The harder we fight, the sweeter the success.

Jordan Tariff never stops fighting. That is most evident through his emotionally charged independent alternative pop as he openly shares the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a remarkable 21-year journey. This road has wound through intense health struggles, rough disappointments, and the sort of tempestuous ups and downs that all too often end in giving up.

Instead, he transmutes each moment into music that moves at a pace commensurate with his own rapid upward trajectory and ceaseless forward motion.

“All of the emotion comes from dealing with my health, relationship issues, and hearing the word ‘No’ over and over again,” he admits. “I’m always writing about what I experience. Songs have the ability to bring you back to a certain place, time, person, or feeling. I just hope what I do can move people the way I’ve been moved.”

The moving force in Jordan’s life has always been himself though. Born and raised about 95 miles west of Boston in Longmeadow, MA, he developed a passion for music at a young age, but a pervasive small-town mentality cast a shadow of negativity over his ambitions. Instead, he went from soccer to football, becoming a star athlete by senior year of high school. All the while, he constantly spun the likes of The Weeknd, Coldplay, and Jaymes Young for inspiration off the field.

During senior year, he finally made the jump, chased his true passion, and started posting the occasional cover on social media. After only one semester at Bryant University in Rhode Island, the 19-year-old took an even bigger leap of faith. He dropped out, packed up, and headed to Los Angeles. Working the odd job by day, he moonlighted as a performer in bars, honing his vocal and keyboard skills for a live audience. At the same time, he battled a rare lung disease.

Top pulmonologists on either side of the country told him he would never play sports or sing again. Instead, he put his head down, adhered to a rigorous workout regiment, dieted healthily, and found inner strength to serve as his compass.

“I don’t like being told I can’t do something, and I love proving people wrong,” he admits. “On days when my lungs give me a hard time, it pushes me further, because I don’t want this to hold me back. Music is something that I love. I’m going to do it, no excuses.”

That’s exactly what he’s doing.

Linking up with producer Chase Duddy [XYLO] in 2018, he quietly assembled his debut EP. Buoyed by lush piano and sparse production, the first single “Warning Shot” sees his voice reach staggering heights, stretching from icy high-register verses into an irresistible refrain. The track serves as both an introduction to Jordan and a clarion call “to face your fears and take responsibility for your own life, regardless of what the world throws at you.”

Meanwhile, he shares a different kind of heartbreak tale told across the two-part “Little Doves” and “Sink Or Swim.” The airy, lithe, and glitchy piano of “Little Doves” touches on the fantasy of love-at-first-sight, while “Sink Or Swim” invokes the implosion of a relationship by way of an unshakable hook—culled from the parting words of a true-life breakup.

In the end, Jordan’s fight will resonate in each song.

“I just want you to feel when you listen to me,” he leaves off. “I’m just a kid from a really small town who has a burning passion for music. This is my story.”