SC Unplugged: House DJ from USC finds success with over 1.5 million plays on his first release – uscannenbergmedia.com

USC student Grant Pallokat is a prominent house artist and DJ who goes by the name Gkat. (Photo courtesy of Amy Lee)
Free time between his summer real estate internship turned into the makings of a viral TikTok video for Grant Pallokat. Better known to the music world as house artist and DJ Gkat, Pallokat recorded snippets of his first release “Peace of Mind” as he was dressed in his suit before work. The song, which samples “United in Grief” by Kendrick Lamar (which originally samples “Paradise” by NOT THE TWOS), has now reached over 1.5 million plays on Spotify alone. Just a year later, Pallokat is gearing up to release his new house track “Come my Way” and take on DJing full time.

Annenberg Media chatted with Pallokat about his path to becoming a DJ, from the platforms he learned on to teasing his first release “Peace of Mind.”

Full transcript has been edited for clarity.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Hi. My name is Grant Pallokat. I am from Mahwah, New Jersey. I’m a junior at USC. I’m a real estate major. And yeah, I started getting into music in high school. I started DJing around junior year of high school, just doing things at friends houses, and then fast forward till college I started getting into music production. And from there yeah, I’ve kind of been following that production route while still doing DJ gigs, wherever I can.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Yeah, I think traditionally, house music, when it was first coming up was mainly just, you know, original songs. And now I feel like there’s this new wave of sampling. Sampling, I mean, it’s always been used. But I feel like now more than ever, people use these popular songs and kind of switch the genre entirely, and chop up the vocals, pitch them higher or lower, speed them up or slow them down. And yeah, kind of puts them into this new genre that has been spreading so much over the past few years.
I mean, you have people like Avicii, who helped grow house music as a whole. And then you have, you know, new artists like Cloonee’s gotten very big recently for sampling a lot of rap songs. John Summit just did a remix of “Sweet Disposition” that just went crazy on the charts. So yeah, it’s part of that. I guess you call it like a subgenre of house music where it’s sampling. I’ve still like made originals, but with the song “Peace of Mind,” it was a sample from a rap song.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I started — I was just a rap fan. I only liked rap music and my parents would play country music. So I was a fan of country music, went to a few Kenny Chesney shows in my time. And then as I got to, I would say, my junior year, I had a friend whose older brother was in college, and he got really big into house music, started going to a bunch of shows. He started DJing himself. I would go over to his house. I would listen to the music he was playing. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is neat.’ Like, it’s something new that, you know, I might like, and then yeah, I went to my first show my junior year summer. It was RÜFÜS DU SOL at Red Rocks. And that was where I got hooked right away. I was like, ‘Oh like this was…’ It was like such a cool experience, something I was not used to. And yeah, from then on I was really big. I started listening to new artists like Eric Prydz was another artist I got into very early that kind of shifted my like of rap music into house music. And then from then on, I got my DJ board. I started, you know, watching YouTube videos, DJing over and over. COVID was happening. So I had a lot of time on my own in my room. I would just be watching YouTube videos and learning how to DJ. And, you know, finding more and more house music and getting into different subgenres of house music, like, you know, there’s tech house. There’s melodic house, progressive house. And yeah, so I just kept DJing.
Nothing serious, though. It never was on my mind to do a gig or anything. It was mainly just for, you know, it was like a hobby for me. And then, yeah, I got into USC, decided to come here. I was an economics major, and then later switched into real estate. And it was my freshman year spring where I had a little coffee talk with the guy who’s graduated who’s in management right now. And he was like, ‘Oh, yeah, like I saw you got this gig. Have you done any, you know, music gigs before?’ I was like, ‘No, I haven’t. This is my first one.’ I was playing USC lacrosse. So I still wasn’t really thinking of music at all. And yeah, so I did my first gig, it went very well. I had all my friends come. And I saw the energy of the crowd and everything. I was like, ‘Oh, you know what, this could be something that I do that people enjoy, including myself.’ So then I was like, ‘What separates DJs from artists?’ and it’s that these big DJs play their own music. And one of the main things that they told me, or that I was told is like, ‘You can’t really go that deep into you know, being a quote-unquote, DJ unless you make your own music and by playing your own music at your sets.’ So yeah, I got introduced to Ableton, which is the DAW I use for music. And yeah, from then it took me probably six months to just get a simple kick sound out of it. I was just watching YouTube videos on YouTube videos. I was reaching out to other friends at the school who had been producing for a little bit. And yeah, and that’s kind of how I got into producing.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: So then, from then on, when I got my first gig, I started reaching out to a bunch of different clubs and people who were in the industry, saying like, ‘Hey, if you have any spots open, I’m super available.’ And yeah, so I got a few more gigs, did some like Catch One, one at Poppy. There’s a bunch of random clubs around LA. And then I finally was like, ‘Alright. I gotta sit down and try to make a song.’ So I met up with my friend, Nate Rippy, who’s also a DJ at USC. And he kind of showed me some of his project files. He was very helpful with helping me make, you know, my first song that I didn’t end up releasing. That was just my first song that I made. And then yeah, it was just trial and error. I kept going on Ableton and trying to make a bunch of music. Obviously, a lot of it didn’t sound very good, but it was all part of ultimately getting my first song out. And then to transition til when I got my first song released, I was working at a real estate brokerage in Irvine, California and I was staying around USC, just alone in my apartment and I had a lot of time to practice producing music. And I was scrolling through TikTok one day, and I saw a random post like ‘rap samples that have been loved over the years’ or something. And the sample in “Peace of Mind,” which is a song “United in Grief” by Kendrick Lamar, came up on my page, and I was like, ‘Oh, this sounds super cool.’ This as a house song would be, you know, I think it would flow very well. I started working on it.
I was seeing these DJs pop off on TikTok, and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m waking up at 5 a.m. every day to go to my internship. I might as well just posted a TikTok. There’s nothing to lose.’ A lot of my videos, you can see me in a suit right before I’m going to work and I would just record a little TikTok, post it and just think nothing of it for the rest of the day. And I did that for about a week and a half, two weeks. And then as I’m at work one day, in my suit at my little desk, and I’m just doing busy work for the other people in the company. One of my buddies texted me like, ‘Hey, your TikTok is popping off right now. You already have like 30k plays on it.’ And I posted at 5 a.m. This is mid-afternoon, like 12 or one o’clock. And I’m like, ‘Oh, there’s no way.” So, I go on my little lunch break. I open back up TikTok and at this point, it was at like 70,000 plays, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is actually you know, doing some numbers. People actually like it.’ So then, yeah, I got back from work that day. I was like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna dial in the song, really try to make it better and then post another TikTok in the morning.’ So that’s what I did. I go back to my place, locked myself in my room, worked on it for about four or five hours, and then woke up the next morning, posted another TikTok. And then this one, like, doubled in numbers. I think now it’s at like 300,000 plays. And yeah, once I saw that pop off, I was like, ‘Alright, well, I gotta do something with this. I can’t just let this float around in files.’
So then you know, I had a bunch of people texting me like random A&Rs and managers, saying like, ‘Oh, we want to release a song with you.’ I decided to just do an independent release. So I teased it a few more times on my own and then first released it on SoundCloud. And then the following week, got it released on Apple Music, Spotify, I think it’s on YouTube music. But yeah, that was how I ended up releasing my first song, which is now 1.3 million streams. So ya no, it’s been a fun journey for sure.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: It was crazy. It was honestly very shocking just because I haven’t taken any classes in music. I’d never taken production lessons other than just YouTube videos and talking to other people who made music. So when I saw that reaction, I was like — you know, it’s very easy to be hard on yourself when you’re starting off making music because you watch these videos of these big artists and you’re like, ‘Ah, my song does not sound anything close to this.’ But when I saw the reaction I was shocked to see that you know everyone just starts somewhere and then gets to wherever they’re at. And it doesn’t always have to be a big artist making a song that gets a good reaction. It can be an artist like me who had never released a song before and then also getting a good reaction from people like all over.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Another thing that I was very proud of for myself was, I’d get Instagram DMs, like, ‘Hey, I’m trying to get into DJing. How do you get into it? Or how do you start getting into making music?’ And I was sending the same DMs to people a year before. And I was like, ‘Just keep watching YouTube videos. Here’s the videos I watched, and just stay consistent throughout. And don’t be afraid to share your music with other people because you have no idea when it’s just gonna skyrocket.’
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Max Styler, he’s one of the artists I’ve been listening to a lot recently. You know, he’s on the younger side. He has been producing for a while. But I’ve been following him for a good amount of time, so I’ve been able to see his progression, which has been really cool. Other artists, I’d say that I get a good influence from is, like I mentioned before Cloonee, he’s really big in sampling. He uses very cool samples. And then just the guys who have been in the industry for much longer. Solomun, he’s one of those guys who’s been doing it for so long and has had so much success. And he hasn’t slowed down at all. You still see him selling out the biggest venues and the most new venues. It goes to show that it’s not necessarily just a short-term thing, but it could also be a long-term thing. So I’ve been taking a lot of influence from that, and kind of using that to tell myself like, ‘Alright listen it’s one thing about just putting out music, but like building a whole brand around it, and being able to tap into different markets.’ So you could sample a jazz song and there’s people who like that certain jazz song. And they’re also like, ‘Oh, this is a cool version of that.’ So I think that’s one of the benefits of sampling. But also what I’ve been getting into more recently is doing originals. I’ve collabed with a few vocalists, who I can’t name yet, but we are releasing songs together, which I’m very excited for, because I think it’s mutually beneficial to me and to the vocalists. And it’s cool just people from completely different music backgrounds coming together on a song and having, like I might be good at music production, but you probably won’t hear me singing on a track unless I auto-tune everything in it. But collabing with someone like some vocalists and making originals is also awesome because you go from the ground up. And when you have that final version of the song, it’s like so cool to hear it from just a vocal to the entire song itself.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Yeah no, so when I first heard it in the Kendrick song, obviously, immediately I was like, ‘This is so cool. Where’d he get it from?’ So then I looked into the original where he got it from. I mean, that was where I realized, alright here’s the song that Kendrick turned into a rap song that could also be turned into a house song. So when I heard it, I was like alright if he could, because when you listen to the original, and you listen to his song, it’s pitched higher. It’s much slower. So when I thought about sampling it, I listened to other examples of house artists sampling rap songs. So there’s a bunch of people on SoundCloud who do it daily.
I saw FISHER in Vegas for my buddy’s birthday. And the first song that he opened with was he sampled “Gin and Juice.” And it was another rap song I heard that was like, ‘Damn, I never thought that could have been a house song.’ But it worked. The crowd went crazy, as always. But yeah, just getting back to using that Kendrick song as a sample. There’s another guy Tobiahs who’s also used it. He just released a house song with it. And yeah, I think it’s so cool that you could use samples from other songs and completely twist them, chop them up and make it into your own.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: My next song that I’m releasing is actually an original. But the issue with sampling songs is sometimes you run into trouble. A lot of them I mean, you could find them on websites, where it’s royalty free, so you’re allowed to use a sample. But I just sampled a Drake song. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to ever release that. I mean, I could throw it on SoundCloud, but I won’t be able to release that. Because getting the clearance from that would cost a lot of money. But yeah, I definitely want to keep sampling songs. I actually just got asked to make an edit of a Lil Yachty song called “Wu Tang.” So that could be very cool. If I finish that up, and they like it. It could be a Lil Yachty collab, who knows. But yeah, that’d be very cool. And then tapping into original vocals too is cool. As I said, seeing the whole song getting built from start to finish. But there’s a handful of ways to get vocals. There’s software like Splice and Loopcloud that is kind of an artists’ library, where you could find a kick drum, hats, percussion, synths, baselines. And you can also find vocals on there that are clear and free to use by anyone. So you’ll be going through this site, and you’ll hear a vocal, you’d be like, ‘Huh, this is where they got it.’ And you go look at the song and it’s blown up. So it’s very cool that all artists are allowed to use it. It’s not very expensive either and you could find any sound you could imagine on there.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Yeah, I remember when I was — because like I said, I’d never taken a music class or anything. So when all these people are commenting on my videos, like, ‘Oh, you gotta release this, you gotta release this.’ Then I’m saying to myself like, ‘I’ve no idea how to release a song. Like, I don’t even know where to start.’ So I’m back on YouTube, like ‘how to release a song for the first time,’ texting people I know that have released songs before. And then yeah, I heard of DistroKid. It’s just distrokid.com. You have to get a membership, but it’s very helpful. It’s where you put in all the information for the song. It’s where you give credits. And yeah, no, it’s very helpful with getting your songs out to those platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I think one thing, I mean, one of the reasons I got into DJing is because even when I’m just playing, when I started DJing at my friend’s house, one of my good girl friends, Cameron, we’d be in her basement, and it would be, you know, probably 10 or 15 of us. But when you play a song, no matter what song it is, it could just be a pop song, any type of dance song. And when you see the effect it could have on just the whole vibe of the environment. That was kind of what got me hooked. Where you could change the emotion of, now it’s crowds, by just playing a song. So, I think my goal for that song was to kind of recreate that vibe whenever it was played. So when you’re at a show, and you’re playing a song, people are kind of just standing around looking at each other. And then my goal was to when I played that song, the energy just be boosted. And then it was very cool. It was very cool to go, I had a show in New York at Somewhere Nowhere. It’s a rooftop. And I opened up with that song. And it was very cool to see people know the words, people tapping out the kicks in the air. Yeah, it was very cool to see it go from just me in my bedroom at my apartment to me at a club and seeing the whole transition from it.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I think one of the main things I try to do when I’m DJing is to just have energy. I’ve noticed, just going to shows myself when you have a DJ who is playing music, but kind of sitting there and just doing what they do, which is twist knobs, click buttons, and transition songs. It is completely different from a DJ who does that, but is jumping up and down, getting the crowd involved. When you see a DJ who has energy up there, it’s contagious. If you see a DJ jumping, you start jumping. It’s just kind of one of those natural things. So I noted that from just going to shows and I tried to do the same with my sets by trying to get that energy going through the other people in the crowd. And just trying to keep that energy going throughout the whole set, not just the first 15 minutes or the last 15, but throughout the whole thing just so people who come to the show have the best experience I could offer.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: So, for my first set, which was, as I said, my freshman year of college, I prepped for so long. I figured out which songs I was playing, when I was going to transition them. I practiced doing the transitions, probably like 50-plus times. I went to a studio off West Adams called Pirate Studios where we could rent a little DJ booth. And, yeah, I went there with my buddies, and I just practiced the set over and over and over. And that was my first time putting the whole list down of what songs I’m going to do in a row. And then as I kept going, I did it for the first probably five to 10 sets I did. And then as you get more comfortable playing on the DJ board itself, and in front of other people you just don’t need as much preparation. Obviously, if I was playing like a stadium or Coachella, I mean, I would do the same thing, I would prep for hours and hours and hours. But I’ve noticed that as I’ve gone on, it’s kind of easier to go on the fly. And I almost think it’s better to go on the fly. Because depending on the energy of the crowd, you play different music. And if I’m playing a rooftop, I’m not going to play a very fast tempo song. I want to play a more mellow, vibey type of song. So I think it all depends one, where you’re playing. Also depends on the energy of the crowd. And also depends on what you want to play. A lot of times you see DJs play things that other people want to hear, which is definitely an important aspect of it. But you also want to play the music you like. Because essentially, that’s where you’re gonna have fun is by playing the stuff you like, not just what other people like.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: One thing I found that’s worked for me overall, has been being relatable. So you see for my first videos, I was doing an internship, and making music whenever I was able to. I think a lot of people related to that, because I guarantee there’s hundreds of other people who have the aspiration of being an artist, but they’re stuck doing an internship in sales or accounting or whatever it is. So I think by doing that people were like, ‘Oh, this is really cool. I’m doing the same thing. I’m just not posting videos about it.’ So I think that was one of the things that allowed me to get recognition first. Also, I mean, it’s a DJ, wearing a suit on TikTok. You don’t really see it every day. So I think that was one of the things where people were like, ‘Oh, this is this is odd.’ And just leave a like so that’s what worked for me then. People unfortunately wanted me to keep wearing a suit, which I was definitely not going to do. I’ve worn suits a little too much. But then what I’ve noticed started working for me was once again being relatable being like, ‘Hey, just got back from class. I thought I’d show you guys a song.’ But then for my approach for teasing music, and when I want to release music, I’ll post a video and see if it gets attraction. I’ll usually post a few before. I stop posting it if it doesn’t get attraction. I’ll be like, ‘I’ll come back to this another time.’ But when I post a song and I see people interacting with it. So I’ll start with the first drop of the song and if people interact with that, the second drop is even bigger and more complex. So, then I’ll post the second drop. And then I kind of lead off that I try to get as creative as possible. For my last song release, “Red Roses,” was around Christmas time. So you know I’m wearing a Santa hat, have a glass of wine in my hand. But yeah, you just ty to do things that make people stay and watch because obviously, you want them to hear the song. But if you’re just sitting there, they’re not necessarily going to hear the song. So I’ll throw on shades. I’ll dance in the video, but I enjoy doing it. It makes it fun. It makes it less of a job that you have to do, and more of something that you get to do, which I think is very important because once you stop having fun with it, it becomes a chore rather than a you know, you have the ability to share this music.
But yeah, TikTok helped me out a bunch, helped me gain a lot of attraction. And then Instagram reels as well, posting reels. And then yeah, so that’s mainly what I do for teasing music. And then other things is just sharing. People want to know who you are, not just the song. So, I’ll still post videos of just my friends and I at a show. Just because I remember when I was watching DJ videos, I’m like, ‘Yeah, this song is sick, but I don’t really know them.’ And then I would see them like I’d see a guy with his friends at a show or playing golf. And then he’d just post a song right after. And I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re just like me, so anyone could do this.’ So I try to do that and just incorporate the lifestyle portion of it, as well as the music portion of it. So just trying to make it seem like it’s just trying to show a day-to-day, getting back from class or coming back from an internship or whatever it is. And I’ve seen that work for a bunch of artists as well.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: This is a funny story. So when I had first posted the TikTok I posted that blew up for “Peace of Mind.” When I was into work the next day, I had a mentor in work. And when I walked in, he was kind of looking at me a little goofy. I looked at him like, ‘What’s going on? Anything happening? Am I all good?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s so funny. All the guys in the office today, we’re just watching your TikTok this morning. And we were all betting whether it was you or not. Was it you?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, no, it’s me.’ And then when we would walk in then they would just play it. It was quite funny experiencing those two clash. Thankfully, the market leader didn’t see that because I would say like, ‘Oh, finally got back from work.’ But no, it all worked out. And it was funny to see the two worlds collide with the music and the real estate.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: Yeah, one of the things I’ve been talking to recently with my manager was, it’s kind of on that same page of building the brand. So I’ve been working on, you know, he wanted me to send him a bunch of photos of what I want with the artwork. You see a lot of DJs, they have artwork that kind of follows a certain theme for each of their song posts. So yeah, I’ve been kind of looking to see what I like, what art I like. Today I was in my buddy’s room, he had a cool picture on his wall. I took a picture of it. So that’s what I’m working on right now. I think there’s a few different ways to do it. You see, if you’re making tropical music, it’s going to be all palm trees and sunsets and stuff. And then house music can do the same, but it could also go a different route. It could be city, like under street lamps, like that type of vibe. So I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do. But I think it’s important to have the music follow the image if that makes sense. And I think it also has to do with, like I said, the videos you post. If you’re just sitting there just playing the cover of a song, and just the song playing in the background that only shows so much, but if you see the artist is outgoing, and doing all these other things, I think it’s cool to incorporate that into the art, so to speak.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: But it’s very cool seeing for example, when “Saltburn” came out, there was a “Murder on the Dance Floor” edit, that just went absolutely crazy. Every big DJ is playing it. So it’s cool seeing how other areas in the creative industry can push original songs, and how those original songs can turn into house songs and it all kind of connects in a way. And then you have the house song which needs a nice album cover, a single cover, so then it ties the art into it. So I think it’s very cool seeing, like for those two examples, seeing how movies can help push songs to kind of skyrocket, even if that song had been out for a very long time and then just resurfaced. And it got huge, which is also one of the things that, you know, TikTok does with songs. Because posting clips from the movie and that audio in the background. I mean, everyone knew that audio. Everyone knows the “Dune” audio. It’s just one of those things where once it becomes popular just on social media, how artists who hop on that first you kind of notice they get a very big interaction from the audience.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I officially got a manager. So I’m doing music full-time this summer. It was definitely hard to convince my dad that he sent his son to USC to study real estate or economics and then tell him like, ‘Hey, Dad, I think I want to do music.’ It was definitely a tricky conversation to have. And Dad, if you’re listening to this I still haven’t told you but I want to pursue it full time. Hopefully, I get to have that conversation before then. But the way I leveraged it was kinda I did the internship and actually got a return offer for after school, which made the decision much easier. So it was kind of like, I have a plan if this doesn’t work out. And I decided that this summer could be one of my last opportunities to take it full time. So why not give it a shot? Keep posting videos, making new songs, collabing with other artists who have been in the industry for longer, and seeing where it takes me.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I’m gonna be staying in LA. I mean, I’m going to be traveling a lot, just to play shows in different states, different cities to try to get more recognition in other markets than just LA or USC, more specifically. But I’ll be in LA because there are a lot of artists that live locally in Los Angeles. I feel like that’s one of the benefits of being at USC is because there are a handful of artists who reside in LA when they’re not touring or playing shows in other states. So I’ve been trying to figure out what artist I’m gonna collab with, or just sitting in a studio session of artists and just kind of learning from them. But then I will be going back to New Jersey. I want to play a show in Brooklyn this summer that I’m working on right now, throwing my first pop-up. So that should be fun. And good to see my friends from home who only really see me DJing on Instagram or TikTok. I don’t get to see them more than twice a year because they all have their own aspirations. But yeah, I’m excited to travel, kind of spread the music I’ve been making.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: The song I’m releasing next is called “Come my Way.” I just teased it for the first time last week. It’s gonna be getting teased a lot more, but it’s a new song. It’s obviously a house song. It’s more the minimal house aspect. I’d say it has an influence from a lot of the Solid Grooves DJs, which is a minimal house label. Yeah, I came about it. It was a sample I found on Splice. And I was actually on the plane home from school when I started it and then I resurfaced it around December. So I was going home again. And I was like, ‘Oh, let me work on a project on the plane.’ And I went back to it, listened to it, didn’t like it, but I was like, ‘But, this could be cool.’ Which I kind of do often. I’ll create tracks and then come back to them another time. And yeah, I sent it to a few of my buddies, which I do very often. I’ll send songs to them and get their intel on it and they all liked it. And they’re honest with me, they’ll tell me if they don’t like it. They’re like, ‘Nah, this is not it.’ But yeah, they said they liked it. They told me a few things to change. Because you know, they go to shows themselves. They kind of know. And yeah, so I’m working right now on releasing it through a label. I’m not sure what label yet. But it would be my first release through a label, which is very exciting. I think it separates you once you have a song on a label it’s kind of like a head nod from other artists.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I was actually talking about this with one of my friends the other day. I was saying when they’re all working at their office jobs, wherever they are, whether it’s New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, I was saying my dream would be getting shows throughout the US. Like going to New York, for example, and being able to text all my friends like, ‘Hey, I have a show at this venue. You’re all coming backstage with me. I’ll see you guys on Thursday.’ Being able to do that would be so cool because obviously I want to enjoy myself but I also love being able to enjoy it with my friends. I mean, yeah, sometimes you’re gonna have to like — if I go to Europe, for example, I highly doubt my friends will travel there to see a show, unless it was very big. But I think being able to travel, DJ and still being able to have my friends experience it with me and my family. I think that would be my ultimate goal and also just making a living off it. But yeah, more than anything what I told them was, if I send them a text in the next two years, saying, ‘Hey, you’re gonna have to leave work early Friday. We got this going on.’ That would be my ultimate goal.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Pallokat: I kind of touched on this before but what I think I find most fulfilling is being able to see a song just from the very beginning, the very start of it to its finish and then seeing people know the song when you’re playing it sets. I think that was my first kind of ‘Ah’ moment where I was able to make a song. Because I mean, I’m making it in my bedroom, in a frat house on a small desk, you know, as people are walking in and walking out. I’m recording TikToks. People are just interrupting, which I mean I love every bit of it, don’t get me wrong, but being able to see it, you know, you could be in such a small area, and then being able to reach out to such a broad audience. And then I think, where I found the most fulfilling aspect of it was being at a show playing a song that I just made, and seeing people sing the words just from hearing it on social media, hearing it by word of mouth, hearing it just being played on Spotify. I think that is what I find most fulfilling about making music. It’s also being able to just change the energy in a room at any given moment. You know, just pull the DJ board out, plug in the speaker, and you start playing music and you could completely change your room from silent and nothing going on to you just make it a party.
[Musical Interlude: “Peace of Mind” by Gkat]
Host: You’ve been listening to SC Unplugged, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the inspirations, creative processes and musical goals of your favorite Trojan artists.

1
2
3
4
5
About Annenberg Media • Contact Us • Get Involved
uscannenbergmedia.com © 2024 USC Annenberg Media
uscannenbergmedia.com © 2024 USC Annenberg Media

source