There's something to be said for having a grand entrance. If the music industry is all about connections, then Detroit-born producer/singer/songwriter Christian TV got the hook up of a lifetime. He was fortunate to be introduced to millions of new listeners by none other than the princess of pop herself, Britney Spears, in June. Britney casually tweeted the singer's name and single, dubbing it her favorite song of the summer, to her 5 million plus followers and suddenly, a wave of attention crashed on Christian's doorstep. If co-signs were worth money, this one would surely be worth a million bucks.
Bark + Bite got a chance to chat with Christian TV and he gave us the details on what it was like getting a shout out from Britney, the story of how his saucy debut single came to be and what he has in store as he gears up to launch his album.
A: It wasn't exactly...I mean, it was a surprise to me too. I guess it was just from being in L.A. and doing my thing out here...through the grapevine, through industry people, cause a lot of the music business is out here and people talk to other people. Somehow I guess her boyfriend showed it to her and she liked it, and she tweeted about it... and it's crazy!
It was crazy because I was just sitting in bed watching a movie and I got like 10 text messages and a couple of phone calls and I was like, "What the heck just happened?" Everybody was freaking out and I was like, "Calm down! Calm down!" It was a crazy time for that but it was also perfect timing. I definitely appreciate that. She really helped me out a lot. A lot of people got to see the video and hear the song that probably wouldn't have before.
Q: How did you come up with the song "When She Turns 18"?
A: Me and a couple friends were out to eat and my one friend goes, "Has anybody made a song about the legal age being 18?" And I was like, "Wow, you're right!" And everybody has been in that situation. Girl or guy, they've been on both sides of that spectrum. So when we got back to the studio, I just started freestyling these verses and the chorus thing, the "oooh ooh ooh" and it just came together in like, 2 hours. Fastest song I ever wrote.
Q: What are your influences musically and what did you pull from for "When She Turns 18" specifically?
A: Musically, I was pulling from the whole Crookers, Bloody Beetroots thing. And I've always been influenced by Radiohead, Fiona Apple and Prince. So it was just my pop sensibility with some crazy new production. The production took me a while to get it right, that perfect hybrid.
Q: How do you feel about doing pop music? Some people have shied away from it, they don't wanna be labeled as pop. Like Miley Cyrus, for example, who has repeatedly said in interviews that she doesn't listen to pop music, despite being a huge pop star herself. Do you think pop is a dirty word?
A: Pop is not a dirty word. Why would you not want to make your stuff the best that it can be? Pop music means popular music. If you're trying to make music that's not popular then go in your basement and make music for yourself. To say that is very pretentious. It's very selfish. I make music for everybody. I'm not making music for myself to be cool. It is what it is. She's had a different road than me, I can say. When people are just put into it and they don't know what some people have to do to get to that position that she's in, they take for granted what they say.
Q: There are two videos for the single. The first one is a bit more risque, almost like a raunchy, frat party. Then there's another one that takes place in an office and includes a makeout session on the copy machine. Why the two different videos?
A: The first one was my vision for the whole thing, like how I saw the video. I wanted it to be shocking and risque. I made some noise with that video...and it was crazy. It was definitely a video that more prone to guys liking it though. So I wanted to make a music video that was more friendly to everybody. When Ethan later came to me with that idea, I was like, "Yeah, let's do this." It tells this story and it's got a cool artful way of doing it, through the copy machine and stuff.
Q: So what's next for you?
A: The next thing is on Thursday, I'm going to be performing on "So You Think You Can Dance." That's a big one for me. I'm really excited. It's gonna be a big production. It's got dancers and it's gonna be really legitimate. And we've got Laurie Ann Gibson who's choreographer for Lady Gaga so it's cool. It's gonna turn out very good.
Q: And presumably there'll be a tour to follow?
A: Yeah, I'll probably be doing fall tours. I'll probably be supporting. We're working on a couple different tours. August 10th we're gonna hit the radio with the single.
