released daily.

“I think there’s 100,000 songs uploaded to Spotify per day,” Prazul said. “You have to be something different in order to stick out from the crowd.”

So, what makes Prazul stick out from this crowd? When asked about this, his answer was immediate.

“I’m really trying to bring the saxophone back,” Prazul said.

Prazul has been in love with the saxophone since he first discovered it. Since then, it’s become a staple of not just Prazul’s songs, but Prazul himself.

In 2023, Grammy-winning artist Laufey invited Prazul out on stage at the Boston stop of her national ‘Bewitched’ tour for a saxophone solo during her song “From the Start” after discovering him on TikTok. The concert hosted the largest crowd for which Prazul had ever performed.

“I remember looking at it, I was like, I want to do this, this is what I want to do with my life,” Prazul said. “I was like, I don’t want to just be the saxophone. I want to be the artist that people are here for.”

The central role that saxophone plays in Prazul’s music, in combination with the various influences that he draws inspiration from — above all, classical Indian music from his own heritage — means that his music promises a distinctly different listening experience than many songs on the radio today.

So, what’s next? According to Prazul, the end goal is to draw legions of listeners.

“Honestly, the dream is to sell out arenas, playing 20,000 person venues. I want a lot of people who know my music,” he said.

In the slightly closer future, after graduating in May, Prazul plans to focus solely on his music for a year.

“I’m excited to just completely dedicate my time after graduation to [music]. I’m also ready to be out of the ‘Harvard Bubble,’” he said.

In the meantime, if you are interested in Indian classical music or jazz, want to see the saxophone “brought back,” or are simply looking for a new top artist, you know who to listen to.