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

I wouldn't even say that any of those people were my friends at all.

I was 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.

Well, I feel like from its peak at least.

Yeah.

All right, guys in Nashville, Taylor Holder here coming off a big tour, right? Yes, sir, man. We're fresh out.
We just got back from London, man. We were a little all over out there in the UK.
How was that? Dude, it was actually, honestly, made so many great memories. But, man, if I could do it again, I'd say give us a little bit more space between shows.
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 mega stars in country but like it's so new that like they show up and they just like listen like they're all about the culture they're like in 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 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 they're like like you know what i mean but they just like they they're listening to everything saying, man, they're paying attention and that's what was really cool about it. That's cool.
What was your favorite city out of those 14? My favorite city definitely had to be London. Okay.
Those, 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 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 three thousand people at one of the stages and stuff like that so yeah it was it was crazy man that's no joke man yeah's no joke, man. Cause 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, 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 cause you already had a following beforehand? Dude, a lot of people ask me that. And I think that, uh, I, I mean, I it helps, right? 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, um, 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, um, all this stuff.
And no one, no one knows anything about my backstory. And, um, and so whenever I came over here and I started doing country music, I just feel like everyone didn't think it was authentic Taylor, you know? So it was a little bit hard to get them, excuse me, 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? Yeah. It's almost like you had a rebrand, right? A hundred percent, dude.
It was, it was like I started from ground zero. I know.
And we were pulling numbers and the streams weren't there yet. 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.
And I'm really excited for what we have coming out, but, um, it's been a challenge. That's been one of the hardest things is figuring out how, cause I got good at promoting just what goes viral on the internet as far as trends or whatever.
But, uh, the music and promoting a song of yours that you need them to go listen to and everything. It was, uh, it was hard, man.
We're still figuring it out. Did the first song flop? It was, um, it did, uh, 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 of million streams. So that was cool.
But I had like, at the time I had like 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 it did pretty decent, but like it's definitely not my favorite song that I've put out. So, but yeah, we've been trying something a little different with these last couple of releases and it's really starting to turn some heads, man.
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 tiktok right because a lot of songs blow up on tiktok yeah and you have that network on there right 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't even want me to drop it. It was like different from what I was doing.
It was like that trappy country kind of thing. Um, and then, uh, it was like going into like Christmas, like I, but I hadn't dropped anything in like four months and they're like, we just wait till the top of the year.
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, if I post on Tik TOK 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.
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.
And that was the first time I've had like an actual sound be like trending and people using the audio a lot. It's usually just them going to listen to the song because I posted it kind of thing, know yeah so that was really really cool to see that's impressive yeah it's almost like a good way to test songs and see if it pops off on tiktok first yeah because if you have 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 used to just she'd post like five to ten songs at a time and like whichever one's just i mean all her stuff she's she's so good man like um but every single one that she would post 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 and um 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 into their head you know she's such a genius with Um, so country's merging with other genres now, right? Like rap, hip hop.
Yeah. It's interesting.
It's a, and that's where I think it's been kind of cool for us to step out and do the whole, like, we call it, we call it country plus, you know, because, um, 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, 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 to 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 know we're 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 and then this new era right yeah and i honestly love it man i feel like it's like the whole um this is like a weird analogy but like i think it's like that whole like everyone like hates jake paul right jake paul is like kind of like rebranded boxing and he's like made boxing cool again. 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.
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, 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.
is I know that there are those authentic old school country guys that are going to be a little probably upset about it. But I think it's awesome.
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 in the gym every week, man.
I'm still there. I've been fighting for, what, like 10 years or whatever.
Got a couple fights, but we're looking to fight again this year. 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, like another at night.
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, 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, uh, did you watch Aiden Ross's boxing event the other day? Uh, the other day uh 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 we tried to fight this one kid there and he won't fight um um but it's like that for ice yeah it's yeah he always he always spends a narrative he's he you know he's very good at what he does with spinning narratives and like getting people to think that it's a certain way but i mean do 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 literally tried to dog walk him to the to the contract and he won't do it and dad i was like i have all the messages of everything even him i was i was 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 that's what I'm saying.
He spins that narrative so well, dude. But I'll just drop the messages if he keeps going.
I mean, we might have to throw them on. There's a lot of fake stuff that no one knows.
I mean, you got 10 years of training. I could see why he doesn't want to fight.
Well, I mean, I brought him to Canelo's with me, man. He was a wrestler.
You know, he never boxed. He never did any of that stuff.
And I mean, um, I'm not, I'm not even trying to sit here. I'm, I'm, I'm kind of over that moment in my life where I'm just like trying to act like I'm like the hardest guy out there, but, uh, you know, Bryce definitely, he knows he'll lose, you know? And so, um, 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, uh, it's more of an ego thing. I don't think it's a, a scared to lose.
I think it's's just he doesn't want to lose to Taylor, you know, and that's why it won't happen. But whatever.
I mean, I don't really care. I'm still going to fight again regardless, and eventually people will see that I'm not the one ducking here.
What's your record right now? Fights? So we did. 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 um stuff like that but my my um my actual record with like misfits is want to know um so hopefully we'll we'll get another one this year and make it two and oh and just keep rocking with it so 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 oh 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 it was more positive it was just like dude it was like legitimately just a group of guys and buddies or girls or whatever it is just making videos videos together and just having like great times.
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. 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.
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.
I have an awesome family around me. Just bought a house.
Yeah, I just bought a house, dude. And it's been beautiful, dude.
I mean, my parents lost, their house burned down last year. And so they've been living with me right now out here.
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 i never got that out there and so i'd rather stay that for however long that is than ever go back so do you feel like when you were in la you were kind of putting on a persona it was not that's why like i think it's so funny man because i mean obviously i look back at my videos and and i'm like god dude i wish i wish I could go back and punch myself in the face, dude.
But like, that's where it's like, it's funny because everyone that makes fun of us for what we did, Hey, I get it, but we would film these videos. And I feel like people were like thinking we film these videos and they're like, Oh, this is, this is hard, bro.
Like this is dope. And we were like, no, like we were like, we're definitely going to get fucking flamed for this.
Like we knew it, you know, but we just, it's like acting in a movie in a movie. It's definitely like, I'm not a dancer.
I'm not a TikTok dancing kid. I'm not a whatever.
I just did it because, I mean, dude, the money that was being thrown at us, I mean, whenever TikTok started blowing up, it was like ungodly amounts of money. 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. It was just, it was, it was unrealistic.
I mean, dude, I don't do that. I don't do that much money anymore.
So I just go ahead and say it. But like, dude, we were doing, there'd be months where we're doing three, 400,000 a month.
Holy crap. Yeah, bro.
It was, it was like ridiculous amounts of money. 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'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 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 like pretty businessly smart on their. Like the Alex Warren's like, Alex is a genius with what he's done, man.
And, uh, and like the little huddies and stuff like that, but like everyone else in the house was dead broken. Like the owner of the house and, or like the owner of Hype House, um, 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. And so I was like, you know, I'm gonna go do my own thing.
And I brought in a sponsor that we had the sponsor paying the $50,000 a month, but at the hype house, we were all splitting $50,000 a month. So it was like, we were just trying to, I was trying to work a little smarter than that.
So I, I, I got everybody in, I had a sponsor coming and pay for it. Uh, we were all living rent free.
We all, I signed them all into the same agency that we were with. Um, and we were rolling, dude.
I mean, between the 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 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 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's mad oh man yeah i was. I was the saddest I've ever been in my life, man.
It was rough out there. So you were the richest- I just felt like, I just felt like I was like a robot, man.
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 all these people if it was to film.
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 when got lunch with someone because we wanted to hang out. It was always like, yo, are you home? I'm coming over.
I got to film this video or this bit or this or that YouTube, this like, and then they would film it and then just leave. 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, even like the hype house, right? Like I lived in a house with 21 people, bro. And still felt so alone, bro.
It was like the weirdest thing ever, man. 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 weren't the most upset man 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 do 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'm like, how could you ever be so sad when you got everything in front of you, you know? Um, but you know, and it was weird.
Cause like whenever TikTok 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.
And, um, and we, we had like paparazzis following us around. I don't remember why, like we were just dancing on just dancing on technology yeah like i don't know why they were following us around but um and like we had like we had uh paparazzi where our addresses would get leaked so we had like hundreds of people outside of our house at every moment we had paparazzis like flying drones up in our windows like looking in our windows bro we eventually started like shooting them down with paintball guns it was like so wild it's just like every move you do man man um was watched everything you did whether it was in person right there i was at your house whether it was online um 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 it since 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 and become a millionaire so fast that like, you know, leave some room for maturing, you know? I remember those days.
They would wait for you guys outside of Boa Steakhouse or wherever you ate. Saddle Ranch and all that.
Yeah. Dude, that's nuts.
And like, people actually cared what you guys were doing on a day with people. They were like, some of them were cool, man.
Some of the paparazzi people were cool. 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. Like I almost tried to fight this paparazzi guy, but I just got out.
It's on video, but I got out and I just went and talked to him and I was like, you got it. Cause I asked him to, I was like, Hey buddy, how are you doing? 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, that's not cool.
Like I was like, all right, well then can you just put your camera down then please? Like whatever. And he just like kept like filming.
It was just being a douche. I'm like, why was like that's not cool like i was like all right well then can you just put your camera down then please like whatever and he just like kept like filming it was just being a douche 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 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 Justin, um, we, we, uh, we were going to the same church to, uh, was that Irwin McManus's church? What was that? Was that Irwin McManus's church? No, it was a church home, uh, with Judah Smith.
And, um, and that was around the time that me and him kind of became tight. But like, I remember going outside before I like, uh, like became my buddies with him.
And he was like talking to to paparazzi people and they were all because they would all wait outside the church for him they were all 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 and it was just sad because he was like dude this is where i come to like get away you know and i come outside and it's like a zoo animal again dude it's like i come out of church where i just learned I just learned everything. And it's like, I have to be an asshole, like right after it.
And I'm like, I like to have 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. So I can only imagine how people like him.
And they just sip it of him lashing out and post it on TikTok. They only capture the bad.
It's never the good, dude. You could, you could do, I mean, dude, you could do anything in the world, bro.
And they're like the one the one bad thing it gets blown away i proportion because that's what everybody fiends off of all these tmz's the the outlets the news is the everything bro that's all they look for man they just want to shit on everybody yeah that's why of girls get so many views on social media you said what of girls they get so many views on social media bro i heard of i saw something the other day like made made money than like LeBron James or something like that. Yeah, I saw that too.
There were some like where I always put like numbers right next to each other and like, I don't know. I think it was 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.
It's nuts, right? I don't get it, i really that's yeah i'm sure leave my comments on that one man 1.2 million females content creators on of right now 1.2 million that's about not see it's just like 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 like the fact that they're making as much money as nba players is is crazy for people to pay them to see their bodies and stuff that's 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 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 yeah not like no no 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. They're comparing themselves to the hottest girl in town or whatever.
Bro, and that's what the, bro, the internet is like the worst drug in the world to be addicted to, man. And that's where I think I got so caught up in all that stuff, bro.
I was trying to do anything to be the biggest guy in the world on there. I was trying to get as many views as possible.
And dude, at that moment, I would have done anything to get those views, bro. And, uh, 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, um, I moved out and I told my parents, I was like, I'm going to go be famous on the internet. That's what, that's what my goal was.
It wasn't, Hey, I want to go make a difference with the world. I, 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.
And I was, it was just, I want to go be famous and I want to become rich and I want to go make a difference with the world. It wasn't, oh, I want to spread my faith and get people to follow God.
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 I learned real quick, man. I mean, I got everything so fast.
I mean, the whole Vine stuff, it started kind of slow. 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 um just doing dancing videos yeah just like dancing videos funny videos like whatever just all like the the kids together we were all just collabing and cross promoting and we were with all the guys that were also popular as well on the all that stuff but yeah that's nuts what do you think led to the downfall the content houses because 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 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 um but i think the downfall with it was just none of them none of them were uh 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 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 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 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 it like it was all like materialistic shit 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 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're judged off your views it's so interesting right yeah your views and your followers 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 shit 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 no they'll go like you know 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 they were like yo taylor said this about you earlier what do you think about that i'm like you motherfuckers like they just like snitch and then they try to stir it up and then there's like real drama that happens because they like i don't know it's just all a mess man in the world sucks what was your relationship with god when you were living out there it was uh honestly bro like non-existent man wow um 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 It was, uh, honestly, bro, like non-existent man. Wow.
Um, 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, um, you know, I was raised religious, but I wasn't raised in church. Um, I was always, when I was out in LA, man, I, 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. Um, but I had never taken a moment to understand what it looked like to walk right with God, you know? And, um, I, I, without a doubt went through the, the two hardest years of my entire life, man, I had a really unfortunate, uh, run for, for some stuff and, uh, had some stuff made up about me.
And, um, you know, it fucked my life up for a long time. And, uh, in those moments I was like, dude, like, why would you do this, man? I got so angry at God.
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.
I was, I was like, damn near, like I was 160 pounds at six foot two. I was like so little, dude.
I was, and I just, I think that it was, you know, he gave me a second chance to really do this, man. When I got out here, I really fell into God hard.
I started going to, you know, I bought a Bible. That was like the first place I started.
I started going to church, man. I started looking at, uh, doing research of what it really looked like to walk right with God, man.
And I, and I've fallen into it hard while, um, try to just flip my life around, man. There was a, there was a, I mean, I was never out there, dude.
I was, uh, I was not the greatest guy could have been the greatest boyfriend, the greatest friend. I was, you know, um, I was on my high horse, you know, and, uh, I just, uh, I needed, I needed a reality greatest guy I could have been, the greatest boyfriend, the greatest friend.
I was on my high horse, and I needed a reality check, and I definitely got it for sure. But it was everything I needed, man, because I feel like this is the most real and authentic Taylor that I've ever been.
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. Absolutely not, man.
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, I don't care. Yeah.
I think ego deaths are important actually. Yeah.
A hundred percent, man. It's so funny.
Cause everyone's like, you know, Oh, like hit rock bottom or this or bad. It's like, so cliche, man.
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 and then God provided for me in ways that I never could have even imagined. And that means something.
So did you have someone to talk to during that rock bottom moment? Um, I had, I had John, my buddy, John that runs my life to this day. Still now.
Um, I had my little brother, Tyler, I had my mom, like man, and my family, you know, and I had my buddy B Dave, uh, that were basically like, right. They were right there with me when, when all of it started.
And, uh, and, uh, that, I mean, we had the smallest crew and we all moved over here together. Oh, lovely.
And, uh, and it was, it was the best, it was all I needed, man. You know, I surrounded myself with so many people out now that do it.
We had like probably 20 people a day at the house show. It was a lot of people.
And like, I now know that bro, you give me like three of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet. We, that we're taking over that's all i need you know what i mean yeah so 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 that stuff and um he ended up coming on to shoot for me and dude whenever i tell you like he worked for me for like three hundred dollars for two years man 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 like we're gonna figure this out we're gonna rock whatever when we came out here we got the dylan scott tour um and we had never done it before we'd never toured we had never nothing and um he was like taylor i know this sounds crazy but i'd i'd love to like tour manage this thing and i was like i got nobody else to do it anyway so and um and luckily we had people like cam and dylan and their crew 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 he kind of just like stepped up for my content guy.

Now it runs my whole life and he's done everything he needed to do.

Right.

And dude, like those are the types of people that I'll hold close to me for a long time.

Cause he absolutely thugged it out with me for no money at all.

We were, we were dead broke together.

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 bad bro it was it was that bad yeah and 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 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 that it's because of this or whatever and the way it looks or like no one actually gives a fuck about being a real ass friend to anybody because all the because like i understand like in the moment of all the, right? 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.
They all knew where I lived. Not one motherfucker, like at the end, they knew where I was at the lowest point of my life ever reached out and asked if I was okay to stop by and said like, Hey, you're 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, I 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 like it was the worst timing oh yeah dude i thought cancel culture is just so it's kind of gone now in my opinion well 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 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 well like i mean i i've never drank in my life man never done, I mean, I smoke weed. That's like, oh yeah, I've never touched any drug besides weed or anything like that.
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.
I couldn't figure it out. And so I started smoking weed to just help with that anxiety.
To numb it. Um, but I've never, I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life.
Nothing. 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. 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 know they start. That's when cancel culture becomes a thing like everyone's like scrambling to try to fix it.
The dating tapes. Yeah that block dude.
I still I do that. Did you get invited to any weird parties like that? Uh dude so I got I got invited to a party long time ago never went though.
Diddy party? Yeah never went um but uh I did get invited to one. What was the invite like word of mouth or? Yeah yeah just back then, 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.
So they were, you know, we all just were in group chats. That would be like, oh, a party going on.
Yeah. It wasn't like, diddy, bro, da, da, da.
It was just like, yo, party here, like going on. This is kind of who's running it.
And this is who's going to be there kind of thing. You got a bad it was always um actually i think i was just i think at the time i was in a relationship and i think we it was it was so we had something together i don't know i don't remember if it was like our like two year or something like that or if it worked 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 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 like hooking hard but I went just because I was like I just wanted to meet everybody I wanted to try to get plugged and stuff like that 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 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 it's 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.
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.
You're a big gambler, huh? That's your vibe. I try to, man.
I want to be a big gambler, but I don't know what goes on, but I just, there's some days where we do really, really good. But Vegas always robs me, man.
What's your game? Blackjack. Blackjack, I cook on.
I'm actually really good at blackjack. But we had a good day where it was a couple weeks ago.
I'm on my headline tour right now. And my mom, I forgot where we were.
Philadelphia. Yeah, Pittsburgh.
And they DraftKings, like online gambling, right? And the Z in them showed my mom DraftKings and she was like, I want to gamble on this thing, dude. And she starts playing, I think she was playing the slots on DraftKings or whatever.
Started with a hundred bucks, cashed out eight grand, dude. I swear to God.
Slots are the worst. Yes, that's what I'm saying.
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 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 i turned 300 into 6500 at the blackjack table and i'm telling you cooked bro i had little z walking out with money we had my my guitar player seve seve started with 300 i think he left with like 2200 like we went robbed that casino it was actually crazy we all had a great night that's nice yeah good so you want to gamble i'd say gamble in pittsburgh it's hard to win in liegas man yeah they just know too much i feel like they're experts yeah 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, I see some of those guys that like go to 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.
I don't know how much money you guys like really got, but I just couldn't do it. Even when I had money, the most I'd ever do was a couple, like a couple grand 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.
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.
It comes out on the 28th of this month. I was in a four-year-long relationship when I was in LA and with someone that at the moment of my life, I thought I was going to marry them and I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with them.
And when I moved to Nashville, the distance, the long distance, um, didn't work out stuff gets in the way. And we had our own problems and we just, we went our separate ways.
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. And it's honestly, like, literally 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. And so, like, I can't be like, man, 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.
Like, what about Zoe? Like, and it kind kind of seems disrespectful. So I'm trying to figure out cool ways to promo it.
But, uh, what's she doing on 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 how like perfect everything is. But, um, I mean, dude, it's she she understands all of it dude she's right there with me and and she loves the song she wants it to come out she can't she listens to it all the time with me as well and yeah so she understands the snares i also keep in the loop with everything man and 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 uh she like she's with somebody i'm with somebody we both very are respectful about that we've been in contact recently and we we have nothing but respect for each other and and you know i even i even let let everyone know and let zoe know and let let her know that um like i sent i sent char text about like the the song being like hey i'm'm putting the song out.
Char knows about the song, et cetera.

I was like, if I step on any toes while I'm promoting it,

please let me know.

It's all civil and it's all good, man.

So it's really cool.

Communication's important.

Yeah, dude.

And especially whenever you have someone awesome

right there with you that like supports it

and understands it as well.

It's cool because it's really easy,

I feel like, to not be that.

Oh, easily.

Yeah.

Do you keep the current girlfriend private

or is it a public or not to a public?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I heard that was yeah a mixed opinions on public first private but you know i uh well i've tried to do the whole private thing and they always find out 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 through a like I 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 Riley was like taking a picture somewhere and through his glasses they zoomed in it's all reflection of Meg standing or something like that and And I was like, bro, you guys are actually like weird. That's weird.
So no, I'm just, I'm just, I'm open about everything on the internet, man. Whatever's new, if I'm winning really shit, but if I'm not, if I'm whatever's new, I'm just like, hey, this is what's going on.
Yeah. So there's no confusion.
Bro, internet detectives, there's Reddit communities that solve murders. Bro.
It's actually insane, dude. Reddit, I've i've never i've like i still don't even know if i've ever like actually went on reddit really but i've heard that it's gnarly yeah don't sleep on reddit man that's what i heard i've been there for uh restaurant recommendations oh for real yeah because everyone's anonymous so they'll give the most honest feedback 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 uh what's that 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 uh are we dating the same guy thing or whatever oh i've heard of that have you 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 that 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 i said everyone is either just like shitting on their lives or they got good things to say about it i'm like dude like is that what this world has came to now i 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 yeah i.
I literally just found out the other day about the one in Nashville and I've been here for two years here.

I was like,

don't end up there,

man.

Yeah.

Nuts.

Nah,

man,

I got,

I got an awesome one

and we're keeping her

around for a long time,

man.

So.

Oh yeah,

man.

Well,

where are you touring next?

Where can people keep up

with you,

man?

We,

uh,

we're finishing off our,

our headline tour right now.

We have two more weekends

left.

We've got Nashville this

weekend actually.

Um,

and then,

uh,

and then we go right into festival season. And so we're hoping, we're tour for end of year, like fall, something like around there.
But right now, man, we're just focused on getting a lot of music out. We've got some really cool stuff going on.
I've 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.
But just lots of music, man. lots of music, man.
We've been, we've been really working, dude. So love it, man.
We'll,

we'll link your website below. Thanks for coming on, dude.
Thank you guys so much for having me.

Appreciate it. Check them out, guys.
See you next time.

Bye-bye, guys. Boom.