Speaker 1: Welcome to Unsigned and Independent. And so this is a
Speaker 1: show where Kickoff Kevin goes and talks to artists who
Speaker 1: you think they have something going on, they just haven't
Speaker 1: been discovered yet, right correct. And a lot of them
Speaker 1: are spending their own money to fund their career until
Speaker 1: somebody steps in to help them in whatever way that is. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Would you say most are looking for like a record
Speaker 1: deal or a publishing deal or most that you talk
Speaker 1: to have one or both.
Speaker 2: I would say most are not like searching and seeking
Speaker 2: for it unless the right opportunity comes along.
Speaker 1: Thing that must be awesome, Yeah, because I was always
Speaker 1: seeking for money. Yeah. I was like, I'll do anything.
Speaker 3: What do you want me to be?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So tell me about Samika.
Speaker 2: Samika has got the social media thing dialed down where
Speaker 2: she has a couple outlets, a YouTube show and she
Speaker 2: went viral for yeah show like a cooking kind of
Speaker 2: like a funny little show. It's like little clips.
Speaker 1: Here and there.
Speaker 2: And then she went viral when she first moved to
Speaker 2: thatville for cooking or for music, No, for music. She
Speaker 2: made a video in her car where she went to
Speaker 2: the store and this guy said something to her, Welcome
Speaker 2: to America. Because she came from LA and it was
Speaker 2: just a funny video. You've probably seen him before actually,
Speaker 2: so and then she went viral. That's how I came
Speaker 2: across her. So she's got the whole thing down.
Speaker 1: She is a first generation Indian America and moved to
Speaker 1: Nashville earlier this year to pursue her music career. And again,
Speaker 1: this is very much about being good but marketing yourself
Speaker 1: through social media through different ways, and all with the
Speaker 1: idea of leading people to her music.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: Even if she's cooking a keysh it's to get people
Speaker 1: to her music, exactly. I don't even know if she
Speaker 1: cooks keish.
Speaker 2: It's probably been on there, but I just.
Speaker 1: Said cooking akish. That's alliteration almost.
Speaker 2: I don't even really know what Akeisha is.
Speaker 4: You know what.
Speaker 1: I've had some and I don't either. That's the thing
Speaker 1: all right. Here she is unsigned and independent. It is
Speaker 1: Samika here with kickoff Kevin Samika.
Speaker 2: How are we doing?
Speaker 3: I'm good? How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm good? Good. I want to start this off with
Speaker 2: how I came across you. Yes, of course, like so
Speaker 2: many other things nowadays, it's social media. I had a
Speaker 2: friend actually and me a video of yours. He's from
Speaker 2: I grew up in California like yourself, which we'll get
Speaker 2: into a little bit. But I knew him from California
Speaker 2: and he sent me this video because you posted a
Speaker 2: video about how you just moved to Nashville. Yeah. I
Speaker 2: don't know how he came across it, and he's like, hey,
Speaker 2: this video is funny. And it was a video of
Speaker 2: you talking about moving to Nashville and somebody says, like
Speaker 2: you came, or you said I came from California and
Speaker 2: somebody said what do they say? How did it feel
Speaker 2: to like be free or something like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said.
Speaker 4: So. It was at a thrift shop and I just
Speaker 4: I told the guy I was really excited that I
Speaker 4: was here, and I was like, hey, I just moved
Speaker 4: here from la And then he said, oh, Laurel, Alabama,
Speaker 4: like I heard it's real nice.
Speaker 3: Down there, Like, no, it's from California.
Speaker 4: But and then anyway, he just said welcome to America,
Speaker 4: and I said thank you know, thanks sir.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that video, that's so funny.
Speaker 4: That video went so crazy and I really had no
Speaker 4: expectation of it, and then it started something on social
Speaker 4: media and how.
Speaker 2: Many views have what's your latest number on that?
Speaker 4: Honestly, I posted it everywhere, so I think on Instagram
Speaker 4: it had like three and a half million. On TikTok
Speaker 4: it was at three and a half almost four, and
Speaker 4: then on YouTube some politician reposted it and it became
Speaker 4: his most viewed video, and then I think that one
Speaker 4: has like five or six million.
Speaker 2: No way, I know. It was so wild, So you
Speaker 2: post that obviously it was.
Speaker 3: Like a really nice, warm, welcome to Nashville. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's crazy, but.
Speaker 2: You post that without expecting it to do what it did. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So when did you, like, was it one of those
Speaker 2: you hear about where you post this video, you go
Speaker 2: to bed and you wake up next day and you're like,
Speaker 2: holy crap, this has got over a million views. Was
Speaker 2: it one of those or did you see it kind
Speaker 2: of coming together or did it take a while like
Speaker 2: some people just it kept going.
Speaker 4: Like I went to the DMV the other day literally
Speaker 4: I posted that video. I've been here for almost like
Speaker 4: three months, and at the DMV, the lady at the
Speaker 4: DMV was like, I just saw you on TikTok really
Speaker 4: like this is a DMV. I don't look nice, Like,
Speaker 4: don't say that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So how many people have noticed you from
Speaker 2: that video? Like so many, especially in Nashville.
Speaker 3: Yeah, especially in Nashville and New York. I went to
Speaker 3: New York.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it just really helped people kind of also just
Speaker 4: come to the page and see that I make music
Speaker 4: and all of the other things that I do.
Speaker 3: So it was pretty crazy, though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because that's how I always It came to you,
Speaker 2: like I said, and then I saw your musician, listen
Speaker 2: to your music and watching your videos, and we'll get
Speaker 2: into some of your other stuff too. You make all
Speaker 2: kinds of videos and all kinds of and it's intriguing.
Speaker 2: I mean, you do a great job at it. You
Speaker 2: have what over one hundred and ninety thousand followers on
Speaker 2: TikTok one hundred ninety thousand on Instagram. I mean, you're
Speaker 2: up there. And with all that being said, you've been
Speaker 2: here for a few months, you said, three months, And
Speaker 2: how is America?
Speaker 3: What they say America? It's been good, you know.
Speaker 4: I first when he said that, I didn't really understand,
Speaker 4: and then now that I've been here, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I had a little bit of a culture shock, and
Speaker 4: I actually really like it though, everybody's been so nice
Speaker 4: and so warm. Southern hospitality, as I'm sure you know,
Speaker 4: is a real thing. So it's been good. It's it's
Speaker 4: starting to feel a little more like home, which we love.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Did you move out here by yourself? I basically yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: And you live by yourself and you're doing everything by yourself.
Speaker 2: You're an independent artist obviously, that's why you're on here.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: What's the Nashville scene musically been like for you in
Speaker 2: comparison to LA And how long were you in LA? First,
Speaker 2: let's go on.
Speaker 4: I was in LA for about six years, seven years,
Speaker 4: and I was there.
Speaker 3: I was from the I'm from the Bay.
Speaker 4: And then I moved to LA for six seven years
Speaker 4: and I was doing the whole music thing and then Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's been interesting.
Speaker 2: Out here, Yeah, interesting way, just.
Speaker 4: Music wise, it's been really nice. I mean in LA,
Speaker 4: I I was working with a lot of people that
Speaker 4: it was hard to find people that kind of made
Speaker 4: the same music I did. And I find it a
Speaker 4: lot easier here to find.
Speaker 3: People like that.
Speaker 2: What kind of music is that?
Speaker 4: Just more live music because Nashville is kind of the
Speaker 4: capital of live music, so it helps to have commonality
Speaker 4: with the people who are making music. I think LA
Speaker 4: is really good if you're into more like house music,
Speaker 4: more DJ vibes, R and B hip hop, like, it's
Speaker 4: really good for there. I was just told to write
Speaker 4: over beats over there. But here I get to take
Speaker 4: my songs that I wrote on guitar and kind of
Speaker 4: create something with other people here.
Speaker 2: So what moment did it hit you in LA where
Speaker 2: you said I think I need to move to Nashville.
Speaker 2: Did you visit here before?
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 4: I was coming out here every few weeks and for
Speaker 4: weeks at a time, so it kind of was pretty
Speaker 4: natural just to make the move. It was supermanous and
Speaker 4: it just I was here all the time, so it
Speaker 4: kind of felt right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you haven't looked back since and three minuts.
Speaker 3: I haven't looked back since.
Speaker 4: I've been going to New York a lot, just because
Speaker 4: a lot of my best friends live out there and
Speaker 4: it feels a little more homy sometimes.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I haven't gone back to California yet, So.
Speaker 1: Not at all.
Speaker 3: No, not yet.
Speaker 2: Okay, you miss it. I do your family in the
Speaker 2: Bay or in the Bay, Okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And then all of my best friends that I made
Speaker 4: in LA, they're all still in LA so that way,
Speaker 4: it's been hard to kind of meet or create close
Speaker 4: friends here, but that's comes with just moving new a
Speaker 4: new place.
Speaker 2: And you talk about that on some of your videos
Speaker 2: that you have on YouTube. So what's uh, well, you know,
Speaker 2: a first, let's talk about a few things that you do.
Speaker 2: You do a lazy girl series. Yeah, is that your
Speaker 2: what started? First? You have a lazy Girl we'll first
Speaker 2: explain the Lazy Girl series.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so random. Thanks.
Speaker 4: So basically, I was posting all this music stuff online
Speaker 4: and I realized that people don't really go online all
Speaker 4: the time just to listen to music. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: maybe I should start telling stories and doing other things
Speaker 4: that I like. And I just posted one video on TikTok.
Speaker 4: It was a lazy Girl doll. So it was an
Speaker 4: easy way to make Indian food and it's just like
Speaker 4: super chaotic cooking. I was burning food on the internet
Speaker 4: and it just did really well and people really related.
Speaker 4: And then I was like, okay, what else can I make?
Speaker 4: And I didn't know how to make anything, and that's
Speaker 4: why it's so chaotically wild cooking. But I do that,
Speaker 4: and yeah, it's crazy that that kind of started blowing up.
Speaker 2: No, where did that inspiration come from for you? Or
Speaker 2: was it just kind of winging it or.
Speaker 3: It was one of my cousins.
Speaker 4: I was visiting my cousin and I told her, like,
Speaker 4: I just I feel like I'm finally an adult, Like
Speaker 4: I just realized how to make doll like one thing.
Speaker 4: And she asked me how to do it, and I
Speaker 4: was like, oh, don't worry, I'll make a video for you.
Speaker 4: And then I made a video and yeah, I sent
Speaker 4: it to her and I'm like, here you go.
Speaker 2: And it does very well. I mean, when, like I said,
Speaker 2: when I came across your page and I saw those
Speaker 2: videos and I was like, oh, she does more than music,
Speaker 2: and you see these cooking videos and then obviously you
Speaker 2: post quite a bit of those, so it's a whole series.
Speaker 2: And they do they do well for you and they're funny.
Speaker 2: They're funny, So can you actually cook or is it
Speaker 2: just winging things?
Speaker 3: Honestly?
Speaker 4: Sometimes they come out good. I mean actually at the
Speaker 4: end there all is good. I kind of fix it.
Speaker 3: But it's like a mess just the whole time. So
Speaker 3: I don't even know at.
Speaker 2: This point, And do you have somebody help you out
Speaker 2: with those as far as filming and production. Yeah, yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: that's funny. Go check out that's all on YouTube and
Speaker 2: your Instagram. You can follow out Samika music. We'll get
Speaker 2: to as well. Going back to music here, who were
Speaker 2: some of your inspirations growing up? I mean, did your
Speaker 2: was your family involved in music? Is that where it
Speaker 2: started at a young age.
Speaker 4: So, my grandma's from my mom's side and my dad's
Speaker 4: side both sing, so I was always and my sister
Speaker 4: sing super super well, my older sister, and so music
Speaker 4: was always a thing in our household. My mom was
Speaker 4: an Indian classical dancer growing up. She did this dance
Speaker 4: called Gutuck, and we kind of grew up in dance
Speaker 4: studios with Indian music all around. And then just being
Speaker 4: raised in America, born and raised here, we grew up
Speaker 4: with you.
Speaker 3: Know, normal radio station music as well.
Speaker 4: So it was always around, and I just listened to
Speaker 4: all different kinds of music, and so I think that
Speaker 4: kind of translates into the music that I make now too.
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2: Did you have a certain artist or group that you
Speaker 2: wanted to or that you admired as a child.
Speaker 4: I loved like Avril Lavine, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift when
Speaker 4: she first came out, just all of so many different people,
Speaker 4: and then there was like Green Day, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte,
Speaker 4: all these boy bands, you know, like emo bands that
Speaker 4: would come onto the scene, and so yeah, it was
Speaker 4: a bit all over.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, and that's kind of what your music reflects.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know where to really put.
Speaker 3: I don't know either. People always ask.
Speaker 2: Me, right, which is a good thing. I mean, I mean,
Speaker 2: it really is a good thing. It's good especially nowadays.
Speaker 2: I feel like with the social media and with the
Speaker 2: people you're able to reach without even a radio play,
Speaker 2: where as long as you put what you want to
Speaker 2: put out there, people will come across your videos and
Speaker 2: your music and whether it's with a lazy curl and
Speaker 2: then they get onto your music kind of thing. How
Speaker 2: has that been for you, just being able to use
Speaker 2: social media to put the music that you want to
Speaker 2: put out there.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I've been doing everything myself independently, so it's really
Speaker 4: freeing to use social media and decide when I want
Speaker 4: to release a song and what content I want to
Speaker 4: create around it, and nobody's really telling me how to
Speaker 4: do it, and I've gone through a lot of trial
Speaker 4: and error to figure out what works and what doesn't,
Speaker 4: and it's been really nice. Social Media is definitely the
Speaker 4: only way that I've been able to start to break through,
Speaker 4: and I really don't know how anybody else did it before,
Speaker 4: but it's been really helpful for me.
Speaker 2: Have you had any influences since you've been in Nashville yet?
Speaker 2: People you've looked up to worked with it so far?
Speaker 2: I know you're still fairly new. But the great thing
Speaker 2: about the city is I feel like if you make connections,
Speaker 2: a lot of people are willing to help you out here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of people and a lot of people
Speaker 4: are just so nice and just like as you said,
Speaker 4: just willing to help and they know a guy who
Speaker 4: knows a guy you know, and so all of that
Speaker 4: kind of starts, and that has started for me. So
Speaker 4: it's been really good.
Speaker 2: Are you playing anywhere out here right now?
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna play Whiskey jam nice And so I hit
Speaker 4: up Ward who's like the guy in charge, and sent
Speaker 4: him some of my stuff and he's like, okay, cool,
Speaker 4: here's an open date for you.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it'll be fun.
Speaker 2: How does that go about then for you for an
Speaker 2: independent artist, like reaching out to somebody local, because I mean,
Speaker 2: Whiskey Jam is a local, national thing, but they're getting
Speaker 2: i mean pretty nationwide now. They're traveling with Luke Combs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, doing opening acts for him. Do you just
Speaker 2: literally just email or message war So.
Speaker 4: I emailed a bunch of different venues to play and
Speaker 4: nobody responded. Then I messaged Whiskey Jam on Instagram and
Speaker 4: then they responded and it was a yeah ward. So
Speaker 4: he was like here, text me, here's my number, and
Speaker 4: so I just hit him up and but yeah, just
Speaker 4: again all on social media crazy.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. And then just welcome you with open arms,
Speaker 2: like I said, just giving you a shot. Yeah, is
Speaker 2: really cool of him to do Whiskey Jam. I mean
Speaker 2: they're great. Everybody knows all their their stuff is really good.
Speaker 2: Have you had a moment, not even here in national
Speaker 2: because it's very new, maybe in LA where you thought,
Speaker 2: I don't know, music is something I want to do anymore.
Speaker 4: I never had a moment of I don't want to
Speaker 4: do it anymore. It was almost like, why is it
Speaker 4: not happening for me right now? It was never a
Speaker 4: moment of it's not going to happen. It's just like, oh,
Speaker 4: I'm just not at the place where I need to
Speaker 4: be yet. So I kind of but I've really tried
Speaker 4: to shift out of that mindset, and I think the
Speaker 4: minute I kind of let go and let things like
Speaker 4: I never thought that these story videos are a cooking
Speaker 4: video was gonna be the way that somebody would find
Speaker 4: me and listen to my music. But it just comes
Speaker 4: to show like you just have to try everything and
Speaker 4: just keep at it, and you never know how it's
Speaker 4: going to happen.
Speaker 3: But as long as you know that it will, it
Speaker 3: eventually will.
Speaker 2: How long did it take you to build up that
Speaker 2: social media following?
Speaker 4: So I've been doing it for years, as you know,
Speaker 4: just as all of us kind of have been on
Speaker 4: social media now. But really it's blown up the past
Speaker 4: year and a half. I'd say maybe just a year
Speaker 4: just about yeah really still really new. Yeah, yeah, it's
Speaker 4: pretty exciting.
Speaker 3: Still, it's not old yet.
Speaker 2: You've got to be exhausting, right, I've talked about this
Speaker 2: a couple of times on the pat on This podcast,
Speaker 2: and me personally, like I I don't post every day
Speaker 2: because it's just exhausting. But for an artist like yourself,
Speaker 2: like you kind of have to to remain relevant and
Speaker 2: to people will move on to the next thing if
Speaker 2: you don't post for a week or whatever it is. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's got to be exhausting.
Speaker 4: It's super exhausting and it takes it's hard to balance
Speaker 4: creating music and creating content, and you have to realize
Speaker 4: that that's just the age we live in. And when
Speaker 4: you get over that hump in your mind, then you
Speaker 4: kind of realize, well, the only way people are going
Speaker 4: to listen to the music that I want people to
Speaker 4: listen to is if I do the work, which is
Speaker 4: to create the content kind of thing.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's funny that you say that, because a
Speaker 2: few people have said that one here where they're like
Speaker 2: it just they just kept doing it and doing it
Speaker 2: and doing It's kind of getting out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 2: And then once you realize like it's okay, then you
Speaker 2: kind of just get used to it and it turns
Speaker 2: into a routine almost.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and obviously.
Speaker 4: Start to think in terms of you know, just I
Speaker 4: have to record this video today and you have like
Speaker 4: a schedule and it's like a whole thing.
Speaker 2: What does it you come up with all the ideas.
Speaker 2: I mean, are you laying there, are you waking up
Speaker 2: in the middle of the night, kind of like songwriting,
Speaker 2: where you wake up with this idea and you're like,
Speaker 2: I got to film this tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like I'll get an idea and I'll write it down.
Speaker 4: It's like a I don't. I'm not a very organized person.
Speaker 4: So I have like one note with like a million ideas,
Speaker 4: and half of.
Speaker 3: Them I don't even know what I was saying. So
Speaker 3: probably a lot of missed opportunities.
Speaker 4: But yeah, just kind of anything that you think of,
Speaker 4: anything that I think of, I just write it down
Speaker 4: and if I want to do it, I do. If not,
Speaker 4: then no, it's a good try move.
Speaker 2: What do you enjoy more making music or cooking videos?
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, no, definitely making music.
Speaker 2: It's just making sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, definitely music. I mean I do have to eat,
Speaker 3: you know, you got to eat, so might as well
Speaker 3: record it.
Speaker 2: That's the one thing with food is like everybody can
Speaker 2: relate to food. Yeah, find of like music, but in
Speaker 2: a different way, right, totally different way. You're feeding your
Speaker 2: soul in a different way, I guess. Yeah. Exactly, what
Speaker 2: are some of your goals out here? Then like your
Speaker 2: mindset coming in, what was your mindset coming in from LA?
Speaker 2: I'm moving to Nashville, and this is what I want
Speaker 2: to do, Like, what is that thing that you want
Speaker 2: to do or make it?
Speaker 4: I think for me, I moved out here because again,
Speaker 4: like what I was saying a bit earlier, the people
Speaker 4: that I was working with out here just kind of
Speaker 4: got it, and I've kind of struggled.
Speaker 3: At least in LA.
Speaker 4: I was writing songs on my guitar and I would
Speaker 4: take them to producers and kind of say like, this
Speaker 4: is what can we create something around it? And they
Speaker 4: would say, you know, it's it sounds great acoustic, you
Speaker 4: should just put it out the way that it is. Like, well,
Speaker 4: I don't want to just put out, you know, just
Speaker 4: me and the guitar. I want to actually build something
Speaker 4: kind of epic around it. But at least for me here,
Speaker 4: I just want to meet a bunch of great songwriters
Speaker 4: producers and just work with as many people as I
Speaker 4: can and really grow my craft and feel like when
Speaker 4: I do walk into the room that you know, I
Speaker 4: can hold my own and be at that level of
Speaker 4: just making great music.
Speaker 3: That's definitely a goal of mine.
Speaker 2: Do you write all your songs I do. Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 2: where does that? Does that come from? Life experiences?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Just and also like dreams like you were saying, just
Speaker 4: like dreaming out songs. Yeah, a lot of life experiences
Speaker 4: a lot of just different things, you know, friends, stories
Speaker 4: that they tell me, kind of turn it into something.
Speaker 3: Just all over really.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And do you wake up every or not every day,
Speaker 2: but you wake up different days and with some type
Speaker 2: of inspiration and you know, kind of like a video
Speaker 2: content where you're just talking about and you start writing
Speaker 2: stuff down. Yeah, is that where your songwriting kind of
Speaker 2: comes from?
Speaker 3: Yeah? It definitely.
Speaker 4: It just comes from sitting down and sometimes it'll come
Speaker 4: out in like thirty seconds.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it'll come out in three hours.
Speaker 4: But as long as you just sit there and kind
Speaker 4: of not fight it, it'll eventually it'll eventually happen.
Speaker 2: Okay. And I want to go back to your family
Speaker 2: a little bit here Indian heritage, Yes, And can you
Speaker 2: kind of explain that more because you know, Nashville you
Speaker 2: got to be a different scene for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You're from the Bay, like you said, then, La, So
Speaker 2: what are your I mean, what's your parents? Your family are?
Speaker 2: They're very supportive of you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they are.
Speaker 4: You know, I've been really lucky, I think because growing
Speaker 4: up my parents were always I was always a really
Speaker 4: confused child on what I wanted to do because I
Speaker 4: told them when I was a kid that I wanted
Speaker 4: to do music. And obviously, you know, what are you
Speaker 4: going to do with a kid that wants to sing.
Speaker 4: It's like any parent would be like, Okay, well go
Speaker 4: back to class, you know, go do your homework, as
Speaker 4: they probably should. But yeah, I think they always kind
Speaker 4: of knew that I wanted to do music, and I
Speaker 4: really felt like it was one of the only things
Speaker 4: that I felt really good at and I knew it
Speaker 4: could be a thing. And I think when they saw
Speaker 4: me take it into my own hands and kind of
Speaker 4: do the work, it wasn't just me with a dream
Speaker 4: telling people. It was more like, oh, she's actually, you know,
Speaker 4: in her room writing songs and performing and putting up
Speaker 4: YouTube videos, you know, once a week, all of that.
Speaker 4: Then they kind of were more on board, and I've
Speaker 4: been really blessed that they're super supportive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that always helps. Did you have a moment
Speaker 2: when you were a kid, like I've had people in
Speaker 2: here tell me a talent show maybe or something like that.
Speaker 2: Did you ever have a talent show where you're but
Speaker 2: you entered and you're like, yeah, this is what I
Speaker 2: really want to do and maybe a humbled you or
Speaker 2: anything like that.
Speaker 3: You know, I did not a talent show.
Speaker 4: But that's so funny that you asked me, because I
Speaker 4: actually I just am remembering this memory, but it was.
Speaker 4: I was in a really private school up until seventh grade,
Speaker 4: and it was just academic focused. It was not for me,
Speaker 4: and I ended up going to a public school in
Speaker 4: the middle of seventh grade where we moved towns and
Speaker 4: then there was choir for the first time, so I
Speaker 4: joined choir and I was a really really shy kid.
Speaker 4: So every Friday you would have to at least you
Speaker 4: would have to at least sing a song alone once
Speaker 4: and every Friday we would have opportunity to do that,
Speaker 4: and for months I pushed it off until finally the
Speaker 4: teacher was like, Okay, you have to, you know, sing
Speaker 4: your song in front of the class. And I sang,
Speaker 4: and for months nobody even looked at me. And then
Speaker 4: after I sang, everyone was like, whoa, you can actually sing,
Speaker 4: like you actually should be in this class. And that
Speaker 4: was my aha moment. I was like, oh, okay, I
Speaker 4: think I'm like a good singer.
Speaker 2: Well, did you have doubts going into that, like did
Speaker 2: you know or believe in yourself or did you need
Speaker 2: to hear?
Speaker 4: I think I was just like a kid and I
Speaker 4: always loved singing, but my sister was the one who
Speaker 4: was really the singer of the family, and she had
Speaker 4: no fear, and so I was always kind of in
Speaker 4: the back, like singing harmony with her, but she was
Speaker 4: always the one to sing in front of everybody, so
Speaker 4: I don't I think it was the first time that
Speaker 4: I was singing alone though, I was like, oh, okay, really
Speaker 4: do that older sister?
Speaker 3: Older?
Speaker 2: Older? Okay, how has she been an inspiration for you
Speaker 2: or or mentor maybe?
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely she's still she sings, but not professionally in
Speaker 4: any way. She does at like family events and everyone
Speaker 4: always bugs her to sing, but she's great. So yeah,
Speaker 4: she's the first person that I always send every song
Speaker 4: to and ask for her opinion because I know she'll
Speaker 4: be brutally honest. So so it's good to have someone
Speaker 4: who's like, yeah, you probably shouldn't release that one.
Speaker 3: So yeah, she's great.
Speaker 2: She so who's a better singer. You know, I got
Speaker 2: to ask that.
Speaker 4: And I think we both have really different voices, which
Speaker 4: is a very diplomatic answer, but it is very true,
Speaker 4: and I know she would say the same. But hers
Speaker 4: is like like, if you want like a Whitney Houston covered,
Speaker 4: that's just like pure belt and epic. She's your girl
Speaker 4: and I can do that, but it's not like at
Speaker 4: that you know, that level.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think we balance each other out really well.
Speaker 2: Okay, good. It's it's funny because you say that your
Speaker 2: sound is a lot more soft quiet, and like you said,
Speaker 2: you're all you don't have like a necessarily like oh
Speaker 2: I'm gonna sound country, I'm going to sound rock. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you have different sounds for each song, which is awesome too.
Speaker 2: And we're going to talk about an album that was
Speaker 2: just released. I want to play one track real quick
Speaker 2: called Red Ferrari and then we'll talk about its.
Speaker 3: Tassara joun this.
Speaker 4: And re.
Speaker 2: Okay, so Red Ferrari drove right up the sound in
Speaker 2: Red Ferrari? What's that about?
Speaker 4: Red Ferrari is a song about just kind of running
Speaker 4: away from your problems really and just.
Speaker 3: Kind of just leaving everything behind.
Speaker 4: And and being excited about the future and leaving small
Speaker 4: town at home and kind of realizing that there's greater
Speaker 4: things to come, and just living in that dream state really.
Speaker 2: And speaking of leaving and greater things that come. The
Speaker 2: album name is Laurel Canyon, Yes, which is in La. Yes, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: so I know that if you know, if you're from La,
Speaker 2: if you know anything about LA, you'll know that. But
Speaker 2: that's obviously on purpose. Yeah, you're done with LA, and
Speaker 2: then red Ferrari. Is that you're leaving in a Red
Speaker 2: Ferra from LA to Nashville or what's going on? Why not?
Speaker 4: Like, Yeah, I named it Laurel Canyon because all the
Speaker 4: songs I wrote were all in Laurel Canyon. And as
Speaker 4: you probably know you just drive through the drive through
Speaker 4: Laurel Canyon is one of a kind and and the
Speaker 4: history of Laurel Canyon is so iconic too, musically and
Speaker 4: in the seventies, and I felt like the music that
Speaker 4: I made for the project really kind of fit that time.
Speaker 4: It had like some sort of nostalgic era and sense
Speaker 4: to it, So it just made sense to name it that.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was like an ode to Laurel Canyon.
Speaker 2: In La in a good way though, right, Yeah, not
Speaker 2: necessarily in a bad blood thing.
Speaker 3: No, not at all.
Speaker 4: It was it was more like just the place and
Speaker 4: time for where I was, and that it just made
Speaker 4: sense to time stamp it to that.
Speaker 2: And did you record that out here though? Like you
Speaker 2: said you wrote, I recorded.
Speaker 3: Half of it out here and half of it in LA.
Speaker 2: How do you? I mean, this is me just being
Speaker 2: totally dumbfounded the whole thing. I'm not embarrassed to say that, Like,
Speaker 2: how do you record half of an album in one
Speaker 2: studio and then another half in totally different state? Yeah,
Speaker 2: so that's you obviously just buying out or getting time
Speaker 2: or whatever in a studio to record this album somewhere
Speaker 2: and then a totally different state. Is that hard to do?
Speaker 4: I don't know, yeah, I mean so that's why it
Speaker 4: was kind of the EP first Laurel Canyon EP, and
Speaker 4: that was all done in LA And I recorded that
Speaker 4: with one of my friends, Luke Kylo and who's a
Speaker 4: producer out there, and we just we recorded all those
Speaker 4: songs and then we just never were able to reconnect.
Speaker 4: I mean, he was always out of town at the
Speaker 4: same time I was, and we just never had a
Speaker 4: chance to finish out the rest of the songs. So
Speaker 4: I kind of had to reach out to other people.
Speaker 4: And I had been dying to come to Nashville because
Speaker 4: I just heard so much about it.
Speaker 3: And this was when I had no following.
Speaker 4: Like I think I had maybe like nine thousand followers
Speaker 4: or ten thousand on Instagram, which is still, you know,
Speaker 4: a good amount, but not anything compared to.
Speaker 2: Now, not one hundred and ninety two thous Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so a lot of people, know, nobody responded to me.
Speaker 4: To be honest, I messaged about like one hundred people
Speaker 4: and honestly, just one one guy responded, yeah it's different now,
Speaker 4: which you know, I don't know if I love or hate,
Speaker 4: but yeah, so this guy Ross, he responded and he
Speaker 4: I just I came out here and I just did
Speaker 4: one the first song we did.
Speaker 3: I it was like, okay, great, you.
Speaker 4: Completely understand what I'm going for, and we were able
Speaker 4: to finish the rest of the album.
Speaker 2: Is that tough to find a producer to you have
Speaker 2: to click with him obviously, And I watched some of
Speaker 2: your YouTube stuff when you were still in LA. I
Speaker 2: can't remember the producer's name off the top of my head.
Speaker 2: But you went to his house and you have to
Speaker 2: have a connection, right, I mean, I know, as a
Speaker 2: producer in radio or whatever, it may be, like, you
Speaker 2: can't just meet somebody in two seconds and be like,
Speaker 2: let's make a song together.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's like a very spiritual kind of thing
Speaker 4: and you just have to exactly, you have to click
Speaker 4: and you know immediately when you don't, like, you don't
Speaker 4: have another session with that versus.
Speaker 2: So do you leave there saying like, hey, thanks for note,
Speaker 2: thanks or do you wait till like a bit.
Speaker 3: Like all right, Like that was fun. It it was
Speaker 3: as fun.
Speaker 4: But yeah, like it just depends if you ever see
Speaker 4: him again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess it's nothing personal. Yeah, what have you
Speaker 2: seen since your success? So you just said, you know,
Speaker 2: you've messed all these people, you didn't hear anything, and
Speaker 2: then now it's different. So what do you mean by that? Ever,
Speaker 2: since you've gained this huge following, do you have people
Speaker 2: producers and people around town reaching out to you know?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Actually, funny enough, that's exactly what it is. And I'm
Speaker 4: really really grateful because that was one of the hardest
Speaker 4: things that I went through, was trying to find people
Speaker 4: to work with that wanted to work with someone who
Speaker 4: you know, I I know that I can sing, and
Speaker 4: I know my songs are good, but how will somebody
Speaker 4: somebody else if I feel like sometimes people need to
Speaker 4: be told what's good nowadays and so but that's just
Speaker 4: how it is.
Speaker 3: Now, I guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy how fastic can all change.
Speaker 4: Right, I know, and I'm not even nearly at the
Speaker 4: level that I'm hoping to be and my goals, but yeah,
Speaker 4: I am lucky that at least people are reaching out
Speaker 4: now and really nice people, not like some people I
Speaker 4: wouldn't work with really good ones.
Speaker 2: Right, what are your goals in?
Speaker 3: I just I really want to go on tour.
Speaker 4: So that's a really big goal of mine and has
Speaker 4: been for a really long time. And I love performing
Speaker 4: and so I think that's really what makes the music
Speaker 4: worth creating, is when you perform it live. And now
Speaker 4: that I'm kind of starting to create a bit of
Speaker 4: a fan base and people relate, I mean, I just
Speaker 4: want to have that moment where you know, you see
Speaker 4: people singing your songs back and you're like.
Speaker 1: Whoa you know?
Speaker 2: And I imagine you were a big following, you have
Speaker 2: people reaching out, Hey, when you come into my sne
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 4: I do? Yeah, So, but I want it to be
Speaker 4: like really epic because now I've waited long enough that
Speaker 4: I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 3: I want to do it right.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So if you listening to this, somebody to bring
Speaker 2: out on tour, Yeah, says Mika's here for you. But
Speaker 2: it's got to be epic.
Speaker 3: It's got to be epic.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, let's close out on this then real quick. Like
Speaker 2: I said, you have a new album. We listened to
Speaker 2: Red Ferrari. Is there another song single that's coming out?
Speaker 2: And then what's going on in the new year? Anything
Speaker 2: planned as of now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I do have another song called never Ever, and
Speaker 4: I shot a music video for it with another person
Speaker 4: who reached out just from that Nashville video and he's
Speaker 4: super great, and so yeah, that's coming out the next year.
Speaker 3: I have no idea.
Speaker 4: I'm kind of in this place where I just are
Speaker 4: letting things happen, so I couldn't tell yet keep.
Speaker 2: Putting in the work, and it all happened exactly.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: Go follow her on TikTok, Instagram, Samika Music, Samica Music.
Speaker 2: She's great, Her cooking videos are great, her music is great.
Speaker 2: Stream her Samika, thank you so much for coming.
Speaker 3: In, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: Of course, love this episode of The Bobby Cast.
Speaker 1: Subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.