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Singer, songwriter, guitar and player who has a new album coming out next week Friday, September 8th, which follows four singles that he has already released this year. Earlier this year he appeared on “American Idol,” and he has been hailed by Us Weekly as “One of the hottest young rising stars to watch in music right now.” Originally from South Africa, he recently became the youngest artist in the history of that country to have a number 1 hit. He has a combined total of more than 14 million video views on his official YouTube channel and between Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok alone he has a combined following of well over half a million.

Notable Guest Quotes

“We actually went to Hawaii about a year ago.  And, we were in Hawaii for songwriting purposes.  We went there to be inspired, just kind of write some cool songs.”

“It’s always so fun when it just comes together.  You always feel so good.  If the song just comes together, it just puts a smile on your face.”

“I lived in South Africa until I was 13 (years old)… I always loved music, but I didn’t necessarily think I had it in me to actually be a musician one day… I guess I didn’t have enough self-belief to think I would be able to become an artist, so I just focused on other things until I was about nine and I started to think that maybe it’s something I could do.”

“Doors just kind of opened.  This thing happened, another thing happened, this led to that, another door opened and now… I live in America, and I have 45 songs out.”

“I’m incredibly blessed to have (the) parents that I do because they obviously, they gave up everything.  They had to get me here.  My dad sold his business… we sold our house, we sold our car, they sold everything, and left their mom and dad… they left their brothers and sisters, their friends, just for the sake of my dream.”

“I actually quit the guitar, like, three times before I actually learned it.  I found it incredibly difficult.  I learned piano first and that was relatively easy to me… But guitar I just I found I had a big struggle with.”

“One of the main things that I’ve been developing and working on is dancing… I’ve been going to dance lessons for, like, three years now, so I’m considerably better… I’m becoming more of like a full package performer.”

“Recently I performed in Times Square and there it’s kind of like I didn’t really find it fitting to do, like, the guitar and piano stuff, so I just did all, kind of more hype stuff where I would just more interact with the crowd and walk around the stage.”

“I definitely sometimes see some things I might not be supposed to.”

(American Idol audition) “I walked in, I performed, got the Yes, and I was just happy to move on.  But overall, super stressful, super nervous, but it ended up going well, and it’s something that I think I’ll remember forever.”

“The GRAMMY (red) carpet is super long and so many cameras, so many people, it’s huge, so that one can be a little stressful, but most of the other ones I like.”

“I met Shawn Mendes for the first time at the GRAMMYs and he told me that he heard my cover of one of his songs and he liked it.  And I met Bebe Rexha, and she started following me that night.  And I met DJ Khaled and we walked with him back to the green room.”

Songs on this episode

“Balcony”
“Joyride”