Interview: Up-and-coming artist Chaso Discusses the Meaning behind His Recent Single ‘Drifting’, His Future Goals as an Artist, and Upcoming Projects and Releases.
By. Alicia Zamora
Alicia’s Studio Sits Down with Artist Chaso to Talk about What Led Him to Make Music, His Recent Release ‘Drifting’, and His Upcoming Projects and Releases.
A Conversation with Chaso
Alicia: Welcome back! We have our fifth special guest Chaso!
Chaso: Hello everyone! My name is Chaso representing RudeBoyz.
Alicia: Period!
Alicia: Diving into the first question How did music become something that you wanted to do? and what led you to pick the path of an artist?
Chaso: Well to be honest music is more like a hobby for me. I do it on the side. My main business is owning a couple of restaurants and I have a car dealership.
Alicia: Oh Shit
Chaso: Yeah so that’s what I do to make money *laughs*
Alicia: *laughs*
Alicia: Going into your release ‘Drifting’. It was released last month right?
Chaso: Yeah it was released last month on April 10th
Alicia: With the release of your recent single ‘Drifting’ what was the inspiration behind it?
Chaso: Well obviously it's a love song. If you’ve ever seen my live performances it's more... I would just say that my live performances are more uplifting.
Alicia: Yeah they are I remember from Friday's event
Chaso: Yeah it’s a lot of screaming and stuff but I wanted to try something new like a different style. So for that song, I got a lot of inspiration from Juice WRLD and XXXtentacion… Rip
Chaso: There was really no idea behind the song it was more like I was trying a different style.
Alicia: Oo okay!
Alicia: Going into your artist name. What made you go with the artist name ‘CHA$Ø’?
Chaso: So my real name is Charley and the first three letters of my name are cha and I wanted to have an artist name that closely resembled my real name.
Alicia: oh okay!
Chaso: Yeah so I went with Chaso and yeah it just sounded good *laughs*
Alicia: Genre wise what would you say is the genre you're aiming for?
Chaso: So right now I’m experimenting with a lot of different styles and genres. I tend to do more melodic rap and melodic hip-hop but right now I’m experimenting with rage. I have a couple of songs coming out that are more R&B.
Alicia: Okay and When it comes down to goals as an artist what would you say your goals are for this year and the future?
Chaso: Well my goal for this year.. I recently just signed with RudeBoyz the same label as Phantom. So my main goal for this year is to do more performances and get more singles out and maybe at the end of the year release a little EP or an album.
Alicia: Oo okay! As an artist what would you say has been your greatest accomplishment so far?
Chaso: I think it would be overcoming... Well I have a little bit of stage fright
Alicia: I get that. I really get that
Chaso: So I think my biggest accomplishment the one I’m more proud of myself for is overcoming my stage fright
Chaso: My first time on stage was terrible *laughs*
Alicia: No I totally get that. It was like that for me when I did my first Interview
Chaso: I hope that from the last time you saw me... I hope it was a lot better *laughs*
Alicia: *laughs* It was good! Don’t worry
Alicia: When creating music what does the process look like for you?
Chaso: So for me, I mainly just play beats, play instrumentals, sometimes when I’m driving because you know LA has a gang of traffic so you know a lot of free time for that *laughs*. So I just play instrumentals. Some are from YouTube and Beatstars, and a couple are from producer friends.
Chaso: I wanna say that I listen to about twenty beats a day and then if I find a beat that I like... It doesn’t have to be a specific genre but if I feel a connection to the beat then I start writing.
Chaso: So the first thing that I do is a flow or a melody and then after that, I add lyrics into that.
Alicia: Okay and What would you say is the hardest part of creating music for you?
Chaso: The hardest part for me is writing lyrics. I spend a lot of time writing lyrics. I know everyone's different. Some people could write a whole album in a day but for me.. I want to make sure that the lyrics make sense.
Chaso: I want to make sure that... Well for example if this song has a specific theme I want the lyrics to fit the theme and I want to make sure that I have witty lines or witty bars. So yeah I spend a lot of time on lyrics.
Chaso: It’s not necessarily hard but it’s the most time-consuming.
Alicia: Oo okay.. So How long does it usually take you to write a song?
Chaso: It really depends but I would say at least a day.
Alicia: That’s not that bad. That’s pretty fast though
Chaso: yeah so like a day or two
Alicia: When it comes down to musical inspirations do you have any group or artist that you get inspiration from?
Chaso: Oh yeah! A lot of my idols/ favorite artists like Travis Scott, and Juice World (as I mentioned before). Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Playboi Carti. I’ve been trying to make a rage song so *laughs*.
Alicia: *laughs*
Chaso: I would also say Ken Carson, Faygo. It really depends on what genre I’m aiming for. I have a lot of projects coming out and the next one I’m releasing is more R&B
Alicia: OOO okay !!
Chaso: For that one, I was listening to a lot of R&B artist
Alicia: Ahh okay got it
Alicia: Since we're on the topic, what artist would you like to collaborate with in the future if you had the chance to ?
Chaso: If I had the chance..mmm.. If I had the chance Travis Scott *laughs*. Maybe Kanye
Alicia: Oo Kanye that’s a big one
Alicia: As an upcoming artist, what would you like people to think when they hear the name ‘CHA$Ø’?
Chaso: I feel like a lot of artists nowadays like when people think of them they kind of limit them to a specific genre. So I want people to think of me as someone who can do everything or do a little bit of everything. I don’t want them to put a label on me and say “Oh he does only this” or “he does only trap or melodic”
Alicia: Okay so variety is what you're aiming for
Chaso: Yeah variety.
Alicia: After the event on Friday, how did it feel seeing people sing along to your songs and the crowd getting hyped up when you were on?
Chaso: It was great. It’s always a good feeling when people are singing along.
Alicia: With that do you see yourself possibly doing any more showcases anytime soon?
Chaso: Yeah so we're actually doing an event on the 24th. Phantom will be there as well! I’m singing one song with him and then one song by myself. On the 25th we also have another event but for that one, I’m not performing. I’m kind of just hosting.
Alicia: Oo okay okay!
Alicia: Do you have any upcoming projects?
Chaso: So I have one song coming out in a week or two and that songs more like Juice World style. I made that song awhile back I just havent released it. After that I have a couple tracks that are R&B focused. It’s like half R&B, half singing, half rapping.
Chaso: After that it would be the rage one and stuff I’m working on right now
Alicia: With the interview coming to an end I wanted to say thank you for letting me interview you! You can go ahead and promote. Say whatever you want to say.
Chaso: Oh say whatever I want to say *laughs*.
Chaso: I just want to say thank you Alicia for having me!
Chaso: Shout out RudeBoyz! Shout out SinoPop! If you guys have time on May 24th come see me and Phantom and on May 25th we will also be having an event with SinoPop you guys are welcome to come