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Transcript

DIDI J - Pop N' Pancakes · Eating While Broke

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
0:03
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Wait and today we have very
0:05
Speaker 1: special guest, pop icon Diddy Jay is in the building.
0:09
Speaker 2: How are you hi, I'm fine, Thank you, and thank
0:12
Speaker 2: you for having me. I'm very excited. So this is
0:15
Speaker 2: I think this is my first cooking show in the States.
0:18
Speaker 2: I'm super excited.
0:20
Speaker 1: And you're from Serbia.
0:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm originally from Serbia.
0:23
Speaker 1: And her single right Now dropped it was I like it.
0:26
Speaker 1: It's number eighteen, Yeah, charts right now.
0:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's number eighteen, and you're going to the top.
0:30
Speaker 1: We're going to the top. And that was within less
0:32
Speaker 1: than twenty four hours. Yeah, which is a really big deal.
0:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, because the song is great and the producer is amazing.
0:38
Speaker 2: I have a big.
0:38
Speaker 1: Support the producer on this one.
0:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, no goes the kid in the song. He's a
0:43
Speaker 2: producer and Dallas Austin needs a distribution for the song.
0:46
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, wow, big deal. All right, So tell
0:50
Speaker 1: me what you're it's a little smoky because I told
0:53
Speaker 1: her to turn on the so for no reasons.
0:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are doing pancakes today.
0:56
Speaker 1: We're doing pancakes, all right, go ahead. I haven't even so.
1:00
Speaker 2: It works out hungry too. Okay, So first we're gonna
1:19
Speaker 2: put some butter inside.
1:22
Speaker 1: So pancakes is such an easy meal. Yeah, surprisingly enough.
1:26
Speaker 1: I don't think we've had pancakes on the show.
1:28
Speaker 2: I usually I usually don't cook too much because I'm
1:31
Speaker 2: traveling and I'm like going to the restaurants or eating food.
1:35
Speaker 2: But some from time to time I can do. I
1:39
Speaker 2: know how to cook, but usually I don't have time.
1:42
Speaker 2: So I didn't cook honestly for a long time. So
1:44
Speaker 2: this is gonna be like.
1:46
Speaker 1: My it's gonna be a homecoming moment to you.
1:50
Speaker 2: Yes, so making pancakes.
1:52
Speaker 1: Yes, she has the instant pancake makes you just add water.
1:55
Speaker 2: It's very simple. Water, it's very simple. We're going to
1:58
Speaker 2: mix this together.
2:01
Speaker 1: So take me back to what was going I am
2:05
Speaker 1: I talking about what was going on in the time
2:07
Speaker 1: of pancakes. Yeah, pancakes.
2:09
Speaker 2: I always love to eat pancakes, you know, because when
2:13
Speaker 2: I was starting my career, I was so busy I
2:16
Speaker 2: didn't have time for lunch, and then I was saying,
2:19
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna make pancakes or I'm gonna order pancakes.
2:23
Speaker 2: I even love them with the fruit, with the blueberries
2:26
Speaker 2: or something like that, or with the maple syrup. So
2:29
Speaker 2: those are like one of my favorite foods to go,
2:32
Speaker 2: you know, Like when I'm so busy and tired and working,
2:36
Speaker 2: I just ordered yeah diet. When I was starting my
2:41
Speaker 2: career in the States, I was practicing music and dancing
2:44
Speaker 2: and how to sing and to perform on the stage,
2:47
Speaker 2: and I actually didn't have time to eat. I was
2:50
Speaker 2: so hungry. Yeah, it was very very when you.
2:52
Speaker 1: Practice your music in the States or eat. Serbia.
2:56
Speaker 2: I started actually my career in Serbia, and then I
2:59
Speaker 2: said to my self, oh my god, I want to
3:01
Speaker 2: go to the States and make my career there. Because
3:04
Speaker 2: since I was a young girl, I always loved Jaelo Madonna.
3:09
Speaker 2: And I was saying to my mom one day, I'm
3:11
Speaker 2: gonna be like Jelo. And she told me, like back
3:14
Speaker 2: in the day, you're never gonna make it. I mean
3:16
Speaker 2: not never, but it's very very hard. Because you're from Serbia.
3:20
Speaker 2: You would have to work like ten thousand times harder
3:23
Speaker 2: to achieve your dreams and goals, and like, don't be
3:27
Speaker 2: disappointed if you don't make it. And I said, okay, mom,
3:30
Speaker 2: just watch me. One day, I'm going to be a
3:32
Speaker 2: superstar in the States.
3:34
Speaker 1: Awesome.
3:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then that's why I started my career in Serbia.
3:38
Speaker 2: But I always wanted to be sorry in the US,
3:42
Speaker 2: and they knew it there. And I was telling to
3:44
Speaker 2: my friends, to my family that I'm going to make
3:47
Speaker 2: it one day. Yeah. And then I met Lady Kaga
3:50
Speaker 2: a few years ago and she told me. I told
3:52
Speaker 2: her my story and she told me, if you really
3:55
Speaker 2: want to make it, just fly to New York, do
3:58
Speaker 2: your music and start. And that's what I did. A
4:01
Speaker 2: few months after that, I moved to Atlanta, actually to
4:06
Speaker 2: one Wood Camp. We did music there. It was a
4:09
Speaker 2: writing camp. We did a few songs with a super
4:12
Speaker 2: great producers. We did a feature with Shaggy and that's
4:15
Speaker 2: how everything started.
4:17
Speaker 1: Awesome and then go ahead, yes in there.
4:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna start making them soon.
4:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so go ahead.
4:27
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you pour these fine. I think this
4:30
Speaker 2: is okay.
4:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's perfect.
4:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. Should we start making them?
4:33
Speaker 1: Go ahead?
4:34
Speaker 2: Yeah? Start See I'm gonna use this man maybe two Yeah,
4:39
Speaker 2: let's see.
4:40
Speaker 1: I just don't laugh, please, I'm trying not to. Yeah,
4:44
Speaker 1: I'm having fun here, just.
4:47
Speaker 2: Like very very nice, very perfect.
4:50
Speaker 1: You got it? And then do another.
4:51
Speaker 2: One, got another one?
4:53
Speaker 1: There, you got it, Let's do it.
4:55
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, this is enough.
4:56
Speaker 1: That's morning enough. You got it.
4:58
Speaker 2: You got it. It's okay, it's okay.
5:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no such thing as perfect pancakes. Yeah, you
5:03
Speaker 1: got it.
5:04
Speaker 2: This is gonna be so cool.
5:05
Speaker 1: I think I think all the guests are gonna go
5:07
Speaker 1: watching their pancakes.
5:08
Speaker 2: I'm doing the States really yeah, and I'm going to
5:12
Speaker 2: remember this moment forever.
5:14
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, I'm gonna remember it too. Yeah, I'm just
5:17
Speaker 1: messing with you. Let me cook, Let me cook. Once
5:20
Speaker 1: you see the bubbles, you not.
5:21
Speaker 2: Of Let's wait for a little right.
5:22
Speaker 1: So okay, so let's go back to Serbia. But when
5:27
Speaker 1: did you how? How? What were you doing in Serbia
5:30
Speaker 1: while you're pursuing the stream, Like, what was going on
5:33
Speaker 1: in Serbia?
5:33
Speaker 2: I started my career in Serbia. First, it was like
5:36
Speaker 2: ten years ago. I won a big music festival there
5:40
Speaker 2: and it recorded some songs in Serbia and videos and
5:43
Speaker 2: it's okay, it was like the best video ever made there.
5:47
Speaker 2: It was like a very very big video. And then
5:49
Speaker 2: then I said to myself, I'm not not happy here.
5:51
Speaker 2: I want to go to the States. I want to
5:53
Speaker 2: do my career there. I want to be like j Lo,
5:56
Speaker 2: like Madonna.
5:57
Speaker 1: So how are financing everything in Serbia?
6:00
Speaker 2: Okay? I have a a big company. I also have
6:05
Speaker 2: my beauty center. I do facials, body treatments, you know.
6:11
Speaker 1: Yeah in Serbia.
6:12
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:13
Speaker 1: So you're a successful entrepreneur in Serbia. And then you're like, hey,
6:16
Speaker 1: I don't have enough on my plate.
6:19
Speaker 2: Let me add I also work with many fashion brands.
6:23
Speaker 2: I promote brands. I'm also a fashion influencer. I go
6:27
Speaker 2: to old fashion weeks, for example Paris, New York, and
6:31
Speaker 2: I'm like friends with designers. So that's that's like how
6:34
Speaker 2: I work. Like, that's it. That is separate from my
6:37
Speaker 2: music career. Turn them.
6:41
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, okaycakes is like the go to ya.
6:48
Speaker 2: But they look good and and you see those bubbles.
6:53
Speaker 1: Take that black, flat looking yeah.
6:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and turn them turn okay, yeah, it.
7:02
Speaker 1: All right, let's see.
7:03
Speaker 2: Oh god, oh it's good, it's good, it's going great. Yeah.
7:08
Speaker 1: D DJ pancakes, d DJ pancakes, all right, Okay, so
7:12
Speaker 1: these are thick pancakes, so this is all we need.
7:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're good, okay, So.
7:17
Speaker 1: Take me, So take me back to Serbia because a
7:19
Speaker 1: lot of us. We don't know what's going on in Serbia,
7:21
Speaker 1: what the what the lifestyle is over there, what they're embracing,
7:24
Speaker 1: because I wouldn't imagine Serbia to be that supportive of
7:28
Speaker 1: entrepreneur women. So can we start there.
7:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, Serbia is a small but a beautiful country. I
7:35
Speaker 2: was born and raised there, and I really have my
7:37
Speaker 2: family there and great friends. But still when I went
7:41
Speaker 2: to the public and when I said that I want
7:43
Speaker 2: to make my career in the States, they wouldn't believe me.
7:47
Speaker 2: They said that I'm like only dreaming about that and
7:50
Speaker 2: I'm never gonna make it. So they weren't like very
7:54
Speaker 2: supportive that much about that. Okay, yeah, so because I'm
7:58
Speaker 2: the first Serbia making it ever.
8:02
Speaker 1: They don't have a top recording artist over there.
8:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have, but only for the Serbian market. They
8:07
Speaker 2: never came to the States to do a career. So
8:10
Speaker 2: when I said I'm going to do it here, they said,
8:13
Speaker 2: oh my god, you're crazy. She's completely crazy, That's what
8:16
Speaker 2: I said. Yeah, so they didn't trust in me, I think.
8:19
Speaker 1: So you get out of when at what point did
8:22
Speaker 1: you know you wanted to pursue music from a very
8:24
Speaker 1: young age. So let's start. Let's take it all the
8:26
Speaker 1: way back to I was five. You were five.
8:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was five, and I said to myself, oh
8:30
Speaker 2: my god, I love music, I love fashion. That's my life.
8:32
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make it one day. And since I was
8:35
Speaker 2: young girl, I knew that something's going to happen with
8:37
Speaker 2: my career and that I'm going to work with the music.
8:40
Speaker 1: Okay, So then you get through high school. Are you doing?
8:44
Speaker 1: Am I talking about performing, performing arts and all of that.
8:48
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't do too much. I was like practicing
8:51
Speaker 2: at home. I didn't go to a music school or
8:54
Speaker 2: something like that. I took classes like wocal coaching and
8:59
Speaker 2: you know those stuff, but I didn't like go into
9:02
Speaker 2: music school or something like that.
9:03
Speaker 1: So then after high school, what do you end up doing?
9:06
Speaker 2: I was going to the university in Serbia, and I
9:09
Speaker 2: was like already dreaming about my US career and how
9:13
Speaker 2: I'm going to make it. What should I do? Should
9:17
Speaker 2: I start doing music? And that's when I started.
9:20
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so you start doing music? At what point
9:23
Speaker 1: does the how are you financing starting to do music?
9:26
Speaker 1: Because I would imagine it costs money.
9:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, but my family helped me a lot okay, so, yeah, so.
9:33
Speaker 1: You come from a predominantly wealthy family or yeah.
9:37
Speaker 2: They're like wealthy family, like regular wealthy family, not like billionaires.
9:42
Speaker 1: Like middle class or wealthy.
9:45
Speaker 2: But in Serbia it's very wealthy.
9:47
Speaker 1: Okay, what did your parents do?
9:49
Speaker 2: Well, my parents. I'm actually married okay, yeah for ten years,
9:53
Speaker 2: so I live with my husband, you know, and we
9:56
Speaker 2: do everything together. Oh, my father passed away last year
10:00
Speaker 2: from cancer. Yeah, so that's a very tough story for
10:03
Speaker 2: me to talk about my parents right now.
10:05
Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah, so you started your music career after you
10:08
Speaker 1: got married, no before before you start. Yeah, so your
10:11
Speaker 1: parents were helping you in the beginning of your career.
10:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. At first they told me it's not easy.
10:16
Speaker 2: Just be careful, don't be disappointed because the music world
10:20
Speaker 2: is very hard today.
10:21
Speaker 1: Like it's fine, it's fine, you think it's fine.
10:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, they said at first, like, you know, don't be disappointed,
10:27
Speaker 2: don't cry because you know music it's very it's a
10:30
Speaker 2: very hard job. And I said, trust me, believe me,
10:33
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make it. And then I made for a song.
10:36
Speaker 2: I went to a big pub festival there I won,
10:39
Speaker 2: and then they realized that I'm gonna make it, like really,
10:42
Speaker 2: So what.
10:43
Speaker 1: Was the first step to go into a recording studio recorders?
10:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did record my first song, first music there
10:49
Speaker 2: in Serbia, and step by step I decided to go here,
10:52
Speaker 2: to come here to the States and start doing my music.
10:55
Speaker 2: I think that's the most important moment for me in
10:58
Speaker 2: my career.
10:58
Speaker 1: Yeah. So you you record your first song, you enter
11:03
Speaker 1: a festival, and you win.
11:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I won the festival.
11:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then what did you win when you want
11:07
Speaker 1: in the festival?
11:08
Speaker 2: I won a price? It was like some I got
11:11
Speaker 2: some money from that.
11:13
Speaker 1: And yeah, were you able to meet other people to
11:15
Speaker 1: make your Yeah?
11:17
Speaker 2: Yeah sure. I already was like popular because my cousin
11:20
Speaker 2: was a famous tennis player. She's also from Serbia, and
11:23
Speaker 2: that's how they connected us in the press. So yeah,
11:26
Speaker 2: they started writing writing articles about me. And then I
11:30
Speaker 2: went to a TV I mean, there is easy to
11:32
Speaker 2: go to a TV station or a radio station. Yeah.
11:35
Speaker 1: So then how do you end up meeting with Lady Gaga?
11:38
Speaker 2: That was a few years ago in Vienna, actually in Austria.
11:42
Speaker 2: She was in a concert there and after a concert
11:45
Speaker 2: I had a chance to meet her for some people,
11:47
Speaker 2: and we were sitting together for almost an hour. I
11:51
Speaker 2: give her my piece of clothes from my clothing line.
11:54
Speaker 2: It was the dress and it was a T shirt
11:56
Speaker 2: with DDJ. I can remember what was right on it.
12:00
Speaker 2: And she she took the present from me and she said,
12:05
Speaker 2: if I'm gonna make it, if I really want to
12:07
Speaker 2: do this job, you know, and afrcan music, that I
12:09
Speaker 2: should like go to New York, move there and start
12:12
Speaker 2: working on my career. And I was thinking, oh my god,
12:16
Speaker 2: she's right, I'm going to do it. And a few
12:18
Speaker 2: months after that, I met a very nice person from Atlanta.
12:23
Speaker 2: She's a lawyer and she's also into music industry and
12:26
Speaker 2: she helped me a lot here. So that's how I started.
12:29
Speaker 1: So you moved to Atlanta.
12:31
Speaker 2: No, I didn't move completely. I was like traveling, VI didn't. Yeah,
12:35
Speaker 2: And we had like a few months there at the studio.
12:38
Speaker 2: We had a big house by the lake, and we
12:41
Speaker 2: like we were recording music there. And those are like
12:45
Speaker 2: my first songs that I did here for the US market.
12:49
Speaker 2: And I'm very happy when I'm talking about that, you know.
12:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, so said it. So then when when do you
12:54
Speaker 1: cross paths with Dallas Austin.
12:57
Speaker 2: That was for my single, I like it because just
13:00
Speaker 2: released this yeah, a new one. Yeah.
13:02
Speaker 1: So when you're recording in so you're you're recording in Atlanta,
13:06
Speaker 1: and then you meet Gaga. You meet Gaga, then you
13:10
Speaker 1: go to Atlanta the first I met.
13:11
Speaker 2: First, I met Lady Gaga, and then I went to
13:14
Speaker 2: Atlanta to record the music. And I was recording like
13:17
Speaker 2: all the time in the last few years, but I
13:20
Speaker 2: didn't like hit the Sharks. But this time I did
13:24
Speaker 2: like it. And together with the Cops, Kid the producer,
13:27
Speaker 2: and the Dallasaustine distribution, and we did it. Yeah, it's
13:30
Speaker 2: the Sharks. So like this is the first song which
13:33
Speaker 2: is like really really good, making like big steps.
13:37
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, So okay, I'm pretty sure you can
13:40
Speaker 1: turn it off. Okay, yeah, turn it off. You got it,
13:44
Speaker 1: You got it, all right, I give you this, Yeah,
13:48
Speaker 1: go for it. Yeah, you're gonna give me the better
13:50
Speaker 1: look at one, So of course.
13:52
Speaker 2: I can do that for my friends. Yeah, and I'm
13:55
Speaker 2: going to get this one. Oh my god, I do a.
13:58
Speaker 1: Lot of sair. Look at your words. It's okay, it's okay,
14:01
Speaker 1: you know what, You're.
14:01
Speaker 2: Smart because I was talking to you all the time,
14:04
Speaker 2: and then it's.
14:06
Speaker 1: So hard, it's so hard to talk and cook.
14:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, right.
14:11
Speaker 1: Is perfect. It looks great. Yeah, you get to judge
14:14
Speaker 1: your own pancakes. Okay, so we try now, I'm gonna
14:17
Speaker 1: try it. Yes, I'm gonna wait for you. I'm gonna
14:20
Speaker 1: start cutting it up.
14:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's try. Oh my god, I'm very excited. I
14:25
Speaker 2: will never forget this day.
14:29
Speaker 1: Your fans are going to be talking about it. And
14:31
Speaker 1: I like that you have the crisp bottom. All right, cheers.
14:35
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's nice.
14:38
Speaker 1: You can't mess up.
14:41
Speaker 2: It's very good.
14:42
Speaker 1: It's very good. Right, are you proud of yourself? It's
14:46
Speaker 1: been a long time. Yeah, it's always goes if you
14:50
Speaker 1: have not you can like it if you have not
14:54
Speaker 1: cooked this in a very long time, and then you
14:55
Speaker 1: do a really great job cooking.
14:57
Speaker 2: It's very delicious.
14:58
Speaker 1: Kind of brings back memories, does Yeah. I can only
15:02
Speaker 1: imagine how tough it is to come from another country
15:06
Speaker 1: in come here as a states you know, as a
15:08
Speaker 1: woman that alone, a mom and a wife. Yeah, but
15:14
Speaker 1: I'm really trying to capture what it's like coming from
15:17
Speaker 1: another country trusting other people with your career. Yeah, Like,
15:22
Speaker 1: how does that decision making process go?
15:25
Speaker 2: It was really hard for me. At first, I thought like,
15:28
Speaker 2: am I gonna make it here or not? Like everyone
15:32
Speaker 2: they were like very nice to me and very kind
15:35
Speaker 2: here in the States, but I had to start from zero.
15:38
Speaker 2: Even I had some following from the Serbian, from the Balkans,
15:42
Speaker 2: from Europe. They said, I had some following before, like
15:46
Speaker 2: social media and everything, you know, but I had to
15:49
Speaker 2: start from zero here.
15:50
Speaker 1: But you have a massive following, yeah I have now. Yeah,
15:54
Speaker 1: how hard is it for you to get that massive following?
15:56
Speaker 1: Because even even us at eating while Broke struggle with following.
15:59
Speaker 2: It was very very hard when I started. I remember
16:03
Speaker 2: I was doing like everything for the picture. I was
16:06
Speaker 2: doing like pictures every day. Even i'm doing it like
16:10
Speaker 2: now still. But when I when I started doing my Instagram,
16:13
Speaker 2: it was so hard, you know. I was like thinking
16:16
Speaker 2: every day, oh my god, what I'm going to do
16:18
Speaker 2: so I can get more likes.
16:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was very hard and it is hard still.
16:23
Speaker 2: So I need to do like photo shows every day,
16:25
Speaker 2: to past every day, to talk to my fans, to
16:28
Speaker 2: answer on the comments when I have time. So I'm
16:32
Speaker 2: also doing TikTok videos, fashion videos and like dance videos.
16:36
Speaker 1: And then you're only in LA for like a couple
16:38
Speaker 1: more days. Yeah, you told me your schedule was crazy.
16:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was crazy. I was doing interviews all the time.
16:44
Speaker 2: Yesterday I went to a big red carpet. Then tomorrow
16:47
Speaker 2: I have my release party here in La. I'm so
16:50
Speaker 2: excited about that. We already did one in New York
16:53
Speaker 2: and one in Paris. It was amazing. Wow. Yeah, it's
16:56
Speaker 2: a lot, right.
16:57
Speaker 1: So okay, so you record? Did you record your whole
17:01
Speaker 1: album yet?
17:02
Speaker 2: Not yet? The whole album? We were doing it. I
17:05
Speaker 2: just did a few songs and we're gonna do probably
17:08
Speaker 2: a feature soon and more music is coming now.
17:12
Speaker 1: Can you tell me about your Eggy as alias?
17:15
Speaker 2: Yeahboration? That was great. We did a Marceillaga song and
17:19
Speaker 2: my manager said, should be called Iggy and ask her
17:22
Speaker 2: for a feature. And I said, oh my god, are
17:25
Speaker 2: you sure because she's a big star and I wasn't
17:27
Speaker 2: sure if she's gonna say yes or no. And in
17:31
Speaker 2: that period of a time, I was pregnant and she
17:33
Speaker 2: was pregnant, pregnant, and that was during COVID Yeah, yeah, yeah,
17:40
Speaker 2: COVID Yeah. And then I went to New York to
17:43
Speaker 2: the studio and she was recording in La and she
17:47
Speaker 2: was very supportive. So we didn't record at the same
17:50
Speaker 2: studio because of COVID, but we actually did it. We
17:54
Speaker 2: made the song and she was very supportive. She also,
17:57
Speaker 2: I think she put something on IX about me. She said,
18:00
Speaker 2: she wrote, Didja is an amazing person and I'm always
18:04
Speaker 2: gonna support her. She's so brave, working hard, and that's
18:07
Speaker 2: what she said.
18:08
Speaker 1: Now, what were the people around you saying, as a like,
18:11
Speaker 1: brand new mom with a baby in the belly and
18:13
Speaker 1: you're still trying to pursue music, what was everyone saying
18:16
Speaker 1: about that?
18:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were saying that I'm very brave and they
18:20
Speaker 2: admired me actually, because you know, it's not easy to
18:23
Speaker 2: be pregnant, to be traveling, doing music, doing fashion, still
18:28
Speaker 2: doing my business beauty center. You know, it's hard. It's
18:32
Speaker 2: not easy.
18:33
Speaker 1: And how does your husband deal with all of it?
18:35
Speaker 2: He's amazing. He's very supportive. He likes my career, he
18:38
Speaker 2: likes everything that I do. So, yeah, we are great.
18:42
Speaker 1: And now who raises the baby when you're doing.
18:44
Speaker 2: All of this? I'm taking my daughter with me all
18:47
Speaker 2: the time. Oh, she's always, She's always with me, usually
18:50
Speaker 2: not only this time, because she's like she stayed with
18:53
Speaker 2: my mom Okay, yeah, because I'm traveling only for a
18:56
Speaker 2: few days, but she's always with me. She likes to travel,
18:59
Speaker 2: she likes fashion, she wants to be a model. She
19:02
Speaker 2: likes my songs, she can sing the songs. She likes
19:06
Speaker 2: Lady Gaga, she knows every song that's hilarious.
19:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she's only three three, she's four.
19:11
Speaker 2: She just starts for almost five in July. She's going
19:15
Speaker 2: to be four five this year. Wow.
19:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so you're really taking it on.
19:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. I worked really hard and I'm very brave, you know,
19:22
Speaker 2: because I understand that I'm not I wasn't born here,
19:25
Speaker 2: so I need to work like much harder than any
19:28
Speaker 2: other artists from here. But I'm ready for it because
19:32
Speaker 2: music is my love, and music and passion and fashion
19:35
Speaker 2: art does my twol like passions. And yeah, I'm just
19:38
Speaker 2: gonna keep moving, pushing, working, and let's see where is
19:42
Speaker 2: that gonna take me.
19:43
Speaker 1: What would you say is the hardest aspect of your career?
19:47
Speaker 2: Oh, the hardest aspect is that Like transferring from Europe
19:51
Speaker 2: to the US. That was like really hard. But I'm
19:54
Speaker 2: so happy that the US fans they accept me the
19:58
Speaker 2: way I am and they're saying that I'm unique, that
20:01
Speaker 2: I'm different. They love my fashion, they love my music.
20:04
Speaker 2: So at first I must say that I was very
20:06
Speaker 2: scared if they can not love me here, so but
20:09
Speaker 2: I'm so happy.
20:10
Speaker 1: What kind of negative feedback have you gotten?
20:12
Speaker 2: Negative? Like? Of course I have haters like every artist.
20:19
Speaker 1: How do you deal with the men in the industry?
20:22
Speaker 2: How do you mean?
20:23
Speaker 1: I have the men been easy to work with for
20:25
Speaker 1: you or harder to work with for you?
20:27
Speaker 2: Well? Which was easy? Like I always choose the best
20:30
Speaker 2: team around me. I also love to work with the
20:32
Speaker 2: gay people. Oh yeah, first they're great, so like the
20:37
Speaker 2: biggest part of my team. They're gay, so I love
20:40
Speaker 2: them and they're very creative.
20:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, where do you want to be after this? After this?
20:46
Speaker 2: I want to be in a Grammy.
20:48
Speaker 1: Do you want to win a Grammy? Yeah?
20:50
Speaker 2: I have like big dreams, like I told you. Yeah,
20:52
Speaker 2: i want to be the first Serbian ever meaning a Grammy.
20:57
Speaker 2: And I'm sure I'm going to make it together with
20:59
Speaker 2: my team. This is like the proof we have. I
21:02
Speaker 2: like it on the charts already, So I just need
21:04
Speaker 2: to keep working more myself.
21:06
Speaker 1: And now you stay in New York permanently now or.
21:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to stay in New York. Probably I'm
21:13
Speaker 2: going to move to La soon. I don't know yet.
21:15
Speaker 2: I'm just not thinking about that because I worked so
21:17
Speaker 2: hard and like music is my first first goal, you know,
21:22
Speaker 2: I'm working on that right now, and I'm just like
21:24
Speaker 2: thinking about the promo for my new song and everything
21:28
Speaker 2: around that.
21:28
Speaker 1: So that's the only thing that is your manager from Serbia?
21:32
Speaker 2: No, my manager is from La I don't have anything
21:34
Speaker 2: it's Serbia anymore. Like my team is from here from
21:38
Speaker 2: the States.
21:38
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, you how are you accumulating your team though?
21:43
Speaker 2: I mean we are online all the time. I really
21:46
Speaker 2: have a big team.
21:47
Speaker 1: And like, how are we talk?
21:48
Speaker 2: We travel together? My manager travels with me. If we
21:51
Speaker 2: go to New York, we go. For example, we did
21:53
Speaker 2: I like it in Las Vegas. He came to Las
21:55
Speaker 2: Vegas and sinking, Like how do you meet them? Oh?
21:59
Speaker 2: Through my connections from my friends, you know, like I
22:02
Speaker 2: know many people here already, like I'm spending my time
22:06
Speaker 2: here for years.
22:07
Speaker 1: So oh wow, okay, okay, So what is your aspirations
22:11
Speaker 1: for New York? Well? I love New York.
22:14
Speaker 2: It's an amazing city. If you ask me which one
22:17
Speaker 2: I love more. New York or LA. I think LA
22:19
Speaker 2: is maybe more beautiful, but I have more connections and
22:22
Speaker 2: more friends in New York for now, Okay, but I
22:26
Speaker 2: maybe I would love to move to LA.
22:28
Speaker 1: To LA because of the weather.
22:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, because of the weather. It's beautiful and it's fancies
22:34
Speaker 2: like just like me h.
22:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, what are some things that your fans aren't aware
22:40
Speaker 1: of that they would be surprised to know about you?
22:43
Speaker 2: Maybe that I'm just a normal, normal, like a regular person.
22:48
Speaker 2: Even I have my fashion high fashion. I'm always in
22:51
Speaker 2: the high heels.
22:52
Speaker 1: Like see it's really cute.
22:53
Speaker 2: I the very high heels all the time, and I'm
22:56
Speaker 2: like glamorous. I have like big following photo shoots and
23:00
Speaker 2: everything like, but personally, I'm a very emotional person. M h.
23:05
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'm normal, even if I'm already famous.
23:08
Speaker 2: I'm just a normal person.
23:10
Speaker 1: That's like that's me. Yeah.
23:12
Speaker 2: Yeah.
23:13
Speaker 1: So you're a Serbia artist, Yeah, coming all the way
23:17
Speaker 1: from Serbia.
23:18
Speaker 2: Yeah okay, and I've been through a lot, You've been
23:21
Speaker 2: there a lot to.
23:22
Speaker 1: Get here, So let's start unpacking just from Cyber Serbia.
23:27
Speaker 1: Let's go back to you winning the contest. Yeah, and
23:30
Speaker 1: then take me through that step by step I'm here
23:33
Speaker 1: for you. I want to hear it all.
23:35
Speaker 2: Okay, So what happened? So I won the festival in Serbia.
23:38
Speaker 2: It was a pup big pop festival, and that's how
23:41
Speaker 2: everything started. I was recording my music there and did
23:45
Speaker 2: a few music videos. I've been on a tiv I've
23:47
Speaker 2: been everywhere. But I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy because
23:51
Speaker 2: I always wanted to have my career in the States.
23:54
Speaker 2: I know it was very hard to get here, but
23:56
Speaker 2: I said, I'm never gonna give up. I'm gonna fight,
23:59
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do I'm going to do anything I can
24:02
Speaker 2: just to be here and to be successful.
24:04
Speaker 1: What about the United States looked so appealing to you
24:07
Speaker 1: compared to Serbia.
24:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's very different because here people are
24:12
Speaker 2: very supportive. I cannot say that for Serbia because anything
24:16
Speaker 2: I do, they're they're not like too much supportive. They're
24:18
Speaker 2: saying that I'm crazy, that I think that I'm going
24:21
Speaker 2: to make it here, or that I'm just dreaming about it,
24:24
Speaker 2: so they couldn't believe that I'm going to really make
24:27
Speaker 2: it here.
24:27
Speaker 1: Are there a lot of recording artists in Serbia?
24:30
Speaker 2: Yeah? There are, Yeah, of course, but they're just from Serbia.
24:34
Speaker 2: They're staying there and they're like doing everything for the
24:37
Speaker 2: Serbian market. But me, I wanted to go to the
24:40
Speaker 2: US to record music here, you know, to be popular,
24:44
Speaker 2: to be on the Sharks. And I know it was
24:46
Speaker 2: like very hard for me. I was, I was struggling.
24:50
Speaker 2: I was crying sometimes because I was refused many times,
24:55
Speaker 2: like they said that I should start from zero. Sometimes
24:58
Speaker 2: I didn't get like to go to a TV show
25:01
Speaker 2: to do a TV interview. They said, they said, it's
25:03
Speaker 2: not time yet. You need to work hard. You need
25:05
Speaker 2: to like work more to be present here. And it
25:08
Speaker 2: took years for me to be here now with you
25:11
Speaker 2: and to have a I like it on the charts.
25:14
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so you you were hearing all this like
25:17
Speaker 1: pushback and then you're like, well, I'm gonna still keep trying.
25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:21
Speaker 1: And then was Lady Gaga like a pivotal moment in
25:24
Speaker 1: your career, Yeah.
25:25
Speaker 2: She was. I had that advice from her, like and
25:28
Speaker 2: from a mom my. Mum also told me that I
25:30
Speaker 2: should like keep going, like don't never give up. Like,
25:34
Speaker 2: and I'm the person I'm like very emotional even when
25:37
Speaker 2: I cry. When I said, I'm like very like I'm struggling.
25:41
Speaker 2: Then the other day I say, oh my god, I'm
25:44
Speaker 2: gonna I'm gonna stand up, wake up, I'm gonna go
25:46
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna make it. So that's the way like
25:49
Speaker 2: how I do usually, And I said, I'm gonna make
25:52
Speaker 2: it here. Whatever I need to do, I'm gonna do
25:55
Speaker 2: it and I won't stop. And that's what I did.
25:58
Speaker 2: I came here and i'm here.
26:00
Speaker 1: With you're dominating.
26:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, dominating, and I will This is only the beginning.
26:04
Speaker 1: Well, number eighteen with the massive following is yeah, pretty dominating.
26:09
Speaker 2: Thank you.
26:09
Speaker 1: That's like a super like when when we're behind the
26:12
Speaker 1: camera we're talking about booking talent, where's like, okay, let's
26:15
Speaker 1: review the talent, and you're like, oh, this person has
26:18
Speaker 1: a three billion plus following. They're charting at number eighteen.
26:22
Speaker 1: You're like, wait, this is something going on.
26:24
Speaker 2: And also I think before I didn't have the right
26:27
Speaker 2: team around me here in the States. They were like
26:29
Speaker 2: promising everything and lying to me. I mussay, and I
26:32
Speaker 2: didn't get like what I deserve and I only needed
26:36
Speaker 2: one chance. So I think I got this chance with
26:39
Speaker 2: the go Ski the producer, and that was shausting and
26:41
Speaker 2: I'm so happy about it.
26:43
Speaker 1: Okay, now what did that whole coming together with those
26:46
Speaker 1: two look like?
26:48
Speaker 2: Well, Ghost is amazing producer. Actually he was the one
26:51
Speaker 2: who called me first and also said yeah. I was
26:53
Speaker 2: so excited when I got his text, Oh my god,
26:56
Speaker 2: is this serious? Is he fake or is he real?
26:59
Speaker 2: And I answered, and he said, let's do music together.
27:03
Speaker 2: I already started making his song for you. I said,
27:06
Speaker 2: oh my god, are you serious? Are you really gonna
27:08
Speaker 2: work with me? And he said, yeah, let's go. Let's
27:11
Speaker 2: come to the studio to Vegas. And then I flew
27:13
Speaker 2: to beya. I flew to Vegas to meet him.
27:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, did you fly with the baby or.
27:20
Speaker 2: No? Baby stayed? Baby said yeah, yeah, of course a
27:24
Speaker 2: few days. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah she stayed. And then
27:27
Speaker 2: I came to the studio together with him. We did
27:30
Speaker 2: like in a few days, the song we did together
27:32
Speaker 2: at the studio. We even didn't have the lyrics before it.
27:36
Speaker 2: I was coming into the studio to do I Like it,
27:39
Speaker 2: which is like on the charts, and we didn't have anything.
27:42
Speaker 2: We came to the studio and he said, start singing this,
27:46
Speaker 2: start singing that. Like we changed like for a million times.
27:50
Speaker 1: The lyrics and in the end when we said did
27:53
Speaker 1: you write on it too?
27:53
Speaker 2: Or no? Yeah, how a little? But Ghost was the
27:56
Speaker 2: one who did everything. Yeah, he's like he's amazing, so talented.
28:01
Speaker 2: And then we we did like it and we were
28:04
Speaker 2: like jumping from the chairs. I can remember when that happened,
28:09
Speaker 2: like we were so excited.
28:10
Speaker 1: So who was the first person you played it for?
28:13
Speaker 2: I played it to my manager because he was there,
28:15
Speaker 2: and I said, Joy, please come here, you must hear this.
28:18
Speaker 2: The song is amazing. Yeah, and he was very excited too.
28:22
Speaker 1: Okay. And then so now once you get the song,
28:25
Speaker 1: what does that roll out and push out? Look like?
28:27
Speaker 2: Well, we needed a distribution company and said that Dallas
28:31
Speaker 2: Osin would love to help, so we we signed a
28:35
Speaker 2: contract with him.
28:36
Speaker 1: Okay yeah. And with the distribution, what do they do?
28:39
Speaker 1: Do they market and how does that work?
28:41
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think that that's separate. Distribution is something different.
28:44
Speaker 2: And then there is marketing plus that my team is doing.
28:48
Speaker 1: So you're on the marketing yeah okay, yeah, and then
28:51
Speaker 1: he's doing the distribution.
28:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.
28:52
Speaker 1: This is for like digital downloads.
28:55
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, Spotify, iTunes, platforms.
28:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you have to take on all the marketing.
29:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:02
Speaker 1: Now, that has to be a nightmare.
29:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know.
29:06
Speaker 1: Right.
29:06
Speaker 2: We are also doing we are still doing the promo
29:09
Speaker 2: and promoting the song because it came out in February, right,
29:13
Speaker 2: we still need to do social media promo. I'm just
29:16
Speaker 2: trying to promote. I just like did my new choreography
29:19
Speaker 2: for the song. I'm trying like to dance with those
29:22
Speaker 2: moves like on TikTok and Instagram, and I'm just working
29:27
Speaker 2: hard like every day.
29:28
Speaker 1: Now, have you started performing the song yet?
29:31
Speaker 2: Not yet? Not yet, Yeah, but I will, I will.
29:33
Speaker 2: I'm having my release party tomorrow evening, so maybe you
29:36
Speaker 2: from there. Yeah, you have to perform at the Sparty party.
29:41
Speaker 2: It's at nine pm, nine pm, Yeah in La Yeah,
29:45
Speaker 2: in La where yeah? Abby?
29:47
Speaker 1: Abby?
29:48
Speaker 2: Yeah? Abby? Yeah, that's Holly.
29:50
Speaker 1: So that's why you're doing a lot of press right now. Yeah,
29:52
Speaker 1: and then and then after La you're going back to
29:55
Speaker 1: New York. Does your New York run look.
29:56
Speaker 2: Like I'm also doing press there, team interviews, radio interviews,
30:01
Speaker 2: podcasts like photo shoots.
30:03
Speaker 1: Are you Are you planning to release another follow up single?
30:08
Speaker 2: Yeah? Sure, I need like something like a spring single,
30:11
Speaker 2: like something from the spring summer. So we have we
30:14
Speaker 2: have two songs already, so I'm thinking which want to
30:16
Speaker 2: release first? But first let's let's do let's work on
30:19
Speaker 2: I like it more?
30:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I like it.
30:21
Speaker 2: It's more promo yeah yeah.
30:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, okay, And then what else can people be
30:27
Speaker 1: looking forward to?
30:29
Speaker 2: To my social media, to my platforms. I'm on Instagram,
30:32
Speaker 2: d DJ official or some TikTok the same name, d
30:36
Speaker 2: DJ official, the id i J Official, then Spotify, like
30:41
Speaker 2: I'm on all platforms, yeah, all of them.
30:45
Speaker 1: And then how would you describe your music to fans
30:49
Speaker 1: that don't already know how to keep up with DDJ?
30:52
Speaker 2: My music is pop up dance, like fashionable because I
30:57
Speaker 2: put fashion into everything special you need? Can they must
31:01
Speaker 2: hear it first so they can decide, like what they
31:04
Speaker 2: want to hear from me, Like, but I think I'm
31:07
Speaker 2: unique and different. That's right, hard, that's right, thank you. Yeah,
31:10
Speaker 2: that's very important for me. And I'm so happy that
31:13
Speaker 2: I'm having already founds from the US. They love me,
31:16
Speaker 2: They're very supportive. I'm so happy about that.
31:18
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you're scared.
31:20
Speaker 2: I was scared if they're gonna like me or not?
31:23
Speaker 2: You know, I must say.
31:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I think yeah, if you're gonna put something out.
31:27
Speaker 1: You're constantly looking at the fans what they're saying. Guys
31:29
Speaker 1: gotta be nice.
31:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, their opinion and their support is everything to yea.
31:34
Speaker 1: And when you get a bad comment, what do you do?
31:36
Speaker 1: Do you ignore that stuff?
31:37
Speaker 2: I ignore it?
31:38
Speaker 1: Yeah?
31:39
Speaker 2: Usually I ignore it for some strange reason.
31:41
Speaker 1: When I see a bad comment, I don't know, A
31:44
Speaker 1: sick part of me likes it.
31:46
Speaker 2: You want to answer, I have fun with it.
31:49
Speaker 1: I have fun with it. I've had people call me like,
31:52
Speaker 1: why is this old person wearing hats? I've had people.
31:56
Speaker 1: I've had so many people make jokes. But first, like
31:59
Speaker 1: I'll see a million good comments and i'll see one
32:01
Speaker 1: bad and I'll just think about the bad. Yeah, but
32:04
Speaker 1: more in a like a humorous way.
32:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
32:07
Speaker 1: I don't know why.
32:08
Speaker 2: I mean, there are always people who's going to love
32:11
Speaker 2: you or don't you know that's like normal? Yeah?
32:14
Speaker 1: Pretty music show be yeah yeah yeah no, we get
32:19
Speaker 1: it here all the time at eating Well Broke. Yeah,
32:21
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this. You make a good pancake like it.
32:23
Speaker 2: I like it.
32:26
Speaker 1: You're going to see me finish the pancakes and I'll.
32:28
Speaker 2: Give your mind too.
32:31
Speaker 1: Did you like Wars?
32:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like it. Yeah, yeah, sure here making sure.
32:38
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, thank you for having a crazy schedule.
32:41
Speaker 2: Thank you.
32:42
Speaker 1: I'm excited with us a little bit about Serbia. Yeah,
32:46
Speaker 1: culture us Serbia, I would love you. If you have anybody,
32:50
Speaker 1: I'll go. I won't even think twice about it.
32:52
Speaker 2: You must be my guys there and try Serbian food.
32:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm down. I just I just sometimes I think
32:58
Speaker 1: when I see people from other countries, I just wonder, like,
33:01
Speaker 1: because people look at the US like US is great,
33:04
Speaker 1: and I'm always like, do we pretend like we're great?
33:07
Speaker 1: Are we really? Is America really that great?
33:11
Speaker 2: Yeah? It is? It is the favorite.
33:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, Serbia and your second home. Okay, okay, but you
33:19
Speaker 1: would never leave Serbia entirely.
33:22
Speaker 2: Yeah no not yet.
33:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
33:24
Speaker 2: I mean I'm gonna move here, but still I have
33:27
Speaker 2: my family there.
33:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and yeah I can only imagine. All right. Well,
33:33
Speaker 1: thank you guys for tuning into another episode of Eating
33:35
Speaker 1: Well Broke Again. I'm your host Coley Went and today
33:39
Speaker 1: we have special guests d d J in the building.
33:41
Speaker 1: Check out her single right now, I like it popping
33:44
Speaker 1: really high in the charts. You can look her up
33:47
Speaker 1: on Instagram. D I d i J official of course
33:51
Speaker 1: official on Instagram and all other tiktoks and all that
33:54
Speaker 1: yeady yady YadA stuff.
33:56
Speaker 2: He said so much