00:00 residency has been a massive success tons of people have come to see it from
00:04 celebrities and just regular folks who love your music I know my mom went to go
00:08 so what inspired you to you know take on a residency apart from you know doing
00:15 other ventures just like touring? Well typically right tours are either a
00:23 product of releasing an album or maybe a collaborative effort around grouping of
00:29 artists but it's a curated experience regardless right yeah and you know I
00:37 think I've reached a place where I was entitled to be able to have some sense
00:43 of a residency if it were not in Las Vegas it could have been you know in
00:49 other places that you know offer residencies for some time the one added
00:55 to it is the fact that you know I would be able to still manage my my regular
01:01 life as a as a parent as a you know a human being as a curator as a person who
01:10 works outside of music music requires a certain focus it requires a certain
01:14 dedication in terms of touring so residency was a brilliant
01:21 idea in my mind after the pandemic I think that the world was kind of in a
01:30 state of shock we were still trying to figure out how to get back to normal I
01:33 think everybody was kind of tucked away I mean other than Atlanta Atlanta was
01:37 still going which I lived in Los Angeles at the time but um you know we were
01:44 trying to figure out how to get back to normal and we put the residency
01:51 on sale just before the pandemic and had to pause because there was just no
01:56 functioning active business at the time so you know out of you know this
02:06 quarantine and out of not being in social spaces where you know there could
02:11 be a most of the people you know it was a risk it was a roll of the dice but
02:16 what it offered was something that was the belief that we get back to normal
02:20 the other side of it was that I could get back to normal I could get back to
02:26 the thing that I love to do the most and that was performing in front of a live
02:30 audience not just because I had a new album or you know a project that I was
02:35 promoting or either an idea of collaboration between me and sharing the
02:40 stage with said groups because we were you know touring yeah but that was that
02:48 was the the reasoning for residency. So how has it felt for you to have to
02:55 extend it multiple times like people are just itching to go see you in Vegas?
03:00 Feels good yeah. I have to say that there's no better place to be than
03:09 Wanted. The success of this you know you know it speaks to a few different
03:18 things one this dynamic of what it is that I offer as an artist regardless to
03:23 whether I have a hit single or either a record at radio or record in the world
03:29 you know it felt good to get back to this concept of live entertainment in a
03:39 very intimate setting you know arenas they're really great you know what I'm
03:43 saying but to be able to have a theater where I could curate a very immersive
03:48 and you know and a deliberate intentioned experience where people come
03:53 in and they know that they're gonna get their money's worth that they feel like
03:56 they have a night that is elevated a night that would not only be to remember
04:02 because of what happened but how you felt before you got there. One the
04:07 anticipation because of the conversation you know you know most shows don't allow
04:12 cameras to be shown in Las Vegas I welcome cameras because I wanted people
04:17 to see and experience that that feeling that is the true inspiration of why I am
04:25 the artist that I am it was these kinds of shows that entertainers put on you
04:32 know in the past where you know you not only chrome to your audience but you
04:36 found a way to be social and serenade your audience you felt you know a
04:41 connection to them through you know the theatrics of it but then also to the
04:47 emotion of it the dance of it the lighting of it the culture of the places
04:53 that I come from that I would offer kind of a snapshot or maybe a first look
04:58 because people had never seen that culture they don't understand what it's
05:01 like to be in Magic City yeah well you can't go to Magic City but I can bring
05:05 Magic City to you I can bring a bit of this world of what we consider our
05:11 theatrics you know when I think of Cirque du Soleil I think of the women
05:17 who you know are incredible performers and the fact that they know how to do
05:21 these incredible things as pole dancers I felt like you know what that's our
05:25 culture that's our opportunity for the world to be able to see it and it should
05:30 be put on the pedestal should be put on the most grand stage you know in in
05:35 America where Cirque du Soleil and Zumanity and you know Absinthe and
05:43 incredible shows offer something else that's theatrical burlesque shows Magic
05:50 Mike yeah the Thunder Down Under you know I felt like I could wrap all of
05:56 those things into a very intimate performance that celebrates my catalog
06:03 but again made people feel really great for the money that they were spending to
06:07 come to Las Vegas and see the show
06:11 (upbeat music)
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