Many teens dream of becoming famous and finding their big break in the music world, but few actually experience it. CHS 2006 alumnus Sanjog Nirola is living out this dream as a musician in New York City. The Observer sat down with him to talk about his start at CHS and his music.

 1. How did you get your start in the music industry?

 I actually started with a band called OTT back in 2005 at CHS. I happened to jam with some of the most talented musicians in MCPS and we ended up forming a hip hop fusion band. The rest was history. Our first show was the MCPS Battle of the Bands where we won second place, followed by other competitions that we ended up winning. After about two years with the band, we decided to go our separate ways, and I decided to buy a one way ticket to New York City. Since then, I have played shows all over NYC, worked with multiple record labels and released a mixtape and five music videos.

 2. Have you been planning to pursue music since high school?

 It’s funny; things kind of just fell into my lap. I was a skateboarder for a number of years, then after my “crew” went its separate ways, I ended up chilling with a lot of musicians and it kind of worked itself out. That was around the end of my junior year. Many of the other members of the band had been in respectable rock bands around the Maryland-DC area, and when we started working together, our chemistry was like magic.

 3. How did CHS influence your decision to go into the music industry?

 Well, I guess it was the musicians I was working with and the support of our school. We pretty much all went to CHS and when we released our first demo in 2006, it went viral around the school and many of the students, faculty and even teachers became fans. As far as knowledge of the industry, I pretty much knew nothing about it at the time. All I knew was I found my passion and was willing to do anything for it.

 4. In what type of genre would you consider yourself?

 As an artist, it’s kind of hard to confine yourself in a specific genre, but if I had to it would probably be a hip hop/pop artist. I cross the line between different sounds and love worldly music, so most of my track sounds different. Honestly, I would rather let my audience decide what they would categorize me as.

 5. How many songs do you currently have out?

 How many songs have I created and how many I have release are two vastly different numbers. So I’ve probably made over hundreds of songs, but only released about 30 to 40. That sounds about right, but I can’t be 100 percent certain, considering I have been in different hip hop bands and groups.

 6.  What are some of the venues you’ve preformed at?

 In the past few years, I’ve performed at Time Square Arts Center, Sofa Lounge in the Bronx, and a bunch of events in Texas, New Jersey, D.C., Virginia, and of course at many bars and lounges in the NYC area.

 7. What are your plans for the future?

 I actually just released two music videos “Highly Motivated” and “Fallin.” I’m really excited because “Highly Motivated” just received over 70,000 views, and I released “Fallin’” a few weeks back. Everybody should check out the “Fallin’” video on YouTube, all the people involved went to CHS. My next releases will be a series of songs on a weekly basis I call “OneSundays”(one track every Sunday by One Sun). This is to help promote my new demo “Seasons” that is expected to release this summer. I have a few shows lined up in the NYC area and within the next week I am heading to LA for a few meetings and performances.

8. Where do you draw your inspiration from and why do you call yourself One Sun?

Most of my songs have a muse behind them. Many are real life experiences, while some are stories I have seen or heard about. As for how I ended up with the name One Sun, it is for a number of different reasons. When I first moved to NYC, my manager coined me the nickname “Sun” which kind of just stuck among all people I am acquainted with.

9. How do you go about making your music videos?

So everything pretty much starts with the song. Some songs have story lines in which the concept of the video is fairly self-explanatory, but others are feeling tracks where you want to convey a certain feel and look. I used to think very by the book when it comes to concepts but recently I have started to see outside the box with shots and scenes.

 10. Do you come up with your own lyrics?

 Most definitely! I take pride in my work and wouldn’t feel that pride if it was not deserved by my own hard work. I practice writing and free styling every day. To me, this is a job, and just like any other job, you have to constantly build your skills and produce quality work to receive that promotion.

 You can checkout One Sun’s music on his YouTube channel, “Theresonlyonesun” and his new video for Fallin’, which was released last month.