The Earth Boy named Tony22
If you’re on the indie artist side of Tiktok, you’ve probably heard of this artist through his song ‘Earth Boy’ that recently blew up. Meet Tony22, a rising artist from Austin, Texas, hoping to inspire the world one song at a time with his messages of hopefulness and spirituality.
Jordan Steele: Alright, give me three words that describe Tony22.
Tony22: Three words that describe me… I would say curly, spiritual, and confused. Yeah, there’s my entire personality in three words.
JS: So, who are you, where are you from, and how’d you get your start in music?
T22: I am Tony22. I'm from Austin, Texas. I grew up a little bit in LA actually. So, I think that's where I got a lot of my personality from before I moved to Texas. I got my start in music - I originally started playing the drums when I was nine because I used to watch a lot of MTV, and I would see bands like The Jonas Brothers. Lowkey, The Jonas Brothers inspired me to want to play the drums, really. I also grew up on a lot of like, old rock music. Not *old* rock music - I didn't listen to Metallica and stuff like that, but I would say bands like Pierce the Veil would be old to me because that's what I grew up on…
JS: I knew you liked those bands! You look like it! [screams in emo delight]
T22: Yeah, look at me! Are you kidding me?! I listened to a lot of Pierce the Veil, A Day to Remember, Sleeping with Sirens, like all those emo bands. And that made me just like, want to be that for sure. I feel like that that type of music gave me a lot of confidence. But I first started producing because of Skrillex. I guess he made it clear to a lot of kids that you can make music in your bedroom with just a laptop. So I downloaded my first music software, FL Studio, which is the one I still use today, and I started by making really shitty dubstep, which is like still on the internet somewhere. So, I have an EDM background, I guess, and I just fell in love with making music. I'm inspired by a lot of rappers and singers, all different categories, timeframes, and stuff and I just be doing it. It's just a good way for me to express my emotions without feeling guilty about it.
JS: So, who are some of your inspirations outside of music?
T22: That's a good one. I'm really inspired by Elon Musk. Just like his work ethic of being able to do so many different things and not even be fazed by his lifespan. He's just like, ‘I'm gonna fuckin’ build a rocket ship. I want to do it, so I’m going to do it.’ Yeah, that mindset is really inspiring to me. And someone else's mindset that’s really inspiring is Big Sean’s – yeah, he's a musician, but his spirituality and just the way that he views himself and his growth as a person - that really inspires me.
JS: Do you use your spirituality in some way in your music?
T22: Yeah, definitely. I think that's what my music has always been based off since day one. Even before I realized that I was spiritual or before I had a spiritual awakening, I was always obsessed with the afterlife and time and what it is I want to do here and bettering myself and stuff. And then when I had a spiritual awakening, I realized that that's something that a lot of people go through. And using that in my music has been the one thing that's connected with people the most.
“Here and Now” official lyrics and visualizer
JS: What kind of messages do you want to get across in your music?
T22: I want to get across that it's okay to exist the way that you are. And it's okay to be confused, it's okay to be lost in yourself and be lost as you're growing up. Finding yourself, figuring out what all of this is, and just putting that through in music, letting kids know that hey, if you make a mistake in life, you can talk about it and you don't have to just forget your problems ever. There are people out there that relate to what you're feeling. All of my music has different messages each time, but the message is always so clear in each one.
JS: What’s your songwriting process like?
T22: I think when I have a song in mind, especially if it has a really deep, spiritual message, it's never me that writes the song. My mentor says this: it's like a spiritual download from a higher source. When that download gets put into my brain, I just get into this flow state of writing to where I don't even realize that I'm writing. Like when I wrote my most recent song ‘Shadow Work’, which is, I feel like, one of the deepest messages that I have about, you know, dealing with your demons and your bad habits and all of that stuff. I remember I woke up one day and I was just feeling super gross and just dark and down on myself and I just literally got on the mic and wrote that whole song within 20 minutes.
“Shadow Work” (feat. Tanner Hoyt - guitar, Clunis - bass, & Zach Kursman - drums)
T22: There are also other songs where it takes me like six months to write it. Sometimes it's just a spiritual download where my higher self is just like ‘you need to say this right now’. Another song that happened like that was ‘Here and Now.’ I went on a walk and was meditating, and I told my higher self, ‘I'm giving you myself to control me. Do whatever you feel like this body can do to benefit this world in some way.’ And as soon as I got back into my house and into my bedroom I just wrote that song. I didn't even realize that I was writing. So sometimes it's just like a download and sometimes it's like I'm thinking about it too much, but I like it when it's faster, though.
JS: I think as long as there’s meaning behind it, it doesn’t matter if the process is fast or slow.
T22: Yeah, definitely. ‘Earth Boy’, which is one of my biggest songs, took me I think about five or six months to really finish it. I wrote the first verse, waited a few months, wrote the second verse, waited a few more months and then wrote the hook. It all happened so slow yet it's still my biggest track.
A tiktok created by Tony22 featuring his song “Earth Boy”
JS: Where do you think you are now in your career and where do you want to be in 1 year?
T22: I don't know. I'll be completely honest, there are a days where I feel like I am the shit. There are days where I feel like I haven't done anything. And I haven't done enough. So it's a hard one, for sure. I definitely think that every year, I grow bigger and grow closer to my truth and my destiny of being an artist, but I think when I get down to it, and I asked myself the question, what is it that I want to do, what I want to achieve, and my answer is always like I want to impact people's lives. And I want to see if I've changed people for the better.
JS: How do you measure success as an artist?
T22: I measure if I am making a positive impact in people's lives. And if I am able to use the thing that's in my brain, my creativity, to support a lifestyle and buy things so that I can further use my creativity to serve in this world. I feel like everything that we do as people, if it's serving other people, then you are working hard and you're successful in a way. And I feel like as creatives, that's our job - to serve in a creative way to help people escape reality, to help people feel loved and listened to.
JS: What are some of your values as a human?
T22: I think compassion is something that I've learned this year is most important and it's not just compassion to good things but like compassion with the negative too. Like, understanding that this world may seem fucked up and broken to a lot of people, but having compassion with that and knowing that, like, in the brokenness of this world, there's always the other side. There's always viewing things from another perspective. Everyone's growing, everyone is only doing the best that they can with the consciousness that they have in the position that they're in. So just having compassion and forgiveness in the people who have hurt you in life, or forgiveness to yourself if you've hurt people in life. You know like you can't live in the past. Always, always moving forward, staying in the present moment, forgiving yourself, being compassionate.
JS: I love it, I love it. So my last question for you: Do you have any new projects you’re working on right now that you can share with us?
T22: Yes, we are working on the new album called ‘2-2-2’. I don't know when it's going to be out, but it will be out. There will be a remastered version of ‘Earth Boy.’ There’s gonna be some features and fun stuff, projects, and challenges happening with that. Yeah, that's basically it - a bunch of new music, always.
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