Labels are scrambling to find new ways to distribute music and get fans to buy records. The old ways have run their course and every day, new technology and apps are developed that change how people receive music. There is no set blueprint at the moment; people have become instant stars on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Knowing what comes next is key.
A new style of label has emerged, with a mixture of independent operating and technology people can produce and market their own music without help from a label. New Muzik Order (NMO) says that’s exactly what they are going to do with cutting edge technology.
Alex Cantrell, DJ Carisma, Jerald Cavitt holding Hello Kylie. – Photo by Uriel Sanchez
Owners Jerald Cavitt and Alex Cantrell of NMO aim for their technology and selection of talent to take them to the next level. Integrating a new smartphone technology that gets listeners straight to the music has already given them a platform and new deals.
Most recently, they’re connecting amazing young women with L.A.’s DJ Carisma, designer and stylist LilFresh Sam, a young talent rising in the fashion game, and the talented 10-year-old daughter of Cantrell, Hello Kylie.
Kylie is a rising star. With her seasoned father managing her, they produced millions of views on YouTube last year with a dozen episodes of “Hello Kylie,” a visual monologue of pop-culture and Kylie covering songs from Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, and more.
Not only does she just have a naturally amazing singing voice, but before interviewing her she turned to me and said, “You want to hear some Biggie?” and then proceeded to spit a Notorious verse for me in perfect cadence and style with a nonchalant attitude, then went back to being a model for the day. She is magnetic and has an eagerness to learn about music from all eras.
Kylie is currently working on a track titled “Snapchat” that features 13 other of the most viral child entertainers from YouTube. She has already worked with Zendaya from the Disney Channel, Jordyn Jones and Johnny Orlando.
Kylie is also be headed out on her own tour this summer. We got a chance to catch up with the young star in Los Angeles during after her photoshoot with DJ Carisma just to find out a little more about her.
The Source: You just got finished doing a photoshoot. You’re such a natural.
It was extremely fun, just trying out different poses, freestyling.
We checked out the “Sleep is For Suckas” video. It’s really popping. How much work was it doing the video?
Oh my god, it was so much work—like how much time we had to put in during the recording. Me and my dad fought this so much to recording that song that people don’t think about how much it took to create the outcome. But so much work went into that video. Recordings took like, how many days? Took a lot. Then after the recording, the video was like an all-day shoot from like 7 a.m. in the morning to 10:30 p.m. at night. It’s really fun. We had rehearsals for like two hours. Lot of work went into it but the results are awesome, so it was worth it.
With this busy schedule as a kid do you still have fun doing this stuff?
Yeah, it’s a lot of work. Other than all the work, it’s always fun. Just think about the outcome, think about the outcome [laughs].
Photo by Uriel Sanchez
So who do you listen to Kylie?
I’m a fan of loving the oldies. I like to listen to Biggie and Tupac.
Oh man, Biggie is an oldie?
[Nods]
We’re going to make a lot of people feel old…
[Laughs] Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Michael [Jackson]— but currently I’m obsessed with Rihanna and Beyoncé. Like those are my current people right now—Chris Brown, Fetty Wap and Post Malone.
So earlier you rapped me a Biggie verse. Tell us how you got exposed to this kind of music so early.
Well, I grew up with music around me. My dad is a producer and he was always into the recording sessions. I would always be around and I would always be in that world in the music industry behind the camera. I’ve seen famous people and other people he’s worked with. I’ve always been around that music scene.
Then my mom is a dancer and I’ve always went to her rehearsals, and all of her shows and everything. And then my dad is always on top of me not knowing what’s going on in this generation. Most people [my age] only know from this music generation, but more people my age need to know the music before this generation. I feel like most rappers today, I like them, but they just kind of mumble and we need to know what rap was back then and not just mumbling [laughs]. I just grew up in that world and we would look up songs and my dad would tell me to “go look at this person, watch their videos.” I’d watch their concerts and watch the videos of them, and I just started learning their songs. I started watching a lot of their biographies like TLC, oh my God I love TLC, same with the Biggie biography and I’m waiting for the Tupac biography [rubbing hands]. What else? I just saw the Toni Braxton biography and Aaliyah.
Is there a story that you sang to Faith Evans?
Yeah, it was so cool; it was the best experience ever. It’s a crazy story. After I got into Biggie, I did some research on him and I saw Faith Evans. I heard her songs. One of the songs that appealed to me was [singing], “I never knew there was a love like before.” So I’d always be singing it and one day I was singing in the studio and a friend Rebecca was here, and I was just singing and she was like, ‘Oh my God can you sing that for my friend?’ I said, “Sure,” so she puts her phone on speaker, and I wasn’t paying attention and I started singing it. I look down at the phone and the name on there was Faith Evans. I was like, “Wait, is this Faith Evans?” Then I was like, “Oh my God” so I ask her some questions. I’m pretty sure I asked her some questions about Biggie. I wasn’t trying to get too personal. Yeah, it was really nice.
I’ve heard you worked with quite a few big people already. How does it feel to work with Zendaya, Jordyn Jones and different people like that?
Well, it’s really cool and like I’ve always have been in that circle of celebrity kids—like Asia Monet, Jordyn Jones, Johnny Orlando, and Hayden. I’ve always seen them in different places and we developed relationships, and then all the sudden people started videos. It’s really fun working with them because they’re cool; we have so much in common. So it’s not so much just like business, but it’s also like I’m just doing this with a friend, not really ‘business.’
If you could be a normal kid or do this what, would you do?
I’ll be a normal kid. No, I’m just joking. I definitely be a rockstar kid [laughs].
