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But like so many overnight successes, his big moment came after years of practice and other creative endeavors.
Tai Verdes spoke withSwitched On Pops Charlie Harding about the ways that social media has fundamentally changed music.
And I would just sing there.
My brother told me, You have to hook people in the first two lines.
And thats what I live by now.
Your premise has to be so good that you gotta know whats next.
I was going through a toxic relationship.
And I was listening to YouTube beats because thats how I find my music.
Im on the seventh level of hell of YouTube every single night.
Im going on YouTube searching like Harry Stylestype beat.
I had to buy it eventually if something worked.
Im listening to it, and Im like,Okay, first line, first line.
So then after I said that line, it kind of just fell out of me.
And it was amazing.
Its not like I got out of that car thinking,This is the best song.
This song is going to go gold.Put it on TikTok the next day.
To be honest, it was so gradual.
It was like10,000, this is cool.
Cause I knew 100,000 views wasnt a lot.
Ive seen people get 5 million views.
Id seen people get 10 million views on TikTok.
I was like,Okay, this is a start.
All the heads of all these companies were calling me at Verizon during my break.
Everybody works, and thats something that people relate to.
But it was easy to imagine me at Subway.
I had a lot of social-media experience.
I had a musical background.
I had parents who allowed me to go into music.
I had a lot of advantages that Im super-thankful for.
I think a lot of people love that bang out of underdog story.
Another thing that happened after going viral is that my first headline tour sold out.
I ended up doing shows like Lollapalooza.
Theres this big video of me at Lollapalooza doing A-O-K. And I dont even sing.
That was my first live performance.
What are we talking next?
People are not going to remember TikTok in 20 years.
And if they do, its not going to be in the same way.
I dont really know whats going to happen next, to be honest.
But I do know this: Thats where the attention is.
This transcript has been edited.
