As a producer, Mikhail Beltran’s resume is among the most star-studded, illustrious, and enviable. Beltran has joined forces with top-tier pop talent like Khalid, Chloe x Halle, Sabrina Claudio, and Pink Sweats, offering his unique sensibilities to generate catchy hits with nuanced and balanced production. And that’s just in the pop and R&B music worlds.

The artist, however, doesn’t solely focus his talent on being a part of the hit-making process for others, he’s also a forward thinking DJ and producer in his own rite—and under his own name: Sad Money.

Perhaps influenced by his career accomplishments to date, his solo project is particularly identifiable in its distinct conjuring of pop-inspired sounds into house- and techno-inspired tracks. To date, Sad Money has yet to release a full length album of his own, but has kep fans and listeners satiated through a variety of singles, most notably “Come Away,” which has amassed nearly 5 million plays on Spotify and has been remixed by the likes of BLOND:ISH and Majestic. Other notable releases are two singles from 2021, “High Enough,” and “Wolf.” Though he’s mostly focused on solo releases thus far in his career, Sad Money has collaborated with Gallant and Felix Cartal on his 2020 track, “Lose My Love.”

Though one can draw a thorough line to his pop production past in his sound as Sad Money, Beltran clearly has a lot to say on his own, devoid of his star-studded affiliates. And he’s finding places to say it—and an audience to listen. Thus far on his newly minted solo foray, Beltran has performed as Sad Money at venues like The Midway in San Francisco and Bang Bang in San Diego, where he had his first headlining show in October 2021. He also boasts nearly 75k monthly listeners on Spotify, with the number growing every day.