BiB: Lexi Norton (Echos) – How a DM Changed Everything: From Small Town to Millions of Streams!

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

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where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal

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stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to

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hang out with Lexi of Echos over Zoom Video.

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Lexi was born and raised just outside of Portland, Oregon

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and talks about how she got into music. She said she wanted to be

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a singer since age 5 years old. She started to

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take vocal lessons and guitar lessons at 10 after she

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sang in a wedding. And some of the attendees of this wedding

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went up to her mom afterward like, hey, you really should do something

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with Lexi. She's got a lot of talent. So she ended up

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putting her into vocal lessons and then eventually guitar lessons.

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Lexi talked about an acoustic band that she had started while in high school.

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We also hear about how Echos was formed actually over the

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Internet via a Twitter dm. That's where the project

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began. We talked about the number one she had on

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Hype Machine with Echos and this new phase

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of the band. Now there's a band, but this whole new

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album that Echos has coming out is all done with

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a band. You can watch our interview with

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Echos on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at Bringin It Backwards. It'd

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be amazing. If you subscribe to our channel like us on

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Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok at Bringin Back

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Pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Music,

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Google podcasts, it'd be incredible. If you follow us there as well and hook

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us up with a five. Star review, we'd appreciate your

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support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to

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podcasts, we're. Bringing it backwards with Echos.

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Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards.

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Bringing it backwards. Bring it back.

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Bring it back. Hi.

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Hey. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm

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fantastic. Thank you so much for doing this. Oh my God. Thank you for having

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me. I'm so excited. I'm excited. I'm Adam, by the way. Nice to meet you.

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Hi, I'm Alexandra. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well.

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This is about you and your journey in music. We'll talk about the album you

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have coming out and everything else. Awesome. I'm so.

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I'm excited. Can you hear me and see everything? Okay, I can

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hear you and I can see you. Okay, perfect. Is that a real candle

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lit on the wall behind you? No, it is a.

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It is a battery operated candle. Very good. I didn't want

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to alert you that your house is on fire. I know. I have

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so many battery operated candles around the house. They like, they turn

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on randomly. I don't know how to set them, but like at night they'll

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both just be like. They just turn on. It's. Yeah, it's

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cool. And I have like red ones throughout the house. They don't have a timer,

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but like, they just. Yeah, they come on randomly. So it's kind of. Kind of

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fits the vibe, I think. Right on. I love it. Well,

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I always start with your kind of background, your origin story.

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From what I was reading online. You're from. Are you from Portland, Oregon, or originally

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from Portland, Oregon, or did you move there? I'm from. I'm from right outside in

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a very small town that like, no one ever knows. So I just say

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Portland. I'm from Battleground Washington.

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Battleground Washington. I want to say I've heard of Battleground Washington and I'm not

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sure why I have, but I've never been there. It's like a

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farm town. It's pretty cool. I like it, like, very well. It's

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farms and forest. Rad. That's rad.

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Yeah. You grew up there, Portland? Yeah, I grew up in the woods. I love

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it. What was that like, aside from. I mean, lots

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of outdoor stuff to do, I would imagine. Yeah. Like always

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outside, always playing in the woods. Always like making

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things out of, like making forts and things out of

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sticks and pine cones. A lot of just. Yeah, it was beautiful.

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I mean, pretty much middle of nowhere, so I was like always entertaining

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myself out outside. I'm an only child too, so it's just.

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Oh, okay. Yeah. Neighbors, like, far away from you or

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land. Okay. Yeah. So a lot of. A

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lot of imagination in your childhood. That's awesome.

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Yeah. I feel like. Don't get that anymore. No, they don't. I love

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it. I split my time between going to Washington and out here in la.

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So I go. I go back all the time. I'm there half the time, so.

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Right on. I love it. Yeah. You come from a musical family at all?

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No, I just. When I was like five,

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pretty much told everybody that I was going to be a singer.

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Yeah. And like everyone was like, oh, show them.

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Yeah. I feel like I'm a very. I'm big into

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manifesting, so I just knew at a very early age,

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like, what I wanted to do with my life, so. That's awesome.

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Was there. You remember why? Like, did you see something on TV or

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you remembered being like, I want to be a singer. Yeah, I

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probably saw something on tv. I don't have, like, a distinct

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memory of that, but I just remember always, like,

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singing and always just, like. I

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don't know. I just would tell people, oh, I'm gonna be a singer. And then

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when I got a little older, I started seeing, you know, people in bands and

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being like, that's what I'm gonna do. Okay. Did you take, like, chorus or

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choir or anything like that? I took vocal lessons. I started when I

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was. Yeah, I started when I was, like, 10, 11.

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That's cool. But you never did, like, the choir or anything? It was just like,

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I'm gonna do. This on my own because, yeah, I was too shy. Now, looking

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back, I wish that I would have done choir, but I was just. I was

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very shy, so I never did. What about an instrument?

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Did you, like, play guitar as a kid? Oh, yeah. A little bit of guitar.

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Yeah. So those were my. When did you start learning that? Was

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it around the same time you took the vocal lessons? Yeah.

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I'm still not as good as I'd like to be on guitar. I've been playing

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a bunch lately to try to get better at it. But, yeah, those were my

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two musical things of choice. And then I started

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songwriting and doing poetry when I was, like, nine. Really?

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Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And how do you start that? You were

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just, like, writing little poems and then decided, like, I could put a little melody.

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Melody to this, or. Yeah, I, like. I would feel

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big emotions and then just, like, decide to write poetry and

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sing. And I remember, like, call my friends,

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like, on the home phone and be like, guys, I made this song, which is

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so, like, it feels cringe to think about now. But I'm like,

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the little performer was always inside of me and just wanted.

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I mean, to be able to have the, you know, courage to do that. I

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mean, you said you're a shy kid, but then to be like, hey, I wrote

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this song. Hey, guys. What I just made. I would literally take

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the home phone and, like, set it down and be like, okay. And then just,

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like, sing to my friends through the phone. And we were like, you know, 9

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and 10. And they'd be like, oh, yeah, this is great. So I.

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Which is so funny because I feel like I'm still that way. I'm so

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shy, but I'm like, I want to. Music is the one

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place where I feel like I'm not shy. For some reason. I don't fully

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understand it. That's awesome. Did your parents, like. I mean,

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obviously they're supportive of what you're doing and putting you in lessons. And

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getting your guitar. Like, do you remember getting your first guitar?

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Yes, I. It was like Christmas when I was 10 and

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my grandma got it for me. And I'm having more memories flooding to

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me now. I think that was the same year I started vocal lessons. And it

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was because I was. I sang at a family wedding

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and everyone like, kind of came up to my mom and they were like, you

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need to, like, you need to put her in lessons and like, do something with

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this. And I think we were all kind of like, okay, like, oh, wow.

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Get some validation from like outside people. Other than your mom being like, well,

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she's my daughter and she's a good singer, so I'm gonna go with that. Yeah.

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And I feel like I've just always had this like, I don't know,

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belief and like a delusional belief of like, I'm just gonna make this

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work somehow. Like my 5 year old me, like, came to earth and

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was like, we're gonna sing about everything. I think you

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have to have that though, right? I mean, if you're. You want to be a

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musician or be an. An artist of some capacity, there

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is sort of a delusion to it because for a long time you're just telling

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people you're doing this thing, but oh, yeah, there's no, like,

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track record. There's no resume that's showing it. No, I.

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And I think people for sure thought I was crazy because, like, I mean, I

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just always was like, no, like, I'm gonna be. And you know,

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kids at school would be like, whatever, but I was that kid that was like,

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let me show you my songs. And like, we would. I was in

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an acoustic band in high school and we would like, we would play

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shows together and it was so fun. It was just. I. I just

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loved to perform, but I've always been like, why is that when

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I'm such a shy person on like day to day me.

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I don't. Yeah, that duality of man, I

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guess. So you had a band in high school?

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Yes. How long did that band, did it go through high school or like when

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you graduate, do you like when. Yeah. Start your own thing

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or. Yeah, I started Echos when I was 19.

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So right after like two. What, two years out of high school, I think I

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graduated high school and I was 17. Okay. Yeah.

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And so then I started Echos, but I was doing the acoustic

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coffee shop band thing for a minute. It was really fun. And.

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And yeah, then Echos sort of formed itself in.

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Was it 2013, 11 years ago? Yeah, when I was 19,

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when do you like? Yeah. How does, how does Echos form? Is the other person

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in your band like you meet them or. Yeah, we,

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at the time, Echos used to be more of an electronic

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project and so I had been like singing on other electronic

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artists' songs and my former

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bandmate, he found my vocals on Twitter.

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He like heard a song of mine on Twitter and like reached out to me

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and then we started Echos. We were like, let's make a

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little project together. And yeah, we did that together for

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about nine years and then we parted ways

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two years ago. He's doing like TV and film

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and sync and I just really wanted to continue like

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touring and so it was an amicable parting of ways.

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But yeah, that's how that kind of formed.

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It was really interesting because I remember being 19, I was like, hey, I'm

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going to start this band with this guy I met online. And

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it was really wholesome because my mom was like, okay, what? Let me talk

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to this person's mom. So yeah, our moms talked and then

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it was like, okay, you guys are good. He's a real person. He's a real

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person. Yeah. 45 year old dude showing up at your

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house. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, yeah, and

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then like we, we then Echos became a thing and we did that for,

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yeah, almost nine years together. Which is crazy. It's just,

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it's crazy how it all started because when I first was, you know, coming up

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through the Internet, it was just you would just tweet people that you

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want to work with and that's how that happened.

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Wow. And you had, I mean, just going off your Spotify alone and I don't

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know if these numbers get messed up because you've had, you know, big

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massive songs like, you know, Saints and stuff like that. But like with All I

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Want, even Silhouettes, the first two records you put out have like

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millions upon millions of streams. Was this something that like you put out was All

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I want the first song you put out and then did it like do well

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right away? The first song that we put out was actually

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called Ghosts and that we just put on DSPs. And

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it was kind of in the time of like uploading your things on SoundCloud and

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seeing where they would go through the blog sphere and they started charting

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on Hype Machine, I believe it was All I Want. Yeah.

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And so we were like, you know, I didn't know anything

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about the music industry when I was 19. All I knew is like, I'm

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gonna do this and put my music online. Gonna happen. Yeah, yeah, like

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Again, someone's gonna sign. Me and I'm gonna be on TV or something, right? Yeah,

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I just. I don't know, the delusional, like, kind of like delusional

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cringe. Yeah, I. I just had this like, belief that

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it was gonna work. So I just followed music, started

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doing really well on SoundCloud and

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eventually Seeking Blue. Mr.

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Suicide Sheep took notice of that and reached out to us

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and wanted to upload our music. And so through that, you

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know, they really helped develop Echos from this concept of,

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you know, two kids meeting on Twitter, making music. And then

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we started creating albums and that's how we made the

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record that Saints is on. And it just kind of like it grew

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from there. It was all online based, which was a very

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interesting experience to go through. Like, trying to tell people,

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you know, from my hometown, they're like, oh yeah, whatever, you're going to be this

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musician. Sure. And then I'm like, no, guys look like people are listening. And

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it was very surreal. It's still very surreal for me to.

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Yeah, you're like. Millions of people are listening to the song. I.

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It's weird. Yeah. I. The other day I was like, you know, my

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voice leaves my house, but I don't. So it's a very

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strange. It's. It's weird. I'm

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a very like introverted, like, don't really leave

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the house much. But knowing that my voice is out there, you know, it's

220
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like I have like two lives. That's amazing though. Like,

221
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I mean, to be able to do that with the Internet and everything nowadays. You

222
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said Hype Machine started to. You started charting on there and that

223
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was such a big deal. I mean, in the. In that time period, if you

224
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had a number one on Hype Machine, you. Were like the biggest artist it was

225
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for, I believe. And if I'm. I have a really bad memory. So

226
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I'm pretty sure it was for all I want. I. I need to like fact

227
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,680
check this. But yeah, it was. It. It charted number one on Hype

228
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Machine and that was like a huge moment for us of being like, holy.

229
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Like, this is like potentially like a

230
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tangible thing that we should just keep doing, you know. And. And my

231
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previous bandmate and I, he also had. Has the same, you

232
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know, we have the same delusion of like, we're just gonna make this work. Like,

233
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I remember people being like, what the. Like, you guys just met online and made

234
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a band. Really? Yeah. You know? Yeah. And it's number

235
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one on Hype Machine. Yeah, yeah,

236
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yeah. Well, I feel like I'm so I'm so

237
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humble. Like, I'm not. I don't know. I don't. And I don't. I'm not

238
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like wearing my humbleness as like a badge of honor. But like, I just, I've

239
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always, I've never really been like, hey, you guys, look what I do.

240
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But I've thought it before. But,

241
00:15:07,650 --> 00:15:10,210
but you meant, you guys, look. What I did,

242
00:15:11,170 --> 00:15:14,970
baby. Yeah. Yeah. So that was, that was like the first time. That was

243
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like the Origin of Echos and it was very.

244
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Yeah, I have, so. I have such an interesting. I have very interesting lore.

245
00:15:23,090 --> 00:15:26,870
So. Yeah, we got to make music together for nine years,

246
00:15:27,030 --> 00:15:30,790
which was insane, you know, being project by you

247
00:15:30,790 --> 00:15:34,310
or like. Was he like on the other side of the world or country or

248
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something? He was in California and. And

249
00:15:38,110 --> 00:15:40,670
he was like, I'm just going to move to Washington and we're going to make

250
00:15:40,670 --> 00:15:43,590
music. We had a manager at the time and he was like, yeah, you guys

251
00:15:43,590 --> 00:15:46,710
have to live in the same area. So

252
00:15:48,230 --> 00:15:51,990
you. Buddy. Yeah, well, I remember he like packed up his car

253
00:15:51,990 --> 00:15:54,300
and was like, I'm going to move out there. So we did and we, we

254
00:15:54,300 --> 00:15:57,700
just made music for nine years together. And

255
00:15:58,020 --> 00:16:01,540
yeah, very amicable parting of ways. I saw him recently,

256
00:16:01,540 --> 00:16:05,380
he's crushing it doing movie trailers and such and he makes very

257
00:16:05,380 --> 00:16:09,220
cool cinematic stuff and. Yeah, and then I'm just like carrying

258
00:16:09,220 --> 00:16:12,500
the echoes torch into this new era and it's very.

259
00:16:13,380 --> 00:16:17,140
I'm just letting like my inspiration lead the way. I

260
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love it. Well, with. I'm just curious like how long after, like

261
00:16:20,860 --> 00:16:24,500
how had you already had the number one on High Machine before

262
00:16:24,500 --> 00:16:28,340
you had all met? Like, was it just like a filed transferring thing

263
00:16:28,340 --> 00:16:32,020
in the like. And then at what point do you, you get a

264
00:16:32,020 --> 00:16:35,860
manager obviously and you hadn't even met yet. No, we had

265
00:16:35,860 --> 00:16:39,700
met before. So I, I haven't talked about this in so

266
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long. I remember he was playing a show

267
00:16:43,460 --> 00:16:47,180
out by like where my grandparents lived and so this was the first time we

268
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were meeting and so like my grandma like took me over

269
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to his house to like make sure they were like, you know, and we met

270
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his mom and everything and we're like, yeah, because I was, I was 19.

271
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Yeah. Then we went and played a show together and then

272
00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,520
he, he was being managed at the time and his manager was like, you guys

273
00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,280
should have a duo and just make, you know, make a project together. So

274
00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:12,120
we did that and that's how I had the manager and. And

275
00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:15,730
we just started making covers and that what we did

276
00:17:15,730 --> 00:17:19,290
all I want. We did a cover of Sam Smith. Stay with

277
00:17:19,290 --> 00:17:23,090
me. It's. My voice is so cringe in that when

278
00:17:23,090 --> 00:17:26,730
I look back on it. And we were just making. Doing covers and.

279
00:17:27,130 --> 00:17:30,930
Yeah. And then it went number one on Hype Machine. It was pretty

280
00:17:30,930 --> 00:17:34,730
crazy. Wow, that's. That's such an incredible

281
00:17:34,730 --> 00:17:38,410
story. And then now you've put out, but

282
00:17:38,410 --> 00:17:42,060
even. I mean, you said he left the band a couple years ago,

283
00:17:42,060 --> 00:17:45,740
so it was Affirmations was the last album that he was a part

284
00:17:45,740 --> 00:17:49,380
of or. Yep. Okay. So everything from there on

285
00:17:49,460 --> 00:17:53,220
forward has been. Is this new chapter

286
00:17:53,220 --> 00:17:56,660
with Carousel. That's all the. This quiet album that's coming out. Yep.

287
00:17:56,740 --> 00:17:59,620
Yep. Okay. And this is this just you now?

288
00:18:00,500 --> 00:18:04,220
It's me and my band. So I. After I

289
00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:07,820
had parted ways with my old bandmate, I had

290
00:18:07,820 --> 00:18:11,620
started just writing with friends and, like, working on songs. I kind of

291
00:18:11,620 --> 00:18:15,140
knew what I. Where I wanted Echos to go, but it was very,

292
00:18:15,140 --> 00:18:18,620
like, serendipitous. I sat in on a session for

293
00:18:18,780 --> 00:18:22,620
my band. Their band is called Gold Souls. I was writing

294
00:18:22,620 --> 00:18:25,740
for them, and they were like, oh, hey, you should sing on this. And I

295
00:18:25,740 --> 00:18:28,660
was like, okay, that would be cool. And we did. And we were all kind

296
00:18:28,660 --> 00:18:32,380
of like, oh, wow. Like, this is really cool. Maybe we should keep

297
00:18:32,380 --> 00:18:35,940
doing this. And we're like, why don't we calendar doing this. This

298
00:18:35,940 --> 00:18:39,620
every single week and just kind of see what happens? And, I mean, I think

299
00:18:39,620 --> 00:18:42,940
a few months in, we were like, hey, I think we might have, like, an

300
00:18:42,940 --> 00:18:46,780
EP, like, for Echos. And. Yeah,

301
00:18:46,780 --> 00:18:50,420
we did. We were like, this is. It was like we wrote so many

302
00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:53,580
songs, and these were the ones that made the cut of the record were like,

303
00:18:53,580 --> 00:18:56,740
all of our favorites. And it was a really special experience

304
00:18:57,300 --> 00:19:00,820
for me. So it kind of just came together naturally. Yeah.

305
00:19:00,900 --> 00:19:03,620
Yeah. So they were actually just writing for their own band.

306
00:19:06,230 --> 00:19:09,510
Yeah. And said, yeah, I'll throw some vocals on the song. And then it became,

307
00:19:09,590 --> 00:19:13,430
oh, well, let's go this way now. Let's do this. Yeah. So it was

308
00:19:13,430 --> 00:19:17,230
kind of like we. We had like, a common friend group and everyone was like,

309
00:19:17,230 --> 00:19:20,830
oh, you guys are musicians. You guys are musicians. You should hang out. And

310
00:19:20,830 --> 00:19:24,630
so I was like, okay. So, yeah, I went over because I'd

311
00:19:24,630 --> 00:19:27,350
liked. They'd showed me their stuff, and I loved what they were doing, and they

312
00:19:27,350 --> 00:19:30,680
were like, yeah, we love your writing. So I sat in on that session for

313
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,440
them, and it just. We just never stopped writing, so.

314
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,720
Wow. Yeah, it was really cool. I think it was. I was writing for them,

315
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,080
and then one of the days they were like, let's like, write, like, write for

316
00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,800
Echos and see what happens. And then it just developed into what it

317
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,440
is now. It is now. Yeah. What were

318
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,040
you. Were you like, when he left, were you concerned that it wouldn't

319
00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:55,840
continue on? No, we had a huge conversation

320
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,650
about it. It was like, you know, we're gonna. I'm gonna keep

321
00:19:59,650 --> 00:20:03,090
making music as Echos and just see what happens. And it was like,

322
00:20:03,490 --> 00:20:07,330
super amicable and super, like, this is like your. Your voice and

323
00:20:07,330 --> 00:20:11,090
your baby. You gotta carry this on. So,

324
00:20:11,330 --> 00:20:14,850
yeah, I, like, had a vision for it, but I wasn't sure.

325
00:20:14,850 --> 00:20:18,570
I'm definitely the type of person who I like, I said I follow

326
00:20:18,570 --> 00:20:22,250
my inspiration and I'm just like, I know it's gonna happen. I might

327
00:20:22,250 --> 00:20:26,090
not know how, but I have this trust and I guess it's of kind. You

328
00:20:26,090 --> 00:20:29,130
know, you could say that's the same feeling I had as a five year old

329
00:20:29,130 --> 00:20:32,130
of like, no, I'm gonna do music. I don't know how, but it's gonna happen.

330
00:20:32,690 --> 00:20:36,290
And I remember I started being like, I feel like I really want to, like,

331
00:20:36,290 --> 00:20:39,290
write with a band. Like, I've never really done that before. I think that would

332
00:20:39,290 --> 00:20:42,810
be really cool. And then. Then it happened. Then it

333
00:20:42,810 --> 00:20:46,450
happened. You manifested it. Like, you have five. Yeah. Yeah.

334
00:20:47,650 --> 00:20:51,170
Wow. So how long before, like, how long were you just

335
00:20:52,220 --> 00:20:55,780
kind of waiting around to see what might happen before you meet the

336
00:20:55,780 --> 00:20:59,580
band? After he left, was it fairly? Yeah, I. It was like,

337
00:20:59,580 --> 00:21:03,260
I want to say maybe six months. And I was writing a bunch of stuff

338
00:21:04,460 --> 00:21:08,060
just by myself that I was kind of like, maybe I'll do something with

339
00:21:08,060 --> 00:21:11,820
this. And so I do have a project that I feel like I need

340
00:21:11,820 --> 00:21:15,340
to do something with that. It's kind of. Kind of cool, but it wasn't like

341
00:21:15,340 --> 00:21:19,090
the full vision at the time. And so, yeah, I was

342
00:21:19,090 --> 00:21:22,810
just focusing on writing and focusing on, you know, finding my voice and

343
00:21:22,810 --> 00:21:26,410
kind of my new sense of self, of what it meant to be

344
00:21:26,410 --> 00:21:30,250
Echos without, you know, my previous bandmate that had been there the whole time.

345
00:21:30,250 --> 00:21:33,930
It was a really interesting time in my life for sure.

346
00:21:33,930 --> 00:21:36,970
But I feel like I. I just like refound

347
00:21:37,290 --> 00:21:40,570
myself and what Echos is without that person there.

348
00:21:40,810 --> 00:21:44,650
So. Yeah. Was that like putting out the. Was Carousel the first one

349
00:21:44,650 --> 00:21:47,540
you put out, like, after that, or. No?

350
00:21:48,420 --> 00:21:52,180
Well, we did a reimagined version of Affirmations and

351
00:21:52,180 --> 00:21:56,020
I actually did not work on that with my previous bandmate. I worked on that

352
00:21:56,180 --> 00:21:59,860
with some other friends of mine. And so that was really.

353
00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:03,300
That was like the first release in between. So I've Had a lot of time,

354
00:22:03,780 --> 00:22:07,460
like, between the. The last release

355
00:22:07,460 --> 00:22:11,140
that we did with him, because Affirmations was 2022, and

356
00:22:11,510 --> 00:22:15,270
then I believe Affirmations reimagined was 2023, and then. Yeah, then

357
00:22:15,270 --> 00:22:19,030
we put out Carousel this year. So there's been some time between.

358
00:22:19,110 --> 00:22:22,510
Yeah, yeah. But moving forward, were you concerned at all? Like, are people going to

359
00:22:22,510 --> 00:22:25,510
like that? Like, I mean, I don't know. Do you get it?

360
00:22:26,150 --> 00:22:29,750
Yeah, I was definitely a little worried because I didn't want to, like,

361
00:22:29,910 --> 00:22:33,350
shock my fans who've been there the whole time and be like, what is this?

362
00:22:33,430 --> 00:22:36,790
But I think so. I'm turning off my heater. I have, like, a space heater,

363
00:22:36,790 --> 00:22:40,620
and it's killing me right now. Okay. Yeah, I.

364
00:22:40,940 --> 00:22:44,420
I feel like I was a little bit

365
00:22:44,420 --> 00:22:48,220
worried, but I also just knew, like, they'll get it. Like,

366
00:22:48,220 --> 00:22:51,860
I was like, my fans will understand. And they did. And they've all been

367
00:22:51,860 --> 00:22:55,180
so supportive and, like, you know, whenever they do send me

368
00:22:55,340 --> 00:22:59,140
messages about my old bandmate, like, I'll send them his way. Like, they still, you

369
00:22:59,140 --> 00:23:01,500
know, they love him and can follow him. And.

370
00:23:02,870 --> 00:23:06,470
Yeah, no one has been. Everybody has been very, very

371
00:23:06,470 --> 00:23:10,030
receptive to it, which I'm super grateful for. That's

372
00:23:10,030 --> 00:23:13,670
amazing. Well, so tell me about the album. I mean, you have, what, four

373
00:23:13,670 --> 00:23:17,230
songs from the record out? Yeah, I'm super

374
00:23:17,230 --> 00:23:20,830
excited about it. I feel like this is one of my favorite

375
00:23:20,830 --> 00:23:24,630
bodies of work I've ever made. Just from, like, I was

376
00:23:24,630 --> 00:23:28,350
talking about this the other day. You know, I turned 30 last year, and

377
00:23:28,350 --> 00:23:31,630
once you turn 30, I feel like it really, like, shifts your perspective on life

378
00:23:31,630 --> 00:23:35,290
and so. Wait till you turn 40. I turned 40. Yeah,

379
00:23:35,770 --> 00:23:39,330
no, I turned 40 and I was like, yeah, I just said, wait till you

380
00:23:39,330 --> 00:23:43,130
do. I was kidding. Yeah. No, turning 30,

381
00:23:43,130 --> 00:23:46,850
like, I. I feel so corny, but I'm like, it really changed my perspective

382
00:23:46,850 --> 00:23:50,050
on a lot of things, and I just, like, I don't know, kind of went

383
00:23:50,050 --> 00:23:53,610
back to the drawing board of, like, who am I as a person? And, like,

384
00:23:53,770 --> 00:23:57,130
having those realizations, I think, you know, came out through my art, and it was

385
00:23:57,130 --> 00:24:00,810
really, really healing for me and really fun for me to explore. So this

386
00:24:00,810 --> 00:24:04,460
new record is, like, just. There was a lot of, like,

387
00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:07,660
change, you know, obviously throughout my life

388
00:24:08,460 --> 00:24:11,900
with, you know, not having the previous bandmate and then, like,

389
00:24:12,220 --> 00:24:15,580
turning 30 and just, I don't know, realizing a lot of things about life.

390
00:24:15,820 --> 00:24:19,580
So this record's really special to me because of that. That sounds very vague.

391
00:24:19,660 --> 00:24:23,300
I'm, like, trying to figure out how to answer that. No, but I feel like

392
00:24:23,300 --> 00:24:26,660
this is. I mean, you're pretty vulnerable in all your songs, but this is a

393
00:24:26,660 --> 00:24:30,410
pretty vulnerable record. I mean, the batch you've put out this far, especially with

394
00:24:30,410 --> 00:24:33,370
over and over. Yeah. Yeah.

395
00:24:34,330 --> 00:24:37,650
Was that. Is that hard for you to do or you just write. You saying

396
00:24:37,650 --> 00:24:40,410
earlier you just write your feelings out like you've been doing that. Yeah.

397
00:24:41,130 --> 00:24:44,810
Though it's funny for me. And this is something I'm sure I'll get better at

398
00:24:44,810 --> 00:24:48,490
over time. It's hard to, like, talk about song meanings,

399
00:24:48,730 --> 00:24:52,170
but, like, writing them is not hard at all. It's like, that's the place where

400
00:24:52,490 --> 00:24:56,050
I can put my. Put my pain and kind of like, let it rest. And

401
00:24:56,050 --> 00:24:59,850
I think it's, you know, like, a safe space for me to say all of

402
00:24:59,850 --> 00:25:03,570
the things that I might not know how to speak, but I can

403
00:25:03,570 --> 00:25:07,170
sing them. So my music has always felt like this

404
00:25:07,170 --> 00:25:10,970
vulnerable, like, diary in a place that I can just leave

405
00:25:10,970 --> 00:25:14,250
everything and heal from. Yes.

406
00:25:14,570 --> 00:25:18,410
Yeah. It's not. If you do it that way, it's not as scary

407
00:25:18,650 --> 00:25:21,930
putting it out. Yeah. But again, it's like.

408
00:25:22,170 --> 00:25:25,920
Like being a shy person and then being like, but I don't

409
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,760
know how to talk about my feelings, but I can sing about them in front

410
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,400
of people. It's probably because obviously there's like a wall there kind of. And

411
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,480
in a way, like, my art is a character, character, character.

412
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,240
Can't talk today. A character of myself. So I think

413
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,920
it's a little bit easier to kind of like, step into her and perform

414
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,840
them and write from that place than it is to

415
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,360
be like, yeah, this is a really sad song about a

416
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,080
up thing that happened. Right, right.

417
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,960
I saw that you had a placement on Love Island. That's

418
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:03,600
cool. What's that like? Like watching a show and then seeing your song.

419
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,960
It's so cool. It was. It's always

420
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,640
very surreal and it was fun because I didn't really tell anyone it was

421
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,200
happening. And all my friends are huge Love Island fans, and they're like, oh, my

422
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,720
God, bro. Yeah. So, yeah, to be getting

423
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,140
texts from all my friends and being like, I just heard you. So that. It's

424
00:26:22,140 --> 00:26:25,940
very cool. Yeah, I'm super grateful for that. That's rad. Is that

425
00:26:25,940 --> 00:26:29,660
something that you hope happens more often, like, those things? Yeah, stuff like

426
00:26:29,660 --> 00:26:33,020
that. Yeah, I would love to do that. I. I feel like I have a

427
00:26:33,020 --> 00:26:36,700
lot of music that we kind of make some of them, like, with

428
00:26:36,700 --> 00:26:40,340
that in mind too. So. Yeah, I think that would be really

429
00:26:40,340 --> 00:26:44,180
cool for that. To keep happening. Amazing. Well, I appreciate your time.

430
00:26:44,180 --> 00:26:47,820
Thank you so much for doing this. Of course. Thank you for having me.

431
00:26:48,230 --> 00:26:51,590
Yeah. I have one more question. I want to know if you have any advice

432
00:26:51,590 --> 00:26:54,550
for aspiring artists. Oh,

433
00:26:55,910 --> 00:26:59,710
I would say my biggest advice is to just trust your

434
00:26:59,710 --> 00:27:03,550
instinct, like you know yourself better than anyone else, and just

435
00:27:03,550 --> 00:27:07,190
trust that you know that you know yourself. Because if you

436
00:27:07,190 --> 00:27:10,470
don't, people around you are going to try to tell you who you are.

437
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,240
Bringin it Backwards,

438
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,600
bringin it Backwards, Bringin it Backwards,

439
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,280
Bringin it Backwards, bringin it Backwards,

440
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,200
bring it Backwards.