TikTok Marketing Secrets Behind Viral Hits | Tayler Holder DSH #1331

Speaker 1 This is an Etsy holiday ad, but you won't hear any sleigh bells or classic carols. Instead, you'll hear something original.
The sound of an Etsy holiday, which sounds like this.

Speaker 1 Now that's special. Want to hear it again? Get original and affordable gifts from small shops on Etsy.
For gifts that say, I get you, shop Etsy. Tap the banner to shop now.

Speaker 2 Next up is a little song from Carmax about selling a car your way. You

Speaker 2 So fast. Wanna take a sec to think about it.
Or like a month. Wanna keep tabs on that instant offer.
With offer watch. Wanna have CarMax pick it up from the driveway.

Speaker 2 So, wanna drive? CarMax. Pick up not available everywhere.
Restrictions and fee may apply. I wouldn't even say that any of those people were my friends at all.

Speaker 2 I was just, just i hate being like that guy but i just i had a lot that they wanted at that moment and we were doing really well and they wanted some of that so it was also peak cancel culture era when that happened to you yeah like it was the worst timing oh yeah dude i feel like cancel culture is just so it's kind of gone now in my opinion but i feel like from its peak at least yeah

Speaker 2 All right, guys, in Nashville, Taylor Holder here, coming off a big tour, right? Yes, sir, man.

Speaker 2 We're fresh out of, we're just got back from London, man we were a little all over out there in the uk so how was that dude it was actually honestly made so many great memories but man if i could have if i could do it again i'd say give us a little bit more space between shows we played 14 shows in 14 days and we're was in a different city every single day so it was it was rough man we were running off like two hours of sleep each night so insane yeah i didn't know country was popping over there in europe dude they you know what's cool about it over there is uh they i don't know i mean it's getting bigger over there and they know like the the mega stars and country, but like, it's so new that, like, they show up and they just, like, listen.

Speaker 2 Like, they're all about the culture. They're like, and the skirts and boots and, and jeans and all that stuff.
And they love the idea of it, man. But they, I just think that they're still so new.

Speaker 2 But that's what's awesome. It was weird at first was because they're so quiet, like in between sets.
Yeah. So you don't know if they like it.
They're like, like, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 But they just like, they, they're listening to everything you're saying, man. They're paying attention.
And that's what was really cool about it. That's cool.

Speaker 2 What was your favorite city out of those 14?

Speaker 2 My favorite city definitely had to be London. Okay.

Speaker 2 Those, uh went we did the chase matthew run with him there and then they knew like all the songs as well so they were screaming my songs back so that was really cool and then when we did c2c the uh c2c london dude we had awesome turnouts to the stages we played four shows uh there uh for c to c and dude every single one of them were was rowdy it was it was awesome how many people were at the show um we it was different some of the shows were like a small rooftop area and then some of the bigger ones we we probably had like over we probably had two 3 000 people at one of the stages and stuff like that so yeah it was it was crazy man that's no joke man yeah because you're kind of new to country right oh super new man we've been out here we've been out here for about a year and a half and um started really dropping music about six months into it and stuff like that so we're we're like a year and a half into like like really doing it so i feel like that's quick growth do you think part of that is because you already had a following beforehand dude a lot of people ask me that and i think that uh i i mean i definitely think it helps right you you have a little bit of extra eyes um right off the rip but one thing that we have found out that like it doesn't always convert the best you know right I'm coming from a world where I blew up from everything but music let alone country music, you know, and everyone thinks I'm like this city boy from LA

Speaker 2 all this stuff and no one no one knows anything about my backstory and and so whenever I came over here and I started doing country music I just feel like everyone didn't think it was authentic tailor, you know, so it was a little bit hard to get them

Speaker 2 to like really fall into that narrative and really believe that, hey, this is this is what I love more than anything, man. And I want to do it for the rest of my life, you know?

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's almost like you had a rebrand, right? 100%, dude. It was, it was like I started from ground zero.
Damn, I know, and we were pulling numbers and, and just the streams weren't there yet.

Speaker 2 And, and to be fair, you know, when we were starting, the music wasn't phenomenal, you know, and we're getting better each time, and the songs are getting better.

Speaker 2 And I'm really excited for what we have coming out, but um, it's been a challenge.

Speaker 2 That's been one of the hardest things is figuring out how, because I got good at promoting just what goes viral on the internet as far as trends or whatever, but

Speaker 2 the music and promoting a song of yours that you need them to go listen to and everything. It was a, it was hard, man.
I I bet. And we're still figuring it out.
Did the first song flop?

Speaker 2 It did actually all right. I think the first song I dropped when I was out here, it was, I think It's you, and it actually did a couple million streams.
So that was cool.

Speaker 2 But I had like at the time, I had like...

Speaker 2 all my buddies like doing like a lot of videos to it like we were really trying to push it and stuff like that and so um it did it did pretty decent but like it's definitely not my favorite song that i've put out so but um but uh yeah we we tried we've been trying something a little different with these last couple releases and it's really started to turn some heads man Yeah like the dying flames and the nothing but neons and stuff like that So well, I think an edge you have is part probably the marketing on tick tock right because a lot of songs blow up on tick tock Yeah, and you have that network on there, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, absolutely man, and that's where we got we got really lucky It was funny because my recent single dying flame that I have out I think it's at like eight million streams in a couple months and um We like my team didn't even want me to drop it.

Speaker 2 It was like different from what I was doing. It was like that trappy country kind of thing

Speaker 2 And then it was like going into like Christmas like I but I I hadn't dropped anything in like four months. And they're like, just wait till the top of the year.

Speaker 2 I was like, guys, if I wait till the top of the year, like, it's going to be like seven months before I even release anything, six months. And I was like, you know what?

Speaker 2 If I post on TikTok and it blows up, then I'm going to drop it. How's that sound? They're like, all right, fine.
We'll make you that deal.

Speaker 2 I post on TikTok and within like the first week, it had like over 10,000 videos made to it on the audio and just people just started using it. And I was like, wow.

Speaker 2 And that was the first time I've had like an actual sound be like trending and people using the audio a lot.

Speaker 2 It's, it's usually just them going to listen to the song because i posted it kind of thing you know yeah so that was really really cool to see that's impressive yeah it's it's almost like a good way to test songs right see if it pops off on tick tock first yeah because if you have a a lot of them stacked up man you can just kind of like that's what like i feel like jesse murph did like really really well like at first she she used to just she would post like five to ten songs at a time and like whichever ones is i mean all her stuff she's she's so good man right like um but every single one that she would post like she would run with the one that was doing the best and she would just she'd promote it for months before she even dropped it so you know

Speaker 2 And it starts getting like old to people, but it's like, those are the people that will constantly go back and listen to it again because it's so like installed out of their head.

Speaker 2 You know, she's such a genius with that stuff. Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2 So country's merging with other genres now, right? Like rap, hip-hop. Yeah.
It's interesting.

Speaker 2 And that's where I think it's been kind of cool for us to step out and do the whole like,

Speaker 2 we call it, we call it country plus, you know, because

Speaker 2 like I said, everyone, it's a little hard for everyone to think that I'm like, just this like country ass dude, right and I'm from a super small town just out the Fort Worth Texas but you know I come from like the the professional motocross background the fighting background the music the the extreme sports the everything so it's like we kind of do like a little bit of everything there's like an edge to me for sure and so that's why we're kind of trying to like dive into that um a little bit different sound than just you know the um the authentic like you know old school country music and stuff like that even that's what i was raised and i love um but um i don't know we're just trying we're just trying different things yeah it seems like there's two camps there's a camp that likes the old country's music and won't adopt adopt and then this new era, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah. And I honestly love it, man.
I feel like it's like the whole, this is like a weird analogy, but like, I think it's like that whole like,

Speaker 2 everyone like hates Jake Paul, right? Jake Paul is like kind of like rebranded boxing and he's like made boxing cool again.

Speaker 2 He's bringing so many eyes and with all this influencer boxing, it's like the same thing. With country being so big and it's like now it's like pop country, rock country, hip-hop country.

Speaker 2 It's like, it's only making the market for country music even bigger. And I think that it's awesome.
And I know that there are those like,

Speaker 2 you know, authentic, like old-school country guys that are going to be like a little probably upset about it, but I think it's, I think it's awesome.

Speaker 2 It's going to keep country music around for a long time. Absolutely.
Are you still boxing right now? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm, I'm in the gym every week, man.
I'm still there.

Speaker 2 We're, uh, we've been, I've been fighting for what, like, damn, like 10 years or whatever. Uh, got a couple fights, but we're looking to fight again this year.

Speaker 2 It's just with all the shows and the music, man, it's really hard, dude. These camps are like you're in three days, man.
You're like training in the morning, strength conditioning,

Speaker 2 like another at night. It's, it's just, it's rough, man, and it's a long day.
So to do that do a whole camp for at least like eight weeks um

Speaker 2 it's uh it takes a lot of time dude i'd have to like travel with my coaches and it's it's kind of like not realistic so i feel that did you watch aiden ross's boxing event the other day um my buddy fights on on aiden ross's card uh they've asked me to fight on it uh a couple times and we we tried to get we tried to fight this one kid there and he won't fight um um but it's like

Speaker 2 it's he uh he always

Speaker 2 spends a narrative he's he you know he's very good at what he does with spending narratives and like getting people to think that it's a certain way but i mean dude we've offered him everything we've offered a fight for free we've offered him bare knuckle we've offered him boxing we've offered him literally everything and um he could say he was like i saw some video the other day where he was like we we literally tried to dogwalk him to the to the contract and he won't do it and that i was like I have all the messages of everything, even him.

Speaker 2 I was texting with him not too long ago and was with him and his manager. Like, they just don't want to fight.
Wow. Yeah.
And like, that's what I was saying.

Speaker 2 He spends that narrative so well, dude, but I'll just drop the messages if he keeps going. I mean, we might have to throw them off.

Speaker 2 There's a lot of fake, there's a lot of fake stuff that no one knows, man. I mean, you got 10 years of training.
I could see why he doesn't want to.

Speaker 2 Well, I mean, I brought him to Canela's with me, man. He was a wrestler.
You know, he never boxed. He never did any of that stuff.
And, I mean,

Speaker 2 I'm not even trying to sit here. I'm kind of over that moment in my life where I'm just trying to act like I'm like the hardest guy out there.

Speaker 2 But, you know, Bryce definitely, he knows he'll lose, you know. And so

Speaker 2 I think that that's the narrative. You know, he doesn't, he's talked a lot of, a lot of shit about me.
And I think that it's more of an ego thing.

Speaker 2 I don't think it's uh a scared to lose i think it's just he doesn't want to lose to taylor you know and that's why it won't happen and uh but whatever yeah i mean i don't really care i'm still gonna fight again regardless and eventually people will see that i'm not the one ducking here phil uh what's your record right now five we uh so we did i fought i fought gibb a long time ago that was like an exhibition fight it wasn't even like a because there was like a massive weight difference

Speaker 2 um stuff like that but my my um My actual record with like misfits is 1-0.

Speaker 2 So hopefully we'll get another one this year and make it two and oh and just keep rocking with itself got it yeah did you take a break off social media because i was on your twitter uh you took like eight months off i just like don't go on twitter i like i don't know why i just like don't like the app i feel like it's like all just talking shit that's like all and that's like what the internet's become and that's what's like so sad to me man is like i started back in vine bro with like all those vine kids man and like back then it was just like friends making content with me it was more positive it was just like dude it was like you're legitimately just a group of guys and buddies or girls or whatever it is just making videos together and just having like great times.

Speaker 2 And now all it's about, dude, is like, oh, who's fighting this guy or who are talking shit about this guy or canceling these people or this? It's like everyone's just in everyone's business.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, God, like that's like, it genuinely makes me feel like a loser. You know what I mean? That's right.
I don't understand how people do that, man. A lot of drama.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I just don't got time for it, dude. I'd rather have, I mean, I have a fraction of what I ever had out in LA out here.
And, dude, I'm the happiest I've ever been, man. I have an awesome girlfriend.

Speaker 2 I have an awesome family around me.

Speaker 2 Just bought a house. Yeah, I just bought a house, dude, and it's been beautiful.
I mean, my parents lost, their house burned down last year. And so they've been living with me right now out here.

Speaker 2 And it's been awesome, dude. I've been away from my family for so long that I'm finally just spending real time with the real people, dude.
And I never got that out there.

Speaker 2 And so I'd rather stay that for

Speaker 2 however long that is than ever go back to it. It feels a lot, man.
So do you feel like when you were in LA, you were kind of putting on a persona? It wasn't that drill. You 100%.

Speaker 2 That's why, like, I think it's so funny, man, because, I mean, obviously I look back at my videos and I'm like, God, dude, I wish I could go back and punch myself in the face, dude.

Speaker 2 But like, that's where it's like, it's funny because everyone that makes fun of us for what we did, A, I get it.

Speaker 2 But we would film these videos and I feel like people were like thinking we filmed these videos and they're like, oh, this is, this is hard, bro. Like, this is dope.

Speaker 2 And we were like, no, like, we were like, we're definitely going to get fucking flamed for this one, dude. Like, we knew it, you know, but we just, it's like acting in a movie.

Speaker 2 You know, it's definitely like, I'm not a dancer. I'm not a, I'm not a TikTok dancing kid.
I'm not a whatever.

Speaker 2 I just did it because, I mean, dude, the, the money that was being thrown at us, I mean, whenever TikTok started blowing up, it was like ungodly amounts of money.

Speaker 2 And if anybody that was talking crap about us or anything like that would have had the money that was being thrown at us or had the whatever, I 100% think that they would have done it as well.

Speaker 2 It was just,

Speaker 2 it was, it was unrealistic. I mean, dude, I don't do that.
I don't do that much money anymore. So I'd just go ahead and say it.

Speaker 2 But like dude, we were doing, there would be months where we were doing 300,040,000 a month. Holy crap.
Yeah, bro. It was like ridiculous amounts of money.

Speaker 2 Plus, you had the mansions all paid for but the mansions were like they were paid for by brands we didn't pay that i mean at the hype house when we were in the hype house that's why i went and did my own content house because like i just didn't really i didn't really like the structure of the hype house you know they were there was 21 people in the house that

Speaker 2 they were all popular on the internet but like besides like the main main guys um that were very like you know um financially stable and like pretty businessly smart on their own, like the Alex Warrens, like Alex is a genius with what he's done, man.

Speaker 2 And like the little huddies and stuff like that. But like everyone else in the house was dead broke.
And like the owner of the house and or like the owner of hype house

Speaker 2 didn't want to make any changes. He was too busy being an influencer himself.
He wasn't making these kids money. He wasn't getting anything taken care of.

Speaker 2 And so I was like, you know, I'm going to go do my own thing. And I brought in a sponsor.
We had the sponsor paying the $50,000 a month, but at the hype house, we were all splitting $50,000 a month.

Speaker 2 So it was like. We were just trying to, I was trying to work a little smarter than that.
So

Speaker 2 I got everybody in. I had a sponsor come in and pay for it.
We were all living rent-free. We all, I signed them all into the same agency that we were with.

Speaker 2 And we were rolling, dude. I mean, between the, between the, I think we had seven people in my house, we were, we were doing probably about close to a million dollars a month between all of us, dude.

Speaker 2 It was safe. Yeah.
And, you know, you, you look at that and they're like, dude, how could you ever be like sad or anything with that whenever you're making that much money?

Speaker 2 I mean, dude, it was actually like the worst version of myself I've ever seen, dude. That was down so bad, man.
And it makes me mad. Oh, man, dude, I was down.

Speaker 2 I was the saddest I've ever been in my life, man. It was, it was rough out there.
So you were the richest person? I just felt like, I just felt like I was like a robot, man.

Speaker 2 I was waking up doing the same thing every day, but I had no real friends out there, dude. Everyone, like I said, dude, I only saw these people if it was to film.

Speaker 2 I never, dude, in the seven years I was in LA, I never went outside and even threw a football with somebody or like just threw a baseball or went and got lunch with someone because we wanted to hang out.

Speaker 2 It was always like, yo, are you home? All right, but I'm coming over. I got to film this video or this bit or this or that, YouTube, this.
And then they would film it and then just leave.

Speaker 2 Like you would never have any moments with anybody. And that's where I was like, dude, this is actually like, I'd lived in a house, even like the hype house, right?

Speaker 2 Like I lived in a house with 21 people, bro, and still felt so alone bro it was like the weirdest thing ever man damn it was all transactional yeah man that's interesting yeah because you were the richest you ever were right but you were the the most upset mental yeah bro and and you know you always hear these stories of like celebrities how like they're like so successful and so sad and for a while i mean dude i come from a place where we got 2 000 people man we don't even have a restaurant in our hometown and i'm like coming from nothing and i'm like how could you ever be so sad when you got everything in front of you you know

Speaker 2 um but you know and it was weird because like whenever tick tock really started popping off during the pandemic that's whenever like, which is so weird to me, but like the influencers became like the celebrities, right?

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 and we we had like paparazzis following us around. I don't remember why like we were dancing on TikTok.

Speaker 2 Yeah, like I don't know why they were following us around, but um and like we had like we had uh paparazzi our addresses would get leaked.

Speaker 2 So we had like hundreds of people outside of our house at every moment. We had paparazzi like flying drones up in our windows, like looking in our windows, bro.

Speaker 2 We eventually started like shooting them down with paintball guns. It was like so wild.

Speaker 2 it's just like every move you do man um was watched everything you did whether it was in person right there outside your house whether it was online um and there's no room for maturing man dude like you know we're we all got thrown into this pretty young i've been doing this i was 15 years old and so um you know a lot of people stuff happens on the internet and they're so quick to judge instead of like understand these are like kids that get a lot of money become a millionaire so fast that like you know, leave some room for maturing, you know.

Speaker 2 Dude, I remember those days. They would wait for you guys outside of Boa Steakhouse or wherever you lay up.
They're saddle ranching.

Speaker 2 Yeah, dude, that's nuts. And like, people actually cared what you guys were doing on a day with business.
They were like, some, some of them were cool, man. Some of the paparazzi people were cool.

Speaker 2 We got, we got like good relationships built with them and stuff like that. And then there were some guys like, dude, I remember I had like, I had like, and then they tried to spin it.

Speaker 2 Like, I almost tried to fight this paparazzi, but I just got out. It's, it's on video, but I got out and I just went and talked to him.
And I was like, you got it.

Speaker 2 Cause I asked him to, I was like, hey, buddy, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 And I was like in my car. And he was like, oh, I don't even know who the fuck you are.
I'm just going to sell this for like $2,500. And I was like,

Speaker 2 that's not cool.

Speaker 2 Like, I i was like all right well then can you just put your camera down then please like or whatever and he just like kept like filming it was just being a douche and i'm like why like that's not cool yeah i get like get your money film whatever you gotta do but whenever you're like i don't know you you're just like a zoo animal i'm just gonna sell this for twenty five hundred dollars like i'm like that's fucked up yeah and then you see the videos of justin bieber being a dick or kanye yeah but i kind of get it yeah if there's me me and justin um we we uh we were going to the same church to uh

Speaker 2 was that

Speaker 2 what was that was that irwin mcmanus' church no it was a church home with Judah Smith. And

Speaker 2 that was around the time that me and him kind of became tight. But I remember going outside before I

Speaker 2 became buddies with him. And he was talking to the paparazzi people.
And they were all because they would all wait outside the church for him.

Speaker 2 They would go like, as soon as he came out, dude, there was like, there was a lot of them, though. There was like 15 to 20 of them outside the security door of the church.

Speaker 2 And it was just sad because he was like, dude, this is where I come to get away, you know, and I come outside and it's like a zoo animal again, dude.

Speaker 2 It was like, I come out of church where I just learned everything and it's like, I have to be an asshole, like, right after.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, I like to a way smaller scale, I like felt that because they would follow us ever, fly drones into our house. Like, it was like, it was weird, dude.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 So I could only imagine how people like him. And they have a snippet of him lashing out and posted on TikTok.
They only capture the bad. It's never the good, dude.

Speaker 2 You could, you could do, I mean, dude, you could do anything in the world, bro. And like the one bad thing, it gets blown away out of proportion because that's what everybody feeds off of.

Speaker 2 All these TMZs, the outlets, the news is the everything, bro. That's all they look for, man.
They They just want to shit on everybody. Yeah, that's why OF girls get so many views on social media.

Speaker 2 You say, what? LF girls, they get so many views on social media. Bro, I heard OF, I saw something the other day,

Speaker 2 like,

Speaker 2 made more money than

Speaker 2 LeBron James or something like that. Yeah, I saw that too.
There was some, some, like, where I always put like numbers right next to each other. And like, yeah, I don't know who.

Speaker 2 I think the average OF creator makes more than the average NBA player. When you average it all out, that's so wild.
Because the top girls are making so much. That's, that's.

Speaker 2 it's nuts, right?

Speaker 2 I don't get it, man. I really, that's yeah, I'm sure leave my comments

Speaker 2 on that one, man. 1.2 million females content creators on OF right now.

Speaker 2 1.2 million. That's about nuts.

Speaker 2 It's just like,

Speaker 2 you know, dude, in my opinion, like, I'm not against it. Like, I don't, I don't really care.
I'm just like, that just blows my mind though.

Speaker 2 Like, the fact that they're making as much money as NBA players is crazy for people to pay them to see their bodies and stuff.

Speaker 2 That's, yeah that's the only thing we're like i get it dude i mean i did whatever i needed to do to get my bag up as well but it almost makes me sad dude like i just hate that like i don't know if they either like because there's some people some people that are on there they do the straight like modeling stuff it's not like no nudes or anything yeah it's not like all like the the bad stuff but um it just almost makes me feel bad i'm like dude i feel like do they feel like they have to do that in order to make a living and i'm like dude there's like so many ways to like and i just don't know how that takes a toll on their mental health and stuff too like i don't know yeah well i think a lot of females are really judged on their looks these days because of social media, man.

Speaker 2 They're comparing themselves to the hottest girl in their town or whatever.

Speaker 2 Bro, but then, and that's, and that's what the, bro, the, the internet is like the worst drug in the world to be addicted to, man.

Speaker 2 It was, um, and that's where I think I got so caught up in all that stuff, bro. I was trying to do anything to, to be the, the biggest guy in the world on there.

Speaker 2 I was trying to get as many views as possible. And I, dude, at that moment, I would have done anything to get those views, bro.

Speaker 2 And I just didn't know like the toll that it was taking on my mental health. Like, I straight up, like whenever I first moved to LA,

Speaker 2 I moved out and I told my parents, I was like, I'm going to go be famous on the internet.

Speaker 3 That's the second half of the basketball season is here and the race to the playoffs continues on Prize Picks, the best daily fantasy sports app to cash in on your favorite sports. The app is simple.

Speaker 3 Pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to a thousand times your cash. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code FIELD and get $50 instantly when you play $5.

Speaker 3 That's code FIELD on PrizePicks. They get $50 instantly when you play $5.
Win or lose, you'll get $50 for just playing. Guaranteed.
Prize picks. Run your game.
Must be present in certain states.

Speaker 3 Visit PrizePicks.com for restrictions and details.

Speaker 1 Chronic spontaneous urticaria, or chronic hives with no known cause. It's so unpredictable.

Speaker 2 It's like playing pinball.

Speaker 1 Itchy red bumps start on my arm, then my back,

Speaker 1 sometimes my legs. Hives come out of nowhere.

Speaker 1 And it comes and goes. But I just found out about a treatment option at treatmyhives.com.
Take that, chronic hives. Learn more at treatmyhives.com.

Speaker 2 That's what my goal was. It wasn't, hey, I want to go make a difference with the world.

Speaker 2 It wasn't, oh, I want to, I want to, you know, spread, I want to spread my faith and, and, and get people to follow God.

Speaker 2 It was just, I want to go be famous and I want to become rich and I want to do this. And I had the entire wrong attitude about all of it, dude.
And

Speaker 2 I learned real quick, man. I mean, I got everything so fast.
I mean, the whole Vine stuff, it started kind of slow.

Speaker 2 I was like, all right on Vine, but when TikTok came around, I mean, I think like I got like 20 million followers in like two years. Holy yeah.

Speaker 2 Just in dancing videos? Yeah, just like dancing videos, funny videos, like whatever, just all like the, the, the kids together. We were all just collabing and cross-promoting.

Speaker 2 And we were with all the, the guys that were also popular as well and the, all that stuff. But yeah.
That's nuts. What do you think led to the downfall of the content houses?

Speaker 2 Cause I don't see those anymore. Yeah, they're kind of gone, man.
Um, honestly, dude, I don't know. I don't even really keep up with it anymore.

Speaker 2 I know that whenever I was running my content house, I know like once I stopped mine, dude, like pretty much all of them went downhill from, from what I know.

Speaker 2 But I think the downfall with it was just none of them,

Speaker 2 none of them were, like I said, I think they were just lacking authenticity, dude. They would just grab, it was like literally like you're, like you're playing that claw game.

Speaker 2 You're just like trying to pick like the most popular people or the most attractive people or the people that are getting the most hype.

Speaker 2 It's not, hey, like, I really like this guy and what he's doing and he's a cool guy. He's a great guy.
I want him to come and be a part of what we're building here.

Speaker 2 it was just like hey if you're not famous enough and you're not doing this then nah we don't want you but hey if you want that like it was all like materialistic that doesn't matter at the end of the day and so like whenever you get a bunch of guys in there that are all like egotistic and hot-headed and all this stuff it just never works and same thing with females too like if you get a female house together i mean the girls and i mean everyone already clashes heads already as it is but you throw a bunch of random people in a house it's a it's a shit show yeah you judge off your views it's so interesting right yeah your views and your fault and there's like little cults in the house dude there's like uh it's like high school again bro like there's there's like uh and they just all talk about each other there's like uh it's just non-stop drama and then you got like because we had a reality show as well and some of these other places had reality shows and that was honestly if i could take that back i probably wouldn't have even done it really because like they those little fuckers on there dude like the producers Say like I say something to you about Cam or something like that, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 They'll go like, you know how you have those confession booths or whatever where it's like you and the camera sitting there and they're like, they'll be telling, like, say, like, Cam was in the confession booth.

Speaker 2 They were like, yo, Taylor said this about you earlier. What do you think about that? I'm like, you motherfuckers.
They like snitching on you. They just like snitch and then they try to stir it up.

Speaker 2 And then there's like real drama that happens because they, I don't know, it's just all a mess, man. Damn.

Speaker 2 The world sucks. What was your relationship with God when you were living out there? It was, honestly, bro, like non-existent, man.
Wow.

Speaker 2 And that's where, like, I think like my testimony, my story is so awesome with even when I came here was, I think out there, I mean, I was raised,

Speaker 2 you know, I was raised religious, but I wasn't raised in church.

Speaker 2 I was always, when I was out in LA, man, I always said I was Christian. I believe in God because everyone around me said it.
And I thought that's what I was supposed to say, right?

Speaker 2 But I had never taken a moment to understand what it looked like to walk right with God, you know. And I, without a doubt, went through the two hardest years of my entire life, man.

Speaker 2 I had a really unfortunate run for some stuff and had some stuff made up about me. And, you know, it fucked my life up for a long time.
And

Speaker 2 in those moments, I was like, dude, like, why would you do this, man? And I got so angry at God.

Speaker 2 And then instead of taking a step back and wondering why he did do it and understanding that, you know, like I've shared with you, man, I was so sad out there, dude. I didn't even recognize myself.

Speaker 2 I was, um,

Speaker 2 I was like, damn near, like, I was 160 pounds, six foot two. I was like, so little, dude.

Speaker 2 I was, and uh, I just, uh, I think that it was, um, you know, he gave me a second chance to, to, to really do this, man. When I got out here, I, uh, I really fell into God hard.

Speaker 2 I, I started going to, you know, I bought a Bible. That was like the first place I started at.
I started going to church, man.

Speaker 2 I started looking at, uh, doing research of what it really looked like to, to walk right with God, man. And I, and I, I've fallen into it hard.
Wow.

Speaker 2 Try to just flip my life around, man.

Speaker 2 I mean, I was never out there, dude. I was a, I was not the greatest guy I could have been, the greatest boyfriend, the greatest friend.
I was, you know,

Speaker 2 I was on my high horse, you know, and I just, uh, I needed it, I needed a reality check, and I definitely got it for sure.

Speaker 2 Um, but it was everything I needed, man, because I feel like this is the most real and authentic Taylor that I've ever been.

Speaker 2 It's the most recognizable I've ever been to myself, and I finally feel like I'm doing what Taylor loves to do more than anything. Yeah, it seems like you're not holding anything back anymore.

Speaker 2 Absolutely not, man.

Speaker 2 This is just like the realest version of me, man. It's what you see is what you get.
And if you don't like it,

Speaker 2 I don't care.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think ego deaths are important, actually. Yeah, 100%, man.
It's so funny because everyone's like, you know, oh, like, hit rock bottom or this or that. And it's like so cliche, man.

Speaker 2 But I put you, I fell straight on my face, man, and it was everything that I ever needed, man. I had literally everything taken from me.

Speaker 2 And then God provided for me in ways that I never could have even imagined. And that means something.

Speaker 2 Did you have someone to talk to during that rock bottom moment?

Speaker 2 I had John, my buddy John, that runs my life to this day still now.

Speaker 2 I had my little brother Tyler. I had my mom, like man, my family, you know, and I had my buddy B-Dave that were basically like right, they were right there with me when, when all of it started.
And

Speaker 2 that, I mean, we had the smallest crew and we all moved over here together. I love it.
And it was, it was the best. It was all I needed, man.

Speaker 2 You know, I surrounded myself with so many people out in LA. Dude, we had like probably 20 people a day at the house, bro.
It was a lot of people.

Speaker 2 And like, I now know that bro you give me like three of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet we that's it we're taking over that's all i need you know what i mean yeah so i'll i will say in your rock bottom moments you find out who your real ones are that's one of the good things about bro i'd say that and i'll say it again dude um people like john so john was my content guy at first man and whenever he wasn't my content guy when i kind of started going through this i just knew him through like my little brother he was shooting for my little brother tyler and all this stuff and um he ended up coming on to shoot for me and dude whenever i tell you like

Speaker 2 he worked for me for like $300 for two years, man.

Speaker 2 It was like nothing, three or four hundred dollars, man. And like, he didn't leave my side.
He was like, bro, I don't care. I don't give a damn about money.
I don't give a damn about nothing.

Speaker 2 Like, we're going to figure this out. We're going to rock whatever.
When we came out here, we got the Dylan Scott tour.

Speaker 2 And we had never done it before. We had never toured.
We had never nothing. And

Speaker 2 he was like, Taylor, I know that sounds crazy, but I'd love to like tour manage this thing. And I was like, I got nobody else to do it anyway.
So, and

Speaker 2 luckily we had people like Cam and Dylan and then their crew.

Speaker 2 They were always so good to us man and and and john went and did all the research that he needed man and he crushed it and uh he kind of just like stepped up for my content guy now runs my whole life and he's done everything he needed to do right and dude like those are the types of people that will hold close to me for a long time because he absolutely thugged it out with me for no money at all we were we were dead broke together you know that's a real one yeah i went from literally like i said like a couple hundred thousand dollars a month to literally like i couldn't even afford a cheeseburger from the whole shit it was that it was that bad bro it was it was that bad yeah but that was so quick right it was all like with oh like bro within like six months damn yeah that's a huge change oh yeah man it was it was rough dude you probably lost a lot of friends you thought that were friends right yeah i mean i just lost a lot of people in general but i think like i don't even know if it was like friends at that moment i think it was just people that are too much of a coward and too like they care too much about like an image and like their teams are telling them it's because of this or whatever and the way it looks or dah dah da like no one actually gives a fuck about being a real ass friend to anybody no because all the because like i understand in the moment of all that stuff, right?

Speaker 2 Like, you know, distancing yourself from someone that's having something said like that about them for sure. But, um, but at the end of the day, off the record, they all had my number.

Speaker 2 They all knew where I lived. Not one motherfucker, like, at the end of the day, knew where I was at the lowest point of my life, ever reached out and asked if I was okay.

Speaker 2 Stopped by and said, like, hey, are you doing all right? Not one of them. So, I mean, I wouldn't even say that any of those people were my friends at all.
I was just.

Speaker 2 I hate being like that guy, but I just, I had a lot that they wanted at that moment and we were doing really well and they wanted some of that.

Speaker 2 So it was also peak cancel culture era when that happened to you

Speaker 2 like it was the worst timing oh yeah dude i feel like cancel culture is just so it's kind of gone now in my opinion but i feel like from its peak at least yeah i feel like there's like always just everyone trying to and then at the end of the day it's just like if you

Speaker 2 i don't know man that's where like all those kids that's why it's so easy to cancel those kids and and stuff at first or like have a bunch of stuff said about them is because like for a while we were i mean we were we were trying to seem like these like innocent perfect kids on the internet but like, I mean, I, I've never drank in my life, man.

Speaker 2 I've never done, I mean, I smoke weed. That's like, oh, yeah, I've never touched any drug besides weed or anything like that.

Speaker 2 Um, and I only started smoking whenever I, whenever I started going through those two years, man. I mean, I lost so much weight, dude.
I wasn't eating. I wasn't sleeping.
I was so depressed, man.

Speaker 2 I couldn't figure it out. And so I started smoking weed to just help with that anxiety.
To numb it. But I've never, I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life, nothing.

Speaker 2 And all those kids out there like going out to clubs and like snorting coke off like strippers' asses and stuff like that, dude. And like doing like the craziest stuff.

Speaker 2 And then they go on the internet and talk about some bull and just like finesse everybody so it's like whenever you piss somebody off you piss the wrong people off that like have videos of you guys doing that stuff or have stories and no they start that's when cancel culture becomes a thing and like everyone's like scrambling to try to fix it daddy tapes yeah fuck dude i dude did you get invited any weird parties like that uh dude so i got i got invited to a party long time ago never went though ditty party yeah never went um but uh i i did get invited to one

Speaker 2 long time what was the invite? Like word of mouth or? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Just, I mean, back then, dude, I mean, I was hanging out with all the guys, like, you know, everybody that would have been there and all the celebrities and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 So they were, you know, we all just were in group chats that would be like, oh, party going on. Yeah, yeah.
It wasn't like, Didny, bro, da, da, da. It was just like, yo, party here, like going on.

Speaker 2 This is kind of who's running it. And this is who's going to be there kind of thing.
You got a bad feeling. It was always, actually, I think I was just.

Speaker 2 I think at the time I was in a relationship and I think we, it was, it was, we had something together. I I don't know.
I don't remember if it was like our like

Speaker 2 two-year or something like that, or if it birthed, I don't know what it was. It was, it's been a long time ago, but I was with her that night.
So I was like, I'm just going to sit this time.

Speaker 2 I've also never been like a big partier anyways. Whenever I first moved to LA, kind of like when you first come to Nashville, you're like going down Broadway hooking hard.

Speaker 2 But I went just because I was like, I just wanted to meet everybody. I want to try to get plugged and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 So I'd go to the parties and I started slowly figuring out that literally every party that I went to, you just see these same people at every single party.

Speaker 2 And it's, they're so hammered and so off of like all these drugs that like, they don't even remember talking to you the next day anyway. So I just stopped going.
I was like, this is not for me at all.

Speaker 2 It's, it's pretty dumb. Yeah.
I'm not a big partier too. People assume because I live in Vegas, I go out every night, but oh, bro, I've lost so much money in Vegas.
God dang it.

Speaker 2 You're a big gambler, huh? That's your vice. I try to, man.

Speaker 2 I want to be a big gambler, but I, they, I don't know what it goes on, but I just, there's, there's some days where we do really, really good, but Vegas always robs me, man. What's your game?

Speaker 2 Blackjack. Blackjack, I cook on.

Speaker 2 I'm actually really good at blackjack but we had a good day in uh where was a couple weeks ago i'm on my headline tour right now and we my mom i forgot where we were dude philadelphia that's yeah pittsburgh they got and they got online like draft kings like online gambling right and the z in them showed my mom draft kings and she was like i want to gamble on this thing dude and she starts playing uh i think she was playing the slots on draft kings or whatever started with a hundred bucks cashed out eight grand dude swear to god slots are the worst and she yes that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 And cashes out eight grand. We found a casino that was like 15 minutes from the venue that we were playing.
We were like, let's go, dude.

Speaker 2 And she gave everybody, she gave a thousand of her money to split between my whole band and everything. So we all had like 300 bucks or something like that.

Speaker 2 And I turned $300 into $6,500 at the blackjack table. And

Speaker 2 I'm telling you, cooked, bro. I had Lil Z walking out with money.
We had my guitar player, Sevey. Sevey started with $300.
I think he left with like $2,200. Like, we went and robbed that casino.

Speaker 2 It was actually crazy. We all had a great night there.
That's nuts. Yeah.
Good to know. You want to gamble? I'd say gamble in Pittsburgh.
It's hard to win in Vegas, man. Yeah.
They just know too much.

Speaker 2 I feel like they're experts. Yeah.

Speaker 2 They've been doing it so long. I mean, Dana White wins sometimes.
Yeah. I don't see many people winning like that.
Yeah, dude. I just, I can't.

Speaker 2 I see some of those guys that like go like the high limits and they're betting like ungodly amounts of money. And it's like, I don't know.
Steve will do it.

Speaker 2 I don't know how much money you guys like really got, but I just couldn't. Even when I had money, the most I'd ever do was

Speaker 2 a couple grand at a, at a casino. And I was like, I can't.
That's about all of it. You know what I mean? I don't like losing money like that.
Nah, especially when you work so hard to make it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, dude. You got a new song coming out soon? We do, man.
We've been teasing this song called California Fit in Tennessee. And it's a really cool one, man.

Speaker 2 It comes out on the 28th of this month.

Speaker 2 I was in a four-year-long relationship when I was in L.A. and with someone that at the moment in my life, I thought I was going to marry them.

Speaker 2 And I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with them. And when I moved to Nashville,

Speaker 2 the distance, a long distance, didn't work out. All that stuff gets in the way.
And we had our own problems. And we just, we went our separate ways.

Speaker 2 And I wrote a song about it from the perspective of what it would have looked like if she could have came with me and what it would look like if California fit in Tennessee.

Speaker 2 And, and, um, it's honestly like lyric-wise, like probably one of my favorite songs I've ever written. It's just tough because we've been trying to promote it.
And I'm in a new relationship now.

Speaker 2 And so like, I can't, I can't be like, man, I, I miss her and I wish I could tell her this or something like that, you know, because then everyone's like, but you have Zoe.

Speaker 2 like what about zoe like that and it kind of seems disrespectful so i'm trying to figure out cool ways to promo it but uh what's she think about a song the new girl she she really likes it man she's awesome she's so supportive of everything we're doing man and and and she's like she's been absolutely amazing i'm kind of like new to the whole relationship thing i haven't really been in a relationship in a long time and so it kind of freaks me out yeah how like perfect everything is but um i mean dude it's it's been amazing and she she understands all of it dude she's she's right there with me and and she loves the song she wants it to come out she can't she listens listens to it all the time with me as well.

Speaker 2 Yeah, so she understands the snares. I also keep in the loop with everything, man.

Speaker 2 And the girl that obviously the song's about, everyone knows who it's about and stuff like that online because we were obviously a very big relationship. But

Speaker 2 she's with somebody, I'm with somebody. We both very are respectful about that.
We've been in contact recently, and we have nothing but respect for each other.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I even, I even let everyone know and let Zoe know and let her know that,

Speaker 2 like, I sent the, I sent Char a text about like the, the song being like, hey, I'm putting the song out. Char knows about the song, etc.

Speaker 2 I was like, if I step on any toes while I'm promoting it, please let me know. Like

Speaker 2 it's all civil and it's all good, man. So it's really cool.
Communication is important, man. Yeah, dude.

Speaker 2 And especially whenever you have someone awesome right there with you that like supports it and understands it as well.

Speaker 2 It's cool because it's really easy, I feel like, to

Speaker 2 not be that. Oh, easily.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Do you keep the current girlfriend private or is it a public or

Speaker 2 public? Yeah, but yeah.

Speaker 2 I heard that

Speaker 2 mixed opinions on public versus private, but you know, I've tried to do the whole private thing and they always find out.

Speaker 2 They like they're like, I'm telling you, like we literally have like CIA agents, like, I swear, like, on our stuff. They, they'll see, like,

Speaker 2 through a, like, what did I see? Uh, everyone saw or found out that, like, I think it was Meg Maroney and Riley Green were hanging out or something like that. And they found out because

Speaker 2 Riley was like taking a picture somewhere and through his glasses, they zoomed in and saw a reflection of Meg standing or something like that. And I was like, bro, you guys are actually like weird.

Speaker 2 That's weird. So no, I'm just, I'm just, uh, I'm open about everything on the internet, man.

Speaker 2 And whatever's new, if, if, if I'm winning a relationship, if I'm not, if I'm whatever's part of the internet, yeah, I'm just like, hey, this is what's going on. Yeah.
So there's no confusion.

Speaker 2 Bro, internet detectives, there's Reddit communities that solve murders. Right.

Speaker 2 It's actually insane, dude. Reddit, I've never, I've like, I still don't even know if I've ever like actually went on Reddit, but I've heard that it's gnarly.
Yeah, don't sleep on Reddit, man.

Speaker 2 That's what I heard. I filter for restaurant recommendations.
Oh, for real? Yeah. Cause everyone's anonymous, so they'll give the most honest feedback.

Speaker 2 You know, they're not scared of being canceled or something. Dude, it's so weird, like these communities, bro.
You know what I found out the other day? What is that? What's that?

Speaker 2 You guys might know, but what's that Facebook? I don't even have Facebook. I use my mom's actually to go on Marketplace, but that where it's like, are we dating the same guy thing or whatever?

Speaker 2 Oh, I've heard of that.

Speaker 2 Have you heard about that? Yeah. It's like a group of like girls or whatever.
You have to be accepted in or something like like that.

Speaker 2 But it's like if they're talking to a guy, they like put it in there and they're like, hey, what do you guys know about this guy? And

Speaker 2 everyone is either just like shitting on their lives or they got good things to say about it. And I'm like,

Speaker 2 is that what this world has came to now? That's so weird to me. Yeah.
Each city has one of those groups. So there's one in Vegas, there's one in Nashville.
That's wild. I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 I literally just found out the other day about the one in Nashville and I've been here for two years.

Speaker 2 I was like,

Speaker 2 don't end up there, man. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Nuts. Nah, man.
I got, I got an awesome one, and we're keeping her around for a long time, man. Hell yeah, man.
Well, where are you touring next? Where can people keep up with you, man?

Speaker 2 We're finishing off our headline tour right now. We have two more weekends left.
We've got Nashville this weekend, actually.

Speaker 2 And then we go right into festival season. And so

Speaker 2 we're hoping to get another tour for

Speaker 2 end of the year, like fall, something like around there. But right now, man, we're just focused on getting a lot of music out, man.
We got some really cool stuff going on.

Speaker 2 I got a feature that's hopefully happening that I can't say right now, but if it does, it's going to be the coolest thing in the world. I'll tell you guys off camera.

Speaker 2 but uh, um, and just lots of music, man. We've been really working, dude.
So, love it, man. We'll link your website below.
Thanks for coming on, dude. Thank you guys so much for having me.

Speaker 2 I appreciate it. Check them out, guys.
See you next time. Hey, guys.