OG: Approved - Julien Cohen
Featuring the Next Generation of Storytellers Rising from the Creator Economy
Welcome to OG: Approved—where rule-breaking creators shape the future. Hand-picked by Open Gardens, they’re not following the playbook—they’re writing the next one.
Name: Julien Cohen
Instagram: 5.8 Million Followers
Youtube: 6.34 Million Followers
Tik Tok: 9.2 Million Followers
Who Is Julien Cohen?
Julien Cohen turns public spaces into concert halls. A piano appears in a station or a cafe. Someone asks for a song. A voice joins from the crowd. Then a violin. Then a second singer from the doorway. The room flips from background noise to showtime, and the audience becomes the cast.
The path here is unusual. He grew up at the keyboard, went on to study mathematics at Cambridge, and felt the pull of music get louder each year. After graduating, he doubled down on the piano. He performed, taught, and started bringing a portable rig into everyday places to test a simple idea. If the setup, the sound, and the reveal are right, a normal afternoon can turn into a memory.
The format is a playbook. Piano as the anchor. A disguised singer already seated nearby. Another voice placed across the room. Strings waiting just out of frame. Each entry lifts the arrangement a little higher. The camera holds faces long enough for the moment to land. The cut lets the room breathe so you hear the music and the shock at the same time.
Distribution does the rest. Long YouTube cuts carry the full arc from first phrase to final cheer. Reels and TikToks deliver the hook and send you to the full piece. Behind-the-scenes clips share rehearsals, location scouting, and the smiles after the last chord. Casting calls surface new voices. Musicians who appear once return for the next surprise, so viewers begin to follow people as much as songs.
There is a pipeline here. Unknown singers step out of the crowd and leave with a calendar. Street players become featured soloists. One clip changes the month ahead. Comments fill with requests, stories, and city pride. It feels like live events for the feed era built on the oldest trick in music. Start with a melody. Invite people in. Raise the roof together.
Three Things We Love About Julien Cohen
Eventizing the everyday: Stations, restaurants, and plazas become stages. A single piano anchors the room, then voices and strings enter on cue. The reveal is paced so you feel the lift beat by beat. It is a live-events playbook designed for the feed.
Cinematic craft in chaotic places: Multi-cam coverage, clean sound, and edits that hold on faces long enough for the moment to land. He lets the room breathe so you hear music and reaction together. Long YouTube cuts carry the arc. Reels and TikToks deliver the hook and pull you back to the full piece.
A pipeline for discovery: Unknown singers step out of the crowd and leave with calendars full of gigs. Street players become featured soloists. Casting calls, BTS, and returning collaborators turn one-off surprises into a community you can follow from video to video.