working hello and welcome to my brand
00:06
new kitchen nook corner things magic
00:11
this is a brand new corner of my
00:14
apartment that I've decorated it's in my
00:16
kitchen this is where I have my morning
00:17
coffee now where you breakfast or like
00:19
sit and read I have this cute little
00:22
like space heater here that keeps me
00:23
warm because it's pretty cold on that
00:25
late nights these days and I don't mean
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just like chill like actually cold like
00:28
freezing temperatures because global
00:31
warming is real today's segment is an RT
00:32
video so those of you guys who don't
00:35
know what an RT is it is where I make
00:36
art drink tea and just chat about my
00:38
life and things that I'm thinking about
00:40
and talk about things that you guys want
00:42
me to talk about today I am NOT drinking
00:44
tea and drinking coffee but in a way
00:46
what defines tea something that you soak
00:48
water in and coffee grounds are soaked
00:51
in water to make coffee so in a way it's
00:54
tea I haven't had my morning coffee yet
00:56
I just want coffee fight me
00:57
I'm also stolen my PJ's but they're cute
00:58
anyway so it doesn't really matter
01:00
before I get into today's video I'm very
01:08
pleased to announce that this video is
01:11
sponsored by NBC's brand-new TV show
01:12
rise this show is super exciting it's by
01:14
the same producers as Friday Night
01:17
Lights and Hamilton so geesh an NBC let
01:19
humble little me see the first episode
01:22
basically this whole entire show is
01:25
centered around a working-class high
01:27
school drama department and the whole
01:28
class is rotten by this super passionate
01:30
teacher and family man who totally
01:33
changes the students lives and like
01:35
galvanizes the whole town as you all
01:37
know I'm from a small town and growing
01:39
up I always heard that big things don't
01:41
happen to kids from small towns when I
01:43
was in high school everybody knew that I
01:45
knew that I wanted to pursue a career in
01:49
music and the students were just
01:51
terrible to me they were so mean they
01:52
would pick on me endlessly I've been
01:55
told on many occasions that I'd never
01:57
even make it out of the town they'd even
01:58
play my songs in the hallways during
02:00
passing period to embarrass me and just
02:03
to like make fun of the things that I
02:05
was passionate about they would do
02:07
everything in their power to try to
02:08
convince me that I wasn't capable of
02:10
becoming an artist many times it felt
02:12
like the whole entire town was just
02:14
laughing at me like you really think you
02:16
can do this but in that town there were
02:18
two people who always believed in me no
02:20
matter what and those two people were my
02:23
art teachers they would watch all of my
02:25
videos and listen to all of my songs in
02:26
the car they were always there to
02:29
nurture my dreams even when I didn't
02:31
believe in myself they believed in me
02:33
and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't
02:35
have had the courage to pursue an
02:37
artistic career if it weren't for them I
02:39
don't think I'd even have ever made it
02:41
out of that tiny Texan town but alas I
02:43
did and I live in LA I have my own
02:46
apartment the show really reminds me of
02:48
my art teachers like the teacher in the
02:50
show they always taught me to dare to
02:52
dream the cast is super diverse and I
02:53
think that anybody can relate to the
02:55
themes of the show you can watch the
02:57
series premiere on March 13 at 10:00 to
02:59
9:00 central on NBC and if you want any
03:01
more information you can click on the
03:04
link in the description below thank you
03:05
Embassy for sponsoring this video and
03:06
for letting me tell my little story from
03:08
my art to today I kind of wanted to talk
03:10
a little bit about my life and how I
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pursued an artistic career today I am
03:15
just sketching some I drew this dude do
03:17
you see him he has clips in his hair I'm
03:21
just kind of like sketching today
03:23
because I just finished something like
03:24
not that long ago and so I'm just kind
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of like brainstorming sketch a one day I
03:29
kind of want to release like a little
03:31
booklet of all my little sketches that I
03:32
do just because I think it'd be really
03:34
fun I get a lot of questions about how I
03:36
found the courage to actually pursue an
03:39
artistic career I know a lot of you guys
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are kind of at this point in your life
03:44
where you know that you should be going
03:45
to college and you should be pursuing
03:47
business degree or something that you're
03:50
not passionate about it's a really hard
03:52
thing to actually pursue because it's so
03:54
risky and like I said earlier it's
03:56
almost as if the whole world just laughs
03:59
at you and you tell them that you want
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to become an artist when I was in high
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school people really didn't believe in
04:05
me except for my two are teachers and
04:07
it's kind of hard because you know that
04:09
it's everyone's expectation that you're
04:13
not actually gonna succeed I truly truly
04:14
don't believe that I would have pursued
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a career in the arts if I hadn't already
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been working at it for like nine years
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I've been making videos since I was nine
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years old so I put so much effort into
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cultivating the things that I loved that
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I felt like if I didn't do it it'd be
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such a waste like I've been doing this
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for so long why would I just throw it
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all away that was one of the things that
04:37
just kept me ignoring what everyone was
04:39
saying everyone always told me Oh Conan
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you gotta have a back-up plan you gotta
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have this and that and yeah it's smart
04:45
it's always smart to have a back-up plan
04:47
but I knew what I wanted to do and any
04:49
fears that I wasn't gonna be able to
04:52
succeed just diminished the second I
04:54
realized how hard I've been working at
04:57
this end and how people don't know how
04:59
much work has gone into the things that
05:02
I love people often write off artists as
05:05
these kids are just like doodling in
05:07
their sketchbooks it's never the case
05:08
adults love to totally just discredit
05:10
kids work because they don't think that
05:13
it's serious or don't think that it's
05:15
gonna lead to a career but you never
05:18
if you tell a kid that they're not gonna
05:22
be successful and they don't pursue it
05:24
that they're not gonna be successful
05:26
because you're not giving them the
05:27
chance to try it's a scary scary thing
05:28
for sure and everyone who's deciding
05:31
what they want to do in college right
05:34
now my heart goes out to you because
05:35
it's a confusing time a lot of people
05:37
ask me why I didn't go to art school and
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my clear answer is after doing art in
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high school for four years like going to
05:45
the art classes and
05:48
the competitions and everything I really
05:49
grew to just loathe the process of like
05:51
being told what to make and then making
05:55
it and like doing well but like who
05:57
cares I didn't enjoy the process at all
05:59
I didn't get to draw something that I
06:01
wanted to draw so what's the point even
06:03
I knew that music was a better creative
06:05
outlet for me and I knew that I was in
06:08
that hate making art if I pursued it as
06:10
career so I wanted to leave like drawing
06:12
as something that I do on my free time
06:15
and music is more like a courier thing
06:17
just because I felt like it was a better
06:20
representation of Who I am it's so hard
06:22
to trust yourself and I know that but
06:24
eventually you just have to take a hold
06:27
of your own life and say if this is what
06:30
I really want to do then you have to do
06:32
it because I knew that the thought of
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missing out on some career that I really
06:36
wanted to have would be so much more
06:39
painful than pursuing it and then
06:40
potentially being very poor and having
06:43
nothing I knew that if I was like 45 and
06:46
like had a business degree I was working
06:49
at a company and I have like children
06:51
but looked back on my life and didn't
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pursue any of the things I was really
06:55
passionate about I knew that I would
06:56
hate that so much more than going to
06:58
college pursuing art and then being poor
07:00
they've got snot the case for you then
07:02
maybe you shouldn't pursue a career in
07:04
art because for some people and I
07:05
totally understand it art is this very
07:07
creative thing and it's nice to have it
07:09
as like an outlet not a work source
07:12
because once it becomes work you don't
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really get that much creative freedom I
07:16
have to focus I'm drawing like a curl
07:19
right now I'm drawing a person not any
07:21
person in particular just a face that my
07:25
brain has come up with someone told me
07:28
that when you draw like random faces
07:30
your brain like subconsciously selects a
07:33
person to draw but you just don't know
07:36
that someone also told me that everyone
07:37
in your dream you've seen before and
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real life like your brain can't just
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make up a person I don't know if that's
07:44
true but I'd like to think is true
07:46
because that's super amazing I put pen
07:47
in his hair because I saw this really
07:49
adorable photo of some dude backstage at
07:51
a just like I stopped mid-sentence to
07:54
drink coffee backstage at a photoshoot
07:57
or some kind of like runway and he was
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like getting his makeup done and they
08:04
were like spraying water on him and he
08:05
had these like cute little pins in his
08:07
hair and it just kind of blew my mind
08:09
that there's the cutest bird on my tree
08:11
outside right now oh my gosh I wonder if
08:14
I could show go please don't please
08:16
don't please don't move Oh bye I'm so
08:18
sidetracked that's how Artie always goes
08:24
oh they're talking about Ella [ __ ] you
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I'm just a little boy don't take me my
08:28
apartment I was like shake someone how
08:30
the plane goes by models it always blows
08:32
my mind that the pinnacles of like
08:35
masculinity and men and like what
08:37
everyone sees when they go sighing like
08:40
what the media projects as like a man in
08:42
reality does all of the things that men
08:45
aren't allowed to do like get their hair
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done and get facials and like get
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mani-pedis and get their makeup done
08:53
like it's just so ironic isn't that
08:55
ironic that shouldn't be the case since
08:57
male models the like pinnacle of what a
09:00
man should be do it then shouldn't all
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men do it I don't know the world is a
09:06
silly place ever since I made that girly
09:09
boy video of me painting my nails I've
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been thinking a lot more about the
09:13
juxtaposition of like what reality is
09:15
and what we perceive it as I've just
09:17
been thinking a lot about the extent
09:21
that we go through to push sexist ideals
09:22
on people there are so many things that
09:25
we do subconsciously and we don't even
09:27
notice the other day I was sitting at
09:28
dinner with my friends you're talking
09:30
about a date that my friend had just
09:32
gone on and she proposed the question
09:33
like who do you think should have paid
09:35
in this situation and I go well of
09:37
course the guy and she was like why
09:40
though I asked him on the date and I was
09:41
like you're right like that's stupid and
09:44
like if you asked the person on the date
09:46
shouldn't you pick is you're the one
09:48
who's like taking him out and I was like
09:50
wow I'm just like a hit in a sec
09:52
listen I don't know it really got me
09:53
thinking there's this photo of me that's
09:56
one of my favorite photos in the whole
09:58
entire world I love it so much and it's
09:59
me standing in this light slip dress
10:01
that's like light pink and I'm wearing
10:05
these light pink shoes with socks and
10:07
these big Chanel glasses that my friend
10:10
Hannah had basically my friend Hannah
10:14
was moving out of her room and I was
10:15
helping her pack but I wasn't really
10:17
helping I was just putting everything on
10:19
I'm walking around three of my other
10:20
friends were there and you're just
10:23
laughing so hard I was like giving on
10:23
the show it was so much fun it was the
10:25
last day that I saw all of them before I
10:27
moved to California which is just a
10:30
heartbreaking memory but like I'm glad
10:32
that we spent it laughing and not crying
10:34
but I remember having so much fun in
10:36
that slip dress and I remember having so
10:38
much fun in those heels because in those
10:41
heels I was like six foot one and it was
10:42
the funniest thing it was the most fun
10:44
I've had in so long and I was like I
10:46
wish I could just wear a dress and like
10:48
be silly and like not care but it
10:50
doesn't cross my mind I don't wake up in
10:53
the morning thinking like I should wear
10:54
a slip dress even though I loved it so
10:56
much I've been thinking a lot more about
10:58
like the juxtaposition of like male
11:00
things and female things conceptually
11:02
and so I'm drawing this dude with pins
11:04
in his hair and I think I'm gonna draw
11:06
my like legs from that photo and because
11:07
my feet are like this and like my love
11:10
shoes are so cute Hannah and I have the
11:13
same shoe size as well so that was my
11:15
face I'm gonna need to focus real quick
11:16
I'm actually super Bob proportion it's
11:19
one of the hardest things in drawing for
11:22
sure it's just such a challenge it's so
11:25
hard let's see if I can this photo
11:27
kills me so much it's so funny there's
11:31
like a whole set up um there's one where
11:34
I'm like wearing a cowboy hat not such a
11:35
good memory I've really been missing my
11:37
hometown lately my Spotify suggests my
11:39
own song idle town to me all the time
11:42
and they'll just catch me off guard
11:45
because it's just like playing in like
11:46
the radio's of like other people's and
11:48
I'll just start playing and I'll just
11:50
get shot in the face with a wave of
11:52
nostalgia that I wasn't mentally
11:54
it happened this morning and I kid you
11:58
not my heart literally was hurting I was
11:59
like wow and I remembered all these
12:03
memories sitting on the football field
12:06
with my friend actually watching
12:08
everyone do their band practice and like
12:11
soccer practice on the field and going
12:13
out and eating ice cream and staring at
12:16
the stars and I'm driving in the car on
12:18
the summer nights when it just rained
12:21
and since Texas is so hot the nighttime
12:23
is like a good like 60 degrees it's warm
12:26
and everything is just like steaming but
12:29
it's so cold and it's just such a nice I
12:32
just miss it I miss my friends and I
12:35
missed that time and I know it'll never
12:37
come back but I'm so glad I have that
12:39
song to like constantly encapsulate that
12:41
memory I'm never gonna change that song
12:44
no matter what any producers or anyone
12:47
says I am ain't gonna change that song
12:49
my ink I'm not gonna rerecord it I'm not
12:51
gonna do anything I don't want to I
12:53
really don't want to just cuz it's so
12:55
precious to me and I did it like all by
12:56
myself in my room and like how do I ever
12:59
duplicate that I don't think I can these
13:01
are so weird it's really hard to draw
13:04
them for anyone out there who doesn't
13:06
really know if they should pursue a
13:09
career in art it's okay you can take
13:12
your time to decide I was lucky enough
13:14
to know exactly what I wanted to do
13:16
since I was really young so I had the
13:18
opportunity to pursue that for a long
13:20
but it's not like that for most people I
13:23
mean all my friends I know they don't
13:25
know what they want to do with their
13:27
lives and that's perfectly fine that's
13:28
what college is for there's not that big
13:30
of a rush even though we live in a
13:31
current time where everyone thinks that
13:34
if they're not rich and successful by
13:35
the time they're 30 that they're gonna
13:37
die that's not the case don't worry if
13:39
anyone out there watching this right now
13:42
is pursuing a career in art or is an art
13:44
school and has any good advice to give
13:46
to kids who don't really know if they
13:49
want to pursue it and could give a
13:51
little bit of a better insight to what
13:52
it is to have a creative career I'd love
13:54
for you to put it down in the comments
13:56
below so it just helped other people
13:57
know I have a creative career now you
13:59
know I'm a songwriter and I make these
14:01
videos and I even draw for my t-shirts
14:03
and things like that and I will
14:06
it is definitely one of the most
14:07
rewarding things in my whole entire life
14:10
I put my career above everything because
14:12
I love it it's a little hard sometimes
14:14
because there are times when I don't
14:16
feel like creating because creativity
14:18
hits it's not just the thing you just
14:20
constantly shove it out there and I have
14:23
to create anyways and that's something
14:25
that you have to keep in mind it when
14:27
pursuing a creative career there are
14:28
times when I don't want to make RNA when
14:30
I don't want to make a video and I don't
14:32
want to make a song I don't want to sing
14:33
that's not true I always want to say no
14:35
one can I need to shut up if you're
14:37
pursuing a career in the arts know that
14:38
it's a career in the arts which means
14:40
that you do have to take into account
14:42
the business of it what you guys don't
14:44
see behind the scenes is I'm constantly
14:46
in meetings with companies and it is a
14:47
bit weird because I'm so used to just
14:49
making art and now I make art that is
14:51
gonna be sold to the masses and there
14:54
are certain things that you have to take
14:56
into perspective that you've never
14:58
really realized before and it's odd to
14:59
like go to these meetings and talk about
15:01
these memories that you had because
15:03
they're your memories but now they're
15:04
gonna be everyone's memories there's
15:06
just a few things that you have to need
15:08
to think about I'm gonna go ahead and
15:09
finish this up and once it's finished
15:11
I'll show you guys the finished product
15:13
that's just a sketch so I don't know why
15:15
it would be finished anyways but you
15:17
know we just gonna act like it's cooler
15:20
than it actually is
15:22
thank you so much for watching this
15:27
video if you have any input on anything
15:29
that I said in this video I would love
15:31
to hear it come in if there's anything
15:33
that you really want me to talk about in
15:34
the next arty video put it down there
15:35
for me to see and I'll see you guys in a
15:37
couple days at the brand new video god
15:39