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Speaker 1: I just said to you is your actual name. Blessing offer.

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Speaker 1: I mean, like, with the name like that, you better

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Speaker 1: come into this world with a purpose. My mom did it,

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Speaker 1: so props the MOM. Than thanks mom. She's the goat Um.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it's funny because my sister's name is

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Speaker 1: mercy and I have another sister named peace. So like

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Speaker 1: these are that's just my parents, you know. Yeah, are they?

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Speaker 1: Are they in music or they do anything? They are.

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Speaker 1: I mean they're entrepreneurs. They both live in Nigeria, they're

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Speaker 1: both retired. They both owned and started businesses of their

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Speaker 1: own back home. So yeah, well, I think most people

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Speaker 1: probably know you from season seven of the voice but

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Speaker 1: we in Nashville are like you have enough to know

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Speaker 1: you as this major up and coming Arnest here that

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Speaker 1: I've actually been able to work with you recently a lot,

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Speaker 1: with the styling me looking so good fresh Um. But anyway,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to when I first the first Gig I

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Speaker 1: ever did with you, actually I was told part of

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Speaker 1: your story and I literally thought to myself, I have

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Speaker 1: to have this guy on the podcast, and so you

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Speaker 1: and I connected on that the last time we worked together,

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Speaker 1: and I was just saying to you that we have

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Speaker 1: these monthly themes and this month our theme is acceptance

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Speaker 1: and how to go forward in our lives. Have Thought

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Speaker 1: of a better time to have you on to tell

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Speaker 1: part of your story, and I think that's what we

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Speaker 1: just want to do today with the listeners, is just

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Speaker 1: tell them who you are, Um, how you got to

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Speaker 1: where you are now, or you're really just kind of

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Speaker 1: blowing up musically and Um, yeah, you mentioned Nigeria, so

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Speaker 1: why don't we? Well, once upon a time I was

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Speaker 1: in small town in the southeastern portion of Nigeria and, uh,

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Speaker 1: it's funny. My grandmother was the first one to be like, Huh,

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Speaker 1: blessing is only king at someone through the right, through

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Speaker 1: his right eye. So my grandma actually first noticed that my,

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Speaker 1: like my visual perception was not what it should be.

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Speaker 1: So she brought that to somebody's tension and eventually they

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Speaker 1: were like, Oh wow, so he's actually born, he's blind

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Speaker 1: and his left eye, because everythday they would cover up

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Speaker 1: my right eye and I'm like freak out, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean? Um, so I was born blind in

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Speaker 1: my left I had vision in my right eye. I

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Speaker 1: was born with congenital black Hooma, which is a very

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Speaker 1: fancy word to say a lot of pressure in your eye. Um,

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Speaker 1: and so, as you can imagine, medical treatment in Nigeria

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Speaker 1: is less than awesome. And so, uh, we had my

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Speaker 1: dad's younger, youngest brother, was already in America on a

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Speaker 1: soccer adventure. He's a he was a professional soccer player

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Speaker 1: for the Nigerian national soccer team, played for a bunch

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Speaker 1: of colleges out here. He's kind of a big deal,

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Speaker 1: you know. Um. So, as as luck would have it,

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Speaker 1: he was like, well, he was living in new haven,

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Speaker 1: Connecticut at the time. Um, and new haven, if and if,

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Speaker 1: if you don't know your listeners, Yale New Haven Hospital

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Speaker 1: and college is all right there. So he was able

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Speaker 1: to get me here to go to Yale to to

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Speaker 1: get some medical treatment. So you move, your parents let

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Speaker 1: you go. As I think I read a six year old.

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Speaker 1: I came when I was six. I mean I as

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Speaker 1: a parent, like thinking about being a parent and letting

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Speaker 1: my six year old go to an entirely different country

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Speaker 1: sounds stressful. You know, I don't have kids, but I

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Speaker 1: also go, how did they do that? I have no children,

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Speaker 1: but I'm just like, I wouldn't do it. Shoot, but

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Speaker 1: like don't you think that, in and of itself, like

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Speaker 1: that thought I wouldn't do it, I've come to realize

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Speaker 1: as a selfish thought. Right, because it's like we wouldn't

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Speaker 1: do it because we want them near US and like

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Speaker 1: we're like, I don't want to let my kid to go,

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Speaker 1: but like my parents were like wait, we don't want

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Speaker 1: to let him go, but this is what's best for him. Right.

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Speaker 1: It's actually one of the most selfless. Oh God, the

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Speaker 1: older I get, the more I realized that, because I'm

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Speaker 1: just like, how did you guys do that? And my

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Speaker 1: dad always goes well, you needed it, you needed to

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Speaker 1: be there. Yeah, so we love you, but we also

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Speaker 1: knew what you needed and like that's what parents do, theoretically,

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Speaker 1: the good ones anyway. Right. So you moved to America

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Speaker 1: with the hopes of going to Yale to get medical

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Speaker 1: help to get your sight back in that eye, or

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Speaker 1: or so the left eye was born blind. The Right

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Speaker 1: Eye had vision, so the hope was to maintain the

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Speaker 1: vision in the right eye so we could see in

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Speaker 1: the right the left eye was going. The optic nerve

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Speaker 1: was dead. So the goal was always to like keep

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Speaker 1: the good vision, you know. So Yale Be Yale. They

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Speaker 1: did great, they stabilized the vision. UH, Glaucoma tends to

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Speaker 1: be like a progressive thing. So it was all like

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Speaker 1: they were like we can keep this going, probably for

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Speaker 1: very you know. Um. But then, you ready, I got

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Speaker 1: shot in the eye with a water gun like uh,

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Speaker 1: ten the good eye, like ten so and then it

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Speaker 1: detached the retina in the good eye. Wow, just a

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Speaker 1: regular old water gun. It was a fairly large super soaker.

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Speaker 1: So to its credit, it was. It was big. Oh

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Speaker 1: my God. So you are here thinking, okay, we're doing

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Speaker 1: all this work to, you know, maintain the vision in

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Speaker 1: my right eye, and then you're just a kid playing

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Speaker 1: in the backyard and you get the water gun and

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Speaker 1: you lose your vision in your right eye. So it

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Speaker 1: was progressive. But for about three SOM odd years it

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Speaker 1: just went slowly and then it got to the point

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Speaker 1: where like a little bit. I would lose a little

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Speaker 1: and they do surgery, try to, you know, get some back.

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Speaker 1: I'd lose a little, do another surgery and eventually this doctor,

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Speaker 1: his name is Dr Bruce Shields, Wonderful Guy, lives in

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Speaker 1: North Carolina now or South Carolina, and he goes, you know,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't why don't we stop doing these surgeries before

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Speaker 1: we really like get to zero, like, you know, why

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Speaker 1: don't we keep the optic nerve alive, because down the

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Speaker 1: road there might be something that will be more successful

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Speaker 1: than US literally poking in the back of your eye

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Speaker 1: hoping for the best, you know what I mean? So

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Speaker 1: there's been enough vision loss that he was like, if

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Speaker 1: we do anymore, we'll get down to zero. So he

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Speaker 1: was like let's he and I both I remember just

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Speaker 1: the conversation of like we could keep doing this. Do

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Speaker 1: you want to keep doing this? And I was like no,

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Speaker 1: I just want to be and go live, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean? So, to his credit, whereas most doctors,

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Speaker 1: I think, just want to keep doing things just to

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Speaker 1: say they're doing things, he was like let's stop this,

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Speaker 1: because then there's hope still, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: So he and I are friends and we talk all

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Speaker 1: the time, and I was like how did you how

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Speaker 1: are you so opprescient, and he goes, he'll say to

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Speaker 1: me something like well, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be doing

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Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't be honoring my oath to do

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Speaker 1: no harm if I kept doing things just because I could.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? Props to doctor shields. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I do think you're right. In the medical world

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Speaker 1: sometimes it's like even doctors just want to show off

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Speaker 1: their new tricks, so they're like, let's try this surgery,

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Speaker 1: and we really have to know our own bodies and

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Speaker 1: our own selves and trust the process, like you're saying.

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Speaker 1: But so, what was that like? I can't quite imagine

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Speaker 1: being able to see things and then all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden not like or or seeing them less goods okay,

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Speaker 1: as in my case. What frustrating like? That's the first

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Speaker 1: emotion that comes to my mind. Frustrating, one thousand percent frustrating,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So, like when I when

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Speaker 1: I meet people and they and I always try to

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Speaker 1: make the point to be like listen, there's UH, there's

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Speaker 1: cheap joy, right, and then there's like really, really good uh,

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Speaker 1: like forget me, I say. There's cheap happiness right, where

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Speaker 1: you just pretend everything was okay, and then there's like

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Speaker 1: deep joy where you like you can still be like yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is hard, but it's okay, right. So I hate

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Speaker 1: making it seem like I'm like well, right, like it

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Speaker 1: was very frustrating and it was very like Ah, like

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Speaker 1: my my headspace at thirteen, I was like I just

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Speaker 1: want to run around keep dunking baskets on my friends

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Speaker 1: like we were just doing eight minutes ago. What happened,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and so there's this

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Speaker 1: like part of my thirteen, fourteen, fifteen where I was

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Speaker 1: like Whoa, who am I? Now you know I'm not.

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Speaker 1: I'm not blessing. That was like super athletic and everybody

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Speaker 1: wanted to like sorry, I'm getting rid of allergies, and

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Speaker 1: everybody wanted to like wanted them on their basketball team.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, blessing, that can't see enough to do that

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Speaker 1: stuff anymore. You know what I mean. But then right

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Speaker 1: around then we got the piano in the house. Um,

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Speaker 1: I've been playing piano on it off for a while. Um,

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Speaker 1: and but I had all this time and I was like, Whoa,

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Speaker 1: the piano is pretty great. So then I started taking

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Speaker 1: piano seriously because I just had time, you know. Um,

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Speaker 1: and I mean it's just one of those things where

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Speaker 1: you never you never see where the story twists, right.

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Speaker 1: But like third grade, I always tell this story. My

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Speaker 1: third grade girlfriend was playing piano and I was like well,

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Speaker 1: if she could do it, I'm gonna do it right.

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Speaker 1: There's always a reason. Oh yeah, I was like I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna hang out with her, like so part of the

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Speaker 1: reason I started piano was because her name is Rachel

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Speaker 1: Hurwitz and she I've told her this story. So she's like,

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Speaker 1: Oh my God, I'm part of the story. So I

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Speaker 1: was like where do you take pianalyst and so, but

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Speaker 1: I never took it seriously, right, I was always like uh,

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Speaker 1: if I may to be honest, I was always like

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Speaker 1: musical and maybe just like I had a knack for it,

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Speaker 1: but I was also like eight, nine, ten, and I

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Speaker 1: was like, Oh my God, look at this, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, like some commercial on TV just came right.

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Speaker 1: So you get distracted, heavily distracted. Yeah, right, but like

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Speaker 1: I would always be picking out songs on piano and

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Speaker 1: like singing things, and so everybody was like, oh, he's musical, obviously,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't really think twice about it. And then

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Speaker 1: when all this happened, I just had nothing but time

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Speaker 1: to do the thing, you know. So catch twenty two

190
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Speaker 1: piano came to the house, lost a ton of vision,

191
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Speaker 1: had a bunch of time to sit with the piano.

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Speaker 1: Fell in love with the piano. So here we are.

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Speaker 1: I love that you just brought up the part of

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Speaker 1: the are just a part of life in general, where

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Speaker 1: it's like we can't see the bigger picture. You're in

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Speaker 1: the midst of a painful situation. I think it's oftentimes

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Speaker 1: so defeating and that's why a lot of us can

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Speaker 1: slip into depression and just like all the process of

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Speaker 1: grief in general is a lot. You know. Yeah, there

200
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Speaker 1: is always something and that's like there's something that we

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Speaker 1: can't see. And Not God gives us pain, God's trying

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Speaker 1: to punish us, but in this way of like just

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Speaker 1: more like you may have never looked into the piano

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Speaker 1: or really focused all of your energy there or even

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Speaker 1: notice your talent. I don't know. You know, we don't know,

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Speaker 1: but who? Honestly, I think it's the most all across

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Speaker 1: the board, everybody. I've had these kinds of conversations with,

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Speaker 1: it dawns on me that we just hate not knowing.

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Speaker 1: Like we're all uncomfortable saying I don't know. Until people

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Speaker 1: were like why did people and you know, all these

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Speaker 1: big questions and it's like, well, I can tell you

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Speaker 1: what I think, but you know what who knows and

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Speaker 1: like you just there's got to be a piece about going.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I think people, people get people get

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Speaker 1: silly when they try to perfectly rationalize everything, like like

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Speaker 1: we're supposed to. Like if God doesn't fit into our

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Speaker 1: logic brain, he sucks. You know what I mean? Really,

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Speaker 1: if you could understand God, God would not be very big.

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Speaker 1: He would just be another friend you could understand, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, and you can't even understand your friends.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I think saying I don't know is I'm

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Speaker 1: comfortable for most people. God, it's so true. Well, go ahead,

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Speaker 1: I was gonna ask where you were. You singing at

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Speaker 1: that point too, or had you not discovered your voice?

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Speaker 1: It's funny because I was always singing, but I was

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Speaker 1: always singing kind of in secret, like I'd be in

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Speaker 1: my Um, in my bedroom, getting ready for school and

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Speaker 1: I'd be playing these records and I'd be I could

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Speaker 1: be boys, two men, right, and I'd be like that,

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and I remember going on that's no way

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Speaker 1: to like trying to learn all these runs and um

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Speaker 1: I was like man, I think I can do them,

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Speaker 1: but I was like nine or ten and I was

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Speaker 1: like Weir I don't want to do that in front

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Speaker 1: of people. But then again, back to middle school, I

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Speaker 1: had all these had all these friends and I'd be like,

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Speaker 1: can I use on boys the man, and you can

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Speaker 1: tell me if that sounds right? Maybe, I guess. So

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Speaker 1: I would always test it out all my friends and

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Speaker 1: it was always like some girl, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: do you want to get pizza after this? Let me

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Speaker 1: go to PEPPI's. So that was always the secret weapon.

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Speaker 1: was like singing some boys, the men, see if they're

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Speaker 1: hungry for pizza. Move that so that the piano complment

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Speaker 1: did that and yeah, for sure got it. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: once you got to the piano, you were already kind

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Speaker 1: of understanding that you loved music. Loved Music. Yeah, so, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's funny because back in Nigeria we all sang,

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Speaker 1: we all, you know, we all went to grow up

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Speaker 1: in church, you know what I mean. But like no

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Speaker 1: one in Nigeria says, Oh, you could be a musician

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Speaker 1: when you grow up. You know what I mean? Singing

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Speaker 1: is just the natural thing. We all did um and

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Speaker 1: it was only when I got to the states where

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Speaker 1: I was like wait, people do this for a living

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Speaker 1: and make money. So yeah, so then it was like, okay, well,

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Speaker 1: the universe just knew. Maybe he's just gonna keep focusing

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Speaker 1: on playing basketball and we need him to go sit

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Speaker 1: in front of the PIANIS. Yeah, we need we need

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Speaker 1: this to happen. Like it's funny again, like back to

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Speaker 1: the analogies. When you work out, you're actually tearing muscle, right,

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Speaker 1: you're hurting yourself just enough, right to then build back stronger.

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Speaker 1: So it's like oftentimes I'll say to people like you know,

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Speaker 1: because the question is, are you mad at the kid

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Speaker 1: that with the water goods? Like yeah, well, Hey, he

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Speaker 1: was also a ten. It's not like he like went

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Speaker 1: let me blind him, but you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: He was just like it's a hot day. Yeah, I mean. So, no,

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Speaker 1: I'm not mad at him. That's that's silly. But also, like,

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Speaker 1: if this is going to be heavy, uh, if you can,

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Speaker 1: for instance, if someone could take me back in time

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Speaker 1: and to like eight seconds before that accident happened and

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Speaker 1: the same thing was going to happen, everything the same,

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Speaker 1: I would literally go, where do I stand to catch

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Speaker 1: that shot? Really, yeah, because the person that's let me

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Speaker 1: become is worth that frustration and pain of that time,

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Speaker 1: if you if that makes sense. It makes so much

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Speaker 1: sense that I want to cry. Yeah, because we can't

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Speaker 1: become like I know me, like I'll just cruise right

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Speaker 1: in life. Life, life is hard, and so it's like,

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Speaker 1: once you get to a certain place, you're like, I

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Speaker 1: just want to cruise and I just enjoy this, but

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Speaker 1: I would never grow as a human if I did

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Speaker 1: not hit the rough patches, like mine has come from relationships,

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Speaker 1: dysfunctional relationships, but every time I'm coming yeah, like it's

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Speaker 1: just like when I'm coming out of those situations, they're

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Speaker 1: so incredibly painful and it's like I am bumping up

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Speaker 1: against myself in those relationships in such an atrocious way,

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Speaker 1: like I hate Abcam, you know, Um. But then when

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Speaker 1: I'm getting through the pain, eventually it's like, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: all of that pain and all of that darkness, all

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Speaker 1: the things that I've learned have helped me to become

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Speaker 1: such a better version of myself. Right, like and at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's like what you hopefully

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Speaker 1: pick up along the ways. That cliche, like everybody's going

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Speaker 1: through it, right, like every be kind, for everyone you

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Speaker 1: meet is fighting a great battle, right. So it's like

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Speaker 1: you never you walk by so and so and you're

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Speaker 1: like God, why is that guy such a jerk? Like

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Speaker 1: you didn't even apologize form bumping in today, and like

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Speaker 1: you have no idea what that guy's head right. And

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Speaker 1: so oftentimes, I think all of this really has only

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Speaker 1: made me think, uh, and almost reflexively. Two things is like.

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Speaker 1: Thing number one is like, I wonder what that person

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Speaker 1: is going through. M Hm, that makes them such a jerk.

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Speaker 1: Lack of you know, that makes them such a bless

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Speaker 1: their heart, you know what I mean. What are they

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Speaker 1: doing through, what is going on in their life that

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Speaker 1: they can't even be present enough in their humanity to

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Speaker 1: see that they're hurting people? M Right. And then the

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Speaker 1: second thing is is that on some level, like you know, listen,

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Speaker 1: I'm blind, right, so I walk into a room and

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Speaker 1: I go hey, will you guys help me find such

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Speaker 1: and such? I can't see people. Oh my God, of course, like, Jeez, yeah,

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Speaker 1: what do you need? You're right. So, like, or if

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Speaker 1: I bump into someone and they see me using a cane,

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Speaker 1: they're like, Oh God, no, worries, worry about and then,

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Speaker 1: but like, you know, for me, I think, man, I

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Speaker 1: kind of have it easy. I know what's wrong. You

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Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like I see terribly right. That's that.

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Speaker 1: That's the that's the that's where it at. That's where

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Speaker 1: it's at. But everybody does you know, we all have

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Speaker 1: quote unquote, disabilities. Right, whereas I know what mine is,

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Speaker 1: most people walking around are under the delusion that they

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Speaker 1: are normal or fine or whatever. Fill in the blank,

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Speaker 1: and they look at me and go, Oh God, it

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Speaker 1: must be sorry. He's like he can't see anything. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, Bro, you don't even know what's wrong with you. Like,

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Speaker 1: how am I going to even start to try to

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Speaker 1: help you you're so unaware of your own uh, you

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Speaker 1: know this ability? Like you can't even go hey, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 1: Like someone really hurt me when I was a kid

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Speaker 1: and it makes me a jerk, like Oh, I'm so sorry,

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Speaker 1: like my dad said a really mean thing to me

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Speaker 1: and it's been stuck in my head and it's made

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Speaker 1: me do nothing but try to prove him wrong for

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Speaker 1: my entirely. You see what I'm saying? So, like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: the like most people aren't even aware of those things

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Speaker 1: that make them difficult to deal with sometimes, if that

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Speaker 1: makes any sense. Yeah, yeah, I mean I hear so

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Speaker 1: much acceptance and like well, this is your journey in

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Speaker 1: this lifetime. It's just like, okay, I know what it is.

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Speaker 1: In my eyesight is not going to be my strongest quality,

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Speaker 1: but how else can I lean into this journey? And, Um,

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Speaker 1: what can I bring to people? I do. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: you have to have bad days though, right, like the

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Speaker 1: rest of my God. I mean, yeah, here's the thing,

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Speaker 1: like yeah, seriously, yeah, I would be silly, I'd be

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Speaker 1: like a psychopath you. I mean that's the thing. Is

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Speaker 1: like to to to pretend you don't have bad days

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Speaker 1: just makes you like a dirty round liar, you know. Right. Um,

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Speaker 1: I would say that, Um, being from Nigeria and dealing

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Speaker 1: with like the annoying annoyances of blindness has made it

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Speaker 1: so that when I have a bad day, I go

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Speaker 1: all right, put this in perspective, what's really wrong? You

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Speaker 1: know what I mean? So there's this like what's really

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Speaker 1: wrong thing that I always go through my head because

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Speaker 1: a bad day, it's probably not as bad as it seems. Again,

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Speaker 1: it's not to say it's easier or like reflexively, but like,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, woke up probably, you know,

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Speaker 1: I live in my apartment, like there's food, there is

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Speaker 1: a there's a sense in my head where I'm like,

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Speaker 1: I've been through pain and all this stuff and in

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Speaker 1: a bad day, in the grand scheme of things, is

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Speaker 1: just a bad day. I think we tend to blow

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Speaker 1: things out of proportion, like Oh, so and so didn't

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Speaker 1: call I out of coffee. Spilled traffic is bad. I

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Speaker 1: never understand people that put so much energy into how

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Speaker 1: frustrated they are. It's like, what is that doing for?

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Speaker 1: You know? I like your point, though, like what's really

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Speaker 1: going on, because it's really about the traffic, right? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: and again it's like if you could see, if you

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Speaker 1: knew enough of yourself to know what's really hurting you,

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Speaker 1: then that bad. You know, the bad day tends to

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Speaker 1: be a symptom of the deeper thing, and most people

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Speaker 1: don't know enough to ask about the deeper thing. You know,

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Speaker 1: they're just like everybody's a terrible driver and you're like

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Speaker 1: what's what hurts? You know what I mean? God, I

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Speaker 1: love that. I mean that's the whole reason I even

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Speaker 1: want to do this podcast, ever, is because I like

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Speaker 1: to help people get to like what's really going on

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Speaker 1: and like why are we doing what we're doing to

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Speaker 1: each other? Because we're not loving each other, loving life

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Speaker 1: or loving ourselves. Like there's something going on. There's some block.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, it's not traffic. I'll tell you. The is not.

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Speaker 1: That's your next book. It's not traffic. It's not the traffic. Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's it's really not. And like watching people put energy

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Speaker 1: into quote unquote, the traffic is like because exterting. I

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Speaker 1: can't teach someone that it's not traffic. I'm you know.

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Speaker 1: I know because I've had to figure it out in

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Speaker 1: myself by going through some things. You know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: But I feel like there are people who want to

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Speaker 1: find peace and not but they don't want to go

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Speaker 1: through the turmoil it takes to really get there. You

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Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like, you know, they're like, how

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Speaker 1: are you so happy? I'm like, well, I lost my

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Speaker 1: vision at R do you want to know the rest?

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Speaker 1: That stops some people in their tracks. Okay, do you

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Speaker 1: really want to? You know it, but someone else is

400
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Speaker 1: going to go. How are you so happy? And someone's

401
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,800
Speaker 1: gonna go nine, like how are you so happy? Well,

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Speaker 1: my parents didn't let you know what I mean. Like

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Speaker 1: in order to figure out what happiness is. I defy

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Speaker 1: anybody to tell me how to do it without having

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Speaker 1: experienced some very heavy things. You know, I would say that, yeah,

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Speaker 1: without the true pain you can't feel true joy, unfortunately. Okay, Kelly,

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Speaker 1: are you ready? When it hit? You Ready? I H

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Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a nerd, the philosopher named Albert Camo.

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Speaker 1: I've had so many opportunities to throw this quote out.

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Speaker 1: Every time Albert Cammo says, MHM H, grief carves a

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Speaker 1: canyon so that joy may overflow it. Oh my God,

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Speaker 1: all right, Merry Christmas. Yeah, I just got really chipped up.

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Speaker 1: Grief Carves a canyon so that joy may overflow it.

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Speaker 1: So like, the deeper the grief, the greater the joy

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Speaker 1: has to be to not only fill it but then overflowid. Yes,

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Speaker 1: that is the best thing I've ever that. It's I'm

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Speaker 1: like speechless right now. That is so perfect, Albert Cama.

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Speaker 1: So now that we know, I mean, I see now

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Speaker 1: what you're journey is, and I see like that you

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Speaker 1: could turn to music if you had to say, like,

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Speaker 1: what is something that I mean? Is this something like joy?

422
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 1: Is that what you want to bring to people with music?

423
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 1: Or what do you feel like drives you with music

424
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:47,159
Speaker 1: and people communicating. First and foremost, I love people ideas. So,

425
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,199
Speaker 1: first and foremost I just love being around people and

426
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:56,719
Speaker 1: talking to people and I think that, Um, we're always

427
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: listening learning something, right, and me is it in particular.

428
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 1: It's like a powerful instrument, of powerful means to communicate, right,

429
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: and if joy was the only thing I wanted to communicate,

430
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,960
Speaker 1: I'd be a very one dimensional character. Right. But I

431
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 1: can talk to you about pain, right, I can talk

432
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: to you about sadness, I can talk to you like

433
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:23,719
Speaker 1: I'm I'm fluent in all of those things, versatily fluent

434
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: in all of those things. So it's like, at the

435
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,440
Speaker 1: end of the day, joy is there, right, but I

436
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,879
Speaker 1: want to really more or less say to somebody that,

437
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 1: wherever you are, someone's been there and someone's gotten out

438
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: and you're gonna get out right. So, like, whatever moment

439
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: you find yourselves in, it's not about jumping to joy immediately,

440
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 1: because that's you know, it's like when someone tells you

441
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 1: all the time, like everything, at some point you go hey,

442
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 1: I don't need that right now. Right, it's okay right now,

443
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: and it's okay that it's not okay. So it's like

444
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 1: it's never just about like that's horrible in the wrong moment, right,

445
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,359
Speaker 1: but it is about like being where you are and

446
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: being okay with where you are, hey, and then starting

447
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,679
Speaker 1: the process of looking around to find where joy starts,

448
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:21,080
Speaker 1: you know. So that's it. Yeah, I mean, and that

449
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 1: makes so much sense because, honestly, even as you were talking,

450
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, well, if blessing is telling me about sadness

451
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: and pain, like I believe it way more than you know,

452
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,160
Speaker 1: Josh Mo, who just needs to talk about the good stuff,

453
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: because I know your story and I know you've been

454
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,240
Speaker 1: through hard times and I know that you're being a

455
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: life now that I'm sure you bump up against hard times.

456
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:47,159
Speaker 1: Oh Yeah, Oh yeah, we can, we can compare stories. Yeah,

457
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: but when you talk about the journey or the feeling,

458
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: like I just believe it automatically even more. Is that

459
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 1: what draws you to songwriting? You know, I think that's

460
00:26:56,119 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 1: what draws me to artistry. Is like, like it's easy

461
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: to be like, don't worry about I think, because everyone right,

462
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: like it's easy to write those songs, very true songs,

463
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,680
Speaker 1: but if you have a full record of those songs,

464
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 1: like then no one's going to turn on your music

465
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 1: when they are not feeling that like. Like, if it's

466
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,239
Speaker 1: all about sadness, then you never need to write like,

467
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:29,879
Speaker 1: you know, you know, Shiney, right, because that's also yet oh,

468
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 1: that's good, that was a little flat. But but it's

469
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:44,120
Speaker 1: like every human emotion is worth sitting in, being with.

470
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 1: It's not about running away from it. It's about like

471
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: looking at it right, like the most millennial statement ever.

472
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 1: My therapist sounds right. My therapist got me to realize

473
00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: that like, like, sitting with yourself is a very powerful

474
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 1: whole thing, because a lot of what people do is

475
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,680
Speaker 1: try to they run into uncomfortable feelings that are like

476
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,439
Speaker 1: to escape this, this is terrible, and then they do

477
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: self destructive things as opposed to being like, I am sad,

478
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:20,280
Speaker 1: let's just let's been there, okay, right, it's okay to

479
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: be sad. Sadness doesn't hurt you. It's just a feeling,

480
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: even if it's uncomfortable. It's just a feeling, right, and

481
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: being in the feeling is half the battle, because when

482
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,920
Speaker 1: you can just sit in it, your body eventually goes okay, cool,

483
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 1: now look totally. It's the only way to get through it.

484
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: The only way is through. Yes, as a culture too,

485
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 1: we're also sort of obsessed with feeling like we have

486
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: to be happy all the time, that you know, even

487
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: even when you know you're I just read a book

488
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: called Toxic positivity and it talked about like, you know,

489
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,200
Speaker 1: when your friend loses a job, not to say things

490
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: like well enough, think about all the free time you're

491
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 1: gonna have. Like, don't go immediately to the positive. Say

492
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 1: things like Hey, I know this sucks, I'm here for

493
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: you if you want to talk about it, and let

494
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,480
Speaker 1: them and let people feel those feelings, because otherwise it's

495
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 1: it mutes the joy when it's true joy. God, the

496
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 1: pendulant is going to fling both ways. If you don't

497
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: let the the Canyon get carved, if you don't like

498
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: grief do its work, then you're never gonna every every

499
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 1: joy you feel will always be shallow. Right. So it's

500
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, like it's not coming from Africa, right,

501
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,239
Speaker 1: coming from a place where things are not settled and

502
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: the stories we get told aren't that you deserve. Blink

503
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: right in in third world countries, no one's going saying

504
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 1: to you, of course you're supposed to be happy. They're

505
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 1: going you know, the narrative is, yeah, listen, life's hard, right,

506
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 1: look around you, life is hard. Right, in fact, however,

507
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: we love you. They love you. This is your community.

508
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: You're happy, you're healthy, you woke up this morning, like

509
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: you know. So there is a there's an inherent, I guess,

510
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 1: idea that we deserve something. That is again, I've lived

511
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: here since I was six, so I'm not even immune

512
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 1: to it myself. It's just like we think we deserve

513
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: worldly comfort. We think it's due us, we think we

514
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: are owed it. Right, we expect it. It's ours. Why would?

515
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: I'm not. We think we're do like good health, right, right.

516
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: We think we deserve so many things, when really, says who?

517
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 1: Who told you that? Right, yeah, that's honestly, like we're

518
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: just grown up or, like I was gonna say, born thinking,

519
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: but I think we're taught at age. Yeah, yeah, like

520
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: you're taught that, like you know, if you do all

521
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 1: the right there's nothing baddling around and that that is

522
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: is not true. And what that really does is it

523
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,760
Speaker 1: sets people up for such pain, right, and disappointment when

524
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: they run into real life, which doesn't care, like life

525
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 1: just does what the girl that does my hair she goes, listen, listen,

526
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:17,840
Speaker 1: life be life and sometimes life be life, and just

527
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 1: like that's it, that life be life. And right, like

528
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,560
Speaker 1: she's just like listening. Life be life and sometimes, and

529
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 1: like that's it. Right, life just is life. Right, and

530
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: if life catches you in a good moment, you celebrate.

531
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: If life catches you in a bad moment, okay, cool,

532
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 1: it's a bad moment. But like no one says you

533
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 1: like you didn't have to wake up this morning, right,

534
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: like you were not in control of whether you woke

535
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: up or not. So like the fact that we're just

536
00:31:54,360 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 1: up talking and not, you know, sick, not in the hospital,

537
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 1: not hungry, like we're so well. And most people that

538
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 1: are having the traffic days like they don't even know

539
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: how well they're doing, right, and they're letting the silly

540
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 1: things get to us, like that's not important. Life, life

541
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 1: and life. We always say life on life's terms, but

542
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: I love that life. And Yeah, my dad texts me

543
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 1: in the morning every morning and he says the Sun

544
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 1: came up, and it's just this like really simple reminder,

545
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: like we get a whole Mord Day. You know, Sun

546
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,240
Speaker 1: came up, Sun came up. I have a wake up

547
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: and I have a roof over my head and I

548
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: have food in my refrigerator. And yes, does that mean

549
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: that I don't have pain? Absolutely not, but like they're

550
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: just things that are going to happen in life. And

551
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 1: you're so right about our country. I went to Bali

552
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,520
Speaker 1: this summer and one of the main things I left

553
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,480
Speaker 1: with was like, they don't live in excess, nor do

554
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 1: they like they do. I have what I needless and

555
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: just just to uh, not moderate, but just to speak

556
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: to that America is awesome. We come to America because

557
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 1: it's awesome. So it's like both things can be true. Yeah,

558
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 1: when I say this I always go this is that,

559
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: or a Western hate fest, like there's some dope stuff

560
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: out here. We love it. I love it. You know

561
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 1: what I mean? The Um, the with every good thing,

562
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 1: I guess there's a cautionary tale, right, and the cautionary

563
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: tale is just the idea that part of having so much,

564
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,920
Speaker 1: part of being as wealthy as we all are here,

565
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: is the the expectation that's inherently built in that it's

566
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 1: yours and belongs to you and it's due to you

567
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 1: and it's like owed to you. I think that's the

568
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 1: danger which I think we've all fallen into. It is like, Oh, yeah,

569
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: this is I deserve this. You know what I mean,

570
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 1: and I think that's really what the issue is. Whereas

571
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 1: in Bali and Nigeria and most of the parts of

572
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 1: the world where we don't have there are not as

573
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:17,439
Speaker 1: many feature comforts, all you are brought up to think

574
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 1: is gratitude for everything. Right, gratitude. Forever the Sun came up,

575
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:28,000
Speaker 1: rights it grateful. You woke up grateful. You know what

576
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 1: I mean. It's just this exercise that I have to

577
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,360
Speaker 1: remind myself to practice, you know, and we forget to

578
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:38,719
Speaker 1: practice here. Is just like and again it's like, it

579
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 1: sounds cheesy, but just like the art of realizing that

580
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,520
Speaker 1: you're not in control. Because, listen, the queen of England

581
00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 1: just died. All Her Majesty and money and billions and power. Yeah,

582
00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:01,160
Speaker 1: it turns out life sometimes even to the Queen, even

583
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:07,320
Speaker 1: to the Queen, and she came succumbed to the age

584
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 1: old enemy, that is time and death all of us,

585
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:17,359
Speaker 1: that we all will really perspective and gratitude is all

586
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 1: it is. Yes, it's so good. This is exactly the

587
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 1: reminders I've needed about the like if then's which you

588
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:28,479
Speaker 1: kind of touched on, like if I do all this,

589
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 1: then I deserve x, Y and C, like that's a

590
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,000
Speaker 1: really big one. I get stuck in and it's just again,

591
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: I do think that, even if you know, because we

592
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,520
Speaker 1: are so blessed, we have to remind ourselves about gratitude

593
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:44,360
Speaker 1: a little more often, the answer is always there, because,

594
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,399
Speaker 1: no matter what is falling apart in my life, which

595
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 1: you know, I think for a lot of us in

596
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:55,399
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, has been multiple exactly, but

597
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,839
Speaker 1: here we are and like we're alive and we're, you know,

598
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 1: a able to have this conversation, just like you said.

599
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 1: and Um, I'm sitting here in the studio making you

600
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,840
Speaker 1: have a guitar in your lap, like I mean, you

601
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 1: got your hair did it looks so good. We have

602
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 1: an amazing shoot next week that we're going to rock out,

603
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,760
Speaker 1: like there's just all this fun stuff and great stuff

604
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 1: in everyone's life. If you really like take a moment,

605
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,239
Speaker 1: I'm sure you can find something. I always like tell

606
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,359
Speaker 1: people look for five things, but even if you can

607
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 1: just find two, like I might bring recy, I might

608
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:31,960
Speaker 1: bring my hair style. Please do. I love it. I

609
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:43,719
Speaker 1: would more nuggeting. She's got stories. Man. Okay, well, we

610
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 1: are obviously shooting next week, which I just mentioned, and

611
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 1: I know that's because you have a lot of new

612
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 1: music coming out. So let's talk a little bit about

613
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 1: music before we have to go call us. Like, what

614
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,840
Speaker 1: were your what's your biggest inspiration musically from when you

615
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 1: were a kid? Man? I so, I came to the

616
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,439
Speaker 1: states at six and I grew up with my uncle,

617
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:08,120
Speaker 1: who was obviously significantly older, and he would play, you know, motown, deedles,

618
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:11,000
Speaker 1: like every good music, Gospel, Jazz, right. So I grew

619
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: up on all that stuff and, being that I didn't

620
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:16,319
Speaker 1: really I wasn't born here, I didn't realize that it

621
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,759
Speaker 1: was old music. So, like I would go to third

622
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: grade and my friends would be like, Oh God, I

623
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:24,919
Speaker 1: need what I think and I'd be like I got

624
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,359
Speaker 1: very white and I'd like pull out a very white

625
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 1: record and they'd be like what is wrong with you?

626
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,200
Speaker 1: I had no idea that that was like really weird

627
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:37,440
Speaker 1: and old to be like eight and listening to Barry White,

628
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 1: this guy right here, and it's just be like a

629
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,400
Speaker 1: picture of verry white and a trench coat, like what,

630
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,719
Speaker 1: what exactly? And I was like. Eventually I was like, oh,

631
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: that's weird, I can't do that anymore. We should stop.

632
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:53,360
Speaker 1: But I grew up on so much, so much, so

633
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,400
Speaker 1: much music that it was just you know. But the

634
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 1: commonality between everything I grew up on is that it

635
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: said something worth hearing and worth keeping into in your head,

636
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,239
Speaker 1: even if it was just like you know, you're gonna

637
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 1: be fine, I love you. Like every song is really

638
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,439
Speaker 1: just trying to we're all trying to say the same

639
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,920
Speaker 1: things over and over. Right. So it's like, you know,

640
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: every every kind of music I love, leaves you, after

641
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,279
Speaker 1: you listen to it, feeling something in your heart. Yeah,

642
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:23,239
Speaker 1: you know, and that's really all I want to do

643
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 1: is just like make the kind of music that you

644
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:31,000
Speaker 1: can turn on at any given point of life. Right. Yeah,

645
00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 1: so it's that's what every time I've ever read you,

646
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 1: you know, being interviewed or anything, you're like, my biggest

647
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 1: goal would be to have at number one in every genre.

648
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 1: Like correct. Yeah, genre is a is a is a construct. Yeah,

649
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:48,960
Speaker 1: there are a lot of musicians say that. I think

650
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 1: it's do you all feel this? I don't know. Chip

651
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: is like way more in touch with this than I

652
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,239
Speaker 1: would be. But do you feel like they're sort of

653
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 1: going away a little bit just by sheer? Go ahead,

654
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: chip tell us. Was Just gonna say I think the IPOD,

655
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,640
Speaker 1: you know, which is not it's not new any you know,

656
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:06,640
Speaker 1: it's been around for twenty plus years at this point.

657
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:10,960
Speaker 1: But the IPOD was the beginning of the end of genre.

658
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,960
Speaker 1: I mean there's always there's always going to be people

659
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 1: that need things put in boxes, so we do that

660
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:21,440
Speaker 1: for them. But I think the the avid music consumer doesn't.

661
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 1: They color outside the lines. They listen to everything. You know,

662
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:30,520
Speaker 1: I have my ratchet play list, don't we all? I

663
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 1: have ratchet right, it's in it right. Yeah. Well, you know,

664
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:36,560
Speaker 1: and I think I think the damage that genre does

665
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:39,600
Speaker 1: too is it causes certain things to not be discovered,

666
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:41,960
Speaker 1: you know, like I think in some parts of the

667
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: world country, country is a dirty word to some people.

668
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 1: Christian music is a dirty word. and Um, and you

669
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 1: know I was. I spent all day listening to your

670
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:58,400
Speaker 1: music today and and I wouldn't know. I wouldn't normally

671
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 1: go for spiritual music, but like lyrically it was. I

672
00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,920
Speaker 1: know what you're saying, but it's there's double entendre in it.

673
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,880
Speaker 1: It can be listened, and not in a sexual double

674
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 1: entendre way, like it is as secular as it is religious,

675
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,840
Speaker 1: because the way that you wrote the lyrics, Um, it

676
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: could it could mean anything to anyone. You know, there's

677
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,520
Speaker 1: a lot of just hope in it, Um, and you know.

678
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: So to me it was like an example of genre

679
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,279
Speaker 1: getting in a way. You know, how something is classified

680
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,239
Speaker 1: so that it ends up on certain playlists or get

681
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:42,440
Speaker 1: certain listeners. Um. And I think it's important as music

682
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:45,720
Speaker 1: fans for us to be part of breaking down those walls.

683
00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:51,760
Speaker 1: and honestly, when I got with capital Um, I literally said, Hey, guys.

684
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 1: They said, what do we? What do we? What's your genre?

685
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,319
Speaker 1: And I said if if you call it anything less

686
00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: than pop, I'll be really upset. Right, goes. Pop just

687
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: means popular, right. And I remember when Adele came out,

688
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:08,120
Speaker 1: she was like adult contemporary, right, because when when chasing

689
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,280
Speaker 1: pavements and all these songs came out before it got huge,

690
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,200
Speaker 1: it was like they were like NPR records. Right, it

691
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 1: was like, oh, that's kind of Nice. Is this British girl.

692
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:21,880
Speaker 1: She's singing really, really like kind of thinky earthly songs,

693
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 1: and it was like, oh, that's the the hip, like

694
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 1: sub underground thinking person's record, right, and they kept calling

695
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,840
Speaker 1: it pop music and they had they kept telling the

696
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 1: music universe like no, this is pop, no, this is pop, no,

697
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:38,839
Speaker 1: this is about and then rolling in a deep came

698
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,719
Speaker 1: out and they were like Oh, it's pop. Okay, got

699
00:41:40,719 --> 00:41:43,959
Speaker 1: it right. But like Adele doesn't sound like any other pop.

700
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 1: You know the thirty record that just came out. It's

701
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,919
Speaker 1: got all ballads in it. Yeah, you know what I mean.

702
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:55,600
Speaker 1: and so it's like genre will encompass anything you tell

703
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:57,879
Speaker 1: it to. You just have to tell it enough right,

704
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:02,160
Speaker 1: like there is room, and I mean pop goes from

705
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 1: Ed Sharon two, Katie Perry to uh, you know what's like?

706
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 1: The young blood. What's his name? Young? Is it young blood?

707
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:19,919
Speaker 1: To to not Um, little NAZACKS, like it's a WHO.

708
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 1: Who knows anymore? Yeah, and my goal for my music

709
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:28,239
Speaker 1: is always accessible to whoever. Like you know, I make

710
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,920
Speaker 1: lyrical choices on purpose. Right, Um, you may have not

711
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,719
Speaker 1: have never attended church. So I say to myself, I

712
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,640
Speaker 1: know what I want to say, but if I say Jesus,

713
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: because I'm not wanting to do the extra work of

714
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:49,000
Speaker 1: finding another word, I've made the choice to Um say

715
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:52,239
Speaker 1: to somebody who might not have been the church, I

716
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,640
Speaker 1: don't want you to listen to this. I I grew

717
00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:59,279
Speaker 1: up in church, I know Jesus Right. But if if

718
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:01,920
Speaker 1: I write a song long and just sit with myself

719
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,279
Speaker 1: and go if someone has not been a church in

720
00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:08,200
Speaker 1: a while, what, how could I still give them this hope, right,

721
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,400
Speaker 1: and then just kind of decide in my mind that

722
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:16,200
Speaker 1: I want to be inclusive in my music, ah, then

723
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:18,120
Speaker 1: you know people are going to hear it and hear

724
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,839
Speaker 1: the words that, in whatever life experience they may have had,

725
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:22,839
Speaker 1: just turns them off or shuts them down and they're

726
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:27,839
Speaker 1: gonna be next. Yeah, or I can say I think

727
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 1: they need this and if that means I, for this song,

728
00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:34,319
Speaker 1: for this album, for the you know, modify this to

729
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,120
Speaker 1: be open to more people, I think I really like that.

730
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:40,959
Speaker 1: And that way chip listens and goes, Huh, I didn't

731
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:43,680
Speaker 1: think I'd like but I kind of I like this. Right.

732
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:46,960
Speaker 1: So it's just it's a it's a conscious separate on

733
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 1: my part. Two, I think people need hope and I

734
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:56,720
Speaker 1: think that sometimes language gets in the way of hope,

735
00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 1: you know. Um, not not to say that there aren't

736
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 1: songs where I'm like Jesus. That's that's not the problem.

737
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,080
Speaker 1: It's just like, you know, to say to someone, Hey,

738
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,040
Speaker 1: there's gonna be right days. Yeah, that's a statement. That

739
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: is good for chip, good for blessing, good for someone

740
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: in church, good for someone you know, not to be blasphemers,

741
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,239
Speaker 1: but like in going through something as horrible as what's

742
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:22,239
Speaker 1: happening in Ukraine, you know what I mean. It's it's

743
00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: it's there for us all, and I love that. I

744
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:30,399
Speaker 1: was also thinking Um that you said that language could

745
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,520
Speaker 1: get in the way of hope. I wonder language could

746
00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 1: also get in the way of connection, you know, like

747
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: if we say that you said that was your goal

748
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:43,719
Speaker 1: with music, is to connect, and if we do put

749
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:47,400
Speaker 1: ourselves in boxes, sometimes you're right, like everyone has had

750
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: a different life experience. But if you were born in

751
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: a place that you know practices Buddhism and not Christianity,

752
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 1: like there's all these different things, and so how do

753
00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:00,239
Speaker 1: you connect with the most people? By still giving hope, right,

754
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:04,640
Speaker 1: and it's it's just a matter of realizing that there

755
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:08,799
Speaker 1: are just these common human experiences that we all have. Right,

756
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: no matter no matter what you grew up believing or

757
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:16,000
Speaker 1: not believing, you're gonna hurt, you're gonna feel sadness, you're

758
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: gonna feel loneliness, you're gonna feel joy if, if you're lucky,

759
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 1: you're gonna we're all humans, we're all here, we're all

760
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:27,600
Speaker 1: trying to get through it. Right. I think I've discovered

761
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 1: some things that helped me get through it. I'm going

762
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:32,799
Speaker 1: to share them with you, uh, and maybe you'll share

763
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:35,799
Speaker 1: with me some of your things, and that's that's human

764
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:39,719
Speaker 1: and that's life. Yeah, I love that. Well, we are

765
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 1: big fans and if you guys about blessings music, I

766
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:45,839
Speaker 1: really encourage you to do so. Is You can sing

767
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:50,720
Speaker 1: your booty off and writes amazing lyrics and, as chips

768
00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 1: said earlier, I mean it's just you can connect on

769
00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:58,520
Speaker 1: all different kinds of levels. Really Great. So you guys

770
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:01,360
Speaker 1: go check out blessing. Blessing. Tell us what you have

771
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 1: coming up. I know there's new music coming out. Like

772
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:06,719
Speaker 1: I said, to tell US everything. There's a ton of

773
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 1: new music coming out. There's a I'm on the road

774
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 1: with Lauren Davil for a few dates, a gentleman named

775
00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 1: Brandon Lake for a few dates this fall night. Um,

776
00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 1: there's some there's some TV, there's you know, uh, some

777
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,600
Speaker 1: some songs that I'm featuring on coming out. So please

778
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 1: just follow along. Blessing offer. Offer is spelled F R,

779
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:31,240
Speaker 1: so it sounds like the word offer, but it's spelled

780
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:38,239
Speaker 1: a four. Yeah, so don't pronounce it. That's not it.

781
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:44,680
Speaker 1: But yeah, you guys just please, please join, join the journey. Yeah,

782
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:48,560
Speaker 1: and you're blessing aufer on instagram right at. Blessing offer

783
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 1: on Instagram, blessing offer on twitter, I think, on facebook.

784
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:55,040
Speaker 1: We're on. On Tiktok we're blessing off for music, but

785
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 1: otherwise it's always one of those are you tick talking

786
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,640
Speaker 1: a lot? Tell me about this that can get up

787
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:07,480
Speaker 1: the ban of every artists existence. Are we are tiktoking

788
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 1: as much as we need to, because that's how life goes. Now,

789
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 1: apparently tiktok is the place. I mean it does, it does,

790
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:23,799
Speaker 1: it moves music, but it is artists. It's like I

791
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: just had to buy a thing to learn to like

792
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:31,399
Speaker 1: sing duets. I'm just like what, Oh, yeah, you need

793
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:33,880
Speaker 1: this I ring that like plugs your phone into a

794
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:38,240
Speaker 1: thing and so you can sound. I'm like a singer.

795
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:43,799
Speaker 1: That real good. Can we go there? Right? Well, if

796
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:45,640
Speaker 1: you guys want to check out blessing on TIKTOK. It

797
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:50,799
Speaker 1: sounds like a journey over there. So, blessing, thank you

798
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:52,880
Speaker 1: so much for being here with us today and sharing

799
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:54,840
Speaker 1: your story with the listeners. I feel like you gave

800
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,040
Speaker 1: so many good nuggets. I know I feel like we

801
00:47:57,120 --> 00:48:02,600
Speaker 1: just did therapy right now. So the takeaway, guys, life

802
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:06,719
Speaker 1: be life, alright, life. Well, obviously we know the name

803
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 1: of this podcast. All right, blessing, thanks so much for

804
00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:13,880
Speaker 1: being here. I will see you next week. I cannot

805
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:18,839
Speaker 1: wait for listening