Latest / The Scene Projects / Anna Storm on Music, #Slaylife, and the Journey to 'One More Margarita'

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Anna Storm on Music, #Slaylife, and the Journey to 'One More Margarita' · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Well, welcome into a very exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:04
  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is singer songwriter and social media
• 0:08
  influencer, Anna Storm.
• 0:10
  Anna, welcome to the show.
• 0:12
  Thank you.
• 0:13
  It's great to be here.
• 0:15
  Oh, it's great to be back home.
• 0:17
  I was telling you right before we jumped on.
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  I've spent the last two weeks out at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
• 0:23
  I had the time of my life, but I am so grateful to be back here in the studio and with such a
• 0:29
  lovely new guest.
• 0:31
  Anna, for myself and everyone else, why don't you tell us a little bit about your backstory?
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  And we're gonna talk about that new single you got coming out soon, One More Margarita.
• 0:41
  Oh, it's already come out, actually.
• 0:42
  June 25.
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  But, anyways, a little bit about me is I am I am, like, a pop artist.
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  I'm, like, a hybrid artist, I would say.
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  Like, my music blends, like, a lot of different genres, which I think is typical of, like, my
• 0:58
  generation because I'm Gen Z.
• 1:00
  Like, we're always kind of, like, finding ways to, like, remix culture.
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  So, like, I'm very inspired by, like, the two thousands as you can tell by my aesthetic.
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  And, like, I love hip hop.
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  I love pop music.
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  I like EDM, and I blend those all kinda together in my music.
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  So it really like, I try to really hit a lot of genres when I'm making a song.
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  Like, there's a lot of influence from various genres.
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  I have two songs in mind, Confident and Versace Shade are both on Lizzo's reality show, Watch
• 1:31
  Out for the Big Girls, as well as I have my song Confidence on the Real Housewives of
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  Dubai.
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  So I have some TV placements there.
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  And a lot of my message like, my hashtag is hashtag slay life, and I'm really active on
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  TikTok and Instagram and Snapchat.
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  And, basically, slay life is all about, like, living the your best life and just, like, not
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  giving a fuck about what anyone has to say.
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  Just going out there, killing shit.
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  And I think my followers, aka my stormtroopers, really resonate with that message.
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  Like, I'm all about empowerment and just being authentically yourself.
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  And I think my music reflects that too.
• 2:15
  Yeah.
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  Well and it must to kinda get those sync placements on shows like that, a brand, you
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  know, especially like Lizzo's, which is very much the same.
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  I don't give an f who thinks what about me.
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  So, yeah, that's they're very cool.
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  Very cool.
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  I you may be one of our first guests that's had not just sync placements, but in, you know, on
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  TV, on reality TV.
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  Can you talk a little bit about that process for you know, a lot of our listeners are the
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  artists that are on the show as well.
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  Talk a little bit about the process of getting a a sync placement like that onto a national TV
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  broadcast.
• 2:52
  Yeah.
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  So the process of that is I actually I found I'm very, like, social media savvy.
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  Like, I I basically got that because I networked on Instagram with this battle rapper
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  from New York named Lady Luck.
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  Shout out to Lady Luck.
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  And she, had a sync placement company, and I ended up doing a record with her.
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  And, you know, she just showed her catalog to the different TV shows, and they happened to
• 3:25
  choose my song.
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  So it really came through, like, networking, and that's why, like, social media has been
• 3:31
  such an instrumental part in my brand.
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  Like, everything from, you know, the sync placements to just my fan base because, like,
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  I've gotten such a good fan base from TikTok, like younger Gen Z, Gen Alpha, just from being
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  active on those platforms.
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  So, like, I think as far as, like, listeners, if they wanna know how to get sync placements
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  or just, like, to to accomplish anything nowadays, like, you know, build your brand on
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  social media and learn how to use it.
• 4:02
  Right.
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  And it feels like a broken record because I've been in this business for a long time, and, I
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  haven't always kept up the best with, you know, new trends.
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  I was late to the TikTok game.
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  A couple years in prison didn't help me there.
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  Time moves very slowly there.
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  And when you get out, it's a whole new world, and you're 30 years old, and you're like, shit.
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  But we've caught up a lot.
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  And, obviously, TikTok has been huge for bringing in new fans for a lot of our friends
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  around there, whether there be artists or or influencers, either one.
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  And so, yeah, it's so important for for any artist or business to have a social media
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  present and not just to, like, have a Facebook page and to just let it sit there.
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  You have to be engaging with people.
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  You have to be engaging with people all the time.
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  And, like, I know, for me too, like, I've I've had a Facebook page for a while, but, like,
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  find that I'm not as active on Facebook as, like, some of the others just because my
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  audience doesn't have Facebook.
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  You know what I mean?
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  So you have to, like, know your audience too and, like, what kinda resonates with, like,
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  your demographic, like, the social media platforms that are most effective.
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  Yep.
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  And I think that's something that we can all learn more about all the time.
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  Do you share a lot of tips like that?
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  Like, what is your kind of obviously, you have the Slay Life platform, but are you kind of
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  engaging with other creators and kind of helping out that younger generation of creators
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  and teaching them as well?
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  I would say I'm teaching them how to make content because they know, but I I would say
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  that, like, a lot of them like, I did just did a show in Florida.
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  I have a upcoming show in Houston, and all all the fan base is basically from TikTok, and
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  they're all, like, you know, 12 through, like, 16.
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  And they just resonate with my content because I feel like they really get me and, like, look
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  at me as the voice of, like, their generation.
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  You know?
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  Like, I get, like, the struggles they're going through.
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  I get their slang.
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  I get the trends.
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  Like and I'm really, like a couple of them have told me that, like, they just they wanna be
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  just like me when they, like, grow up.
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  So, you know, it's I think it's just people, like, they're looking for, like, role models.
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  And, you know, we don't have, like, music videos on MTV and stuff.
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  So they're they're on TikTok.
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  So how they're introduced to stuff is, like, through these platforms, you know, and that's
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  they resonate with certain people and they don't with others.
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  You know?
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  I think it's just the medium nowadays.
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  Right.
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  Well, and I think you touched on something that I've never really thought about, but
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  influencers influencers of today are the pop stars of yesterday.
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  Right?
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  I mean, the these people are looking up to you maybe, as girls my age growing up looked up to
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  a Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera.
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  Right?
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  That's exactly it.
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  Yeah.
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  Because they don't a lot of them I mean, maybe they know who Britney is, but they it's not
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  like they're, like, huge fans.
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  Like, they don't have, like, posters on their wall.
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  Well and honestly, somebody who's 12, Britney's probably old enough to be their grandma at this
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  point.
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  Yeah.
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  That's true.
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  But that's yeah.
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  You know?
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  I I love Britney.
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  She's one
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  of Well, you talk about someone who's always kinda done her own thing and and somebody who
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  grew up in such a crazy life.
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  Right?
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  That early Mickey Mouse days.
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  I mean, from the time that you are, you know, some of your fans' age, they they were 10, 12
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  years old out there performing in this show and living a completely different lifestyle than
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  anyone had before or really has since then.
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  Just a changing world.
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  I I feel so old some days, and yet I feel like I still have a lot to offer to this generation
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  and a lot in the way that you said.
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  They're looking for role models.
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  They're looking for people to show them kind of how to do that and trusted people they can
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  trust.
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  And not because someone has told them to trust this person, but because that person shows up
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  on their feed every day and they build a relationship with them like that.
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  Do you when do you feel like you really got the hang of not just your content, but of your
• 8:25
  brand?
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  I'm assuming that all of this that I'm seeing now has been an evolution to the Anna storm
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  that we see today.
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  You know, was it a what is it a long course for you to kind of figure out what that platform is
• 8:37
  that you wanted to be, or were you, like, out of the box, this is Anna, and and I'm ready to
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  go?
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  You know, I think, like, before I ended up just kinda coming, even releasing music or even
• 8:50
  working on music or even really doing anything, like, I kinda had a vague idea of, like, I
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  wanted to stand out, and I'm like, you know, I there's so many singers.
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  There's so many singers.
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  I didn't wanna just be another singer.
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  I wanted to, like, have an edge.
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  I wanted to be relatable, but, like, still aspirational.
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  You know?
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  And I I I just didn't wanna be another singer, you know, because there's it just
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  overpopulated.
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  So I was like, what I kinda thought to myself, like, what makes me unique?
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  What can I amplify in my personality that will resonate as, like, an entertainment brand?
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  And I feel like I've been good at, like, adapting, you know, to, like, the trends and
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  kinda, like, fitting my personality around those trends.
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  So it's been kinda like a work in motion for
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  me.
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  Well and you've mentioned trends a couple of times.
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  So you're trying you know, you're obviously investing time into staying current, but also
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  staying true to yourself and the brand that you've spent so much time building.
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  Do you feel like that's a struggle to maintain your individuality while also trying to stay up
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  with the current trends, especially as fast as the music business and entertainment business
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  are moving?
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  Actually, I don't really think that's hard.
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  I basically think that a huge contributor to that has just been, like, just being super
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  active on TikTok.
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  TikTok.
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  Like, not only creating content, but, like, watching the content on TikTok because then
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  it's if you're able to kinda grasp, like, what's kinda in and what's, like, hitting, then
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  you can I I feel like it's it's been easy for me to, like, fit that into my personality?
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  Maybe that's my problem with TikTok.
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  I'm not engaging with the platform as a consumer.
• 10:44
  Yeah.
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  And I'm not necessarily trying to do that.
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  What we're trying to grow with our podcast and our networks is really something different.
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  We're trying to kick off podcasters, and they can figure out how to how to get famous on
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  their own Yeah.
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  Really really focusing in on the content side of it.
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  Right?
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  This is how you make content.
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  This is how you produce records.
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  This is how you produce podcasts.
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  It's really not that hard, but a lot of people just need a little bit of handholding in that
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  early in that early stage.
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  And then what to see what some of our, you know, some of our friends it's hard to call
• 11:15
  anyone a client, but to see what they've done with it.
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  Right?
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  Like Yeah.
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  Here's how you make a podcast, and this is how you, you know, kind of do a social media
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  profile.
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  And now what you build out of that brand is all up to you.
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  It's such a different such a different world than even when I got out of I mean, 2018, I got
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  out of prison.
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  And in those seven years, I feel like things have moved double time from where they were
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  moving before, if not faster.
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  So Definitely.
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  Definitely.
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  Awesome, Anna.
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  Well, we talked a little bit off the head about your new song, One More Margarita.
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  Tell us some more.
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  Yeah.
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  So it's like my new summer banger.
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  It's like a blend of pop, rap, and EDM.
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  And, like, there's been some websites and blogs that have written about it saying that it,
• 12:03
  like, offers, like, nostalgia with, like, a tinge of something new.
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  Like, it's giving, like, February, twenty ten's club vibes, but, like, mixed with today.
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  And they just, like there's just a lot of genre blending in it, and it's really bold.
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  And a lot of I mean, all my fans have been liking it, and it's just a party anthem.
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  I think, like, yeah, there's a lot of good lines in there.
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  Like, this island time ain't really slow speed.
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  I mix my lines with Patronin codeine.
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  I don't know.
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  I I that's
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  Why don't you like to party, girl?
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  I do.
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  You know?
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  I I'm Sleilah.
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  Period.
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  Period.
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  I do like to party.
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  Yeah.
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  How fun.
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  Well, the song sounds fantastic.
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  We have another show we call Love Noise, which is actually a review show.
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  So we'll ask you to send us an m p three if you'd like us to do the same and write about it
• 13:02
  in our blog as well and give you some more promo and and say some nice things about you.
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  Anna, tell everyone where they can find you before I let you go.
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  Y'all can find me on TikTok and Instagram at it's Anna Storm, I t s, Anna Storm.
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  You can find me on Spotify, Anna Storm, Facebook, facebook.com/annastormslaylife, and
• 13:29
  Snapchat, s t zero r m y y y, Stormy.
• 13:35
  And, yeah, thank you.
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  Slay Life.
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  Thank you for having me on.
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  On.
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  Well, I can't wait to Slay Life with you, Anna.
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  I'm looking forward to hearing the song, and I wanna thank you so much for being a part of the
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  scene.
• 13:46
  Thank you so much for having me.