Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua.
Joshua, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Joshua Luna and I’m a musician and artist who was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993. When I grew up in Hawaii, I learned how to sing, write songs, play the ukulele, piano and guitar. I grew up with speech problems and while I learned how to talk, music came naturally and it became my form of escapism and communication. Since I had speech problems and had trouble acclimating to my environment socially, I was misunderstood, bullied and felt like an outsider. But over time, through music, I became accepted and embraced by my peers.
I moved from Honolulu to Las Vegas in 2014. When I lived in Las Vegas I recorded my own music and performed my songs under the character of “Mars Luna”: the “Cosmic Prince” and “Space Alien Singer” from the “Sixth Dimension”. I played a lot different shows locally for about a decade, and I learned how to be a performer and showman through the character. As “Mars Luna”, I had a lot of fun moments such as having my song “Good Girl” on local Vegas radio, having my song “The Villain” played played at a Vegas Golden Knights game, playing Sofar Sounds shows in Las Vegas and Hawaii, becoming a National Anthem merchant for the Las Vegas Lights FC and the Las Vegas Aviators and releasing a solar system’s worth of projects called the “Cosmic Chronicles” featuring the albums “Lost In Space” (2019), “Dark Matter” (2021), “New Orbit” (2023) and “Final Voyage” (2025). After making music under the “Mars Luna” name since 2016, I realized I outgrew the character and after during the “Final Voyage” year, I knew it was time to make a change.
I’m currently releasing transitional one minute songs and song poems under the moniker “The Artist Formerly Known As Mars Luna”. Shoutout to Prince. Today is June 26, 2026 and funnily enough, I have a double-single that’s fresh off the press called “Space Cowboy” that’s out now on all streaming platforms (still under the Mars Luna name for SEO purposes). On June 28, 2026, I’m moving from Las Vegas to Nashville because I’ll be studying music business and business administration at Belmont University starting this fall in hopes of becoming an A&R. Aside from my studies, I’m also working on a lot of music for 2027 under a different artist name that I won’t be disclosing just yet.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wouldn’t say that it’s been a smooth road, nor do I think it should be. My biggest obstacle is that I like to do everything by myself. Part of that stems from trust issues that I’ve had from my childhood that has somewhat stymied and stifled my progress. It’s definitely a double-edged sword. While it is nice and rewarding to have a DIY operation with myself and my very talented friends, I want to become more collaborative musically and get out of my comfort zone socially. I believe that moving to Nashville will help with becoming more open to different things and I’m very excited about the possibilities that “Music City” will provide.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m currently in a transitional period both personally and professionally so there’s a multi-faceted layer to my answer to this question and I’ll expand on some of the things I said earlier.
I’m grateful for the fun moments I was able to have when I was “Mars Luna” and that character served its purpose in my life creatively. Being “Mars Luna” made me realize that I am a “sonic storyteller” which basically means that I tell stories through sound, and that’s the main goal for my creative work. “Mars Luna” was a cosmic, colorful, comic book oriented character (Cosmic Prince, Cosmic Casanova, Space Alien Singer from the Sixth Dimension) who was very much inspired by David Bowie. Mars Luna made music to help people embrace their odyssey and to embrace the strangeness of life (embrace your odyssey, embrace the strange). The albums/episodes “Lost In Space” (Episode 1 – 2019), “Dark Matter” (Episode 2 – 2021), “New Orbit” (Episode 3 – 2023), “Final Voyage” (Episode 4 – 2025) are centerpieces of the Cosmic Chronicles — a series of albums that explore the trials, triumphs, dimensions, seasons, emotions and the entire spectrum of the human experience from an outsiders point of view.
While I did have some personal songs on these Mars Luna albums, I am now confident in expressing my truest self as an artist and the songs I wrote for my next project in 2027 are songs that are reflective of my most introspective and rawest musical form. Mars Luna is a character created to separate from Joshua Luna (think Venom) and was represented as a challenge to not be afraid of acting stupid and to act beyond myself to become a better showman and performer, whereas my next stage name taps into the deeper parts of myself.
What does success mean to you?
I define success as finishing everything that you start. I also define success by how satisfied and at peace you are with your life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://itsmarsluna.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsmarsluna
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/itsmarsluna
- Twitter: https://x.com/itsmarsluna
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@itsmarsluna
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/itsmarsluna
- Other: https://marsluna.bandcamp.com
