Get the Lowdown on Rising Riddim Producer ONARA

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ONARA offers insight into his upcoming US debut, his drive to craft technically skilled tracks, and his latest single, “SHARPSHOOTER.”

Anonymous riddim producer ONARA has become deeply ingrained within the underground bass music scene since his debut in 2020. Lauded for his technically skilled approach to riddim, the ambitious innovator has built quite a resume. From a number one on Beatport‘s dubstep charts to an appearance at Rampage Open Air and support from HAMRO, HOL!, and Infekt, ONARA is quickly on his way to becoming a household name in the riddim community.

Earlier this month, he released the punishing and raw track, “SHARPSHOOTER.” A track that will fuel the festival crowds, the precise riddim banger puts ONARA’s years of production expertise beyond riddim on display. ONARA gives us the lowdown on the creation of his latest release, his unreleased IDs, and what to expect from the project as the year progresses.

Continue reading for our full interview with ONARA, and be sure to give his new single, “SHARPSHOOTER,” a spin on Spotify or your preferred platform!

Stream ONARA – “SHARPSHOOTER” on Spotify:

You’re known for crafting technically skilled, explosive riddim bangers. What initially pulled you into the world of dubstep?

I’ve listened to dubstep for basically as long as I can remember, so it’s not a sound I’m new to at all, but I wasn’t producing dubstep much up until 2020-2021 or so. The roughly seven years before that were spent just experimenting and doing all kinds of electronic music for fun.

At some point, I felt my dubstep production abilities were lacking, and I wanted to give it a real shot. Riddim in particular turned out to be something I loved making. I’m grateful to have had friends along the way who have taught me lots, along with a very supportive scene to keep me motivated. I’m happy to have ended up where I did.

This year, you’ll make your US debut at Lost Lands. What does it mean for you to be a part of this year’s lineup as a rising international artist?

It’s incredible and still pretty surreal. I remember watching the Lost Lands livestreams and voting for the lineups throughout the years, hoping maybe I’d be part of it myself one day.

When I first started the ONARA project, it was really just to showcase random stuff I was making, so I kind of never actually expected it to go this far. I’m very glad it did, though, and super grateful to be part of the scene. I’m also very excited to be able to perform in America, since that’s where my biggest fanbase is, and Lost Lands is just an incredible debut for that.

“SHARPSHOOTER” is your latest single. What was the idea behind creating such an aggressive, yet minimalistic, riddim track?

The idea behind that track was originally for it to serve as an opener for my Northern Invasion 2025 set. I wanted a strong and memorable first song to open with, so the whole track was made with that in mind.

I had a few main inspirations that guided the initial direction of the track — an unreleased ID by Automhate, “RAILOUT” by DEXAMP, and “TOTAL MAYHEM” by myself — and then the decisions like keeping it fairly minimalistic and having a more repetitive second half were made with live performance in mind to allow for doubles and easier mixing.

Lately, where have you been drawing inspiration for your work?

A lot of the music I make starts out as “happy accidents” without any particular direction, which comes from messing around with sound design. But my biggest inspirations at the moment are definitely DVEIGHT (and his HAX project), Automhate (and his VYLE alias), and Mad Dubz.

You’ve got a few b2b performances lined up at festivals this summer. How do you approach planning a b2b, and what challenges does it bring as an artist?

It does depend on the b2b, but generally, I like to have just a bunch of doubles/tracks in my playlist and to then improvise on the spot.

It’s very fun when you feel the DJ chemistry live and the element of surprise, not always knowing what the other person is going to play. For some b2b’s, I do plan things out a little bit, though, like the order of my songs and sometimes merging playlists with the other person.

At EDC Las Vegas this year, an ID with Mad Dubz was played out by FuntCase, Doctor P, and Flux Pavilion. How does it feel knowing legends in the dubstep scene are supporting your music on such important stages?

It’s an awesome feeling. I’ve been listening to all of those like my whole life, and it’s crazy to think that they’re now playing my music at a stage like EDC Las Vegas. I feel very honored!

Another ID floating around is with French producer SampliFire. How did you two first connect and decide to collaborate?

Honestly don’t remember exactly how we first connected. I think it might’ve been at a Rampage event?

But I do know we started that tune after just talking a bit on Discord. He wanted to work on something, and I sent over a project file I was stuck on, but felt had potential. I’m very glad I did because that tune has been getting some good hype and big playouts, and I love how it sounds.

Shoutout to Samy for the support, I love that guy.

How do you see your sound contributing to the ongoing evolution of riddim?

Hopefully, I can inspire people to become more nerdy and intentional with their production! I like it when you can tell music is well produced, and in a scene like riddim, where fancy production quality hasn’t traditionally been too important, it definitely makes people stand out more when they pay attention to that. I want to inspire people to be better producers and be more creative with sound design.

Looking ahead to the latter half of the year, what are you hoping to achieve both personally and professionally?

I’m hoping to release way more music. I’m currently sitting on some of my favorite material I’ve ever made, and I want to release a bunch of it. There might even be another EP lined up later this year…

Other than that, I’m looking forward to finally playing all over the US and entering that market — and of course, meeting a bunch of friends, fans, and new people there!