Interview with Erika Tham

1 (3m 3s): Hello. It is Adam. Welcome back to bringing it backwards. A podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we had the chance to chat with Eric at Tam over zoom video. You may recognize Erica from the Nickelodeon show called, make it pop, which is a music comedy that was on Nickelodeon, like I just said, but we talk about how she got into music. She has a very interesting upbringing where she lived in, I think, seven different countries before she turned 17. Her dad was a businessman and they were moving all around. They're living in Thailand when she scored the role on the show, make it pop. So she talked to us about going out to New York originally. 1 (3m 46s): That's where she got her agent, which landed here to the show and they're shooting the show in Canada. So that's the first time she was really in a studio. They would record the songs for make it pop, shoot music videos. So she was kind of immersed in that aspect of the music industry early, early on, she moved to LA at 17 and she finished up school and decided she wants to pursue a career in music. So she self-taught herself, how to play piano. She started writing songs that way, and she ended up landing herself in a writing session and totally knocked it out of the park. Rose wrote a song or the lyrics to a song that the artists ended up wanting to use. 1 (4m 26s): And that's how she started her relationship with Brian Kennedy, who is a massive Grammy award-winning producer. He was running the session that she was in and they worked together ever since. Erica told us all about writing her debut EAP. She's released two songs off of it so far admitted, and she has a song title. She tells us the story of renting an Airbnb in Atlanta and working on the record. And we hear all about the new music she has coming out as well. You can watch our interview with Erica on her Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It would be awesome if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TechTalk at bringing back pod. 1 (5m 9s): And if you're listening to this on either Spotify or apple music, we'd love it. If you follow us there as well, and hook us up with a five star review, mean everything to us, 2 (5m 19s): Appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to, 1 (5m 25s): We're bringing it backwards with Erica Tam. This is about you and your journey in music. I know you've your actress, but I want to talk about your music. 4 (5m 34s): Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. 1 (5m 37s): Awesome. Well, first off, why don't you tell me where you were born and raised? 4 (5m 41s): I was born in Singapore. My parents were living in Indonesia at the time, but my mom gave birth to me in Singapore, kind of just by chance. Yeah. And I spent about maybe six months there and then moved around a lot in Asia before I ended up in LA, which is my America's my eighth country. 1 (6m 3s): Oh my gosh. So that's a lot of moving around. So what do you remember from your childhood? How, or actually real quick, how old were you when you landed in LA? 4 (6m 13s): I was, I think I was just turning 17, cause my birthday's in December and we moved here during like Christmas time. 1 (6m 20s): Oh, okay. So you, you lived majority of the time? Not in Los Angeles. It sounds like 4 (6m 26s): The majority of my childhood was in China and Thailand and then a little bit in Toronto when I started working, but yeah, Asia still feels like home. That's all 1 (6m 36s): Awesome. That is awesome. What if you don't mind me asking you, what did your parents do that you're moving around tomorrow? 4 (6m 41s): My dad's just a businessman. So you'd be like in different parts of Southeast Asia, you know, doing, 1 (6m 48s): Doing this thing. Cool. That is cool. And how did you get into music? Were you always singing or interested? 4 (6m 54s): I always loved performing and acting and music for as long as I can remember. I did like every single school play that I could. And I think my parents like noticed that in me and like sent me to a performing arts camp in New York for two summers. Wow. Through that, I kind of just found a manager in LA who started submitting me through self-tapes and I had no idea what that even was, but the second one I ever sent in was for a Nickelodeon show that I ended up booking and starring on. And that sort of took me out of Thailand for like half the year for like three years. 4 (7m 39s): And so I was back and forth just doing school in Thailand and then filming in Toronto when I was like 14. Oh, 1 (7m 46s): Wow. Okay. That's a cool 4 (7m 49s): Comedy. So I kind of like, that was my foray into like 1 (7m 53s): Right. Because it was a mute. Yeah. It was a music show. Right. Essentially you were in like an, a K-pop band or from what I was reading about it, 4 (8m 2s): Describe it as like Zoe one-on-one meets glee. 1 (8m 7s): There's like soundtracks and stuff. Right. I mean, you got 4 (8m 11s): You're like in the studio making albums. Yeah. We did. Like, I think each episode had two songs in it. So we were doing like multiple music videos a week, always back and forth between set and the studio and dance rehearsal. And that was my first sort of taste of like doing it professionally. And I think I came out of that show really being like, okay, I loved the music aspect of that. Maybe I need to start thinking about, you know, if it's music that I really want to do and how to go about pursuing that. 1 (8m 48s): Well, what's interesting is you, you said you were going to New York to do, go to like an acting camp. Is that what it was or an 4 (8m 54s): Active? It was like a musical theater camp. 1 (8m 58s): Oh, his musical theater. Okay. So I guess my question would be like, how did they know you could sing when they cast you for the show? Right. Okay. So you were traveling, what back, so you must have been pretty young when you were going from Thailand in New York and back. 4 (9m 11s): Well, we filmed in Toronto. So I 1 (9m 13s): Mean, prior to scoring the agent and getting that gig, if you go back even further. 4 (9m 17s): Sure. I mean, I think I've just always traveled a lot growing up, just, I dunno, the nature of like my parents moving on and moving a lot. So that didn't seem abnormal. 1 (9m 32s): Yeah. Where you going to school and you said you were going to school in Thailand, but once you booked the gig where you still attending school there. 4 (9m 40s): Right. So first season I was, and I was, you know, dealing with like time difference and trying to communicate with my teachers back in Asia boss, being on set and having like 15, 30 minute increments to tutor. And it was kind of, it was fine. I flew back and wrote my <em></em> and then once we got into second season, I started doing school online. 1 (10m 2s): Okay. I was going to, I was wondering if you, if obviously the kids that you grew up with on your school, they probably knew you're on the show. And did that, did they get, did you get treated any different at that? 4 (10m 12s): Yeah, for sure. I remember this is super unprofessional, but I remember coming back to school and one of my teachers like putting the show up on like the big smart word in front of everyone during class, I was mortified. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm just trying to learn my stuff. Like, don't be like this. 1 (10m 33s): Yeah. Oh my gosh. I'm surprised that teachers can get fired. Yeah. So at that point you're, you're on blast, right? Everyone's like, oh, you're on the show. And then are people trying to be friendly? Are they hating on you? I mean, I would think because kids are mean, right. 4 (10m 49s): I mean, honestly, I think kids were meaner before the show. I didn't have high school experience, but when I came back after filming, I remember it was like prom and cause I went to a British school. So we celebrated prom for like the last three years in my school instead of just the last year. But I remember coming back after filming and all these boys that used to be so mean to me and started being like, you're like, do you want to be my prom date? But like on Instagram I'm like corny tomato, tomato, the rowing tomato, 1 (11m 27s): Wait, what are they? They said, you all take, I want to go to prom with you and will you follow me on Instagram? 4 (11m 32s): If you post a photo of us on Instagram 1 (13m 37s): No. Wow. Because you had, you had gained a following on Instagram. I'm taking it at this point. Yeah. Wow. That's pretty that's yeah. That's that's interesting. I haven't I've yet to hear that one, I've done a thousand plus of these interviews. I've never heard anyone say, yeah, we'll go to, we'll go to prom, but you have to post a picture of me on your Instagram feed. 4 (13m 58s): I think I want to go to prom with you that bad. It's not a fuck. Why is this a barter system? 1 (14m 5s): Say 4 (14m 5s): That like kids are mean, 1 (14m 8s): Yeah, well, no, I never heard that. Like even though the Instagram thing was never just the fat kids were mean, right? You go back and kids are mean or judgemental or they're jealous, especially. Cause if you come back with a, because you know, an Instagram following even obviously to this day is it means a lot. Right. And if, especially the kids that are addicted to Tik talk and Instagram, the fact that if you came back and you have this huge following kids are going to be like, oh, like either she doesn't deserve that. That are like, I want her to post about me so that I can gain X amount of followers as well. So that's interesting. That's so, but did you end up going to prom? I'm curious now I went 4 (14m 48s): By myself 1 (14m 50s): Really that's but yeah, I guess she didn't have to post a picture of anybody on your Instagram. 4 (14m 56s): I don't know. I don't think that's cute. I wouldn't want to go with someone like 1 (15m 0s): Yeah, that's weird. Well, okay. So tell me about going to shoot the show because it all actually falls in line with your, your music career in the sense that you were going into a studio and singing, you know, records and you're shooting music videos. Like what was that like? Was it overwhelming? 4 (15m 18s): Yeah. I mean, we, it was definitely a super work intensive set, an environment and show. I, I think I was really thrown into it and there was like a steep learning curve, but I'm super grateful for that because I think now it's given me this like really strong work ethic and desire to just like put in the time. And I love like producing a product. I love working at being in the studio. So I credit my, I guess, child acting to that mentality. 1 (15m 54s): Was it nerve wracking being in the severe for the first time? Like hearing yourself like singing on a mic and everything. 4 (15m 59s): I mean, I was like a 14 year old girl from Thailand in Toronto filming this Nickelodeon show and all I'd ever seen growing up were these stars that I looked up to on Disney and Nick and I, it just felt so surreal and I felt so out of place, but it was cool. I like putting myself in uncomfortable situations and learning how to cope 1 (16m 21s): For sure. For sure. And from, from there you did what, how many seasons here or three? 4 (16m 26s): The two seasons and there's a little TV movie special type thing. 1 (16m 32s): Okay. What'd you have to do they like tore the records around or anything? 4 (16m 36s): No, we didn't tour. We did like a couple live shows just in and around like America and it was cool. It was super cool. I mean, I think when you're a kid, like it's just, when you're that young, it's all so exciting and just feels like a world of possibility. And it was, I call it like my bootcamp, honestly. 1 (17m 2s): Yeah. From 4 (17m 2s): That show experience, 1 (17m 5s): When you moved to LA at 17, was the show wrapped at that point or were you still working? 4 (17m 12s): We just wrapped and I had just gotten my visa, my work visa to move some. 1 (17m 16s): Yeah. Okay. So then you get to LA and is it, do you try to, you know, are you trying to get into the, the songwriting singer world or is it like w the acting thing is obviously doing well? Like, let's go that route. Like, how do you manage? 4 (17m 31s): Yeah. For the first year that I lived in LA, I put a lot of my focus into just finishing up school. I was still auditioning back and forth, still doing acting work. And then I think I reached a point where I was like, okay, I'm 17 year old, like mixed race, little Asian girl. And I'm kind of at the will of what rules are written for me, you know? And there, there wasn't much at the time that I felt connected to, and it was, it's already so hard to book an acting job, let alone find one that you really connect with and, you know, subject matter that you really are passionate about. 4 (18m 15s): And so I think that's what pushed me into leaning into the music. I'd always loved to sing, but I never really like pursued it as a career until I taught myself how to play the piano and learned how to song writing. And I did that for like probably six to nine months just by myself, on the piano writing as much as I could. It's all I wanted to do. I would literally like leave Hangouts with my friends earlier, cause I would want to go back home to the piano and just write. And then somehow I found myself in this studio session with Brian Kennedy, who's this incredible, I mean, multi Grammy award-winning producer. 4 (19m 2s): And I was there as a writer writing for another artist and I was peeing, my pants had never been in a professional setting as a writer like that and ended up writing a song for the artist in like 30 minutes. She loved it. She wanted to make it her next single. And then Brian pulled me aside afterwards and was like, you're really dope. Like, I want to bring you in to write for other artists that I work with. And now first time I sort of was like, oh shit, am I actually good? Like, can I actually do this right? What a 1 (19m 36s): Validating moment, 4 (19m 37s): For sure. Especially from someone like that, who I just was so much, you know, he's grown up sort of be like a big brother to me and we're working together now on my project, which feels super full circle, but yeah, that's kinda how I got my foot into the music world as opposed to like acting rules and really just started going to as many sessions as I could as a songwriter for other artists. 1 (20m 5s): And that's it. Well, so you started on piano. Was it just like, okay, I want to learn piano because I liked the sound of the piano or it's just like a beautiful instrument. And then you just started from there writing songs or was it, I want to use this piano as a tool to write because you just had it. 4 (20m 20s): I think I viewed it as a vehicle to facilitate my song writing. I, I mean, I really, I was very, self-taught like all by ear, I can't read music, you know what I mean? And it was, I just want it to be able to play enough, to like write the songs that I had in my head and get them down and out, you know? 1 (20m 41s): Yeah. How did you land that first? Or how did you land those early songwriting sessions? Was it just on, 4 (20m 48s): I had it, I had a friend who is a singer and we were hanging out one day and she goes, I can, can I say shit because I'm feeling You never know. I should ask my publicist before I start these things. Anyways, I, we were hanging out and she was like, oh shit, I have a session in 15 minutes that I totally forgot about. I know you like, kind of, right. Like, do you want to just come and cause I don't, I feel bad dishing you like just come to the session. Wow. Okay. Yeah. 1 (21m 23s): And when you go to the session, was this the one that you got to write the song that ended up landing and all that? Or was this just a totally different? 4 (21m 30s): Yeah, this was the one at Brian's professional songwriting session. 1 (21m 37s): Wow. W D like going in, just because I'm not a songwriter and people listening, might there's, you're just curious, like, when you go into that setting, like how, how does it all kind of work? Do you just sit down? And everyone's like, okay, like, and you're like, Hey, I'm here to write the song or like, tell me, like, what's the interaction in the room? Like, how does that work? 4 (21m 57s): Every artist is different. I definitely approach things differently than like other people that I've written for, or, you know, been in the studio with that particular session kind of started with the artists talking about like, what type of sound she wanted to go for. And then Brian, the genius that he is like, just freestyle this entire incredible piano production threw in some drums threw in some, like, I don't know, hi-hats whatever. And I just wrote over that sort of like top-line 1 (22m 33s): Writing 4 (22m 33s): Lyrics, the lyrics and the melody. 1 (22m 35s): Wow. And obviously you, you knocked out of the park or he wouldn't have invited you back, 4 (22m 41s): I guess. 1 (22m 43s): So then you just started working with him and writing for other artists at that point. 4 (22m 47s): Yeah, for sure. It was kinda just like, you know, come through. I want you to like, come to this session, whatever, quite casually. And then that's sort of how I started to meet people and get meetings once people were like, oh, like you've been writing with Brian, like, let's talk, you know what I mean? And then through that, I sort of was able to put together my team and start working on my project as an artist. 1 (26m 22s): Yeah. When did you start? When did you decide, like, I want to do this and be an artist myself, like instead of writing for other people, 4 (26m 30s): That was always my end goal, but I just hadn't figured out how to facilitate it yet. And then I, you know, I, I knew I wanted to do it, but I didn't really know how to put the pieces together and like what steps I actually have to take. And then COVID happened. And I was dating someone who was like from England. So I ended up being in Europe for almost all of quarantine while I was, there was never in the studio. Like wasn't really working. I kind of, you know, would rarely have access to piano. And when I did, would write as much as I could, but I think that taking that away from me made me have this like burning desire when I got back to the states and I just called up my now manager and I was like, hi, can we grab coffee tomorrow? 4 (27m 21s): Like, I want to talk to you. And from then on, I just was in the studio like every day. 1 (27m 28s): Wow. Were you able to write it all when you're, I mean, you weren't in the studio setting, but you were writing songs prior to COVID and then you're stuck. And are you inspired at all? Are you writing any of the songs that you are? You got a couple out now, but are you writing anything that you ended up recording after the fact? 4 (27m 46s): Yeah, I mean, while I was in Europe, I didn't, I wasn't able to write much, but I, on my way back to the states had to quarantine in Canada for two weeks. So I ordered with just a little keyboard on Amazon to the place that I was quarantining. It spent all those two weeks writing and there's definitely things that might be on like a future project. But what I'm releasing now, it's a three song IUPY that I wrote entirely all in one week in an Airbnb, in Atlanta with my friends. And that was then maybe the like early last year. 4 (28m 28s): Okay. 1 (28m 28s): Okay. Yeah. We'll real quick on the quarantine in Canada, where you in one of those, like they had, like, I don't know if they still are doing this, but at the time I remember people are talking about, you had to stay in like this hotel that the government kind of ran and they like forced you in there. 4 (28m 47s): Terrifying. That sounds like a literal horror movie. 1 (28m 49s): I talk to an artist. I had to do that. They played the states that was from Canada and I had to go back to, they want to go back to Canada and they were like forced into quarantining in this like government run hotel. And you weren't allowed to leave. They show up and like put the food by your door and you gotta to like open the door quickly. And it just sounded like a total like nightmare. So I'm glad he didn't have that experience. 4 (29m 13s): Oh, glad I didn't have to do that. Yeah, it was, I was just ended up like renting an apartment. Oh, there you go. 1 (29m 20s): Okay. Well, I'm glad that you didn't have to deal with that because that was like, yikes. So then you go to Atlanta, what takes you Atlanta and this Airbnb and was the purpose of going there too? Right? Which became this. 4 (29m 35s): I had been writing a lot with my friend major Monica in LA and like January. And we made like some of my favorite songs I've ever done together. Those will definitely be coming out. And I'm so excited about them. We, I mean, I think have great like artistic chemistry. So he he's in this group under Atlantic called ghosts. And one of his like group members is named Deon Gill. And he was like, I think we should like bring Deanna to this. I think it would be a really, really good fit. And I'm like, okay, cool. Like let's do it in Atlanta. 4 (30m 15s): So I booked an Airbnb in Atlanta and we just locked in for that whole week made music while we were making breakfast, you know, like by the couch and just really approached it as from day one, like creating a body of work that lived in its own Sonic world. Like the first day there, we went to Walmart and bought a whiteboard and just treated these songs as like their own little movie and wrote down like what the weather would be like and the colors and the moods, and like other characters that might live in this world and then wrote out a timeline for a movie based on like the trucks that Deon had made sort of like, okay, this is like the highest, this is like the celebration. 4 (31m 5s): This is like the heartbreak moment, you know? And it was so cool. I'd never approached making music that way, but I think the result was this very cohesive, unique sounding EAP. And that's why I've sort of packaged all of those songs together and wanted to start with that and sort of like use that as my foot forward in my 1 (31m 28s): Oh wow. I've never heard anybody talk about writing a song. Like, 4 (31m 32s): Yeah. I mean, I'd never done it before either. It was super cool. And now I'm like, damn, I can't approach it any other way because it's just so detail oriented, which is that 1 (31m 43s): How you're writing now? I bet that's gotta be. 4 (31m 46s): I mean, I think, I think, I think that's a great approach when you're working on a project, like a body of work that's its own thing right now. I'm sort of just writing to write singles and like get as much out of myself as I can. But you know, when it comes to making my debut album, I think I'm going to take a similar approach. 1 (32m 11s): That's amazing. That's amazing. You've released two songs from the EPA, correct. So far. Okay. What was it like putting out admit it was the first one. Yes. What was it like putting out a song of your own as your artist project? You know, here's your, your debut? What was that like? 4 (32m 30s): Honestly, a little bit. Nerve-wracking super surreal. I, you know, I grew up as a child doctor on like Disney and Nickelodeon. So even though I've been putting out work and music and, you know, stuff like that, I had never had any creative control over any of the projects that I'd been a part of. So why music is the first thing that is a hundred percent me, I have control and say over everything I'm involved in every single part of the project. And to see people have like a positive reaction to that, especially knowing me from my acting work was so like just the best feeling, you know, really, really validating and really, really nice to see. 1 (33m 17s): Cool. Did you ha did you have a fear of people judging you thinking like, oh, she's just an actress from Nickelodeon show that thinks she's the singer now. Like, did you, obviously you weren't and you sang on the show, so who cares? But I was just curious, like, if you had any of that, like fear or any of that on your shoulders as far as when you put the song out. 4 (33m 39s): Yeah. I mean, I try not to fear what other people think of me and I try not to like meet outside expectations of myself, especially for people that, you know, don't necessarily know me personally. I think I put in so much work into, you know, my music and like craft, if you will, that it was kind of this feeling of like, okay, even if you hate it, like, I'm proud of what I may in. Like I know the work that went into this and I'm just glad that like, I get to put it out, you know, 1 (34m 14s): That's, that's a great answer. I love that outlook. That's so cool. Yeah. And then I love the acoustic version. You did also have admit it. I think it's rad when artists do that. Tell me about that real quick. 4 (34m 28s): Yeah. I mean, we wrote the song to the track, but again, coming from this like songwriter piano background, I just recognize how beautiful and honest that song is lyrically. And kind of wanted to show that in a new light and really give those melodies in those lyrics, a different settings so that they had their chance to like shine through. And so I was really set on like doing a piano version of it and then Brian, so generously, generously, wow, sorry, I can't speak. 4 (35m 8s): So generously offered to do the accompaniment on the live version and just absolutely killed it. I think he, I mean, when he heard, when he like played me what he was going to do underneath the music, like one of my managers literally started crying. We were like, you are a musical genius. I love it. And yeah, it was such an honor to sing over such a beautiful company like that. Yeah. 1 (35m 39s): I love that version. I mean, both of them are awesome, but I really there's something to be said about a song that can be stripped back like that. And have it be that impactful. I mean, sing your manager like teared up on a hearing and like that's huge. 4 (35m 51s): Yeah. I think I agree. I think the mark of a well-written song is like, if you can put it on the piano and it still sounds good and you know, you can give it its own life. 1 (36m 5s): I totally agree with that. Totally agree. And the most recent one, I, yes. Tell me about it. 4 (36m 11s): So that one we made after admit it again, same week, same Airbnb, Airbnb in Atlanta. And honestly, so Deon had made, I, we delved into this Sonic world, you know, with this whole whiteboard and everything. And after that Dion got to work on like building the trucks. I was very set on wanting to include like traditional Asian instrumentation into them, but frame them in this like modern pop R and B setting and structure. And then right, obviously my very feminine You know, pop lyrics over them. 4 (38m 24s): And I love, I was obsessed with the idea of not just a position. So he, I explained that to him woke up the next morning and he had done like eight tracks. And I was like, oh my God, I love them all. Like, can we use all of them? And on one of the days he just had the track for shush playing in the background. I was, we were in one of the rooms just talking and you know, we're friends. So I'm just telling them like, you know, when someone is so cute until they start talking and they just ruin it for themselves and you're like, damn, you were doing so good. Like you had me and you ruined it. And then we just started laughing and talking about like times that it happened to us. 4 (39m 5s): And while that was going on, I can't remember who did it, but someone just went over the beat, like in the exact time that it's in now. And I go, oh my gosh, that's it like, that's what we're going to write about. That's the hook like, let's go. And then we started just having fun with the lyrics. I mean, it's a very tongue in cheek long when I was writing the verses, I wanted to kind of pay him homage to like your sassy, unapologetic, nineties pop star. There's a lyric in there that says like your daddy's black card don't impress me much. And that's a kind of like play on Shanaya twins. 4 (39m 45s): That don't impress me much. So I was just so much fun. We, it happens super fast and we just had a good time, like laughing, writing the lyrics. 1 (39m 57s): That's so funny. That's such a great concept for a song. And you said there's three on the record. Obviously the third one hasn't came out yet. 4 (40m 6s): The third one I think is my favorite. It's kind of what I think set into motion. The tone of the project we major in, I wrote it and we were like, oh, this is dope. Like, this is really, really cool. I like this direction. Let's kind of go forward with this. It's probably the most upbeat of the three and yeah, definitely. My, 1 (40m 36s): Was it the last song you wrote of the three? It was the first, the first song you wrote. Okay. Nope. So it went that one then what was the second song? I admit it. Okay. Well, I like the, I mean, like I said, I liked the first two, so I can't wait to hear the third and I'm sure you can't talk a whole lot about it, but 4 (40m 57s): You know, it's funny. People always say like, oh, I can't say anything. No, one's really told me, like, don't say this 1 (41m 4s): And then let's hear about the song. I'm not going to get you in trouble. I promise. 4 (41m 10s): I mean, I don't want to get way too much, obviously. Like I want it. 1 (41m 13s): I'm curious now. Cause it's all part of this project with this white board and now I need to know how the story started 4 (41m 22s): Here. What should I say? Like how do I sell myself? How do I get people to stream this shit? Yeah. It's, it's again, into that whole like juxtaposition thing that I really, really like, it's a very hard, like drill inspired beat. And I wanted to just like put a really feminine, like almost sensual, like immersive type vocal and melody over that and like explore what that would sound like if you were almost like singing rap lyrics, you know, like what does it sound like to sing bars? 4 (42m 8s): And that might sound corny, but I think we pulled it off and it feels super authentic to like me as a person. And as an artist, I kind of describe it as like, you know, I love artists like future, for example, who, when you listen to them, you just feel so cool. And it's so immersive and like hard and dark. And I don't really think there's a female counterpart to that. You know, I, so that's kind of the feeling that I wanted to insight when you listened to this song, obviously I'm not singing about like trapping in the band. No, it's a lyric that like are authentic to a 22 year old girl, but yeah, I think it incites that like cool feeling in you. 4 (42m 59s): And I just wanted to give girls a way to feel that from a girl. 1 (43m 6s): No, it totally does. And that's, and that's, what's going to kick off the EAP when you put out the full EAP. 4 (43m 12s): Well, the EPA, I mean, I guess that would round it out, 1 (43m 14s): Round it out because it would be the last time. I didn't know if you were going to push it as like, 4 (43m 19s): If we're going to repackage it as any commute with the live version included in there as well. Extra. 1 (43m 28s): That is cool. What about plans to do any, like you said, you did a couple shows with the television show, but playing, I mean, obviously you can sing really well in live, sing, live. I mean, with the admitted acoustic version. So is this something you're gonna take on the, on the road or do some shows at least around LA? 4 (43m 45s): Yeah. I mean, I recently sort of put together what my live show would be a rehearsed with dancers and like a band and put all of the songs on this EAP to a live band, which gave them a whole new life. And we shot a really cool, like live performance video of that, which we're working on right now. And I hope I'll get to put out soon, but I think that would be essentially the show that we put on. It's been a little tricky just with like restrictions and everything being so not stable, but 1 (44m 27s): They're are still getting canceled. And now, 4 (44m 28s): You know, I don't want to like make promises that I can't follow through on, But I love performing. I think that's one of my favorite aspects of the whole job. So as soon as the opportunity is there, 1 (44m 42s): We'll be there. Amazing. Well, I'm in national now. I'm originally from San Diego, so I know LA quite well. Yeah, but I've lived, we moved to Nashville about a year, almost a year ago and we love it here, but you should come here and play. I would love to see your house 4 (44m 58s): And determined to write a country song. I was actually talking about it with Brian because he goes to Nashville a lot. And his wife Grammy's for country music too. And I grew up listening to country music, like really was my favorite artists growing up because I, my dad gave me his iPod when I was living in Beijing to listen to music on like school and all that was on there. It was like Elton John, Eric Clapton, Carrie Underwood. And so that's like the music that I grew up listening to, I think I listened to what's the album called like some hearts for a year, Write a country song. 1 (45m 42s): Oh, that's right. Well, I was going to say, not moving to Nashville. I thought I was like, oh, this is just a country town, but really it's, it's, there's so many like pop does so many different genres of music and producers here. I was really shocked. That's awesome. So you should come write a song here too. That'd be cool. 4 (46m 0s): I'd love to 1 (46m 2s): Come with Brian. Next time. He makes a trip to Moscow. Well, thank you so much, Erica, for doing this. I really, really appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I have one more quick question. I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists, 4 (46m 26s): Learn how to have a flexible sleep schedule. I that's very obscure, but I'd always been such a morning person. I just naturally fall into like waking up at like 6 37 in the morning, and that is not conducive to the artist's lifestyle. I really had to take a huge, like segway into figuring out how to last through sessions that lasts till like 4 35 in the morning. So yeah, if you're a morning person switchover