Karan Aujla

Early Life

Karan Aujla was born in the village of Ghurala in Punjab, India. He is the youngest child and only son in his family, with two older sisters. His father passed away in a motorcycle accident when Aujla was nine years old. His mother died five years later after battling gallbladder cancer. Aujla’s paternal uncle and aunt fed and looked after him for the next three years while he remained alone in the family home.

Growing up as a lonely teenager in Punjab, Aujla penned down his thoughts and emotions on paper. He contemplated a range of topics, from the meaning of life to the first Range Rover he saw in Chandigarh.

Eventually, he started approaching local producers and artists, and convinced them to use his lyrics. He asked them to credit him ― as was the trend in Punjabi songs ― by mentioning his name and his village (Karan Ghurala) in the songs’ last verse.

Aujla’s first breakthrough came in 2014 when famous Punjabi singer Jassi Gill used his lyrics in the hit song “Range.” The song describes the artists’ journey from overcoming hardships to acquiring wealth, success and a luxurious lifestyle.

However, the song ended up taking two years to release. In the meantime, Aujla migrated to Canada where his sisters lived.

Early Career in Canada

After moving to Vancouver, BC in 2014, Aujla continued to write songs for the Punjabi music industry back home. He worked at studios and video shoot locations, often even hauling lighting equipment, just for an opportunity to make connections with Punjabi artists. Other times, he would message producers and artists on social media. Eventually, he got paid for his lyrics ― starting with a lowly amount of $200 to up to $1,000. After completing high school, he started working in shifts as a longshore worker, which gave him more time to write songs.

While Aujla wrote songs for other artists, he wanted to try his hand at singing as well. In 2018, along with a few friends, Aujla started a YouTube channel. He notably released “Don’t Worry” that year. As of July 2024, the video had racked about 184 million views on YouTube. Eventually, he started getting paid for his video views.

He made the decision to go independent and continued putting out music on his YouTube channel. He went on to release single tracks every month ― earning him the title of “geeta di machine” or Punjabi for “song machine.”

Career Highlights

As of July 2024, Aujla has released 84 singles as the lead artist and has appeared in 57 songs as a guest artist.

His songs often explore themes of resilience, street life, social issues, love and heartbreak. Many listeners resonate with his struggles.

Aujla’s debut album Bacthafucup (or BTFU) was released in 2021 and featured 13 tracks. The album went on to rank at number 20 on Billboard Canadian Albums.

His 2023 album, Making Memories, went on to become the highest-charting Punjabi album on Billboard Canadian Albums. It was with this album that Aujla forged a genre that combines Western beats of R&B and hip-hop ― which he started listening to in high school ― with South Asian (desi) imagery and lyrics.

For instance, “Admirin’ You,” featuring Canadian singer and songwriter Preston Pablo, is an upbeat, electronic music track with lyrics that talk about sitting beside your love. Similarly, his song “Jee Nai Lagda” talks about the villager or jatt lifestyle.

In March 2024, Aujla won the 2024 TikTok JUNO Fan Choice award. He became the first Punjabi-descent Canadian to receive the fan-nominated award.

At the JUNO awards, he also performed his singles “Admirin’ You” and “Softly” from his Making Memories album. He was the third Punjabi musician (after Tesher and AP Dhillon) to perform at the JUNO awards.

In 2024, Aujla became the first Punjabi Canadian singer to be featured in Apple Music’s Up Next Program ― an initiative that highlights upcoming artists in Apple Music’s editorial products. In another first, in summer 2024, Aujla kicked off his debut world tour with three Canadian cities: Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver.