This time last year, TikTok star-turned-pop star Tai Verdes had never given a concert. But thanks to the success of his hit “A-O-K,” this year, he did festivals, opened for other artists and is now on his first-ever headlining tour. For Tai, learning to play live has been the final step in his evolution as an artist.
“I’m, like, 60 shows deep now,” he tells ABC Audio. “It really makes a difference. Like, a huge difference. Like, if any artist is put in a position where they perform so many times, you automatically are going to get better because it’s just practice.”
He notes, “That was kind of the last thing that I needed to show — not necessarily people, but kinda myself. [I was] like, ‘If you want to be an artist, you have to be able to perform your songs as well.'”
Tai’s touring to promote his debut album TV, but he just released a new single, “Let’s Go to Hell,” that he says is part of his “new era.”
“These next couple tracks, like ‘Let’s Go to Hell,’ it just signifies the continuation of the story that I was telling with TV, but in a different way — in a way that’s ‘high definition,'” he teases.
While Tai knows that releasing new songs while “A-O-K” is still doing well means he’s competing with himself, he says it’s all part of his master plan.
“I think about longevity a lot…just because I am a business,” he points out. “So in order to keep yourself growing, you got to be creating a product…you’ve got to be planning and you’ve got to be organizing and you’ve got to be putting out music. So I just want to see what happens when I put out more music!”
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
