Speaker 1: Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and t DC Media. I want to find my
Speaker 1: voice and I want to find who I am in
Speaker 1: the music industry. It's true. I mean, you could do
Speaker 1: whatever you want. We always get caught up in like
Speaker 1: the likes and the numbers and how many followers you
Speaker 1: have and who's liking it and what they're commenting. But
Speaker 1: once you're happy with yourself, you can put something out
Speaker 1: and none of that matters at all. I hope you
Speaker 1: love it, and I hope it resonates with you, and
Speaker 1: I hope you see yourself in it. Baby Ariel is
Speaker 1: in the house. What's up? He of course love having you.
Speaker 1: I actually interviewed Baby Ariel on my past show, and
Speaker 1: I feel like a while ago. I remember that interview
Speaker 1: and it was like an hour long, but it flew by.
Speaker 1: It was so fun and your mom was there, Yes,
Speaker 1: she was, which was super fun, and we kept giving
Speaker 1: shout outs to your grandma. Wasn't that I found like that.
Speaker 1: It's been a couple of months, but so much has happened.
Speaker 1: It's been crazy. I didn't even know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: You know, you definitely know what you're doing. How do
Speaker 1: I say this double negative, But I don't know what
Speaker 1: You don't not know what you're doing. If you have
Speaker 1: thirty million fans on TikTok, thirty million people follow you
Speaker 1: on one app, I don't even do you know what
Speaker 1: thirty million people is. I was trying to look up.
Speaker 1: I was trying to look up countries, so I could,
Speaker 1: you know, make a comparison to like, in the country,
Speaker 1: in the country, that's how many people, that's how So
Speaker 1: I looked up. Well, the weirdest thing came up. So
Speaker 1: I googled country with thirty million population. The first article
Speaker 1: that came up was there are thirty million people in
Speaker 1: China that live underground in caves. So I am very
Speaker 1: un of the underground people in jo. Just in case
Speaker 1: you're wondering, yeah, there are, which I have been for
Speaker 1: a while now. There are as many people in underground
Speaker 1: caves in China that follow you. That's musically, that's power,
Speaker 1: that's insane. I'm like, hi, Tchina, let's talk about TikTok,
Speaker 1: which was formerly musically. Yes, I keep wanting to call
Speaker 1: it musical. If you slip up, it's okay because I
Speaker 1: slip up const But we all know it's TikTok. We
Speaker 1: know it's TikTok, but I still slip up. Who else
Speaker 1: is out there trying to do the aerial thing? Who
Speaker 1: else trying? Is the emphasis? Well, my best friend she
Speaker 1: is doing, she's doing. Her name's Ari. We met in
Speaker 1: sixth grade in pemberke Pines, Florida. We went to the
Speaker 1: same school. We knew each other for like we went
Speaker 1: in sixth grade, like best friend sixth grade, seventh grade,
Speaker 1: eighth grade, and both separately started on musically, like she
Speaker 1: would just make musicals in her house and make peusic
Speaker 1: lose in my house, not knowing that the other was
Speaker 1: also doing it. And we gained a following at around
Speaker 1: the same time, and we've been doing it together ever since.
Speaker 1: So both of you just randomly decide to pick up
Speaker 1: this app and give it, give it a word without
Speaker 1: talking to each other about it. And now she's literally
Speaker 1: at my house in l a and we're going to
Speaker 1: go film YouTube videos together. It's not weird. That's some
Speaker 1: BFF ship. I know it's weird, but like I kind
Speaker 1: of love it though, because I've met like a few
Speaker 1: people in this end street who I like, I love
Speaker 1: and I adore but like, it's nice to have someone
Speaker 1: who we really started all of this together, and we
Speaker 1: knew each other before before anything exactly. There's something really
Speaker 1: nice and comforting about having somebody who's from your hometown
Speaker 1: and knows you before, who knows me for me and
Speaker 1: your awkward stages when you're like twelve and thirteen or whatever. Right,
Speaker 1: And it's interesting that you guys both were successful, and
Speaker 1: that's the cool thing too. It's like we know each
Speaker 1: other before all of it because we're both doing the
Speaker 1: same thing. She's more into fashion and I'm more into
Speaker 1: music and acting, but we're both kind of on the
Speaker 1: same journey together. We're able to help each other through
Speaker 1: this as well, but we also just know each other,
Speaker 1: so we just it works. It's amazing. And so to
Speaker 1: your point of her being into fashion and different things
Speaker 1: than you and you're into music and acting. Obviously this
Speaker 1: has given you a platform, having so many eyeballs on you,
Speaker 1: you are somebody who has influence, and the premise of
Speaker 1: the show is kind of getting behind the influence. Let's
Speaker 1: take it back before any of the has happened. Growing up,
Speaker 1: what were you like as a kid, Because obviously to
Speaker 1: pick up something like musically and wanting to lip sing
Speaker 1: and do these dances. You had to have been somebody
Speaker 1: who liked to perform, right right, Oh for sure? So
Speaker 1: did you know from an early age that this was
Speaker 1: kind of your destiny to be in this world? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think it was like growing up. You know, my
Speaker 1: dad's a musician and he like stuck me in piano
Speaker 1: when I was like four years old. And my mom
Speaker 1: she did a theater her entire life and like debate,
Speaker 1: and my dad went to school for for a film
Speaker 1: and TV. So growing up, my world was surrounded with
Speaker 1: like music and acting, and like I was not forced,
Speaker 1: but like I had to watch movies and understand them
Speaker 1: and like dive deeper into them. So I was like
Speaker 1: in this world of all these arts, and I knew
Speaker 1: that I wanted to be involved, like when I was
Speaker 1: older in some way, and I had dreams for sure,
Speaker 1: like I want to direct, and I want to like
Speaker 1: you know, sellat arenas and sing and like do albums.
Speaker 1: I know you're already doing those things. I'm trying, but
Speaker 1: like I never knew it was possible, but after social
Speaker 1: media like this has really made it possible, which is cool.
Speaker 1: But yeah, as a child I always wanted to perform
Speaker 1: because that was my whole world. That's all I knew.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna fast forward a bit. One day you're
Speaker 1: in high school. You actually at that time you were
Speaker 1: living with grandma, because I think your house is flood
Speaker 1: pipe under the sink it burst. And so the summer
Speaker 1: going into my ninth grade, yere and my brother was
Speaker 1: going into like a sixth grade year. I think we're
Speaker 1: living at my grandma's house, and I would go to
Speaker 1: camp every single summer, but that summer was so hectic
Speaker 1: because my house was flooded to the head, like knocked
Speaker 1: down walls and tear out the floor and like redo everything.
Speaker 1: I was home a lot with my grandma and my brother,
Speaker 1: and I would spend hours like just you know, like
Speaker 1: taking pictures and writing songs and like journaling like on
Speaker 1: our phones. And we found musically, how did you even
Speaker 1: think to download the app? We were so like I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to like we like we just we had
Speaker 1: so much time, you know, like we do other things,
Speaker 1: but we just had so much time. So diving like
Speaker 1: super deep into the app store of like just as
Speaker 1: many like different creative apps as we could find and musically,
Speaker 1: I think was one of them, and we downloaded it
Speaker 1: and we're like, Okay, this is cool, you know, like
Speaker 1: musically along with like twenty other apps. I think the
Speaker 1: ability to just create whatever you wanted really drew us
Speaker 1: to it because we had so much time. So it
Speaker 1: was nobody talking about it really at the time. Or
Speaker 1: was it like you'd heard of it exactly. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was something like that, but nothing crazy for sure. I
Speaker 1: do think the early people have an advantage. You're going
Speaker 1: to figure it out quicker, You're going to gain a
Speaker 1: following quicker, and I'm always like, what's going to be
Speaker 1: the next app? Right? So you just happened to stumble
Speaker 1: upon this and it had elements of things that you're
Speaker 1: passionate about performing music. Do you remember the first one
Speaker 1: that you tried? The first musically it was too I'm
Speaker 1: Legit by Nicki Minaj, and it was it was in
Speaker 1: her guest room that I know. I wasn't sleeping in
Speaker 1: that room. I was sleeping like the playroom, and I
Speaker 1: like got the music. I was like my favorite song
Speaker 1: at the time, and I just just kind of like
Speaker 1: started creating these like facial expressions and like hand emotions
Speaker 1: and lip syncing things to the song and I made
Speaker 1: it and I was like, oh cool, and posted it
Speaker 1: and that was it. Yeah, and that was it. A
Speaker 1: lot of things happened, But what do you think it
Speaker 1: was about musically now, TikTok At the time that so
Speaker 1: many people were drawn to it, especially your age demographic,
Speaker 1: there was something drawing in I guess like at the time,
Speaker 1: you know, Instagram has its way of doing things, not
Speaker 1: really a set in stone like definition, but I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know it could Instagram you post your pictures and
Speaker 1: Twitter you tweet what's on your mind vine with six seconds,
Speaker 1: but musically like being this new app, nobody really knew
Speaker 1: how to do it or what it was, and so
Speaker 1: all of us kind of went on with this like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is something new that we haven't seen before. It
Speaker 1: has these little fast motion slow motion effects that none
Speaker 1: of us have been able to play with before on
Speaker 1: Instagram or Twitter because we already have what we do
Speaker 1: on those platforms. So it was like this blank canvas
Speaker 1: almost and we could just create whatever we wanted. Because
Speaker 1: I tried musically once when it was musically and now TikTok,
Speaker 1: I just always have to clarify it's TikTok now. But
Speaker 1: when I tried it, it was musically and it gives
Speaker 1: you this element of almost being more coordinated than you
Speaker 1: actually are, and like you're a better dancer. It almost
Speaker 1: fulfills a fantasy of being a pop star in a sense.
Speaker 1: I think that to me. That's what if I was,
Speaker 1: you know, in high school, and I saw this app,
Speaker 1: I'd be like this is dope. For two seconds, I
Speaker 1: can be in this fantasy land of being like doing
Speaker 1: something different. It's true. I mean you could do whatever
Speaker 1: you want on the app. Like the amount of effects
Speaker 1: and songs and styles of videos that there are, like
Speaker 1: there's something for everybody, which is really appealing to me
Speaker 1: because like if I wake up one day and I
Speaker 1: want to paint or something, you can post a painting
Speaker 1: video and there's an audience for that and there's people
Speaker 1: who want to talk about it with you. And if
Speaker 1: you want to go on there and be a pop
Speaker 1: star in lip sync and just totally dance your heart
Speaker 1: out and like put on cool clothes, like you can
Speaker 1: definitely do that too. That's amazing. So so you start
Speaker 1: uploading all these videos and clips if you dancing, lipsing
Speaker 1: and doing all these things. When did you start to
Speaker 1: really notice that you were not only having friends and
Speaker 1: family commenting and participating with what you were uploading, but
Speaker 1: random strangers starting to follow you and gain a legit
Speaker 1: following on the app. Yeah, I think it was like
Speaker 1: two or three months in. And how old were you
Speaker 1: at that time? I was fourteen. I mean it was
Speaker 1: that crazy for you. It was insane because I before
Speaker 1: that have been on like I've been on social media,
Speaker 1: but like I remember, like a month before I started Musically,
Speaker 1: I was begging my parents to let me go on Facebook,
Speaker 1: you know, and like now all of a sudden face it.
Speaker 1: So I was never such a social media person, you know.
Speaker 1: So it was insane at fourteen. But it was like
Speaker 1: three months in and I remember I was at my
Speaker 1: friend Barbara's house. She was like my best friend at
Speaker 1: the time, and my video was featured on the homepage
Speaker 1: of Musically. And now they have a different way of
Speaker 1: doing it, they like the four you page of TikTok,
Speaker 1: but at the time you get featured, and like everybody
Speaker 1: who has the apsis or video that day, people like
Speaker 1: just started liking and commenting and following me, and I
Speaker 1: was like, what the heck? Is going on is the
Speaker 1: craziest thing. After that, I started posting that. I was
Speaker 1: posting them every day, but I would like, you know,
Speaker 1: stick to it and like three a day. So, as
Speaker 1: a fourteen year old, you're seeing that people are recognizing
Speaker 1: the stuff that you're putting out there. Do you then
Speaker 1: kind of shift your strategy? Because before you were just
Speaker 1: putting content out when you felt like get your board,
Speaker 1: you're to sleep over whatever. Now you're noticing you're getting
Speaker 1: a fan base? Did you then? I mean you were
Speaker 1: so young to have to process this, but then thinking
Speaker 1: like I could make a business out of this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I started gaining following two or three months in
Speaker 1: and then I was doing it every single day, and
Speaker 1: I think about like four five months in is when
Speaker 1: you know, my family sat down and we're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is amazing, but this is not just like a
Speaker 1: hobby anymore. Like you're you're gaining a following and brands
Speaker 1: are starting to reach out to you to want to
Speaker 1: send clothing, and like some tours were starting to approach me.
Speaker 1: So we had to sit down as a family and say, okay,
Speaker 1: where what do we want to do? And like how
Speaker 1: is this going to work? And I definitely knowing like
Speaker 1: my whole life that I wanted to entertain and like
Speaker 1: be involved in the entertainment industry as much as I
Speaker 1: possibly can. I knew that this is what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do. I'd regret it if I didn't try and
Speaker 1: go for it. Yes, we kind of switched it up
Speaker 1: and we opened a website and opened a YouTube channel, like,
Speaker 1: opened an Instagram page and made it more of like
Speaker 1: a whole not but like a pack yeah exactly, and
Speaker 1: just opened everything up and slowly like started accepting brand
Speaker 1: deals and talking out brand deals and tours and how
Speaker 1: that would work. And I would collab with other YouTubers,
Speaker 1: so easing into it, but definitely thinking of it more.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, this could be something that I do
Speaker 1: for a long time. So it became more strategic in
Speaker 1: a good way too. Then possibly help you get to
Speaker 1: your goals down the road. Exactly. And nothing like I
Speaker 1: did changed because they were like like they liked the
Speaker 1: way I was doing my musically, so okay, like this
Speaker 1: is me, this is who I am, so I don't
Speaker 1: have to change anything. But my dad me had to
Speaker 1: take care of some business things. Of course, I probably
Speaker 1: more serious about how often you posted right exactly, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: every exactly, so you had to actually have a schedule
Speaker 1: and treated a little more like a job, not like
Speaker 1: you were still in school. But it was yeah, right,
Speaker 1: you were still in school, Yes, yeah, yes, I started
Speaker 1: ninth grade. And so then at what points now you're
Speaker 1: you're getting a strategy together. You know that there's an
Speaker 1: end goal. You see this opportunity in this platform that
Speaker 1: literally started off as I'm board and I'm having fun
Speaker 1: with it, and for a lot of kids, that's where
Speaker 1: it ends. So why do you think And you can
Speaker 1: sound arrogant right now, it's okay, this is an awkward
Speaker 1: question to ask, but what what do you think made
Speaker 1: you stand out versus other people? You stood out, so
Speaker 1: it's okay for you to answer that. Okay, I'm anna answer.
Speaker 1: At the time, on musically, there was nobody I think
Speaker 1: what the way I did it was just different and
Speaker 1: not seen before because at the time people were on musically,
Speaker 1: but they were just like lip syncing it for fun.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I've really cared about what people
Speaker 1: thought of me. I was so myself and I had
Speaker 1: like my friends and we all just were a certain
Speaker 1: way and I just wasn't gonna care, and I went
Speaker 1: on there with my like super annoying bright pink lipstick
Speaker 1: and like long nails, and I hope like it inspired
Speaker 1: other people that just kind of or other kids to
Speaker 1: be like, you know what, like, she's fourteen years old
Speaker 1: and she just doesn't care. I'm not going to carry either,
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna be myself and whatever that Maybe, yeah,
Speaker 1: I could see that. So maybe you were kind of
Speaker 1: the poster child for other kids who were probably also
Speaker 1: bored at their grandma's house seeing this beautiful, enthusiastic, confident woman.
Speaker 1: Now you know, like you were young, and so you're
Speaker 1: doing this thing where you're showing that you don't cary
Speaker 1: of a lot of self love, obviously because you're putting
Speaker 1: content out there without it being perfect. I thought what
Speaker 1: you were going to say was that you put more
Speaker 1: time and effort into it, but really it was just
Speaker 1: you were authentic to yourself, and pop probably resonated with that.
Speaker 1: I hope, so like I was and I still am,
Speaker 1: I try to be as authentic as possible because social
Speaker 1: media is such like an intimate thing like it used
Speaker 1: to be where you would watch your favorite people on
Speaker 1: reality TV, you know, once a week and you can't
Speaker 1: really comment on anything. But now with social media, I
Speaker 1: can go live and like it's like I'm face timing
Speaker 1: them right from my bedroom. So because I have that
Speaker 1: platform and that influence and ability like talk to them
Speaker 1: and like people like NonStop, I want to be as
Speaker 1: authentic and organic as possible. Yeah, and it definitely shows
Speaker 1: in all your content. You're always yourself, which I appreciate
Speaker 1: that it's not cringe e, thank you. Interesting you you
Speaker 1: can tell there's a point where people kind of shift
Speaker 1: into the big leagues. I guess where they're just going
Speaker 1: and doing their own thing. They're creating content, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the brand deals come and you know,
Speaker 1: they get shift and then a lot of things shift,
Speaker 1: and then you see a complete shift in the person's personality.
Speaker 1: So I think it says a lot. The only thing
Speaker 1: that's changed for you is your schedule is more busy,
Speaker 1: making more money, and you can like you now have
Speaker 1: a platform to then pursue other passions and exactly so
Speaker 1: so basically you're you were doing musically now TikTok, and
Speaker 1: then other opportunities showed up for you through TV, film,
Speaker 1: What what came first. The first thing that came was
Speaker 1: a Digi tour, okay, and so I started going into
Speaker 1: my ninth grade year, and about two months into my
Speaker 1: ninth grade year, I this is kind of like when
Speaker 1: we had the family talk about everything, because this tour
Speaker 1: approached me to go on a social media tour with
Speaker 1: like six other influencers great friends of mine still to
Speaker 1: this day. But it would be like a six week
Speaker 1: tour across country in a tour bus touring. So at
Speaker 1: that time we had to sit down and be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: is this something that we're going to do for real?
Speaker 1: Because if I went on, if I said yes to
Speaker 1: that tour, I had to be homeschooled or online schooled,
Speaker 1: and then if I didn't, I would continue with public
Speaker 1: school and you know, just do that. So that was
Speaker 1: the like thing that that was a turning point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was like, I have I O regretted if I
Speaker 1: didn't go. I have to go and I have to
Speaker 1: do it. And yeah, from there that was the first
Speaker 1: thing that I did a tour. Just after that everything
Speaker 1: opened up for you, it seems. Yeah, I mean it
Speaker 1: was like like and the cool thing about that tour
Speaker 1: too is that I really that's what I think put
Speaker 1: me into like this the whole social media space too,
Speaker 1: because I was with other influencers, were able to collaborate
Speaker 1: together and create a little family and create our own
Speaker 1: social media group of people because you have like the
Speaker 1: YouTubers and the viners, and but now there's like, okay,
Speaker 1: this new musically you now group, We're able to make
Speaker 1: that for ourselves. That's so true. There was like the
Speaker 1: vine group and the YouTubers and this is back in
Speaker 1: the day. But now it feels like everyone's kind of
Speaker 1: crossing over into all platforms, which I love so much.
Speaker 1: I love that too. So basically, here we are today,
Speaker 1: and a lot's happened between that first musically that you uploaded.
Speaker 1: You are still active on TikTok, and you have so
Speaker 1: many other things going on. How high on the priority
Speaker 1: list is uploading on there? Because you still have a
Speaker 1: lot of followers, you've transitioned into mainstream, and you'll see
Speaker 1: people transition into mainstream and kind of say, I don't
Speaker 1: want to do that thing anymore. That and there's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with that. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it,
Speaker 1: but I think it's really cool that you're still on
Speaker 1: the app because you have so many fans on there
Speaker 1: waiting for your content. How right, that's the thing. It's like,
Speaker 1: why not, yeah, because it's easy for you. Right. It's
Speaker 1: not like I don't think it's easy, but I can't
Speaker 1: do We're going to try to do actually, but it's
Speaker 1: like we're gonna be doing it, but it is easy
Speaker 1: like it is. It's it's like I can do it,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to do it, and I want to
Speaker 1: talk to the people who like follow me, and yeah,
Speaker 1: to me, it's like why not, you know, And it's
Speaker 1: another way for you to connect with your fans exactly.
Speaker 1: And I mean, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be where I am right now. So like they are
Speaker 1: the reason that I'm here, and so as much as
Speaker 1: I'm able to connect with them and talk to them
Speaker 1: and make them happy throughout the day as much as
Speaker 1: I possibly can, I'll do it. And if I'm able
Speaker 1: to do TikTok's, then I'm going to do Yeah. Why not? Right?
Speaker 1: So going back to transitioning into mainstream UM music is
Speaker 1: something that I know you take really seriously. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: musically and TikTok thing lends itself to the music industry
Speaker 1: in the world that's obviously very, very different than the
Speaker 1: I don't want to say the real music industry, but
Speaker 1: that's an app where you're having fun and now there's
Speaker 1: this big, bad world of music industry, which is very stressful. Yes,
Speaker 1: how has the transition been for you? It's been good,
Speaker 1: I will say it's been good. It's been a slow
Speaker 1: transition for me. Like maybe I don't know how it comes.
Speaker 1: I don't know how I come off to the public.
Speaker 1: I don't people think, but like for me, it's been
Speaker 1: slow because I want to find my voice and I
Speaker 1: want to find who I am in the music industry.
Speaker 1: And I think it's important, like throughout your entire career
Speaker 1: to keep changing and evolving. But in the beginning it's
Speaker 1: the toughest because you want to, you know, put out
Speaker 1: what's authentic to you and stay true to yourself. So
Speaker 1: it's been tough. Like I'm just constantly writing and singing
Speaker 1: and trying different instruments and just finding my own voice
Speaker 1: and finding who I am. And I've put out like
Speaker 1: a few songs now, and I've put out things that
Speaker 1: at the time where me and maybe it's not me anymore.
Speaker 1: But I think it's okay because, like everybody goes on
Speaker 1: their own journey, every important to oh yeah, it's important
Speaker 1: to show your journey and show how you've evolved, because
Speaker 1: if you just come out the first song and it's
Speaker 1: perfect and like like, then then it's just you have
Speaker 1: to have a journey and you have to go through it. Literally,
Speaker 1: every successful artist, if you look at their first album
Speaker 1: or listen to the first album and then you listen
Speaker 1: to what they're doing today, it's totally different because you
Speaker 1: are constantly not only are you evolving, but the trends
Speaker 1: are evolving and what do I care about? Which is
Speaker 1: And that's hard to because I've had to learn how
Speaker 1: to just like shut that out completely, because you know,
Speaker 1: two weeks ago, the big song was like a rap song,
Speaker 1: and now it's like the big song is an E
Speaker 1: d M. Like it's like, you just have to stick
Speaker 1: to who you are. The other thing that that's interesting
Speaker 1: Whenever I talk to newer artists who are kind of
Speaker 1: building their brand and figuring out their voice, I always
Speaker 1: ask them what the process of that is? Is it
Speaker 1: you're sitting down with a brand board and you're like,
Speaker 1: this is how I see myself or is it more
Speaker 1: of this is what I'd like to be For me,
Speaker 1: I have to I'm a person who has to set
Speaker 1: goals and write my dreams down and make a long
Speaker 1: term goal list or else I'm not going to feel
Speaker 1: like I can get there for some reason, like I
Speaker 1: I love everything that I do, but I love to
Speaker 1: keep like dreams and goals in mind because that's just
Speaker 1: pushing me forward every single day. But then also it's
Speaker 1: about forgetting that sometimes and living in the moment and
Speaker 1: just saying, Okay, who am I today or who am
Speaker 1: I this year? And who do I want to be
Speaker 1: and just rolling with it and seeing what happens. And
Speaker 1: I think naturally the dreams and goals will come, but
Speaker 1: you have to put them out there into the universe. Well. Also,
Speaker 1: what successfully worked for you on musically was just being
Speaker 1: yourself exactly, and that's why it's like, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to change of course. Yeah, But but that said, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you have some musical influences like who who is
Speaker 1: somebody that you if you could rub a Genie lamp
Speaker 1: and say I would like a career much like fill
Speaker 1: in the blank career. Of course, you'll have your own.
Speaker 1: I look at certain people. For me as an interviewer
Speaker 1: and as a host, I look at someone like Oprah
Speaker 1: and I'm like, wow, she's can please say that again?
Speaker 1: You can? Definitely for me, I look at her and
Speaker 1: I say, you know, she makes an impact and she
Speaker 1: talks to people who make an impact and it's not
Speaker 1: just like fluffy conversation, and I love that. I think
Speaker 1: she's a game changer. Who for you is somebody that
Speaker 1: you look at and you kind of look up to.
Speaker 1: In a sense, there's so many people, is the problem.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of talented days, and especially in
Speaker 1: the female department, there's so many powerful women. Gosh, I
Speaker 1: would probably say Prince. I think because just the way
Speaker 1: he makes me feel when I'm listening to his music
Speaker 1: and when I watch him, and how authentically himself he
Speaker 1: is and how hard I know he worked to get
Speaker 1: to where he is and how great he wanted to
Speaker 1: be is inspiring. And so seeing someone who just does
Speaker 1: not care and like, where's what they want to wear
Speaker 1: and like makes music that he wants to make and
Speaker 1: will do anything to stay true to who he is
Speaker 1: inspiring for me. That's so evolved of you. I feel
Speaker 1: like a lot of Maybe I'm generalizing, but I feel
Speaker 1: like if you asked that question to somebody your age,
Speaker 1: you might be like Rihanna because she makes it rain,
Speaker 1: which is fine. Does make it rain, and that's fine.
Speaker 1: But it just shows again the authenticity of you. I
Speaker 1: love that. I love that for you, I love that
Speaker 1: for everybody. So, on the topic of music, you had
Speaker 1: a couple of singles come out when you were on
Speaker 1: my show. I think Gucci on My Body, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, when I was editing that video, I could
Speaker 1: not get that song out of my head. I was like,
Speaker 1: she did this on purpose, It's my fault. I can't
Speaker 1: stop singing it. So now you have a new single
Speaker 1: that you're going to be releasing October ten, ten ten
Speaker 1: Lucky Numbers, Perfect ten. It's called wild Side. Yes, I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. I'm so excited and I haven't even heard it.
Speaker 1: This song is like super special to me just because
Speaker 1: I don't know. For me, it's the most me song
Speaker 1: that I've released, and it's just it's about like everything
Speaker 1: that I've been talking about for It's about like becoming
Speaker 1: comfortable enough with who you are to share that with
Speaker 1: the world. I think, like on social media, like we
Speaker 1: always get caught up in like the likes and the
Speaker 1: numbers and how many followers you have and who's liking
Speaker 1: it and what they're commenting and everything. But once you're
Speaker 1: happy with yourself, you can put something out and none
Speaker 1: of that matters at all. So for me, that song
Speaker 1: is about that journey and the journey of self love
Speaker 1: and self discovery and finding you and being happy enough
Speaker 1: with that to just not even care about what anybody
Speaker 1: else has to say. That's super exciting, And and this
Speaker 1: interview is actually prerecorded, so we will be including the song.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, we won't have to be like wait until
Speaker 1: ten times. By the time we're listening to this past
Speaker 1: it's done. So we will be including the song at
Speaker 1: the end of this interview, so please make sure you
Speaker 1: stick around for that. On the topic of wild Side,
Speaker 1: it's obviously very special to you. Something also very special
Speaker 1: is that one of your bucket list items that you
Speaker 1: listened at the beginning was directing, and you directed the
Speaker 1: music video for this. I'm gonna cry just thinking about
Speaker 1: how was that for you? That was a dream come
Speaker 1: true in twelve hours, Like that was everything that I've
Speaker 1: ever wanted and more and that's enough for me, Like
Speaker 1: I'm good, Like that was it. Movies are my favorite
Speaker 1: thing ever on this whole planet, and so my dream
Speaker 1: is to direct movies. And I knew going into this
Speaker 1: music video. I was like, Okay, I want to direct
Speaker 1: it because this song means so much to me, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to make it my own mini movie and
Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody else to say. And so
Speaker 1: just being able to get into the nitty gritties of
Speaker 1: everything and be so picky and create like characters and
Speaker 1: set design and choose the way the like way I
Speaker 1: wanted my eyelashes to look, and my hair and like
Speaker 1: the bangs on my head to look, and the way
Speaker 1: it was shot and the style like made me so
Speaker 1: happy because that's just it's it's my dream. And it's
Speaker 1: interesting because it's all the things that you've done. Up
Speaker 1: until now, we didn't even talk about your acting. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've been in film, you've been in TV. So do
Speaker 1: you think that those experiences helped you? Oh for sure
Speaker 1: with this directing debut. Directorial debut, Oh my god, that
Speaker 1: sounds so like, Oh my god, areal debut. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. Oh my God, Okay, but yes, I
Speaker 1: mean I'm very much one who believes that, like, you know,
Speaker 1: everything that I already did, like it got me to
Speaker 1: this point obviously, So when I'm in the moment, like
Speaker 1: I try to just soak in as much as possible.
Speaker 1: So knowing that I wanted direct one day, like when
Speaker 1: I did the movies, I just would like watch the
Speaker 1: directors and the way they did it and how they
Speaker 1: directed and what they paid attention to what they didn't,
Speaker 1: And that's helped me. How was it being behind the
Speaker 1: camera and in front of the camera great? Like it
Speaker 1: was one? Were you able to switch? It? Was? It
Speaker 1: was hard because just timing wise, we wanted to do
Speaker 1: a lot in twelve hours, but I think I was
Speaker 1: able to. I tried. I wanted. The next thing I
Speaker 1: want to do is I just want to direct, like
Speaker 1: a music video that I'm not I just be able
Speaker 1: to just watch and just do it. Where is baby
Speaker 1: Ariel ten years from now? Is she directing a film?
Speaker 1: Is she winning Emmy's Is she doing both? I'm hoping
Speaker 1: I'm doing. I mean, it's like I'm gonna say it,
Speaker 1: so I hope it happens like I'm gonna say you're
Speaker 1: going to be Oprah and I'm going to direct when
Speaker 1: Grammy's and we're good, and then you'll come on my
Speaker 1: rendition of the Oprah Winter Show. Remember where we were
Speaker 1: ten years ago. Let's do it and we'll play this
Speaker 1: clip too. Oh yeah, hopefully we look so hot by
Speaker 1: that and even hotter than we are now. We're preaching
Speaker 1: very hard to imagine, honestly, and they can't even see
Speaker 1: us right now. So but just the beauty that's ready
Speaker 1: can't even see us like it. Just that's really awesome.
Speaker 1: So also, in addition to you guys being able to
Speaker 1: hear the song right now, you'll be able to see
Speaker 1: the video and it will it be on your YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: It'll be on my YouTube channel. Yeah, okay, cool? And
Speaker 1: is there any hint that you can give me now?
Speaker 1: I mean, at this point will be in the future,
Speaker 1: so I'll already be satisfied, but right now very unsatisfied.
Speaker 1: Your Okay, just know that you're gonna see, like I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think, you're gonna see a journey of like
Speaker 1: two really cool kids I think, and my best friends
Speaker 1: in it. So I was going to ask you because
Speaker 1: you did say that you guys worked together a lot,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know who the other characters were in
Speaker 1: the story, but it's it's me and my best friend Matthew,
Speaker 1: and that's all I'm saying. Ah, So basically just coming
Speaker 1: full circle because this is about influence and your influence
Speaker 1: and now you're taking your influence to fulfill your dreams. Basically,
Speaker 1: what advice would you give somebody else who a lot
Speaker 1: of girls look up to you. I think your main
Speaker 1: demographic is like what you have, like a big fan
Speaker 1: club of girls like you want the sleepover and boys
Speaker 1: like I know we have talked about having a huge
Speaker 1: sleepover before and you want to these Oh please, I
Speaker 1: would like to come. We'll have popcorn. We've talked about
Speaker 1: like two years. It's never happening yet. But what would
Speaker 1: you what would you advise somebody who's looking up to you?
Speaker 1: And I know you do a lot on your YouTube
Speaker 1: where you'll talk to the fans and be like be
Speaker 1: yourself and all these things, and you're super communicative with them.
Speaker 1: But advice you would give somebody because what you did
Speaker 1: is not the norm, by the way, so I know
Speaker 1: to you because you're living in it's just you. You
Speaker 1: did the app and then you started pursue. You're talented,
Speaker 1: so you were able to pursue a bunch of different things.
Speaker 1: But you're in a very small percentage of people who
Speaker 1: transition into what you've transitioned Intoe. That's hard. There's so
Speaker 1: many things that I want to tell them. Allow yourself
Speaker 1: to try new things, and don't put yourself into this
Speaker 1: box where like you started out singing, or you want
Speaker 1: to be a painter, or you want to play basketball,
Speaker 1: doesn't like, don't put yourself into that box and allow
Speaker 1: yourself to be free and like artistically, try different things
Speaker 1: and whatever your form of expression that day is, like
Speaker 1: go for it and do it, or else you're limiting yourself.
Speaker 1: I think, stay consistent as much as you possibly can.
Speaker 1: One of the best advice so one has ever given
Speaker 1: to me, her name is Jessica. Hi Jesica, if you're
Speaker 1: watching when I first started, and it was about YouTube,
Speaker 1: and she probably doesn't even remember telling me this, but
Speaker 1: she's like your social media. The same way kids watch
Speaker 1: reality TV and they know it's or any TV. They
Speaker 1: know it's on like their favorite show, it's on five
Speaker 1: pm every Wednesday. You have to make sure you're like
Speaker 1: a television and your YouTube videos up five pm every Wednesday,
Speaker 1: so people can really look forward to it and be
Speaker 1: excited for it and know that it's going to be there.
Speaker 1: So stay consistent as much as you possibly can. Don't
Speaker 1: hold yourself back, don't be scared, because I think fear
Speaker 1: is like our biggest roadblocks. Sometimes we're our own biggest enemy.
Speaker 1: And put yourself out there and meet new people and
Speaker 1: collaborate as much as possible. That's been so many good
Speaker 1: tidbits like I'm trying. Yeah, that's really really great, and
Speaker 1: they've all worked for you. I'm so excited for all
Speaker 1: the things you have going. We barely scratched the surface,
Speaker 1: but I did want to focus on your music just because.
Speaker 1: But we know that you're a very talented actor. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited for all the things. Do you
Speaker 1: have anything coming out? I mean, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know how. I can't really talk about it at all,
Speaker 1: but Zombies is coming out, so I saw that. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. I'm so excited. I can't I'm like, take this, aboy,
Speaker 1: I else want to talk to us. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm seeing is a common thread. I remember when I
Speaker 1: was growing up and it's like pick what you want
Speaker 1: to be when you grow up. It was almost like
Speaker 1: pick one thing and everyone had to be super laser focus.
Speaker 1: That's the problem. It's like, why do that to yourself?
Speaker 1: I actually think each thing you do lends itself to
Speaker 1: the next thing. I mean, if I hadn't done like acting,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't feel confident enough to direct my music video.
Speaker 1: And literally like they're in two different worlds. But everything
Speaker 1: you do is helping you, so I might as well
Speaker 1: just do it. Whenever you break out of the box,
Speaker 1: people do it like who cares? I love that. I
Speaker 1: love that for you. And you're doing so well in
Speaker 1: all these different arenas. When you when you can talk
Speaker 1: about zombies, now that you're that, I come back, please,
Speaker 1: I have so much to say when you can talk
Speaker 1: about zombies, Please come back. I was I need to
Speaker 1: know awful things. Oh, I have so much to say.
Speaker 1: I don't doubt it. I'm so excited, like so excited. Well,
Speaker 1: now you're getting me so excited? Should we extend another hour?
Speaker 1: All right, guys, we are going to let you enjoy
Speaker 1: wild Side. Do you want to go ahead and introduce it?
Speaker 1: It's your baby? Shut up? There actually to listen to it.
Speaker 1: It's cool. Yeah, what if I was like, no, no,
Speaker 1: actually just kidding. Make you introduce it and then you're like,
Speaker 1: what would you do? Show it's not real. I hope
Speaker 1: you love it, and I hope it resonates with you,
Speaker 1: and I hope you see yourself in it and just
Speaker 1: do your own thing and love it, right, Hi, guys.
Speaker 1: Mhm h m hmm. Seventeen on a Sunday driving on
Speaker 1: from l A. Spend a whole day fancy seeing you're
Speaker 1: solely acting like you know me. I don't know what
Speaker 1: to say because beeny year, have you made any money?
Speaker 1: Have you done anything? Or no? Seventeen on a Sunday,
Speaker 1: driving on from l A, loosing my head in my
Speaker 1: life ain't mine? Maybe I'm crazy, young, young, last Maybe
Speaker 1: that's all right. And someone says, hey, I can't go
Speaker 1: back on the wildside. Hey girl, don't take a walk
Speaker 1: on the wild side. Don dunt dune dune do dun,
Speaker 1: dundun dune dune dun do dun. In the naked in
Speaker 1: the showcase, they sit in the load days and I
Speaker 1: don't have a face feeling something on the shoulder. Hell
Speaker 1: is face a lover? But you never complain. But I
Speaker 1: love when I wasn't even funny. I'm just a go
Speaker 1: on the song that I wrote for the Naked in
Speaker 1: the Showcase. So sit in the load days, those in
Speaker 1: my head, in my life and mine, maybe you crazy, young, young, long, last,
Speaker 1: maybe last, all right. And someone says, hey, don m
Speaker 1: take a lock on the wild side. Said, hey girl,
Speaker 1: don't take a lot of the wild side. Someone says,
Speaker 1: hey girl, you take a lock on the wild side.
Speaker 1: Hey girl, don't. Don't take a lock on the wild side.
Speaker 1: Behind the influence of the production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and t DC Media