Vian Haziel began working on his debut album, “Flawless,” before arriving at Columbia. Six years later, the senior music major released the album, shaped by the musical growth and collaborations that marked his time at the college.
Haziel put the project on hold when he arrived at Columbia, wanting to learn more about music before releasing it. Working with fellow Columbia student Kevin Mendoza, also a senior music major, and other musicians helped him experiment with new sounds while developing his own style.
The album’s release this fall gave Haziel a chance to hear his own evolution. Five of its singles were released during his first year, allowing him to compare his earlier work with the music he makes now.
“At the start of the album making project, it was kind of looking more like just kind of the sad pop ballads, but then being here at Columbia, working with all these different collaborators, I kind of pushed myself to explore outside of that, that kind of boxed in genre that I was in.” Haziel said.
Mendoza creates and works on his own music as well, mainly Latin music. Haziel asked if he could make the opening track with a reggaeton influence.
“That was fun for me, obviously,” Mendoza said. “I’m an artist myself, producer, audio engineer, Latin music is mostly where I’m good at. So when he showed me some chords, I was like ‘Let me add some drums.’ And then he was like ‘go for it,’ so I started doing my own thing.”
Since his first EP “Confessions,” which Haziel released back in summer 2025, included songs Haziel made as a teen, he wanted this new era to be distinguishable from his last piece of work. Stepping out of his box helped him experiment while still staying true to his original style.
“I’ve grown and matured so much as a musician,” he said. “The album features five singles that I’ve kind of released throughout freshman year, so like going back to those old singles, you can hear how much I’ve grown since then.”
With that in mind, Mendoza advised Haziel to reach out to other musicians who focus on different genres to get an outlook on people who have more expertise in their respective genres.
In addition to Mendoza, “Flawless” invited artist collaborators including love., Elliott Woods and El Mau G.
Haziel also brought on Berklee College of Music alum Wesley Kolenda, whom Haziel met in Boston, where he grew up. Kolenda, who is a multi-instrumentalist, helped bring rock instruments like live guitar and drums into production.
“Learning how he processes things and how he uses his songs to get out things like a form of therapy. I really love that about his writing,” Kolenda said. “Especially with this album, you could really take a deep dive into where his head was at, with the relationship and the whole idea of it being flawless, but also very flawed.”
Through an internship, Kolenda met Elliott Woods, a current senior at Berklee College of Music who had a similar back and forth process while collaborating with Haziel. Woods said her music falls into a blend of pop, like a track on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as indie folk.
“I’ve collaborated with Wesley, some friends in high school, but nothing so serious as to where I was featured on a song,” Woods said. “It was kind of a first for both of us, it was nice to kind of give up creative control a little bit and kind of just get to follow the lead, just to be featured and kind of get to sit back and watch his vision. That was new and it was fun for me.”
After working on vulnerable and intimate tracks with Haziel since the beginning of his music journey, Mendoza said he approached “Flawless” no differently than any other song he’s worked on with him.
“I think it’s a very unique album to himself. Mostly I think I saw how happy he was when he finished the album. So it makes me happy because he’s one of my close friends and everything,” Mendoza said. “Knowing that I was able to help him complete one of his longtime goals, it just makes me feel important to him, just as he’s important to me.”
Copy edited by Isaac Russo
