How Singer Alex Warren Built A Multimillion-Dollar Music Career From His Car

Forbes

Long before the 2025 MTV Best New Artist was cruising around America in his luxe tour bus, Alex Warren was living in his car, filming TikToks of himself singing in 24 Hour Fitness bathrooms. After losing his father to cancer at age 9 and becoming homeless at 17 due to a strained relationship with his mother, he turned to vlogging—sharing videos documenting his life—which earned him just enough to get off the streets. Eventually, he moved into a “creator house” with friends, including his now-wife, where they began making videos full-time. That collaboration became Hype House—a creator collective living space that would later be the basis for a Netflix reality series. In addition to the millions he has earned from social media, his break-out hit “Ordinary” has surpassed 2 billion global streams and earned an estimated $10 million in royalties—and scored Warren a 2026 Grammy nomination. Commercial success is nice, but for him, it’s also a form of therapy. “I write songs about loss and what I’ve been through,” he says. “And then to have tens of thousands of people sing them back—I don’t know if anyone could understand that feeling unless you have it happen.”  Read the full story on Forbes:   Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Everyone has their own struggle. I, God knows I do.

00:03What I've been able to do and what I've gone through has put me to where I am today.

00:06I'm really happy with who I am today.

00:17Alex Warren, thank you so much for joining me.

00:19Hey, thanks for having me.

00:20Well, you have one of the biggest songs of the year, VMA's best new artist,

00:24breaking record after record on the Billboard charts.

00:27Yeah.

00:27How do you feel?

00:28I don't know yet. I'm figuring it out, honestly.

00:31It's been really cool, but we've been on the road for 10 months now.

00:35So, you know, when these things happen, it's like you're kind of like just doing 800 things at once.

00:40And so I think I get my first three weeks off after this run.

00:43And it's going to be really nice to be home and in my own bed and start to think like,

00:46oh, cool. This has been like a really crazy year, a life changing year almost.

00:49So I'm really excited.

00:51Yeah. So do you ever on these shows, you ever just like look out and reflect at the crowd and you're like,

00:56holy shit?

00:57I cry every time. I cry all the time on stage. There's a lot of videos of me crying on stage,

01:02actually. But no, I think there's something crazy about writing songs that, at least for me,

01:09I wrote songs about, you know, loss and the things that I went through. And then to be able to sing

01:14them and then have people sing them back, tens of thousands of people saying it back is kind of a,

01:19I don't know if anyone could understand that feeling unless you have it happen.

01:22And it's pretty emotional for sure.

01:24Yeah. You've been very open about grief and loss with your fans.

01:28For those who don't know, who was Alex Warren before the music?

01:34Oh, God, a very sad kid.

01:36I did. I did a lot of stuff. I was a busser at an oyster bar. I was a competitive surfer and

01:44skateboarder. I made YouTube videos and TikToks and really cringy dances with my friends and wife.

01:51So yeah, I was a lot of things. And I was always a singer before all that, though.

01:55Oh, yeah.

01:56Yeah.

01:56When did you get into the music?

01:58I was five. I was five years old. And I, my dad bought us,

02:02me and all my siblings' instruments. And we would do talent shows every Friday for them.

02:08And I was obsessed with the Naked Brother band at the time, which just means that I would sing

02:13in my underwear every Friday with my family. That's pretty much it.

02:18And when did you, because, you know, you've just kind of blown up so massively.

02:25What was the journey between, you know, starting singing at five and getting into the music

02:30and then all these years passed by and now we see, you know, Alex Warren, the musician.

02:35What happened in between those years? How did you get, I know you were always into the music,

02:41but how did you decide to really pursue it? And when did that happen?

02:44Uh, it was difficult. I grew up in a really non-supportive household. I grew up in a household

02:49where, you know, for trying things differently, like trying to do anything that wasn't stereotypically,

02:54like go to college and get a degree and everything. I really, really wanted to be in something

02:59creative. I always wanted to be a musician. I always wanted to be a singer. Um, I didn't,

03:04I wasn't necessarily the best singer and my mom wasn't a very supportive person growing up. So

03:08whenever I tried, it was very much a, hey, stop doing that, you know? So it's definitely been a,

03:13it's been a struggle of kind of just like, you know, becoming a musician and feeling okay and

03:17wanting to do it. So yeah, it took me a long, long time to get good. And I've always done like vocal

03:22lessons and all these different things. And, you know, some people have it naturally and some

03:26people learn it. And I was one of those peoples who just kept trying and, you know, really wanted

03:30it. Yeah. There was also, before you were a musician, you were a creator of sorts. Yeah. Yeah.

03:37Tell me about that. Yeah. I, I always wanted to be a musician. So I would always post singing

03:41videos on the internet. If you scroll all the way down, my entire, you know, social media account

03:45was me singing and, uh, it did not do well. No one cared. I had no one, it just wasn't a thing that

03:51anyone like was engaging with. Um, I met my wife, girlfriend at the time, and I posted a singing

03:57video with her or, and a plethora of things, but, uh, the things that really stuck was when I would

04:02post with her. So I started doing that a little more when we were homeless and

04:07it started sticking and it did really well. And once it did well, I was like, you know what,

04:11let me try and do the singing thing again. And it did really well. And I pursued it homeless.

04:16Yes. Oh, cool. Um, yeah, yeah. That's sorry. I just kind of like greased over that one. Um,

04:21no, I was, uh, my mom kicked me out when I was 17 years old and I was sleeping in a car or in my

04:26friends, um, floors or, or anything just kind of, they would sneak me in cause their parents, uh, weren't

04:31too fond of a kid who dropped out of high school at the time. Um, so yeah, I, uh, I, I was sleeping in

04:38cars and whatnot. I met my, my wife on social media on Snapchat, which is crazy of all places. And, um,

04:45yeah, she, uh, she moved out and we started sleeping in a car together and I posted videos

04:50with her. And the first one I posted did well after singing in 24 hour fitness bathrooms, my,

04:56uh, last three or four months and no one caring. So when I saw that people cared when I would post

05:01with her, it kind of was like a cool, like, let's keep trying this. And we got out of homelessness and

05:05never looked back. How did you get out of homelessness? I started getting money from

05:10filming those videos and posting them. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. So I getting paid for that. We,

05:13we got our first apartment together and didn't look back. Amazing. Also your wife moving out

05:19and moving into a car with you. That is incredible. You are very lucky. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Never take

05:23that for granted. Um, there was also a Hype House era. Yeah, of course. Tell me about that. I'm so

05:30curious. Sure. I mean, it was my, it was the formative years of my life. I was 19 years old

05:34when we started the Hype House and, um, you move into a house with a bunch of your friends and, um,

05:40um, it's kind of like a frat house. If you think about it, like you went to college,

05:43you move in with all your friends and there's empty chip bags all over the kitchen counter and

05:49everyone, there's, there's probably 30 people in our house at a given moment anytime. And so like,

05:53I, it's, it's funny looking back on that. And people ask me a lot of times if I regret anything.

05:58And it's, it's so funny to think that because no, I was a 19 year old kid who was, you know,

06:03I feel like if anyone's college years was filmed and posted, I have a, I highly doubt anyone would,

06:08would want that. Like, so I think it's just a unique situation where you kind of get,

06:13you know, abundant amount of people looking at everything you do. And, um, it was really cool.

06:18Again, I met so many amazing people. I'm still friends with everyone there. So it's been,

06:22it's been really fun to be able to, um, look back and I go to dinner sometimes with some of them and

06:27it's like, was that normal what that week, what we did? And, and it's cool to kind of like, you know,

06:33there was a lot of guilt during that time. There was a lot of like, you know, like, oh wow,

06:38I messed up and now the internet hates me. And I think that's a weird thing to think as a 20 year

06:43old while you were making mistakes. I think it's normal. And I almost think it's, it's needed to

06:47make mistakes at that age from 19 to 20, whatever, you know, I just think it's a unique situation where

06:52you make mistakes and then immediately you get the repercussions of it. And then all of a sudden,

06:56you know, you're viewed as a bad person. And I, I always felt bad for a lot of the kids in that,

07:00in that house. What kind of mistakes? Like, give me silly ones like boyfriend and girlfriend drama.

07:06Like I remember watching like a lot of my friends go through it and I was like, this is high school,

07:11college drama. And all of a sudden there's millions of people involved in it. And I was like, I always

07:16felt bad for them. And so we go out to dinner sometimes and it's kind of like a beautiful thing

07:20to be able to watch someone who was 16 or 19 and now 20 something be able to be like, you know what,

07:25that wasn't normal, but that like was so cool to be able to experience, you know?

07:28Yeah. Hype House was like one of, you know, it was kind of what blew up the idea of like

07:35these houses where all these creators live together. It was the, you know, the biggest one.

07:39The most dystopian thing. I think looking back at my childhood, that's the most dystopian thing

07:43I think I've ever seen. Yes.

07:44How did you, how did you get the idea for it or were you like pulled into it? What, what was that?

07:48Well, I, I lived with my friends in the apartment I told you about.

07:51Okay.

07:52Um, so I had a bunch of my friends. We'd film videos together. It was a pretty.

07:54That's how it was going? Oh, wow.

07:56Well, it was just a normal thing. And I had met someone else and they were like,

07:59this is really cool. We should do it at a bigger scale. And I was kind of like

08:02the opportunity to live in a big house. Heck yeah. So, um, we did it and we moved into a big house and

08:07just started inviting all our friends to live with us. And, um, it, it, it was an accident.

08:13It didn't mean to happen. We went and we're like, oh, we should get art for around the house.

08:16And so let's take pictures together. And so we rented out a studio and we all took pictures in a,

08:21uh, in a random, like random place. And we filmed the Tik Toks that day, made an account and posted

08:27it and we needed a name. So I came up with the name and then the next day we had millions of

08:32followers and people going, wow, this is cool. Did you guys make money from that? Like a lot of it?

08:36It just depends. I think the money that was made went towards the house and some,

08:40some other people. And, um, yeah, but some people made money. Sure.

08:44Okay. Nice. Um, do you feel like some people now view you as a creator instead of a musician?

08:55How do you navigate that? What would you like to be known as?

08:58I don't care. I think that's the coolest thing is like, for me, I,

09:03I feel like I've been a musician for like professionally, at least doing this successfully,

09:07uh, for the last four years of my, three years, four years of my life. Um, so if you know me as

09:13a creator, I, I don't think that's a problem. I think the fact that I make music that's supposed

09:17to help people. I also make music that is about my wife, that I think is also just equally as

09:21important. But I think a lot of my music is about loss and grief and the things that I've gone through

09:25in my life, breakups and, um, even finding love. And the music that I make, I think is very much

09:31tailored to who I am. And whether you know me as a creator or a musician, as long as that music is

09:36helping you in some way, I don't care. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Um, I think there's such

09:40a stigma with it. I think it's very much like, oh, that's a TikTok musician. Who cares? You're

09:44still a musician, you know? Yeah. And that's all that matters. Yeah. That's very true. There is a

09:48stigma around it. With your music being, you know, so personal, so emotional, how do you, you know,

09:56navigate that and, you know, keep your own mental peace while writing this? Or is it like therapy for you?

10:03You know, it's, it's like therapy for me. I write these songs with my best friends in my

10:08room, you know, like these are things, it's not like, I, it's just, uh, to me, I'm writing them

10:13and I cry when we're writing them and I listen back to them. And it's so funny. I'll get a song

10:17back and I will literally blast it in my car, driving on a 40 minute drive somewhere. And it's,

10:23I'm crying and I'm bawling my eyes out because it's kind of coming to terms with the things that I've

10:27tried so hard to forget in my life. Um, and then when I sing these songs live, it's people going

10:32through that experience that I went through months before releasing the song. And I think

10:36that's really cool. I think that's like the coolest part of what I do is I'm able to come to terms with

10:40the things that I've gone through and then on top of it, I'm then able to indirectly have people feel,

10:46I connected to that song in some way.

10:49Ordinary was about your wife. It's obviously blown up. Thank you. To massive extent. What do you think

10:56made that happen? Why do you think people resonated with it so much? I think that that song,

11:02at least to me, like, and I think anyone can have their own opinions about the song,

11:04but I think that song's unique as heck. You know, like I truly think that Ordinary is a song where I,

11:10when we wrote it and we cut it and it was finished and we all listened back to it together,

11:14we all thought that was a special song. Um, and that was, that was something for me where I was like,

11:19wow, I, I, it sounds so familiar, but I've never heard a song like this. And, um, I don't know,

11:24I think especially with COVID and everything, people just weren't getting married or people

11:27postponed a lot of the things in their lives that they felt was important, whether it was falling

11:31in love or, you know, a lot of people broke up because of COVID. A lot of people got divorced

11:35because of COVID. A lot of people found love, but then weren't able to act on that love. And

11:38a wedding was so different. And I think when this song came out, it was kind of like a, uh, reset of

11:44like, oh, you know, everything's coming back to normal and people are falling in love again and people

11:49are going out and going to concerts. And I think that song became an anthem for something much more than

11:54what it was. It's about falling in love, but also people are using it in memorials. People were

11:57using it in, you know, uh, walking down the aisle. Like there was such a universal song for so many

12:03things. And, um, yeah, I just think it became that. Yeah. With it having gone so viral, is there a

12:10pressure you feel and you might not at all, but to make another record breaking song? No, no. I'm

12:18ordinary was so big. I don't think it's possible. Oh wow. Okay. Does that make sense? Like, I don't

12:23think it like, I don't think I'll ever have a song as big as ordinary and that's totally okay. You

12:26might be undermining yourself. That's fine though. I never thought I'd even have one. The fact that

12:30I got one, I'm, I'm fine. I don't need, I could keep putting out songs and they could keep doing

12:35fine and I will forever be grateful. I think it's great that the one song that was so big like that was

12:41a song about my wife. But like, I've had a few songs now that I've done really, really well. And I,

12:45a lot, I think a lot of people would be like, oh wow, it's not as big as ordinary. But I think that's

12:49unrealistic. I think a song like ordinary happens once in someone's career. That's a great answer.

12:56Having broken into the industry now, you've made so many friends and so many, you know, what's,

13:02what's it like? What's, do you ever like sit and think about, okay, what is my life now? Yes. I had a

13:07moment like that the other day and it was, um, it was insane. I had a friend of mine that I've always

13:13really looked up to, um, text me and be like, Hey, someone's going to call you and someone

13:17FaceTimed me. And I was, it was one of those people who I have grown up watching on TV. And

13:24I was like, what the heck is happening? And they would just start talking to me as if it was like

13:28the chillest conversation in the world. And that's when I like, I went to my wife after the phone call

13:32and I go, in a million years, would you have imagined that I would have gotten a text from this

13:36person saying that this person's going to call you and all of a sudden I get a FaceTime. And it was just a

13:41weird moment or like, you know, playing with Ed Sheeran was another thing where Ed,

13:45Ed is one of my good friends now, which is mind boggling. Ed Sheeran is one of the reasons I got

13:49into music and you know, the way that he is like, just in general is a very good person. And I've been

13:55able to meet people like that. It's just, uh, in this industry is really crazy. Yeah. Have there been

13:59any, you know, these expert musicians, so to say that have been really supportive to you? Yeah. Yeah.

14:06I, I, I've, I've gotten really, I don't want to name drop obviously. So, but Ed is one of those

14:11people who I've, who I've emailed a lot and just been able to, you know, get questions answered and

14:16things like that. Okay. I love that. What was, how did you get signed to Atlantic? Oh, um, yeah. I,

14:22I had been independent for a little while now, you know, my first song did really well. And, um, after that,

14:27you know, songs had been, you know, doing really well on social media. Um, I, I didn't want to sign to a label

14:34for a long, long time until I realized it was kind of like, I wanted to start touring and touring is

14:39expensive, especially since everything. So I wanted to get some support on that and, you know, becoming

14:44a musician more than ever now has been so easy, but at the same time, you know, having support in some

14:51way was a really important thing for me, but also I didn't know what I was doing. I tried so long to

14:56become a musician and singing in bathrooms and whatever the heck that I didn't, you know, doing covers

15:01that I didn't really understand what it meant to really be a musician, whether it was, you know,

15:05taking music theory lessons. I didn't go to college for it. I taking vocal lessons, guitar lessons,

15:10really like becoming a musician. I think there's one thing to sing covers and, you know, sing in a

15:15room with acoustics. And there's another thing to appreciate the art. I think there's been people

15:19who you go to Nashville and you'll find someone 10 times more talented than me on the side of the road

15:23singing at a pub, you know, and I didn't like the idea that I was doing something

15:30successfully without putting in the work to do that. And I wanted to give the craft at least

15:37a chance, or at least I wanted to become a better musician regardless of how well I was doing.

15:42Atlantic saw that and they're like, you could be better. You know, I think a lot of labels were

15:46like very much, oh, you're perfect. You fit right in. We'll give you everything you want. Atlantic Records

15:50was, ah, you could be better and we could help you be better and we'll help you do all that. So I

15:57started taking music theory lessons. I signed to Atlantic Records. I took piano, guitar lessons,

16:01vocal lessons. My entire week was just lessons all week for years.

16:04Okay. Very cool. You said something to the extent of it's easier than ever to become a musician now.

16:10And that's so true with AI and all these like technologies that like make it easier for music

16:16to be discovered. Have you ever taken advantage of any of those? Have you thought about AI and tech?

16:23I don't, I, I'm not into the AI thing. I think, you know, when it's TikTok, it's an AI based algorithm.

16:29So, I mean, that's cool because you're getting shown what you want. But I think when it comes down

16:32to creating things, I, I haven't gotten on the AI train. I just think, you know, for me, at least

16:37with my music, I don't think AI would help me in any way. I make music that's personal to me and I want

16:44the imperfection to, to show in that. So if I write a song, like I didn't graduate high school,

16:48there's going to be some grammatically incorrect things. I mean, if you follow me on social media,

16:52you're going to see me post a story and things are not going to sound right. And I think that that's

16:56a personable thing that makes right with the story. People know I didn't graduate high school. People

17:01know that I don't have certain things in my life that would have made me this way. And so when I

17:06post something, it's like, oh, Alex wrote that. I think when, when you're listening to a song and it's

17:11AI, I guess you could say, oh, make it imperfect, but I don't know. I truly haven't gotten behind it,

17:17but, um, I think in creative ways in general, I just, I've just really stuck with the imperfection

17:22that I'm leaning towards. I love that. And it keeps it emotional. Yeah. I think there's,

17:26you could be perfect. And I think there's singers who can sing perfect notes, but at the end of the

17:30day, I think people are gravitated more towards a flat note that shows emotion, opposed to a perfect

17:35note that you kind of can't see past. I think another thing, you know, as looking from the outside in,

17:41you have been so like honest on social media and you're just like, you're just like yourself.

17:48But when we were talking earlier, you told me you're very offline now. So explain that to me.

17:54Uh, I don't check my comments anymore. I don't, I don't have social media on a phone that I go on.

17:59Um, just so I'm disconnected from it. I think the biggest thing is I'm the biggest people pleaser.

18:03Okay. I care so much about what people think of me. And as honest as I am, that's the biggest thing

18:08where it's like, if I, especially as I've gotten a bit bigger with the song, you know, people who

18:14don't like me are going to be vocal about it. And I've noticed that, you know, someone will look at

18:20my discography or they'll look at my social media or they'll look at my, you know, my Spotify account

18:25and they'll look and they'll be like trying to understand how I got big or how my music got big.

18:31And they're trying to, you know, dissect it and be like, oh, well he did this and he did that and he

18:35did this. And when I watch a video, that's not true. I want to try so hardly to prove them wrong.

18:39But at the end of the day, what I've learned is that person doesn't want to be proved wrong.

18:43That person wants to believe what they want to believe. And so I've spent so much time on my phone

18:48before a show looking and Googling my name and looking up on Twitter and people are like, oh, well,

18:53he does this and he does this and he buys this and he does this. And it's like, no, I don't.

18:57And I want to make a video being like, no, that's not true.

18:59I don't do this. No, I don't do that. No, I didn't do that. And then at the end of the day,

19:02I realized that if I make that video, they're not going to take that answer. They don't believe,

19:06they're not going to believe me. And so it's, it's worked me up a real, real much before a show.

19:11Now I get on stage and I'm just upset and I'm sad because I know what's true and I will never be

19:17able to prove it wrong. And that's something that it was really difficult for me. So I just decided to

19:22fully like take a step back. If I see my name on social media, I swipe. So yeah, I'm disconnected because now

19:26my entire For You page is just cars. And it's like things that I like are, it's a bunch of dog

19:32videos and a bunch of toddlers, like trying to learn how to walk and then they eat shit.

19:35But for every, you know, hater out there, you have 10 other fans. So if not social media,

19:40what is the best way for you to connect to your fans?

19:42My shows. I think that's the, the, the funnest thing for me is especially why,

19:46I don't know if you've ever seen my show or clips of it, but I'm very, very involved with the fan or the

19:52crowd or whatever you want to call them. I, I, I truly just, I walk out and I see a bunch of

19:57people who want to see me. And so it's to me, I'm like, oh, cool. Let me talk to these people.

20:01Find out why. And, uh, a lot of times during my show, I will stop in the middle of a song or after

20:06a song, but when there's supposed to be another song and just talk for ages and it, it becomes

20:11just a fun moment where I just have no filter and we get to have a conversation.

20:14I love that.

20:15I know.

20:16What can we expect from you in the next year? So what are you looking forward to?

20:23I don't even know. I, uh, uh, shows, I'm just playing shows. I've been touring on, on nonstop

20:28for the last year and a half now, and we go into next year the same way. Um, I think that I'm going

20:34to definitely find some time to write another album and get that up before the next tour. And,

20:38um, yeah, I'm just, I'm literally, all I do is music. I tour music and then I write music.

20:43Do you, do you get burnt out at all?

20:46I wouldn't say burnt out. I just get tired and I want a day off or like two days off.

20:49And if I get the two days off, I really appreciate it. And then I just go right back to it. Cause

20:52I, when I, it's so funny, I will want a week off. And then three days into that week, I'm like, wow,

20:58I miss playing shows. It's so fun where I miss writing music. And so I'm like, Hey, can we like

21:03do this again and like stop at the breaks? And they're like, sure. And then, so I do it again.

21:07And after like four months of it, I'm like, Hey, can I have a week off?

21:10And then it's a repeating cycle of like, I miss it. Can we please go back? And so

21:15just finding a balance of really like, you know, cause I have a wife and I have dogs and I have

21:19friends. And then those are things when you're traveling around the world all the time, you might

21:22not always be able to give attention to it. And I have an amazing wife and I have amazing friends.

21:27So it's just trying to find a balance of, I really love this, but at the same time, I need to stop to

21:31be able to give my friends and my wife, you know, the attention they deserve.

21:34That's incredibly fair. If you could go back in time and tell, you know, five-year-old Alex who was

21:42singing in his underwear, where you are today, what would you, what would you say to him?

21:46I don't know if I would say anything. And I think that's a question I get a lot. I think

21:51I get that one and I get, if I could, would you, would you do anything different or do you regret

21:55anything? Or if you could, would you trade all of this for your parents to come back? And I think

21:59those are all meaningful questions and hard questions. I think what's difficult is what I've been able to

22:04do and what I've gone through has put me to where I am today. I'm really happy with who I am today.

22:08I'm really happy with my life. I'm really happy with my wife. I'm really, it sounds like a Dr. Seuss

22:13thing and I'm so sorry. It's not. No, but I'm really happy with my friends and my life and where I am

22:17today. And it's been a long time doing that. Like I was unhappy with who I was and the person I was

22:23becoming and the husband I was and everything that I was until I started to do this. And it's the weirdest

22:31thing ever is like, you know, it's funny because when I was five, that's all I wanted to do. There

22:35was nothing else in my life except for music. And as things were introduced in my life, I became

22:40unhappy and then I found music again and I was happy. And it's so interesting as I wouldn't go back to

22:45five years old and say, keep doing this no matter what, because then I wouldn't have been able to

22:49appreciate where I am today. And that's the hardest part is I think, you know, you and whatever you've gone

22:54in through your life and everyone has their own struggle. I, God knows I do. And I think that's interesting as you

23:00probably went through things that put you to where you are today, whether it was you went in the wrong

23:04direction and you realized that wasn't the right direction. And so I've just had a lot of time to

23:09reflect during these last few months. And I've realized that the biggest thing is I would not

23:14be who I am. I wouldn't be appreciative of what I'm doing. And I would definitely would not,

23:19you know, have the life that I have if I did not make those mistakes. And if I did not go in the

23:23wrong direction, and if I did not have those people who said you couldn't do it, and I did not have,

23:27you know, the ounce of, you know, there's a time in my life I was a piece of shit.

23:31And you know, like that's kind of put me into where today I can appreciate and I can love

23:36differently, you know. What do you want your legacy to be?

23:40Wow. I actually have never thought of that. I, the, my biggest thing is I feel like all this has led

23:46up to me to be a father. Watching my dad, if you don't know anything, my dad knew he was going to die

23:52before I was even born. So growing up, my dad knew he had limited time and I did not know that.

23:58When my dad died, I asked everyone what he was like. What was my dad like? Because I was nine when

24:03he died. And the one thing everyone always said was he was a good person. That was the one thing,

24:08no matter who I asked, people who hated him, the one thing they always said was your dad was a good

24:15person. He could make friends in every room and he was a good dad. To me, when I'm gone and people

24:23ask what I'm like and my kids and my grandkids ask what I was like, I don't care if they say I was a

24:28great musician. I don't care if they say that I made great songs or I could write a love song. I care

24:34if they say that I was a good person and I was a good dad. And that's all that matters to me.

24:39Yeah. Thank you so much for doing it. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

24:56Thanks for having me.

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