Can you tell us a little bit about what inspired Deja Vu? What kind of message were you hoping to convey with it?
It's basically about the older me telling my younger self that everything that I've done in the past made me who I am today. Sometimes getting deja vu is like a reminder of everything you've done and not everything that happened was necessarily bad. It's a daily reminder to remind yourself that you are in a better place and always keep your head up. It's a sentimental song. I wanted my audience to relate to the more vulnerable side of me.
You're a singer, songwriter, producer, and all that. But can you tell us a little bit about how you go through your creative process?
I normally start with a guitar. I build the drums and try to get as much down as possible before I send it out to some collaborators to help me out. I love doing it with a lot of people. I love collaborating. It always starts melody for me before the lyrics.
I heard that you can speak a lot of languages. How do you think the ability to speak so many languages influences your songwriting or helps you connect with your diverse audience?
It's about being open-minded. I'm trying to connect with as many people in the world as I can. A lot of my fans are living in different places around the world, so it's good to get a glimpse of what their culture is, their language, and have a deeper, extra layer of understanding and appreciation. It opened up a lot of my musical knowledge because I'm able to accept their culture of music and make my music a little more exotic. Working with a lot of people from those regions always makes me a better musician too.
How did you develop your vocal style or who are some of your early influences?
When I was young, Justin Bieber was definitely my biggest one. Then growing up, I started learning the guitar because of Shawn Mendes, Five Seconds of Summer, One Direction. I was in that era, 2013. They don't directly influence my style of music that I'm putting out, but they started my passion and interest in music. I draw a lot of inspiration from food and fashion and sports. It's all about good vibes and not caring about anything. Making dope and fresh music.
Social media these days is pretty essential for discovering music. For someone who has over a million followers across all your platforms, how do you balance creating content for your platform and promoting your music? Do you do it by yourself or work with a team of people?
I do everything myself. All the social media stuff is myself. I feel like marketing is a challenge, but it's something that I'm also passionate about. I feel like every artist should know and have some sense of how they should put themselves out there in front of millions of people. It really helps with my confidence.
Sometimes being online is so different from being offline. I try to keep my personality consistent. Whatever you see on the screen is whatever I am in person. Drawing a good balance and portraying different sides of me. The polished artist side, the stripped down, at home, vulnerable side. The more personal side talking. I feel like it's important to be super open and multidimensional about it.
Numbers come and go. Most importantly, it's about being genuine about your craft and your content and being smart about it too. You got to learn the business about what's trending, what to post, what not to post. I think it's like a puzzle, it's all trial and error. I'm having a good time.
You're visiting Korea right now, but how is your relationship with K-pop culture? How are you navigating it being someone from outside Korea going into that space?
I first got introduced into K-pop sophomore year in high school and there was a lot of Big Bang and EXO and they were definitely one of the first who influenced me. Now I listen to a lot of the newer bands that are coming out and I believe that there's so much room for interpretation. K-pop now is diversifying, which is great. It's paving the lane for up and coming artists in Asia. I really like how it's doing and they set a very high bar, a very high standard for musicians. It's very inspiring.
I look at it as a business because I'm a businessman. The whole system is so profound. The way they do it is systematic. Everything is protocol, it's hard work, it's military. I feel like it teaches me a lot of self-discipline and pushes me to the edge.
How do you balance being an independent musician artist with entrepreneurship? How do you find that being in business complements your musical career?
Every single artist is their own salesman. You've got to put your music out there in front of millions of other artists that are competing at the same spot. The top is only for three. Build your own mountain, climb to the apex, climb to the pinnacle. No one's going to be close to you if you're working hard.
Doing business teaches me to look at the scope of things, the numbers, the analytics, the logistics, everything, all the possibilities. I love seeing numbers, I love learning about the ins and outs of the industry and getting a better understanding of why things work the way they do and why things don't. A lot has to do with the fact that behind every artist's success story, there's always money involved. There are always financial decisions. Learning about the business is super important and managing yourself and knowing how to put yourself out there is key.
How do you think self-discipline seems important for your success? What kind of daily habits or routines do you do to keep yourself focused and motivated?
I do a lot of sports. I used to be an athlete. It's about eating good. It's about sleeping well. It's about drinking good and having a positive mindset and doing a bunch of exercises. A lot of young people nowadays don't really care about their health because they're young. They focus in the moment, which I completely understand. But for me, I want to have a future where I can tell my kids and be like, hey, I can live this long because I did this. I think it's for my own health benefit. I love being disciplined. I feel like it teaches you self-control and boundaries. It stemmed from me being an athlete. I had to always get my body prepped for matches. I like it. It makes my day better. I think discipline is like an addiction for me. It's like my drug, my alcohol.
As an independent artist, what kind of advice would you give to other musicians who are trying to build their careers without a label backing?
- Keep making music.
- Keep writing.
- Keep getting better every single day.
Being an independent artist is hard. I think if you can develop your craft and make it so good, then you're already unsolvable. Make as many songs as possible. That's really important. Build your inventory of songs and also collaborate. Go out, put yourself out there, be proactive, reach out to people you don't know, and put yourself sometimes in situations where you're working out of your comfort zone. Learn the business. Keep watching videos, keep asking questions, staying hungry, stay curious. There's a lot. But if I have to say one, ask questions.
What is your vision for this next phase of your career? Are there any dream collaborations you want to make happen?
I got a bunch that's in the works right now. I would really love to collaborate with... Actually, I really like... Dean. Loco is really good too. Oh, Michael Jackson.
What can we expect from you next? Like any new music?
We got a bunch of singles coming out. Then we're going to do touring, we're going to do a lot of content. Keep expecting new music coming out. I'll be on the grind on the socials, on YouTube shorts. Watch me. TikTok, I got a bunch of stuff coming out.
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