BiB: Isabella Kensington - How TikTok Turned Her Bedroom Covers Into a Million Fans

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What is going on? It is Adam. Welcome back to Bringing It Backwards, a podcast

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where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories

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of how they achieve stardom. On this episode we

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had a chance to hang out with Isabella Kensington over

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Zoom Video. Isabella was raised

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in London in the UK and talks about how she got into music.

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She said she was singing before or when she started speaking,

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so she's been singing all of her life. She was

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also really into dance, so her parents put her into dance

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classes at a very early age. She started to play guitar around

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8 years old, piano around 8 years old and also

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did the flute. Played the flute all through fifth

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through the end of high school. But Isabella was also really

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involved in the chorus in choir. She was a part of

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a very famous choir in London where she actually had a

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chance to perform with Paul McCartney and she talks about that story.

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She has a very fascinating story about being accepted to ucla.

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She was going to attend UCLA for neuroscience.

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She thought about it and decided she's going to take a gap year

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and ended up not going to UCLA

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because she wanted to have a shot at music. She

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starts going all in our music. She starts posting all the time

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to Instagram and YouTube and tick tock.

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Her Tick Tock blows up. She has over a million followers now there,

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hundreds of thousands on Instagram and over a hundred thousand

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subscribers on YouTube. So her covers and her original

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songs started to really blow up on social media. She talks about that.

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We hear about the first EP she released. She tells us about getting

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into the Clive Davis Institute in New York, moving to New York and

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all about her brand new EP which is coming out

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as well as the most recent release which is

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her song called In Another Life. You can watch our interview

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with Isabella on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at

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bringing It Backwards. It'd be amazing if you subscribe to our channel

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like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Tick Tock

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at Bringing Back Pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify,

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Apple Music, Google podcasts, it would be amazing if you follow us

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there as well and hook us up with a five star

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review. We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and

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subscribe to our podcasts. Wherever you listen to podcasts,

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we're Bringing. It Backwards with Isabella

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Kensington.

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Bring it backwards.

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Bring it backwards. Bringing it backwards.

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Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards.

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Bringing it backwards. Hello.

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Hi Isabel, how are you? Good. How are you doing? I

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am fantastic. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you

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for having me. It's lovely to be here. Awesome. Well, I'm super

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excited to get to know your story and talk about

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the ep. I think you have a record. Your song's coming out tomorrow

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too, right? Yeah, it's out in Australia already, actually.

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Very. Oh, it is, wow. Are you in Australia? No, no, no,

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no. Okay. It's local release, so it's coming out

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at midnight in every country, so it's already. So I'm waiting

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for the US Now. That is awesome. So cool. Yeah, I've heard the.

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Heard the record. I had your team sent it over to me. It's awesome song.

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Thank you. But, yeah, I didn't see it. I was like, what? Really? I was

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looking on your Spotify, but I guess maybe it. They're smart enough to know

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that I don't live in Australia,

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so. But very,

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very nice to meet you. This is about you and

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your journey in music and we'll talk about the. The

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song coming out and everything else, I think you have an ep, I believe, as

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well. I do, yes. In September. Awesome. Very

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soon. Cool. Sorry, go ahead. No,

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no, I just said very exciting girl. Good. Brad.

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So first off, where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in

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London. My parents are both American, so I've got the

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American accent. But they came over to London right before

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I was born, and I lived there pretty much my whole life until I was

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about 19. Really? And you never picked up

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the accent? Well, I. When I was in,

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like, primary school, I was at a British school and I did a

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lot of dance and acting outside of school, so I was very much

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immersed in British accents. So what I would do

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is I would speak in a British accent at school and then I'd come home

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and flip to the American accent. So I would just. It was.

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Yeah, it was very silly. And then when we'd have birthday parties, we'd have my

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parents and my friends present. So I was like in this weird

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transatlantic accent moment. But

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it was. It was funny growing up with both accents just because

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it happened kind of naturally and, like, subconsciously.

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Yeah. So you weren't trying to go home and not speak with the

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accent. It just happened because you're around your parents who didn't have the accent,

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just adapted. That's wild. Interesting.

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Yeah. One of my really good friends growing up, his brother

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is, like four years older and he had. He was

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born in Brussels, and then my buddy

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was born in Singapore, of all places, which is random. But then they moved to

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the US and he doesn't have the accident at all, but both of

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his parents and his brother Do I love that? It's

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so wild. Yeah. Yeah. It's so cool how that

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works. It's all surroundings that's so

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interesting. So, okay, so you grew up really in London. Are you in London now?

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I'm. Right now I'm in the States because my family's kind

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of half back and forth and I'm at school at NYU right now, so

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I'm still kind of planted in the States at the

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moment. But I do love London and I go back all the time, so

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that's awesome. So you're currently at nyu? You go to school there?

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Yeah. Wow. Congratulations. That's huge. Do you go to

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the. The music

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school? Yeah. Clive Davis. Yes, the Clive Davis Institute. And I

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love it. It's really awesome. Majoring in recorded music and

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getting to do everything that I want to do outside of school, inside

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school grounds, and that's the dream. That's amazing.

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Yeah. So how do you get into music? I mean, it sounds like you're into

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acting and all of that as a young child anyway, but

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do you come from a musical family? Creative household,

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all? No, my. Well, creative to an

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extent, but not musical. My dad's side of

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the family can't find a beat to save their life. My mom's

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side of the family, they're more creative. My uncle's an artist. My mom did

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a bit of dance when she was younger, but I.

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Music really came out of nowhere for me and something

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I was interested in. I was always surrounded by music, though.

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My parents were always playing music. My mom would play stuff in the car on

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the radio, and my dad would introduce me to, like, Rod Stewart and

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Sheryl Crow and, like, all these random different people, like, on the ipod. And my

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mom was burning Disney CDs and, like, you know, it was very

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much a musical environment, but no one was kind of there

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as, like, a mentor figure. But I was

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pretty much singing from the moment I could talk. Okay.

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And I would just. I entertained myself. I would just sing on

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my own and, like, I would fall asleep and I would just be sitting and

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singing in my room. My mom would come and knock on my door and be

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like, okay, go to bed. So it's just something that I naturally

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wanted to do. And then they put me in dance classes when I

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was, like, straight out of potty training, like, two years old. Wow.

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I, like, was surrounded by classical music and dance and

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just, you know, enjoying music

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from that perspective. I think also just really

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filled my life with that genre in a way that I think

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slightly influences things now,

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but. Yeah, I grew up dancing and listening to music, and

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it just kind of naturally happened that way. And thank God everyone's

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supportive of it. And. Yeah, right. I was gonna say that's amazing that your parents

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support it. Right. And then put you in dance at a young age. They put

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you. Did you do chorus or vocal lessons or anything like that when you're young

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as well? A lot of choir I was part of. I did a

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lot of vocal lessons before I joined choir, but I was in this really

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cool choir in London called Capitol Children's Choir,

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and we just got to do the most incredible things. I mean,

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part of it is the fact that you're in London, but it was run by

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this amazing choir director who just. She got us in the

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co. We got to sing with Paul McCartney.

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We got to record on, like, soundtracks. We got, like. It was

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just unbelievable, like, amazing experiences and all of that. It was very

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technical vocally, and everyone was just

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excited to be a part of a group of people singing. It's

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the most amazing feeling when you're all perfectly in sync singing.

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Sure. That. Yeah. I grew up kind of

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doing that kind of stuff, and that's all thanks to my parents. 100.

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Wow. Okay. See, I'm curious about the singing with Paul

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McCartney, but do you have to, like, audition to get into this?

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I would imagine get into this thing. Right? Yeah, I, like, I

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remember sending in a few. I mean, you could. Anyone could join.

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But then when you actually have to do the performances and stuff, you send in

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your auditions. And we did so many different

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things, and there were different opportunities for solo artists and for,

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you know, harmonies and, you know, just all these different pieces.

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There were kids that were, you know, seven, and there were kids that were

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18, and everyone there just was really excited

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to do their part, and that was kind of the.

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The whole purpose of the choir. But the Paul McCartney thing was

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unbelievable. It was at the O2. Wow. Do you

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know the song Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time? Oh, yeah, I do. So

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there's a little. That's my favorite Christmas song. And a lot of people.

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Yeah. And I totally see it differently now, too.

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I just love it. It's my favorite. But there's, like, a little

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part with the little choir singing, like, the ding dong, Ding dong. Oh, yeah.

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That was us. And so we would just kind of. We all walked on wearing

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our little pomcarney T shirts, and we, like, sang our little vid and then walked

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back off and it's so funny. It's so. No

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way. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Did you get to meet him after

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or anything. Yeah. Before on the sound check before. The

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sweetest man ever I heard. I.

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I've had a couple people on this podcast that went to his

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school in Liverpool. He is like a music school

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there. Yeah. And I think, like, you

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audition or there's a class where if you get to a certain point,

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like, you get to present your song to Paul McCartney. He's like, sitting

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there and then he like, we'll give you some notes or something on

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your song. I couldn't even imagine. It's. It's

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unbelievable now. So cool. Like, we were. We came out

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to the sound check and he's just playing his bass and he's talking to the

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kids, and he shook every single one of our hands like it was. It was

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really special. How old are you when you got opportunity to

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do that? I want to say I was older. I was like

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15. I want to say 15 or 16. I was on the

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older end. I was getting ready to leave older 15,

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but. Oh, man, my dad would like, have a heart attack. Do your parents

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get to meet him?

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No way. That's crazy.

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They didn't even get to see you sing. Then they just drop you off like,

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sorry. I found videos and stuff online, so that was all good. I'm

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sure you can find them. Do a deep dive. I'm going to after this. This

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is crazy. My younger brother was also in it. He was like. I want

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to say like 10. And they didn't even. Yeah. Send

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either of your parents, like, with two kids? No,

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but we did get our little moment on the billboard, so in the videos, you

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can kind of see us up behind. So they got to. They got to see

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it a little bit. That's awesome. Wow. Wow. So your

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brother's a musician as well then, or. He. He. I mean,

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he was in the choir when he was younger. He's

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very. He's gonna be totally embarrassed if he sees this, but he

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sings really well. He can find a harmony really well.

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It's very impressive. And he did a bit of dance growing up and stuff, but

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he. His passions in soccer, so he's. He's done with

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that. He's over the music. Very talented. Yeah.

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So you are in this choir and you're. You're

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doing in like 15, 16 at that point. Were you

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also in, like, the school choir? Did you do the band or did you play

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an instrument or anything like that as well? Did I played flute in the band?

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I haven't talked about this ever. I played flute in the band for like

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eight Years. Wow. And I'm not that

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good. I'm like not good enough for eight years. Like, I

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shouldn't be saying that. I should be be saying like two years. But whenever somebody

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says that they're not good, they're probably like, you're not good. It's

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like, oh, I'm not that good. Like just. No, no, no, no.

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I'll take singing, but I can't, I can't take food. But

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it's not like Lizzo just going to bust it out. No. Maybe someday,

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maybe I'll practice more. But I haven't played in years. But I,

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I really loved playing in the band again. There's something so special about

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that group of people just together and

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everything just like feels great when you get it right

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and everyone's like working together as a team. It's just such an amazing

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feeling. And so flute. I like, I loved doing that. I did that every

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other day in school for eight years, since fifth grade, all the way through

230
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senior year. Nothing to show for it though.

231
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Did you also, like, I know you, you have a

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massive social media presence, but aside from that, I

233
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mean like, were you going and doing like cover songs

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or writing your own music at, in high school or around

235
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that time as well or. No, I, Yeah, I grew up like writing

236
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songs as silly as they probably sounded when I was a kid. And

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as much as I definitely ripped off High School Musical, I

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like, yeah, I was writing from like

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a young age, but 10 years old was kind of when I decided to

240
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really start writing properly about like things

241
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about myself. And you know, that autobiographical

242
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approach to songwriting really started then

243
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at 10. That's so young. And well, I have an eight year old son and

244
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I'm. I'm just trying to wrap my head around like two years him

245
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autobiography, thinking like inside and then writing

246
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about it. It's like, what? No, no, no. Well, it's kind

247
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of like it was a way to kind of deal with feelings and you know,

248
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going into middle school, there's so many feelings. Middle school

249
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is the worst. Oh yeah. Middle school and like early

250
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high school, not, not where it's at.

251
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And I'm trying not to forget that because, you know, I want to

252
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be able to hold on to that for the rest of my life and remember

253
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that. So when I talk to teenagers when I'm 30 years old, I'm not like,

254
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oh, it's fine, it's fine. You could just tell them how much it sucked. When

255
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you're in mid. Understand you're in. The

256
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worst years of your life. Kids.

257
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Oh my goodness. But yeah, I. So I. I went to see a

258
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Taylor Swift concert when I was nine, turning ten.

259
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And it just. Gillette Stadium, the

260
00:16:11,260 --> 00:16:15,020
Red Tour. Okay. And I just. We were like in nosebleeds. We

261
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weren't close to the stage. And I just remember looking and thinking,

262
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that's what I want to do. Like, this is what I want to do with

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my life. And so I went home and I wrote my first song and that

264
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was like first real song. And that was where it kind of

265
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all started in terms of writing my own music.

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And I was always covering other people's music. And I

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learned to play guitar when I was like 8ish. So I was able to kind

268
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of do that between guitar and piano, but

269
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then flute. So you played guitar, piano and the flute? Oh my

270
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God. Yeah, yeah. Enough to like get by. Like, I'm not a piano player

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nor am I like capable of anything classical on the guitar, but

272
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like enough like chords and

273
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cover. Yeah, exactly. Which really came in

274
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handy. And I also like, I wanted to be able to

275
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record it too. So when I was round 12,

276
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download a GarageBand or I found. I think it's pre

277
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downloaded. Yeah. And I whipped out. This is

278
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horrible. I whipped out my like, you know the Apple earbuds that they

279
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give you when you buy a product? Yeah. With a little microphone on

280
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it. That's mic that I was using to record.

281
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So I was recording directly into the computer with that microphone,

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playing guitar and vocals. I think I left the mic. I think I left the

283
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metronome in. When I bounced it out like it was really like early

284
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stages and. But I really just wanted to be able to do it myself. So

285
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I kind of from songwriting, I was like, I want to be able to record

286
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it. So then that's whenever I started producing.

287
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Wow. And then. So that young you were just trying to figure it out?

288
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Yeah, I just wanted to do it and I didn't want to have to wait

289
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to learn from other people and stuff like that. I just wanted to kind of

290
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hands in and go for it. Did you YouTube at all,

291
00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,840
like. Like look up? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thankfully

292
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GarageBand's pretty easy to figure out. And I'm not

293
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like reading directions. I'm a person that just like tries

294
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it. And so I would go in and just explore. And when I'd mess something

295
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up, that's when I'd go to YouTube or something. Yeah.

296
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Wow. Eventually moved on from GarageBand, thankfully,

297
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which is why.

298
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That'S so fascinating. So when did you get your first guitar? Were

299
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you 8, 9 years old. I was about 8 or 9. Yeah. I

300
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can't remember exactly. It was for Christmas, and it was this pink, pink

301
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electric guitar. And it was the happiest day of my life.

302
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You still have it? Loved it. I do, yeah. It's awesome.

303
00:18:49,900 --> 00:18:53,500
Yeah, I know. The first guitar I had.

304
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I'm not good at all. I can play chords. Same thing. But.

305
00:18:57,500 --> 00:19:00,780
Yeah, but I still kept the thing for some reason. It's like, if it ever

306
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met, you know, for whatever reason, maybe my kid wanted one year, but.

307
00:19:04,460 --> 00:19:07,740
Yeah, exactly. That's mental. It's sweet. Yeah.

308
00:19:08,150 --> 00:19:11,870
Yeah. So you were doing that. Doing the garageband thing, and with

309
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that song that you recorded, were you, like, showing your parents, like, oh, my

310
00:19:15,510 --> 00:19:18,830
gosh, look what I made. Or. I was. Yeah, I was putting it on SoundCloud.

311
00:19:18,830 --> 00:19:22,590
Like, oh, really? You're going on. It's not there anymore. It's not there

312
00:19:22,590 --> 00:19:24,870
anymore, thankfully. Pull back up. Why not

313
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Bring it back? But, yeah, I was putting it on SoundCloud. And

314
00:19:30,390 --> 00:19:34,150
around that time was also when I started social media. So I, like, I

315
00:19:34,150 --> 00:19:37,070
was quite late to the Instagram game. I think a lot of kids got it

316
00:19:37,070 --> 00:19:40,800
right when Instagram kind of started. I downloaded

317
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,320
it a few years later and I was like, I'm going to use it for

318
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music. Like, this is what I'm. This is what I'm going to do. And so

319
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I created a SoundCloud account, started posting on that, posting

320
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on social media. And

321
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,680
then that's kind of when the social media journey started, too.

322
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Of like, once I started getting good feedback and people

323
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,320
were saying that they liked it, I was like, wait, there's. There's something in this.

324
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:09,080
I could do this. And so I started doing, like, more

325
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,760
covers and stuff like that, just to kind of broaden the audience

326
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and try new things. And that was the start of the journey.

327
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,360
It all went from there. So it started on Instagram,

328
00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:23,640
then That was where you really began. Yeah. And then.

329
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,320
Go ahead. I was just gonna say, did you have it. Was it just posting

330
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,800
all the time and then eventually people started to follow your page

331
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,640
or. Yeah, kind of like a slow, organic thing that

332
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,400
you had. Or do you have a moment where you did a cover and it,

333
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,280
like, blew up or something? There were a couple moments. So

334
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,000
when I was really young and I started, that was kind of the slow burn

335
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,160
part. I was using crazy numbers of

336
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,960
hashtags and sending it to those, like, singing pages that would

337
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,760
feature different people. And, like, you know, most of them you had

338
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,870
to pay for. So I was like, not, you Know, I was like, never mind.

339
00:20:59,870 --> 00:21:03,470
This is. Kind of took a little break after a while,

340
00:21:03,630 --> 00:21:07,430
and then Covid hit, and I was like,

341
00:21:07,430 --> 00:21:11,190
okay, this is. This is my time. This. I was going

342
00:21:11,190 --> 00:21:15,030
nuts. Like, I hadn't gone outside in, like, six weeks. It was crazy in

343
00:21:15,030 --> 00:21:18,670
London. And so I just decided to pour my

344
00:21:18,670 --> 00:21:22,270
energy into that project. And that's when I started doing these covers.

345
00:21:22,750 --> 00:21:26,030
I called them covers for quarantine. Those still are up on YouTube.

346
00:21:26,690 --> 00:21:29,170
Yeah, I think I've seen some of those. I didn't know that that's how early

347
00:21:29,490 --> 00:21:33,330
it started. Wow. Yeah, and it was just. It was just like, a fun project,

348
00:21:33,410 --> 00:21:37,170
and it gave me something to do, and it also gave me, like, a schedule

349
00:21:37,170 --> 00:21:40,450
of consistent posting and a bit more accountability. And

350
00:21:40,770 --> 00:21:44,610
that's kind of. Instagram went like this. And I

351
00:21:44,610 --> 00:21:47,570
started experimenting with, like, different Facebook

352
00:21:47,730 --> 00:21:51,530
advertising and stuff like that as well, and trying to, like, hone in on, like,

353
00:21:51,530 --> 00:21:54,800
a marketing plan, because at that point, I was also

354
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:58,440
recording music. I had already recorded my own stuff, like,

355
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,240
properly in a studio. Oh, you had? Okay. Yeah.

356
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,800
So I. I was trying to kind of, like, build an audience

357
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,560
to put music out. That was always the purpose, and

358
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,560
covers were the best way to do that. And then I would also kind of

359
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:16,360
sprinkle in the occasional original. Just do like, hey, I've heard

360
00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:20,160
my own music. But I. Tick Tock

361
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,960
was really where it kicked off. That. Okay, that was

362
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,280
the moment for me. And I was so angry with the app when I. When

363
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,080
I start, like, right before it went like this, I was,

364
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,200
like, really not doing well. And so

365
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,600
it started when I posted the first video, and it got more,

366
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,680
like, more views than I was expecting. And I was like, oh, this is totally

367
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,520
different than any other app that I've been on. Like, I have zero followers, and

368
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,180
I got 600 views. This is amazing. And so this is the first video

369
00:22:49,180 --> 00:22:52,700
you sign up for TikTok. This is during the quarantine and all that

370
00:22:52,700 --> 00:22:56,340
stuff. 2020 or maybe even 2021 at this

371
00:22:56,340 --> 00:23:00,100
point. Are you in high school still at that time or. No, I.

372
00:23:02,820 --> 00:23:06,420
Hear. So I was like, mid gap year. And you had graduated

373
00:23:06,420 --> 00:23:10,180
already? I had just graduated, yeah. Okay. And then you graduated

374
00:23:10,260 --> 00:23:14,020
before COVID Right. On the cusp of COVID I

375
00:23:14,020 --> 00:23:17,590
didn't get a graduation. Yeah. No way. You got robbed of that.

376
00:23:17,830 --> 00:23:21,550
I did. It was robbed. And I'll circle

377
00:23:21,550 --> 00:23:25,310
back to that story because that's a. That's a really great story, too, of just,

378
00:23:25,310 --> 00:23:28,390
like, the path that I was on. But I,

379
00:23:29,270 --> 00:23:32,870
like, started posting on TikTok. That did really well. All of a sudden,

380
00:23:33,510 --> 00:23:37,350
after it was a slow burn to get to a thousand followers. But then one

381
00:23:37,350 --> 00:23:41,150
video I posted of me in the mirror and like, I

382
00:23:41,150 --> 00:23:44,990
remember it hitting like 2000 views and I was like, what's happening? Like,

383
00:23:44,990 --> 00:23:48,230
this is amazing. And then like by the end of the night, it was at

384
00:23:48,230 --> 00:23:51,990
like 500,000 views. And I stayed up all night, like, responding to

385
00:23:51,990 --> 00:23:55,270
every single comment until it told me I couldn't anymore.

386
00:23:57,030 --> 00:24:00,390
That was the moment. And then from then on, it's. It's been

387
00:24:00,390 --> 00:24:04,230
incredible. Absolutely incredible. Okay, so what was that,

388
00:24:04,390 --> 00:24:07,750
that video? Was it a cover song or was. It one that was. Yes, that

389
00:24:07,750 --> 00:24:11,350
was by. That was the record player

390
00:24:11,350 --> 00:24:15,130
song. Okay. Like a one breath challenge

391
00:24:15,130 --> 00:24:18,690
that was going around and I remember scrolling and thinking, I hate this

392
00:24:18,690 --> 00:24:22,290
app. I'm not getting any traction. And I found that someone

393
00:24:22,290 --> 00:24:24,770
doing that and I was like, that's a cool thing. Maybe I could try it.

394
00:24:24,770 --> 00:24:28,009
And I was like sitting on my couch practicing it. Went to the bathroom in

395
00:24:28,009 --> 00:24:31,410
the mirror to film it in the mirror because the girl had done that. And

396
00:24:31,410 --> 00:24:34,010
I was like, this is an easy thing to do. And I was in my

397
00:24:34,010 --> 00:24:37,650
pajamas, didn't have any makeup on. I had put

398
00:24:37,650 --> 00:24:40,890
so much effort into the videos before that too. So it was so

399
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,760
funny how it works. And like, you're not the first person that have said that.

400
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,640
Right? Like the one that you're just like, whatever, I'm just gonna throw

401
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:52,080
the paint at the wall and then it works. Yeah, like the last. Like, oh,

402
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,640
I'm just gonna try it. And yeah, it just.

403
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,640
Ever since then. And thankfully it's. Thanks. Like, you

404
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,760
know, I'm very grateful that that was the one that took off because the rest

405
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,800
of the videos have been a lot more low maintenance than it would have been

406
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,610
had. My. Yeah, you have a full production and you're like, now

407
00:25:09,610 --> 00:25:12,530
I gotta do all these things to try to get this next video to look

408
00:25:12,530 --> 00:25:15,490
good. Very. Yeah, yeah,

409
00:25:16,770 --> 00:25:20,570
but. Yeah, but sir, I'll circle back to that. Yeah. I'm curious about this

410
00:25:20,570 --> 00:25:23,970
whole thing. Yes. So I, I always knew I wanted to do music,

411
00:25:24,450 --> 00:25:28,170
but I think a lot of. Don't think I'm alone in it, but a lot

412
00:25:28,170 --> 00:25:31,850
of people at that age of like applying

413
00:25:31,850 --> 00:25:35,570
to college and figuring out what you like want to do and

414
00:25:35,570 --> 00:25:39,290
want to focus on in life, you kind of fall into

415
00:25:39,290 --> 00:25:43,090
that trap of what's sensible, what am I going to get a job out of?

416
00:25:43,090 --> 00:25:46,770
Like, what, what should I do? That's going to be a smart path for

417
00:25:46,770 --> 00:25:50,570
me that like takes Little risk. And, you know, and

418
00:25:50,570 --> 00:25:54,010
I was in a very high. So it's. There's like no

419
00:25:54,010 --> 00:25:57,770
guarantees whatsoever and. Exactly. Creative, right, Exactly.

420
00:25:58,090 --> 00:26:01,810
It's all subjective. Does anyone care? And. Exactly.

421
00:26:01,810 --> 00:26:05,250
It's a big risk. And a lot of it's luck and timing and a lot

422
00:26:05,250 --> 00:26:09,010
of it's just perseverance and continuing on the path despite

423
00:26:09,090 --> 00:26:12,730
the fact that you're getting little feedback and, you

424
00:26:12,730 --> 00:26:16,490
know, and just trusting yourself. So I

425
00:26:16,490 --> 00:26:19,970
was very scared of that. And throughout my high school experience, I was in quite

426
00:26:19,970 --> 00:26:22,850
a high pressure high school. Like, there was a lot of just

427
00:26:23,890 --> 00:26:27,690
external, like you have to make very smart, sensible decisions

428
00:26:27,690 --> 00:26:31,450
and, you know, get all A's and get B's, the best scores on all

429
00:26:31,450 --> 00:26:34,450
of these standardized testing and like, you know, it was just

430
00:26:35,250 --> 00:26:38,930
a very tricky environment to want to do anything creative

431
00:26:39,410 --> 00:26:43,130
as a career. It was very much encouraged as a hobby, but not

432
00:26:43,130 --> 00:26:46,570
as a career. So I was actually set to go to

433
00:26:46,570 --> 00:26:49,970
UCLA for neuroscience. Wow.

434
00:26:50,290 --> 00:26:53,970
Oh my gosh, that is very different. Are your parents in that field

435
00:26:54,050 --> 00:26:57,850
of sort? No, no, no. It's just something that I'm still

436
00:26:57,850 --> 00:27:01,250
very interested in. And I'm minoring in nyu. Like, I'm still taking

437
00:27:01,250 --> 00:27:04,590
classes. I still love it very much. But I

438
00:27:05,070 --> 00:27:08,510
was meant to be going down that path, which was much more sensible.

439
00:27:10,110 --> 00:27:13,710
And I requested a gap year from UCLA

440
00:27:13,710 --> 00:27:17,430
because partially I just wanted to focus on music

441
00:27:17,430 --> 00:27:20,590
for a year and not have to worry about

442
00:27:20,990 --> 00:27:24,830
making a sensible career just yet. But also because we were in the.

443
00:27:24,830 --> 00:27:28,630
Middle of COVID Okay, so Covid was already in. You were. That had already happened

444
00:27:28,630 --> 00:27:31,590
once, like, yeah. So they were probably like, yeah, sure. We don't want you to

445
00:27:31,820 --> 00:27:35,660
come over here from another country. We're good. They denied it. Oh, they

446
00:27:35,660 --> 00:27:39,340
did. They denied it. So that was where I was like, oh,

447
00:27:39,340 --> 00:27:42,780
no, what am I going to do? Well, going to L. A.

448
00:27:43,020 --> 00:27:46,620
I was. And I was in London. They weren't offering campus housing, if I remember

449
00:27:46,620 --> 00:27:49,900
correctly. So I was in London. I was going to be like, you know, eight

450
00:27:49,900 --> 00:27:53,380
hours behind. And it was Covid

451
00:27:53,380 --> 00:27:57,220
ridden. And I didn't, you know, I just, I really didn't, in my heart,

452
00:27:57,220 --> 00:28:00,180
did not want to do that. And so I was kind of faced with that

453
00:28:00,180 --> 00:28:04,020
decision of, do you go to school, focus on neuroscience

454
00:28:04,020 --> 00:28:07,580
for four plus years? Because I was probably going to end up doing some sort

455
00:28:07,580 --> 00:28:10,140
of further education after that and

456
00:28:11,180 --> 00:28:14,980
give up music or do I withdraw

457
00:28:14,980 --> 00:28:18,740
from the only school that I've committed to. Like, you know, it was the

458
00:28:18,740 --> 00:28:21,740
only path that I was set on to. I completely throw that away.

459
00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:24,940
It's a very good school too. So it was very nerve wracking.

460
00:28:26,220 --> 00:28:28,860
And do I just put everything into music and

461
00:28:30,030 --> 00:28:32,990
I entertained the idea of both for a while,

462
00:28:33,550 --> 00:28:37,310
mainly for the sanity of my parents. But I. You're

463
00:28:37,310 --> 00:28:40,990
like, well, I'm in la, maybe you could do something. Exactly, you

464
00:28:40,990 --> 00:28:44,710
know, Exactly. You're in the middle of nowhere. Exactly. But

465
00:28:44,710 --> 00:28:48,510
I ultimately chose not to and to take

466
00:28:48,510 --> 00:28:51,670
the gap here. And I'm so grateful I did. I'm so, so grateful I did

467
00:28:51,670 --> 00:28:55,230
because I would not have the platform that I do now. I wouldn't have

468
00:28:56,030 --> 00:28:59,310
Clive Davis and like, you know, it was just the perfect,

469
00:28:59,950 --> 00:29:03,750
the perfect decision and I didn't. I felt it at the time, but

470
00:29:03,750 --> 00:29:07,550
I didn't know it was really big risk. And that

471
00:29:07,550 --> 00:29:11,350
gap year was just amazing despite Covid. Okay.

472
00:29:11,350 --> 00:29:15,070
It was really great. Yeah. So you take a gap year and then at that

473
00:29:15,070 --> 00:29:18,830
decision it's just. How do you decide then? Okay, I need to

474
00:29:18,830 --> 00:29:21,310
go. I'm gonna go all in. And the music was. It just. I gotta post

475
00:29:21,310 --> 00:29:24,830
every day on social media. Like I gotta write a bunch of songs. Like.

476
00:29:28,190 --> 00:29:31,990
Yeah, I'm definitely. I struggle making my

477
00:29:31,990 --> 00:29:35,630
own schedule more than I'd like to admit, just because I

478
00:29:35,630 --> 00:29:39,310
really like to have someone to keep me accountable

479
00:29:39,310 --> 00:29:43,070
on those things. So it was tricky that year, but I just tried to

480
00:29:43,070 --> 00:29:46,910
get in the studio as much as possible and I

481
00:29:46,910 --> 00:29:50,670
had this friend of mine, I did this writing camp right before I

482
00:29:50,670 --> 00:29:54,460
graduated at Peter Gabriel Studios

483
00:29:54,460 --> 00:29:58,060
out in. Outside of Bath, and I met

484
00:29:58,060 --> 00:30:01,660
some really incredible producers and engineers there and one of them

485
00:30:02,060 --> 00:30:05,660
introduced me to this other guy out in Bath at Graves who I

486
00:30:05,660 --> 00:30:09,260
wrote and he produced my entire first ep

487
00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:14,860
and that one that's. Coming out next month, my last ep.

488
00:30:14,860 --> 00:30:18,600
Oh, the last cp, the one that you just. Yeah, okay, sorry, go ahead. That

489
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,120
came out a long time ago. It's been a while since story begins. That one.

490
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,120
That's the one. Okay. And so he. He co wrote

491
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,880
everything with me and produced all of it and

492
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,320
we just had such a blast. It was so fun

493
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,040
and rewarding and I was going through a really rough

494
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,480
breakup, so it was just everything I needed.

495
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,160
And so that was kind of how I tried to fill as much of my

496
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,720
time as possible with. And then the rest of it was posting every day

497
00:30:48,660 --> 00:30:51,140
at multiple times if I could on each platform,

498
00:30:53,140 --> 00:30:56,900
really trying to make a plan for live shows

499
00:30:56,900 --> 00:30:59,300
and things like that that I couldn't do during COVID

500
00:31:00,900 --> 00:31:04,620
and just, you know, trying to write as much as

501
00:31:04,620 --> 00:31:08,020
possible on my own as well and trying to make the most of

502
00:31:08,340 --> 00:31:11,460
my time with nothing else to do. And

503
00:31:12,100 --> 00:31:15,950
it was great. I mean, it was back when TikTok and

504
00:31:15,950 --> 00:31:19,670
Instagram and YouTube were all paying pretty well, and TikTok's

505
00:31:19,670 --> 00:31:22,670
changed a bit and. But I was able to, like, make a living off of

506
00:31:22,670 --> 00:31:26,190
it. And that's where I really realized, okay, like, not a full living,

507
00:31:26,270 --> 00:31:29,950
but it was like, I can do this. Like, this. I can make this. This

508
00:31:29,950 --> 00:31:33,590
is possible. And then I went to school at

509
00:31:33,590 --> 00:31:37,350
nyu, and that was just an extension of everything

510
00:31:37,350 --> 00:31:41,070
I'd been doing. It was. It all worked out exactly as I wanted it to.

511
00:31:41,070 --> 00:31:44,640
So it was just very rewarding. The whole year was very rewarding.

512
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,600
That is amazing. So you record that first ep, you had those songs,

513
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:52,280
and you go and work with this producer at Peter

514
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,080
Gabriel Studio. And at that point, was it.

515
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,920
Were you playing shows or you just. Like, I have these songs. I want to

516
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,720
just get them out there and. And you just put them up on Spotify or

517
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,440
like. Like what? And you did it all independently, like,

518
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,080
kind of. Tell me about, like. Like, what was the, you know,

519
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,760
plan there as far as, like, trying, you know, was it like, let's get this

520
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,440
out and try to see what happens? Was that. I don't. I'm. Yeah, it was

521
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,520
definitely a stepping stone. It was a very much like,

522
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,600
let's see where we're at. Let's test the waters.

523
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:26,960
Let's put something out there so people have something to listen to.

524
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,000
And a few of them had gained a little bit of traction on social media.

525
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,680
Nothing major viral, but a few people had kind of

526
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:38,470
picked up on originals coming, and so it felt

527
00:32:38,470 --> 00:32:42,270
like there was a place for it. And there was. I

528
00:32:42,270 --> 00:32:46,030
held on to the songs for a while, and I released

529
00:32:46,030 --> 00:32:48,830
them my sophomore year in college.

530
00:32:49,710 --> 00:32:53,470
And when you were going to NYU at this point? At nyu? Yeah. Okay.

531
00:32:53,470 --> 00:32:56,950
How do you get into that school? Like, I mean, to be going to UCLA

532
00:32:56,950 --> 00:33:00,510
for neuroscience, and then now you're at

533
00:33:00,910 --> 00:33:04,710
NYU at Clive Davis, which is another school

534
00:33:04,710 --> 00:33:08,510
that's not easy to get into at all. Like, do you. You

535
00:33:08,510 --> 00:33:12,230
must have had to go through some audition process that way as

536
00:33:12,230 --> 00:33:15,910
well. They do, like, there's. There's like, an application

537
00:33:15,910 --> 00:33:18,830
where you do a video and you have to fill out all these different things,

538
00:33:18,830 --> 00:33:22,630
do some essays. You have to make, like, a playlist. It was.

539
00:33:22,630 --> 00:33:26,350
I just reapplied during the gap year, so it was like. I hadn't applied the

540
00:33:26,350 --> 00:33:29,730
first year, so it was the first time applying. And

541
00:33:31,410 --> 00:33:35,250
I remember. I mean, I was spending

542
00:33:35,250 --> 00:33:38,410
so much time in the studio that I didn't have a ton of time to

543
00:33:38,410 --> 00:33:42,210
put towards the video and the application itself. And

544
00:33:42,210 --> 00:33:45,810
so I remember just kind of trying to put together a video

545
00:33:45,810 --> 00:33:49,650
that looked professional and looked good because people. You can find people's ones

546
00:33:49,650 --> 00:33:53,450
on YouTube and I was watching, and they all look so professional and just

547
00:33:53,450 --> 00:33:57,070
look really cool. And so many of them were

548
00:33:57,070 --> 00:34:00,630
advanced in so many different ways that I was just trying to show

549
00:34:01,350 --> 00:34:04,950
what I had that was unique. And so a lot of the

550
00:34:04,950 --> 00:34:08,630
clips I did were like pieces from the studio and, like

551
00:34:08,790 --> 00:34:11,510
clips of originals. And then some were just me talking.

552
00:34:12,470 --> 00:34:16,270
And there was actually one video I had to do that you had to

553
00:34:16,270 --> 00:34:19,990
talk about something you were interested in that wasn't music. So that's when

554
00:34:19,990 --> 00:34:23,510
I told my whole neuroscience story. And so I was really just trying to make

555
00:34:23,510 --> 00:34:26,300
myself stand out in some sort of way.

556
00:34:27,580 --> 00:34:31,060
And thankfully I got it. I'm very, very

557
00:34:31,060 --> 00:34:34,900
grateful to be here. You just send the clip of you

558
00:34:34,900 --> 00:34:38,540
have with all the viral clip from TikTok. Here's my video submission.

559
00:34:40,140 --> 00:34:43,860
Well, at the time when I applied, nothing had gone viral yet. Oh,

560
00:34:43,860 --> 00:34:47,580
okay. Nothing. I had nothing to, like, show for my. For my.

561
00:34:48,460 --> 00:34:52,140
So I was just. I showed a little bit of the covers for quarantine and

562
00:34:52,140 --> 00:34:55,860
I was like, you know, showing like, I've grown my audience from 200 to

563
00:34:55,860 --> 00:34:59,440
2000, but I didn't have over a million. Like, it

564
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,480
wasn't it. That wasn't until I was already.

565
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,720
Yeah, okay. So it was very lucky

566
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,960
they saw something, and I'm glad they did. Yeah. Wow.

567
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,760
I mean, that you. I'm just looking. I love that you have. I mean, you've

568
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,480
grown all your social media. I mean, you have a million plus on Tick

569
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,240
Tock and hundreds of thousands on Instagram and even, like YouTube,

570
00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:27,790
you have the play button. Like, that's so rad. Like,

571
00:35:28,340 --> 00:35:32,180
that's the coolest thing ever. Thank you. Yeah. I just think that's so

572
00:35:32,180 --> 00:35:35,620
amazing and so going. Was it hard, like, when you started

573
00:35:35,780 --> 00:35:39,620
doing the, you know, covers and kind of sprinkling

574
00:35:39,620 --> 00:35:42,700
in your own music? And then at what point do you end up just going

575
00:35:42,700 --> 00:35:46,180
like, I'm just gonna pretty much just do all originals now? Were you afraid of,

576
00:35:46,180 --> 00:35:49,700
like, your. Your fan base not, you know,

577
00:35:50,020 --> 00:35:53,740
staying, you know, there? Or maybe they're just like, oh, I

578
00:35:53,740 --> 00:35:57,100
love your covers, but okay, you're not doing covers anymore. You're not doing as many.

579
00:35:57,100 --> 00:36:00,090
So there was definitely that for sure.

580
00:36:01,690 --> 00:36:04,810
And I still do covers because

581
00:36:06,730 --> 00:36:10,530
as much as I am an artist, I'm also a content creator. And I

582
00:36:10,530 --> 00:36:14,290
feel like they followed me, and I'm so grateful that they did that.

583
00:36:14,290 --> 00:36:18,050
I should give them things that they want. So I'm trying to kind

584
00:36:18,050 --> 00:36:21,810
of keep that up while also saying, here's

585
00:36:21,810 --> 00:36:25,450
my music without being too aggressive, without with it.

586
00:36:25,770 --> 00:36:28,850
There was definitely a period. There was a big learning curve that happened with that

587
00:36:28,850 --> 00:36:32,410
first EP of I was only posting

588
00:36:32,410 --> 00:36:36,170
original content and original songs,

589
00:36:36,650 --> 00:36:40,490
and I just wasn't gaining the

590
00:36:40,490 --> 00:36:43,970
traction that I was with the covers. And it helps to kind of

591
00:36:43,970 --> 00:36:47,810
sprinkle them in and keep people excited about the covers

592
00:36:47,810 --> 00:36:51,530
as well, just because that's what they signed up for. And I can't ask

593
00:36:51,530 --> 00:36:54,730
them to listen to my own music if that's not what they want to do.

594
00:36:54,810 --> 00:36:58,590
So I try to do covers, and I also do the

595
00:36:58,590 --> 00:37:02,350
panning videos where it changes from ear to ear. And so I try to

596
00:37:02,350 --> 00:37:05,670
sprinkle in things that, like, I know that they like.

597
00:37:05,990 --> 00:37:08,550
And then I also, in terms of, like, a marketing

598
00:37:09,270 --> 00:37:12,709
strategy, a lot of the time I'll try to, like, incorporate panning in my

599
00:37:12,709 --> 00:37:16,550
originals or I'll sing in the mirror. Like,

600
00:37:16,550 --> 00:37:20,350
I'll just sing my song acapella. Like, I do the covers and stuff like that.

601
00:37:20,350 --> 00:37:24,010
So I try to kind of blend my content so it

602
00:37:24,010 --> 00:37:26,330
feels like one without being,

603
00:37:27,610 --> 00:37:31,010
you know, too much. Yeah. It's not like this is just my song and then

604
00:37:31,010 --> 00:37:34,530
here, now this is what exactly? Cover. And. Yeah, everything's

605
00:37:34,530 --> 00:37:38,010
pretty, like. Yeah, it's got to make sense. Yeah, exactly.

606
00:37:38,330 --> 00:37:41,930
Yeah. Really, really cool. Well, tell me about the ep, then. So when do you

607
00:37:41,930 --> 00:37:45,730
start working on this new one? Yes. I'm so excited. So I've been working on

608
00:37:45,730 --> 00:37:49,490
this for the last. Some of the songs have been in the works for, like,

609
00:37:49,490 --> 00:37:52,890
three years. Not in the works, but I've been holding on to for, like, three

610
00:37:52,890 --> 00:37:56,550
years. So I'm ready to

611
00:37:56,550 --> 00:38:00,070
be, you know, received by

612
00:38:00,070 --> 00:38:03,430
people and so excited to hear what people think.

613
00:38:05,110 --> 00:38:08,950
All the Best was the first single off that album, and

614
00:38:09,190 --> 00:38:12,230
I had been waiting to put that one out,

615
00:38:12,790 --> 00:38:15,750
knowing that that was one of my favorites off of the EP

616
00:38:16,550 --> 00:38:20,270
for so long. Like, I was just so excited for that,

617
00:38:20,270 --> 00:38:24,050
to be a part of the world. And it's different than

618
00:38:24,050 --> 00:38:27,570
the first ep. It's a little more edgy, it's a little more

619
00:38:27,570 --> 00:38:30,890
petty. It's a little more mature in other ways as well.

620
00:38:32,250 --> 00:38:35,690
And the name of the EP is Not in a Dollhouse

621
00:38:35,690 --> 00:38:39,050
Anymore. So I kind of wanted it to be that

622
00:38:39,050 --> 00:38:42,650
feeling of we're growing up.

623
00:38:43,370 --> 00:38:46,810
I hate the term coming of age, but that's Kind of what it is like

624
00:38:46,810 --> 00:38:50,490
this, you know, I'm growing up and I'm not playing in dollhouse

625
00:38:50,490 --> 00:38:54,180
anymore. It's also not fully real life just yet. We're still, like, playing

626
00:38:54,180 --> 00:38:57,980
house. We're in. We're in between the two. And

627
00:38:58,700 --> 00:39:02,220
I think a lot of the songs reflect that in different

628
00:39:02,300 --> 00:39:05,580
ways. So each song kind of stands for its own thing

629
00:39:06,060 --> 00:39:08,700
as part of that process of growing up.

630
00:39:10,460 --> 00:39:14,300
And these songs are kind of based on the last

631
00:39:14,460 --> 00:39:17,250
three years of my life. And so it's

632
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:22,200
really. It was really tricky to pick which ones were on it and what

633
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,680
to kind of get rid of. It's kind of like killing your babies a little

634
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,520
bit. But how many songs told did you

635
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:32,040
have to, like, sift through? Quite a few, I'd imagine.

636
00:39:33,159 --> 00:39:36,960
I mean, about 50. Wow. It was just. I

637
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,200
was in the studio so much, and I was writing so much, and I was

638
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:44,000
feeling so many emotions that I just had so many to

639
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,600
kind of sift through. And I have to pick six. It was so hard.

640
00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:51,300
Who knows? I'll probably come out with more from that

641
00:39:52,100 --> 00:39:55,660
deluxe. The 50. Yeah. I'll bring out more

642
00:39:55,660 --> 00:39:59,500
later. But I. All the

643
00:39:59,500 --> 00:40:02,580
Best was kind of the first one because it just comes out with a kick.

644
00:40:02,980 --> 00:40:06,500
It's different. It's a little funny. It's a little, like,

645
00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:10,340
quirky and cute, and it's empowering in other ways.

646
00:40:10,340 --> 00:40:12,980
I went into that session and I just felt so

647
00:40:13,620 --> 00:40:17,220
horrible. I just gotten this, like, really nasty text from my ex,

648
00:40:18,010 --> 00:40:21,650
basically saying that I was posting about him and I shouldn't be

649
00:40:21,650 --> 00:40:25,170
posting about him when the songs I was posting weren't about

650
00:40:25,170 --> 00:40:28,170
him. So it was just really like, how about you, bro?

651
00:40:31,290 --> 00:40:35,010
It was just. Yeah, it was really, you know, nasty. And I was

652
00:40:35,010 --> 00:40:38,170
feeling so sick to my stomach about it. And I went into the session, and

653
00:40:38,170 --> 00:40:39,810
they were like, what do you want to write about? And I was like. I

654
00:40:39,810 --> 00:40:43,650
got this text and they were like, read it. Read it out to

655
00:40:43,650 --> 00:40:47,490
us. So we kind of based it on that text, and he

656
00:40:47,490 --> 00:40:51,250
had signed it off saying, wishing you all the best, and that's

657
00:40:51,250 --> 00:40:52,650
good. It was so passive.

658
00:40:55,210 --> 00:40:58,370
We just kind of took it and ran with it. And I left that room

659
00:40:58,370 --> 00:41:01,610
feeling so happy and so just, like,

660
00:41:01,770 --> 00:41:05,490
relieved in a way, and just inspired and empowered.

661
00:41:05,490 --> 00:41:09,290
And I was so excited about, like, just what we

662
00:41:09,290 --> 00:41:13,070
made out of something so horrible. And

663
00:41:13,390 --> 00:41:16,670
I feel like each song on this album kind of has

664
00:41:17,390 --> 00:41:20,670
a sprinkle of that in the same way. So

665
00:41:21,310 --> 00:41:24,950
that's when you're. Yeah. Love loves me Like L. A is the next was

666
00:41:24,950 --> 00:41:28,150
the one that you put out prior to the one that's going to be out

667
00:41:28,150 --> 00:41:31,950
when this comes out. And yeah. Loves Me

668
00:41:31,950 --> 00:41:35,710
Like LA is kind of the first love song I've put out that's about me

669
00:41:36,670 --> 00:41:38,510
or that's from my perspective

670
00:41:40,510 --> 00:41:44,070
and it's just happy. And I feel like if my

671
00:41:44,070 --> 00:41:47,710
younger self heard it, she would just cry of

672
00:41:47,710 --> 00:41:51,390
like joy. It's really the music. I feel like all the

673
00:41:51,390 --> 00:41:54,670
best was the music that I wanted to make at that time.

674
00:41:55,230 --> 00:41:58,750
Loves me like LA is the music that like my 12 year old self really

675
00:41:58,750 --> 00:42:02,190
wanted to accomplish on that garage band session. So

676
00:42:02,750 --> 00:42:06,470
it's healing my inner self. And it was very summery and it just felt

677
00:42:06,470 --> 00:42:10,210
right to be the next single. And I

678
00:42:10,210 --> 00:42:13,050
was also gonna be in LA when it came out, so it was just all

679
00:42:13,050 --> 00:42:16,570
so perfect. It worked together so nicely. And In Another

680
00:42:16,570 --> 00:42:20,290
Life is definitely. I love that one. That's the one that you're. I. The

681
00:42:20,290 --> 00:42:24,090
one that had the sound called like it too, I think. Yes, Right? Yeah. Yeah.

682
00:42:25,130 --> 00:42:28,970
I love the intro. The guitar. It was when

683
00:42:28,970 --> 00:42:32,610
Phil started. I wrote it with Phil Cook and Fia Brennan. And when Phil

684
00:42:32,610 --> 00:42:35,610
started playing that guitar, I was like, this is what we're doing.

685
00:42:36,170 --> 00:42:39,840
And I had just read a Taylor

686
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,560
Jenkins Reid book called maybe in Another Life.

687
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,240
And it was just everything I needed

688
00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:50,720
to hear when I was going through the thick of my breakup.

689
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:56,240
And there was. It's basically this story of two

690
00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:59,800
parallel love stories that happen as a result of like a

691
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:03,560
single decision made in the first chapter by the

692
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:07,360
main character. And I won't spoil it

693
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,880
too much, but she kind of. You watch her go in and out. There's still

694
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,720
the same characters around her, but she's having very different

695
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:18,280
lives. And I just remember

696
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,920
feeling very at peace when I reached the end of the book. And it wasn't

697
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,360
what I was expecting. And

698
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,600
I kind of reflected back and thought, you know what?

699
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,800
Maybe we're just in another life and maybe that's denial, but maybe we're just

700
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,560
in another life. And that was. It's not for the space and time

701
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:41,360
and that's fine. And I just walked away feeling much better

702
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,560
about everything. And that was kind of what that song is about, is.

703
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,560
It's a little sadder than that, but to me there's kind of that

704
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:52,400
glimmer of acceptance. Just that light at

705
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:56,120
the end of the tunnel. And it's more like. It's not

706
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:59,520
like a sad song. I mean, we just do it, right? It's exactly

707
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,280
upbeat and poppy. Yeah, exactly. And it's a Little

708
00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:06,710
darker and a little more edgy and kind of fun in that way.

709
00:44:08,700 --> 00:44:11,500
And it's got kind of that swung tone. So it's just really.

710
00:44:12,140 --> 00:44:15,820
It's fun. It's very fun. And it was really, really

711
00:44:15,820 --> 00:44:19,420
rewarding writing that. And I just love

712
00:44:19,980 --> 00:44:23,060
the two of them so much. They were so fun to write with that day.

713
00:44:23,060 --> 00:44:26,860
We were just having a blast. And there's this video I just

714
00:44:26,860 --> 00:44:30,540
posted on my Instagram of, like, us trying out the Pirates of the Caribbean

715
00:44:30,540 --> 00:44:34,300
theme song against our chorus and stuff. We were just

716
00:44:34,300 --> 00:44:38,150
having so much fun, so. So that's a special one to me. And

717
00:44:38,150 --> 00:44:41,790
it felt right to be the third single before the

718
00:44:41,790 --> 00:44:45,590
ep. I love it. And then the EP is the next

719
00:44:45,590 --> 00:44:48,950
release after that. Yeah, yeah. And are you doing.

720
00:44:49,430 --> 00:44:52,830
Were a lot of these songs written while you were in New York, or was

721
00:44:52,830 --> 00:44:55,910
it kind of all over the place? I mean, you mentioned being in LA when

722
00:44:56,070 --> 00:44:59,870
Loves Me, like LA came out. Yes. All of the songs

723
00:44:59,870 --> 00:45:03,080
that we wrote were written in London. Oh, they are. Okay.

724
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:06,760
Yeah. But kind of with, like, trips that I took back to London. Like, I

725
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:10,560
was living in New York at the time. I just really loved the

726
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:14,360
collaborators out there, and I really liked working with

727
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:17,480
certain people over and over and over again. And we just started to make

728
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:21,080
really great music. So I kept going back and I just kept doing

729
00:45:21,240 --> 00:45:24,920
trips. But, yeah, the last few

730
00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:28,480
songs on the ep, one of them I wrote a long time ago, like three

731
00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:31,670
and a half years ago. And the other two are more recent.

732
00:45:32,630 --> 00:45:36,430
So I'm excited to kind of see what gets the

733
00:45:36,430 --> 00:45:40,230
most positive feedback and just to see what people connect with,

734
00:45:41,270 --> 00:45:44,950
because some of the music I feel a lot more connected to now as me

735
00:45:45,510 --> 00:45:49,270
just personally, than I did, you know, back then, years

736
00:45:49,270 --> 00:45:53,030
ago. Yeah. Really sad. Now I'm

737
00:45:53,030 --> 00:45:56,830
really happy. So it's just. It's. I'm excited to see what people connect with the

738
00:45:56,830 --> 00:46:00,650
most, and I'm excited for those sad songs

739
00:46:00,650 --> 00:46:04,250
to kind of take on a new meaning once people start to listen and relate.

740
00:46:04,330 --> 00:46:08,170
Awesome. Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for doing this,

741
00:46:08,170 --> 00:46:11,890
Isabelle. This has been awesome. Thank you. So lovely to meet you. Yeah,

742
00:46:11,890 --> 00:46:15,370
your songs are great. I can't wait to hear the full

743
00:46:15,370 --> 00:46:18,730
EP when it comes out in a month or so. And

744
00:46:19,210 --> 00:46:22,010
I have one more question. I want to know if you have any advice for

745
00:46:22,010 --> 00:46:24,370
aspiring artists. Food.

746
00:46:27,650 --> 00:46:31,490
I would say it's a marathon,

747
00:46:31,570 --> 00:46:35,410
not a sprint. And I mean that in the sense

748
00:46:35,410 --> 00:46:39,090
of you can't just wake up one day and run a

749
00:46:39,090 --> 00:46:42,690
marathon. There's months of training that goes into that.

750
00:46:42,690 --> 00:46:46,490
There's preparation, there's practice. There's a lot

751
00:46:46,490 --> 00:46:50,100
of days where you wake up and you practice and

752
00:46:50,100 --> 00:46:53,580
you. You're a little bit worse than the day before, and that's

753
00:46:53,580 --> 00:46:57,380
okay. And being a little bit further behind on one day means

754
00:46:57,380 --> 00:47:01,060
that maybe someday you can take those extra steps forward and

755
00:47:01,060 --> 00:47:03,980
just persevering with that and

756
00:47:05,340 --> 00:47:08,940
continuing despite what you hear from other

757
00:47:08,940 --> 00:47:11,740
people and just trusting yourself that you can do it

758
00:47:13,500 --> 00:47:14,780
and work towards that.

759
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:22,360
Bringing it backwards,

760
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:29,720
bringing it backward, bringing it backward,

761
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,480
bringing it backward, bring it backward,

762
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:35,320
bring it backwards.