After not being able to attend HARIZ’s Nashville show last semester, I was excited to be able to connect with him while he was back in town on Aug. 23. HARIZ has spent his summer on the road with JVKE on his “What Tour Feels Like” tour, and Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl marked the 15th stop. 

This is not HARIZ’s first tour, but he told The Hustler it has had the highest caliber of production of any tour he has been on in his career. He joined the lineup when tickets were almost entirely sold out and was amazed that fans bought resale tickets just to see him perform. In Nashville, he even recognized a few fans who came from Dallas to watch him perform for a second time. When asked about what it’s like to see dedicated fans like this in the crowd, HARIZ didn’t highlight his fame. 

 “I don’t look at myself that way,” HARIZ said. “And I don’t expect anyone to look at me that way.” 

He continued to share that his fans enjoying the show is what makes him love performing. 

“I have so much fun out there. That’s all it is for me. You know, if you’re having a good time, I’m having a great time.” 

And his fans certainly do have a good time. One way that HARIZ makes sure of this is that he spends time with anyone who wants to meet him. HARIZ noted that he waits after each show to hold a meet and greet and won’t leave until he has met every last fan. During these meet and greets, HARIZ explained that he has had some very special, and sometimes comedic, interactions. Specifically, at one show, the venue told HARIZ that he had to leave the premises since he was going past curfew, and on his way out, he tripped over a rock. One fan found the rock and brought it to HARIZ for him to sign. Not only will HARIZ sign rocks, but he will take pictures, film TikToks and do as much as he can to make fan interactions a special experience each night. 

Another part of the tour that has been special for HARIZ is his new assistant tour manager, Jackson Latham. Latham and HARIZ have been best friends since seventh grade and have used the tour to drive into Buc-ee’s and other gas stations, creating a comedic culture on the road. Fans have caught onto HARIZ’s gas station exploration journey and have started to bring Buc-ee’s merchandise to the meet and greets. Another tour tradition has been trying food from each city on the tour — in Nashville, he ate Prince’s Hot Chicken.

HARIZ has undoubtedly made a name for himself, but before he was signing rocks and wearing beaver onesies on tour, he was a kindergartener with lots of talent and a dream. HARIZ shared a bit about how he began his career, which he owes to his kindergarten music teacher. His teacher, who taught him classical piano, noticed his talent and suggested he start acting. As he grew up, he continued to find his love for music, much of which came from listening to it. He credits some of his love for music to Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved,” which helped HARIZ create a goal for himself. 

“I remember thinking, if I can make someone feel the same way that I feel, listening to this song, then I will die a happy person,” HARIZ said. “I realized that what I wanted to say and share was really the basics of human experience. That is definitely not shared. We have a lot of love songs. We have a lot of breakup songs…but there’s a lot of like intricacies within all those things.”

“Better to Lie” was born out of one of these human interactions. HARIZ walked into the studio and realized that so many times he lied and said he was doing well when someone asked how he was doing. 

“But how many times do we do that? We just lie because we think someone doesn’t want to take the time or we just want to cover up,” HARIZ said. “So that’s just what guided me in my journey.”

Looking forward, HARIZ hopes to headline a tour soon. In the meantime, he will finish his tour with JVKE and open for Jake Miller’s “The Note To Self Tour,” which stops in Nashville on Sept. 18. However, HARIZ noted that the most important thing to him is reaching as many people as possible with his music. Everything else to him is unimportant compared to music that rings true to who he is.