isaac dunbar

“As long as the music evokes a feeling in somebody, that’s all that matters,” Isaac Dunbar tells us. “I know music has done a lot for me. Sometimes I have no idea what a song is talking about, but I still connect with it. And I just play it in the soundtrack of my life every single day.” At 10 years old, the alt-pop singer was obsessed with Lady Gaga’s 2013 album Artpop, specifically its bombastic, electro-laden production. The fourth-grader studied YouTube tutorials, tinkering with synthesizers and software until he was finally able to mimic the heavily distorted melody of Gaga’s pulsing single, “G.U.Y.,” produced by Zedd.  This new ability, to replicate his favorite songs from his childhood bedroom, opened his world. “I taught myself how to make any sound that I wanted digitally … i...