We linked up with San Francisco’s extremely talented 24kGoldn. He is currently at the top of the charts with his song “Mood” featuring Iann Dior. He is known for having a unique melodic rap sound with a rockstar attitude. He is an eclectic artist whose music can vary from grunge to tropical, trap to emo rap.
Driven by a viral craze on Tik Tok, his full-throated banger “Valentino” took a slow burn to success, eventually blowing up to over 120 million streams. At only nineteen years old he has already had a whirlwind of a career, Golden even signed his record deal during his first semester of college. He chatted with us about his latest track, his thoughts on Tik Tok’s influence on the music industry, what he misses most about touring, and much more.
First of all, massive congrats on your latest track “Mood” featuring Iann Dior. It has been climbing up the charts since its release in late July. This week it’s a Top 10 in the US and is Top 5 in the UK. How does it feel?
It feels really good, I can’t lie!
The video for “Mood” dropped last month. I loved the sunflower wall! Was it fun to make?
Yeah, I mean we shot it all in one day and like that was one of the last real-life videos that you could do pre-COVID, which kinda messed everything up, so we were like “this is the last moment, we have to get this done” and it ended up turning out really great. The director was Sebastian Sdaigui and he killed it.
You’re an artist who has a keen interest in the marketing and promotion of your music. A Tik Tok craze helped to propel your success when you released your track “Valentino” in 2019– what do you think about Tik Tok’s influence on the music industry?
I think it’s the most important factor in music right now and to deny that would just be lying to yourself, so I definitely feel really happy that they’ve opened their arms up and welcomed me into the community and put on for my songs the way that they do.
“City of Angels” from your debut EP Dropped Outta College has reached major highs. Did you expect it to rack up over 110 million Spotify streams?
Yeah! “City of Angels” was like the one where Omar and I knew it would be a hit, but the label were like “Nah I don’t know about this one.” We were like “I’m telling you guys this is a hit!” So I had to convince them to let me put the song out and from there I ran my own Tiktok campaign, my own marketing campaign, to put up and prove them wrong. Then they were like, “Oh, maybe you were right…”
You clearly did just that! So what inspired you to start doing your “Goldn Advice” series on YouTube?
I mean, I just felt like there wasn’t really anybody out there consistently giving away free game like that on the regular. I’ve been so blessed to have a lot of people share a lot of game with me that I’ve been able to soak up and it’s a big reason why I’m here today. So if I say something that might inspire the next 24kGoldn, that makes me happy and you know, that’s why I do it.
You encourage choosing clothes that fit your individual style rather than following ever-changing fashion trends, who are your style icons?
Style icons would definitely be like ASAP Rocky, Kanye West and there’s just so many people on Instagram at the moment that just dress really really well.
You’ve recently worked with Olivia O’Brien, Clean Bandit, and Mabel. Who would be your dream collaborator?
Me and Drake probably, that’s the goal. I’m just waiting for him to descend from Canada upon a golden OVO private jet and just go “wassup” and I’ll be like “wassup.”
Yeah exactly, sure you’re already ahead of him in the charts this week so anything can happen!
True, idols become rivals haha!
Touring is at a halt for artists due to the pandemic, but what are you most looking forward to when you can get back on the road?
Just seeing everybody’s beautiful face you know, there’s no feeling like live music and performing and putting out that energy and receiving everybody’s energy back on the same level, it’s the best feeling in the world and I miss that more than anything right now because of the pandemic.
What’s next for you? Are you working on an album?
Yeah, I’m working on my album right now, that’s how I’ve been you know, making use of my time during this whole pandemic. My first album is going to be called El Dorado so I’ve been doing a lot of work on that.
Finally, before I let you go, where’s your “happy place”?
That’s it?! That was really short, I was enjoying the conversation!
Don’t wanna waste your time! I’ve really enjoyed it too.
Well, my “happy place” has definitely got to be home in San Francisco in my childhood home with my family you know, I’ve just got such good memories there.