Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellevan Music.
Hi Ellevan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve spent most of my career finding unconventional ways to build a life around music, creativity and live performance.
I started as an independent artist and songwriter, but pretty quickly realized I was just as interested in creating experiences and finding new ways for music to reach people. Early on, I entered the emerging influencer world working with creators like Spandy Andy, writing music for viral dance videos. That eventually brought me to Playlist Live, where I connected with creators like Matthew Santoro and the Epic Meal Time crew and got an early education in how artists, audiences and brands could collaborate in ways that felt authentic.
I brought a lot of that thinking back to Toronto and continued building my own career differently. I toured through busking, including an absurd adventure riding a scooter across half of America while performing along the way. My freestyle ability became a major part of my identity as a performer and led to private events, festivals and bookings around the world—from Jamaica to Indonesia and everything from intimate rooms to high-end corporate experiences.
In 2018, I took that obsession with creating to an extreme and completed one of the biggest projects of my life: writing, recording and releasing 365 original songs with 365 music videos in a single year.
Since then, I’ve continued building a large catalogue of my own music while writing and creating for other artists, including platinum-selling artist Karl Wolf. In 2026, I released “Mind Your Business” featuring Westside Boogie, another milestone in a career that has always been built independently.
Today, all of those worlds have started converging. Alongside my wife and creative partner Winny Clarke, I co-host the 11 Wins Podcast and created Pairadox Live—an intimate live experience bringing together music, comedy, food, cannabis culture, creators and brand partnerships. I perform, freestyle and host, but I’m also deeply involved in building the creative concepts and partnerships around the room.
Looking back, the common thread has always been the same: I love making things that bring people together. Whether it’s a song, a freestyle, a viral video, a partnership or an entire live experience, I’ve built my career around turning creativity into something people can actually experience.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road — but I think that’s probably the point.
There have been periods of being completely broke while still trying to build something ambitious, taking care of people around me, starting from scratch more than once, and learning how to balance being an artist with actually understanding business.
One of the biggest challenges has been maintaining enough belief and enthusiasm in my own vision that the people around me can believe in it too. When you’re independent, there isn’t always somebody above you saying, “Keep going, this is working.” Sometimes you have to generate that energy yourself for years before the outside world catches up.
There’s also the constant challenge of staying focused. Opportunities, ideas, money, attention and distractions can pull you in a hundred directions. I’ve had to learn that building something meaningful is as much about what you say no to as what you say yes to.
And underneath all of that are the same things every human being deals with — relationships, responsibility, ego, fear, doubt, temptation, purpose and trying to figure out what actually makes a good life.
I’ve just chosen to experience all of those things through the full-immersion therapy of being a self-projected superstar. Haha.
Somehow, I’m still extremely enthusiastic about it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At the core, I’m a rapper, songwriter, freestyle artist and live performer — but I’ve always tried to stretch those definitions.
A huge chapter of my career was built around #ThatFreestyleGuy. I became known for being able to improvise full songs in real time from audience suggestions — hooks, verses, stories and punchlines — and turn that ability into an actual show rather than just a freestyle trick. That’s taken me around the world and, after years of performing in Toronto, I’ve become a bit of an OG in the city’s creative community and a go-to lyrics guy when artists need writing, ideas or another perspective in the studio.
The live show is still what separates me most. I can walk into a room with essentially nothing prepared, interact with the audience and build an entire musical experience around the people who are actually there. Every show is different because the audience becomes part of creating it.
At the same time, I’m relentlessly prolific as a recording artist. In 2018 I wrote, recorded and released 365 original songs with 365 accompanying music videos in one year, and I’ve never really stopped creating since. My catalogue continues to grow constantly through singles, collaborations and experiments across different sounds. Most recently that includes “Mind Your Business” featuring Westside Boogie.
I’m also a songwriter and have written and collaborated with artists including platinum-selling artist Karl Wolf. I love being the person people call when they need the lyric, hook, concept or creative angle that makes something click.
More recently, I’ve taken everything I learned from music, improvisation, content creation and building audiences and poured it into Pairadox Live — an intimate live series combining music, comedy, culture and original brand experiences.
What I’m most proud of is that after all these years, I’m still evolving. I never wanted one viral moment or one song to define the career. I wanted to build an undeniable body of work and a live skill set that can’t really be replicated.
The songs keep growing. The show keeps getting better. And somehow, after thousands and thousands of hours doing this, I’m still obsessed with creating the next thing.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I’m constantly consuming things around mindfulness, consciousness, creativity and personal development. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill has always resonated with me — particularly the idea that what we consistently focus on, believe in and work toward begins to shape our reality.
Those ideas became important enough to me that I actually wrote my own book, STFU: Thoughts and Feelings. It’s my exploration of self-awareness and learning how to quiet the reactive part of the mind long enough to actually observe what you’re thinking and feeling.
A big philosophy in the book is learning to “zoom out.” Instead of allowing every circumstance to dictate your emotional state, you can observe yourself, create some space between stimulus and reaction, and consciously choose the vision you want to move toward. Mindfulness isn’t something you suddenly achieve — it’s a discipline you keep practicing.
I’ve been influenced by thinkers including Wayne Dyer, Abraham Hicks and Dr. Joe Dispenza, as well as ideas from the Tao Te Ching. I’m interested in anything that helps me understand consciousness while still applying it practically to everyday life.
Ultimately, my favourite resource is the practice itself: pay attention to what you’re feeding your mind, observe your thoughts without automatically becoming them, zoom out when life gets noisy, and keep intentionally moving toward the reality you want to create.
Pricing:
- Book $11
- Live performances starting at 3k
- Audio production starting at 6k
- Video production starting at 1500
- Song writing services starting at 1000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ellevanmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellevanmusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HK1tsFYMZ/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellevan-music-2b342729
- Twitter: https://x.com/ellevanmusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ellevanmusic
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/m779DAyYo44sLZpOsW
