Echoes of Defiance: The Sharlotta Experience

0:00 Sharlotta is a powerhouse vocalist and creator from Fort Worth, Texas, an artist whose talent showed early and never stopped evolving. A music scholarship carried her into college, where her artistry expanded beyond singing into acting, earning her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the prestigious Betty Buckley Awards. But Sharlotta's creativity doesn't stop on stage. She's also skilled in the fading craft of sewing, another testament to her dedication, discipline and artistry. Launching her professional career in 2014, Sharlotta faced the challenges that come with the music industry, yet every setback only sharpened her drive. Today, her music has been streamed thousands of times on Spotify, and she's more focused than ever. With renewed commitment and a mission grounded in healing, she's stepping into a new chapter, one defined by purpose, passion, and global aspirations.

0:54 In this episode, we explore the journey, spirit, and unstoppable determination of Sharlotta an artist who refuses to quit and is ready to take her place on the world stage. Google Google and YouTube University is idealistically the best way to learn Alright y 'all, we're tuning in for another episode of Bankedoutt Radio Show.

1:51 This is Music and Business Talk episode, and I have an independent recording artist, Hailing Allaway from Texas. We have Sharlotta. How you doing, ma 'am? Hello, I'm good. Alright, you were just saying, what part of Texas are you? You said Fort Worth area? Dallas, Fort Worth. Yes, sir. Okay. I've never been to Dallas, Fort Worth area. Actually, I've not been to Texas before. Oh, you've been throughout. Yeah, I might have to come out there one day. But from my understanding, is Dallas and Fort Worth, are they close in proximity? Yes. Dallas is about 25, 30 minutes away from Fort Worth. So it's like if you were going from Atlanta to Smyrna or Atlanta to Stone Mountain, probably about that same distance. Look at you, you've been to Georgia. It's been a while, but I've been there, yes sir. What you know about all that? A little bit, just a little bit. Okay, so I was going through your profile. One, I can tell that you really, really put a lot of effort and energy into your career. So let's dive into the background of like, you know, when did you get started and what was the inspiration for that? I've been singing my whole life. I went to school to sing performance music, like show choir music, to do musicals. And I went to school to vocalize scholarship college, but I've been singing long before that. But I've been in love

3:21 with music my entire life. Forever. As far as like recording, I've been recording since about. 2012, 2013, but I wasn't really serious then. But these last, I would say five, 10 years, I've been putting the work in, doing more. I have a whole bunch of sessions coming up this month. I already got a new single recorded that I'm about to release. We're getting some visuals out in 2026. So I'm just excited to keep it going and just to spread the music further throughout the US and throughout the world. Yeah, well you've been doing a really good job as far as I could tell. Like when I looked at your Spotify numbers, I was like, okay. But like, you know, $18 ,000 on Showtime, which is a big deal. $12 ,000 on You Thought. And I was, where's the other ones I was looking at? Let me see if there are. Probably Intuition. Intuition does pretty well too. And I'm like, that is amazing because... I interview a lot of, yeah, 13 ,000. I interview a lot of independent artists and they can't even get numbers like this. So, yeah, you got to put it out there.

4:28 I submit to a lot of playlists. I submit to a lot of playlists and my music distributor, Distro Kid, they have like a wheel of playlists to where you can submit your song every day for a playlist and people can choose it. uh submit hub there's just different websites that i go on and i'll submit the music uh with the mp3 separately and let people choose it if they want to or if they don't want to but i just make make it a point to make sure i post every day make sure i'm seen every day make sure somebody hears my music every day that's like the main thing and i'm going to rev it up in 2026 it'll be those numbers are going to be even better next year that's that's what's up so what made you like actually wouldn't like do music because you could have just you know recorded And you've been for yourself, but uh put it out there for the public to consume it. What made you want to take that initial step?

5:21 Oh, man, because music heals people And those lyrics and the things that i'm singing about that can heal somebody like evil. I think that's like uh My most quote -unquote heartfelt song the people if you're if they're listening to the lyrics It can that can heal something inside of someone those songs can heal people Okay, so it's more than just, you know, putting your crap out there is actually about your, your why is bigger is to actually heal people and get people to be able to come over, overcome things. Right, right, to get over things or to, you know, when I wrote Showtime, I was in this space, like each song is, it's like I was in a different headspace in my life. And that the songs are a reflection of what I was going through. And that could, you know, that could possibly help somebody. I put it out because I love music and that's just what I do. And I'm not only a artist, I make clothes, I sew. I have a performance coming up next week. So I'm just trying to just get back into just putting myself out there, just having the courage to put my music out there again and not being scared. So why did you, it sounds like, you know, you took a little bit of a pause or a break. Am I correcting someone there? Yeah, you're correct. Why did you like I don't know sometimes it's hard to balance life in the music and I guess I'm just now getting to the point where I can where I can balance them both where I know I can go to the studio and record in Whatever's happening in my life is not gonna affect the music. I can't let it

6:52 affect the music So I just gotta keep going gotta keep going. I definitely get that so when you started doing this like Your network of people that you have close to you You know family friends peers whomever How did they respond to you want to put yourself out there where they were like? Oh, no, I don't think you should do that or were they like, you know Gunho and nothing like it. Yeah my family they came to my last performance my aunt uncles my cousins. They all show up um a lot of people As much promo as I do some people still don't know that I do music Uh like the other day my friend's kids were like you sing bro We were all hanging out and they came in there, they had got on YouTube, but I don't know how they missed it, you know? But it's always funny when somebody finds my music that doesn't know that I perform, or I guess when I haven't made it known, or if they're not on the internet like that. That's a good feeling too, because they're so shook and surprised. But even without having to put the music in somebody's face, it's still discoverable and they're still happy about it. My people, they love it. They love it. They support me. I want to uh, I want to play a little bit of the showtime real quick and then I want to talk about the actual creation of it the process Like you said, you know, I know I can tell it has a backstory to it So yeah, this is showtime everybody. We're gonna listen to a little bit of it. We're gonna get right back into it All right Alright y 'all, that was Showtime by Charlotte.

8:38 So y 'all make sure y 'all go, y 'all like these songs, play them, play them, play them. She's all over the social platforms. You just look up the name, S -H -A -R -L -O -T -T -A. That particular song, I like it because... What is talking about? So take us through like, you know what I'm saying? What were you going through at that time? A bad breakup? I figured. I was going through a bad breakup and I was like, how can I make this funny? You know, so obviously at the beginning where I'm talking like they love the circus because he basically had me in a circus. So that's why I was like jump. It's on fire now because you know, they used to have the hoops with the fire and stuff like that So that's why I said at the beginning, but I really wrote it about a breakup But that song and a lot of my other songs started off as freestyles on this app called voicy Okay, um, so I record like a little 30 second clip And then one day I just woke up and I had a different melody in my head and I was like I have to record this So I went to the studio. I brought my sister with me my twin I have a twin sister. I brought her with me and I let her lay the background and I released I released Showtime, but I ended up taking it down and re -releasing it because some of the credits were wrong. But that song is about about a breakup I went through and me trying to happily trying to happily get through it, you know? Yeah. So I look at it a different way. OK, this was the idea. Let's a twin. Does he ever like standing for you? No, no, no That

10:10 would be hilarious no, can't she sing She can sing a little bit, but she can't sing like me. Oh, okay She'd be like a Milla Vanilla type thing or whatever she's Did she still does she still live in Texas or Yeah, yeah, I should definitely probably do some content like that. So You've been doing this for a while and then you also been doing it professionally for a while as well I'm like, uh, if my math is math and you said you went I guess around professional around 2014 Yes, so 11 years Yeah, it's been it's been a while. It's been a while that I've been trying but like I said, I took a break I did it was some years that went by the where I didn't sing, you know I just started sewing a lot and just working and you know trying to be in the corporate world and I really miss music and I just can't leave it alone. So No, I'm here and I'm gonna keep Exactly. It sounds like you know when you have a when you have a talent So when you sing way better than a lot of these other people, but I guess that also goes back to like, you know, what was this? I'm sitting there looking at your Spotify bio and you was talking about like Texas Allstate Choir in 2006 and become a first chair soprano And I'm like, you know what? That is a big deal. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah I mean those days that was back in uh, that was back in 2000. That's how I got my scholarship for college That's how they gave me more scholarship money because of that the Texas Allstate Choir.

11:42 So that was such a fun experience. I really tried for years to get first chair. And what was holding me back was I couldn't sight read. So when I learned how to sight read, it was over from there. And I'll never forget when they called my name and told me I had first chair. That was one of the best feelings of my life. But yeah, that was choral music. So I had to kind of transition from singing choral and show tunes and all the stuff that I was singing in college. over to pop and hip hop. So it's a different way you use your voice. It's just different, but it's still music and I still love it. Yeah, but I can tell with your voice or whatever, I can tell that you're trained just by listening to yourself. Because when I first started listening to your music, I was like, oh, yeah, that's definitely because that's why I wanted to do the interview.

12:24 Like, I don't like bringing on artists that where you're welcome. They don't, you know, I'm sorry, they don't sound the same. They don't the quality of the vocals. It changes throughout the songs, yeah. Yeah. And you actually have a, you have a taunt to where, you know, you could be top tier. Some people could only, you know, I like to rate artists like A, B, C, D or whatever. Right. There's a lot of C -like. But they begin like A -type placements. So what has been some of the challenges you've had to overcome in, you know, for some of your career? I guess being iced out in the music community. Not getting invited to certain opportunities, but it was really my fault because I wasn't putting myself out there. I wasn't promoting myself. I wasn't doing shows. I wasn't. You can't just put the music out and hide in the background. People want to see you live. People want to hear how you came up with the songs. They want to see you. And it took me a while for that to click in my head. Like, oh, I have to actually, I got to actually get on the internet and promote this.

13:32 I got to actually, you know, let my face be seen. So that's why I'm saying I'm going to have visuals next year, because I don't have any music videos yet. So yeah, that's the thing I was looking at for YouTube. Some visuals. Yeah. I'm like, I know some visuals would help me, but, you know, I don't know. I'm just nervous about it for a long time. I'm like, well, people can just listen to the music. But people want to see something too. What did you know? I can't remember. What did you ask me? I'm sorry. Oh, no, no. I was sitting there thinking like you didn't ever think of it like, you know what I'm saying? How you consume music is a consumer. Like, you know, you like to watch people videos and I'm sure you watched videos more stuff like that. So, oh, yeah, like it's a natural progression. Absolutely. Yep. Exactly. You know, and then now with social media taking off and being, you know what it is now, because back in 2014, social media was popping like it is now. So it was totally different.

14:20 Exactly. So now you really got to get with the times or just get left behind. We realized and I'm like, okay, I got to get on TikTok. I got to, you know, I got to get somebody, one of these little dancers or something to start dancing behind my song or make something to make it go viral. You know, that's where I'm at now, working on something like that to make it go viral. So which platform has definitely taken over. You know, I always tell people when you start with the social media, you know what I'm saying, start with like two platforms and then work your way up. Excuse me. What two platforms are you leaning towards or are you like heavy in right now? Right now, I would say I'm trying to get heavy on TikTok.

15:01 TikTok, I've been posting more of my music. I've posted my Spotify raps. I've been posting my songs on there. I didn't know how to work TikTok and I'm just now figuring that out. So TikTok, of course, my Instagram. I'm going to start posting on there more. I've been just doing the story thing, but I still get... I still have 5 ,000 views for the last 30 days with no post at all. Just posting purely from the story. So I'm going to start posting actually on my page again on Instagram. But really Instagram, TikTok, and then Facebook is kind of, Facebook has been lighting up here lately. So those three, I have more than two. So those three have been kind of, kind of my main, my main areas. And then fourth would be where I'm trying to get more videos and stuff, YouTube. YouTube would be the last one I'm working on because I haven't really figured that one out yet. yeah so what do you think about like content creation nowadays and you know the role that it plays with artists pushing themselves oh my god it plays a huge role it plays a huge role that's what i'm trying to figure out now do you feel like you know artists how to create a niche and you know just how the niche of my music can coincide and make people listen to my music that's what i've been trying to figure out and it's a big deal Yes, it is. So being a woman in the industry and knowing how like it's still heavily dominated by men in the positions that they play within the industry. Have you had any like, you know, I guess brick walls as you ran into there or, you know, people trying to take advantage of you? No, not lately. Maybe

16:32 when I was first starting off. Maybe like four or five years ago, I've ran into some unsavory characters, you know, at studios and stuff like that, but I'm not dumb. So it never worked on me, but they are those, those kinds of people, predatory people. They are definitely out here, uh, waiting to see their teeth in anybody. So, but I haven't had to deal with that. I've been really blessed. Uh, everybody that I work with on the engineers and producers, they're all respectable people. no funny stuff in the studio. It's a vibe. I'm there. I'm able to get my work done and go home. You know, I've never had to, I don't feel like I have to, I don't have to watch my back when I'm recording. You know, I'm not, I'm not in a situation like that. Thank God. Okay. That's what's up. I'm glad you've been able to have that experience. So would you say your perception of the music business is more of a, you know, good perspective because, you know, and the reason I asked this is because like, so the Diddy documentary just came out. Oh my god, I had to turn that off. I was just watching that yesterday. I think I'm gonna start from the middle of the first episode, but I had to turn that off. I was like, oh my god. Those type of things I think always give the industry a bad rep and I tell people that's not like the industry in its totality.

17:47 Those are just people in certain situations manipulating things, but from your perspective as being a participant in it and also having this 11 -year career as a professional, what's your overall perspective of the industry? It can be grimy. It can be grimy. Those things do happen, but it's really about who you surround yourself with. It's really about who you surround yourself with, who's in your corner, your team, especially the people around you that are helping you with your music, your writers, your engineers, all that. It's really about who you have around you. Like you said before, I've been blessed to not have to deal with anything like that. I know that kind of stuff happens, but I don't, that's not my story. That's not my story. I haven't had any, I don't know. I haven't had any bad experiences like that. And if I ever felt weird or something like that, I immediately left and I wouldn't, I didn't really subject myself to anything past that point. I was able to see in the beginning, like, okay, wait, this is, this isn't right.

18:44 You know, this isn't how this is supposed to go. And I removed myself. Do you feel that some people get blackballed in a sense because they don't go down paths that others try to urge them? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely. That definitely happened. Yeah. No, I understand that. And I think I've experienced that to a certain extent with just certain things. So then how would someone remme that as far as like you're still pursuing your career? So if, you know, you're like. What's your goal as far as like your career? Are you trying to like, you know, just be the biggest independent artist in the world or are you trying to like eventually get signed? I want to stay independent as long as possible. But if the opportunity was there for me to get signed up, I would definitely sign.

19:33 I would definitely sign, even with all the stories that I know, even with all everything that I know about contracts and all that kind of stuff. I would still sign because that's the ultimate goal is to get a deal. Yes. and to be successful with my my ultimate goal is to be successful with my music i want my music to pay my bills i want my music to be all around the world and to make people happy um i wanted to do what it's what it's supposed to do that's why i make it you know for everybody's ears for everybody's heart do you think uh with that goal being in mind and with the integrity that you have you think it would be a harder road for you to do that or oh yeah Yeah, I definitely think so. It makes it a little harder having integrity.

20:15 Yeah. I get that. So you say that you do some sewing and I also see on your thing you do ghost writing. So what do you be sewing? Like what are you making? Just random stuff. Literally. Oh my, I used to have it all on my TikTok. I took them down, but I make two piece sets. I make coats, puffer coats, puffer jackets, puffer vests. So what do you do with all this? You sell it, or? I've sold some of it before, but most of it I was just making, just posting it on TikTok. And then people would hit me up like, hey, is that for sale? And I sell it to them, or some of it I would keep. It just depends. Depends on how popular it was. So it's more of a hobby for you? It was just a hobby, yeah. More of a hobby. But it was the fun thing. I do like prom initiatives, like when different groups have prom dress drives. Like I'll go up there with my, I did, I did twice this past year where I go up there with my sewing machine and if there's something wrong with the dress or whatever the young lady has chosen, they can bring it over to my table and then I make the dress look nice and they have a prom dress. Now, I'm sure you probably wouldn't expect the man to know this, but do you use patterns like the McCalls and stuff like that or? Yeah, I use McCalls. This is exactly what I use. How do you know about that? See? How do you know about some McCalls?

21:33 Let me tell you. When I was in high school, years ago, I worked at Cloth World, which got bought out by Joann's Fabrics and Crafts. And I did it for - Why? They just went out of business. You say what? They just went out of business, Joann. Well, no one sells really anymore. So I was there for a good year and a half, two years, something like that. And I learned about that. I learned about freight check and, you know, different textures of fabric and all that stuff. And like I said, the McCall's was a big, you know, pattern that, you know, people use. I even had some stuff done for me where I used to wear clothes. Yeah, McCall's is your clippity. Mm -hmm. Yep. Yep. See? You know your stuff. Look at you. Yeah. See? Oh, yeah. I just thought that was cool or whatever. And it made me think about that. I was like, OK, yeah, I know a little bit about someone and stuff like that. So on here ghost writing have you ghost written for a lot of people or? Not a lot of people but I've ghost written a couple rap songs for my homegirls I have they're they're all credited on my BMI in my district here I get a little money from from those songs when they get played. How do you like writing for other artists? How do I write?

22:54 No, no, no say how do you like writing for other artists? Oh, it's fun. Oh, I love it. That's real fun. We had went to a session together and She didn't know what she was going to do. And I came up with the melody. He came with the first verse. I came with the second verse. It was really fun. It was years ago, but she just put it out. I want to say this year or last year. And then I've done a lot of voiceover work. I don't have any of that on my Spotify. That's all on my old. Reverb nation, but like for interludes and stuff on people's albums like I know how to make fake different accents I'll send it to you. Yeah, you definitely have to do so I can check it out Yeah, I'll send it to you. I'll send it to you But I had to do the whole bunch of interludes for a rap album. This was back in 20 Had it been 2012 2013 one of those years, but it's still on it's still up There's still honor you can still you can still hear me on there Then I've done a bunch of voicemails for businesses out here. Like I'm calling business I'm on a bunch of people's voicemails. So I am loving about you because you're diversifying the way that an artist can get paid and I've been talking to independent artists a long time and trying to tell them to do like stuff like this and also do commercials and jingles for small businesses that way they can get paid and you start building these relationships or connections and then you know I'm saying you can split the publishing or however you want to do it. Because it gets picked up in commercial spaces. You're going to get paid, they'll get paid, whatever. But it'll have something for that business that's unique to them, but also give a stream of income to the artist slash writer. And I'm like, I don't

24:28 understand why they're not doing this. Right. It needs to be done, for sure. When you network and you're just talking with other independent artists, what are their mindsets? Like how are they viewing the industry? Are they thinking about doing stuff like this or do you turn them on to things? No, most people are just worried about like when I talk to other artists we talk about numbers We talk about plays. I've been having a lot of conversations about sync licensing But most people are just concentrating on their craft their song they're just in the moment. They're just there Trying to push whatever they have. They're not thinking about other avenues And if they're not thinking about it, if they're not talking about it, I'm not just going to bring that up. What else was I going to say to you?

25:15 It was something else I was about to say. It was important. What did you ask? Ask me the question again. I'm sorry. Oh, no, it was about that. You know, how their perception, their mindset, you know what I'm saying? Because I get the feeling that, you know. A lot of people want to stay independent. A lot of people do want to stay independent. I'll say that. It's a lot of people that want to just be independent. Right. See, that's the thing that I think that's not talked about a lot. The first of all, I'm sure you remember when independent used to look was looked upon as like, oh, that's like, you know, what is that? Oh, yeah. And I used to tell people like, you know, I'm saying through manipulation and I said, because I remember like, I'll give you a story real quick. Oh, Jada Juice Man. He was independent, but he was also backed by Warner Brothers or no, Asylum. And they didn't really want him to talk about that and stuff like that. And you have different people. I think Little Flippa one time had a deal where he was like looked upon as independent, but, and it could have been for only one project or whatever. Cause I know he does independent now, but he was backed by a major, but they didn't want him to discuss him being backed by a major. Right, they want to make it look like he was still independent.

26:25 Uh -huh, because it was a buzz word. Now everyone's talking about screaming independent, but I don't think no one's really talking about, okay, what does independent look like and what structure, business structure, do you have to put in place to, you know, get to the point to where you have thousands of people? It's all on you. Yeah, independence is all on you. Exactly, and the responsibility. It's all your own, yeah. Exactly, from the administrative side. to the promo side to relationship building to networking with all these uh music supervisors program directors across the country and internationally i'm like knowing your analytics like uh do you uh like look at your analytics and stuff like that i do I do. They're doing very well on Facebook.

27:10 YouTube is doing very well. I don't know how, because I haven't done anything on there. But my Facebook one is doing very, very well. I still need to push on there more, because I still need to get followers. I get more plays than I do followers. Like, it's really hard. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to make people stay. They'll listen to the music, they'll play the music, they'll add me to the playlist. That's where the content comes in, because they don't know you as a person. Yeah, so I need to make myself more personable online. So that's what I'm working on now, coming up with some content creation or something like that. Do I need to be funny? What do I need to do to make people stay? Because they'll listen to you. Once they're there, I got them. You give me the impression that, you know what I'm saying, you like to like joke around and stuff like that. And that's a part of your personality. So I think if you go down that lane, you should really explore that and, you know, let people see that. I'm going to try that. Yeah, do it. Oh, I got some movie plays. I mean, I'm going to be in a movie. Well, three of my songs are going to be in a, uh, in a Tubi movie. Oh, that's what's up. I just signed for that. Mm hmm. In a Tubi movie. It'll be You Thought, Evil and, um... The song called We See You. All three of those are gonna be in a movie.

28:26 Okay, those movies dropping next year? I believe so. Let me look at my email so I can give you the name of it. Give me one second. Yeah, go ahead. Let's see here. So while you're doing that, I'm gonna jump into another song real quick. Okay. So everybody, this is, let's see here, Youth Out. Definitely. You got this does load and you know, you're from Texas. He should have the slow to chop version I'm gonna play the version for everybody. So yeah, make sure y 'all go. We got stream the song. This is you thought Alright y 'all that was you thought so y 'all make sure y 'all go and stream that but ours we have online with us right now Charlotte Yeah, y 'all go look it up. It's sh a r L o t t a you spell it out.

29:32 It pops up. She has a whole catalog with that was you thought I like that song where you know, it's upbeat and then also You know, it says what it is you thought you thought he was getting over him blah blah blah So did you go like that where you know, they thought there was go to it like, you know Yeah! That's exactly why I made that song. That's not gonna work on me, buddy. That's exactly why I made that. I'm not the girl you thought that I was. I don't know, sir. We're not doing that. I definitely get that. What I wanted to tell you, we were talking about why the song was playing and stuff. The one thing about marketing, right? What I've learned and the things that I've done in the past I used to run Facebook ads and stuff for when I was operating my independent label and I had someone comment to my I am so sick of seeing this stuff and I won't even follow that I was like, well, thank you, but your friends do so you want to get to the point to where you know people are commenting engaging Because that's what's gonna make it spread anymore even more. You don't want people to you know You wanna be like polarizing somewhat. So you want them to react to it. Either they're gonna like it or they're not. You don't want people to just like pass by. You see what I'm saying? And that's what it takes as far as pushing. It really does take that amount of, cause you're building your brand and you're building value. And I wish that I advocate for people to always support independent artists, like pay

31:02 them, stream them, all that stuff, buy merchandise, go to their shows, all that stuff. But being a creative and within an entertainment space, whether it be music, whether it be acting, whether it be whatever, comedians, all that stuff. Creative space is the only industry that I can think of where it does not have an assumed value starting out the gate. If they're not familiar with it, they disregard it. And I'm like, you shouldn't do that because you have talent. You've been doing this for a long time. The difference between you and a major recording artist is a marketing budget. That's it. Yep. Yep, that's it. That's it. You're exactly right. Told you. And that's why I be trying to get people to understand.

31:58 But for some reason, the mainstream people, just in general, Someone could be singing they could be singing a heart out. They could be on point They could be performing their heart out like let's say if they're at a club or something like that People are just sitting there talking and yada yada yada not really paying attention to the performance Or this person could be outside on the street somewhere doing the same thing and people just walk by like they're in New York and stuff like that and won't even Embrace but the moment that you push so much and you know, you put enough You know Whatever it is, whether it be organic marketing or whether it be like paid ads or whatever but once you break through people's head enough people that you break through where you have a Huge following then you start to people start to see you in a different way I'm like, oh no, this sets such and such does not connect to that person. I'm like this person's been that same person like three four years ago Yeah, uh -huh. Yeah, they connected to you know, like it is crazy how Creative spaces are the only industry where I see that happening because you can start you a plumbing business or you'd be a doctor and people Automatically have an assumption to it or you can create some type of product or whatever or you could be a cleaner and go clean someone else People not complete.

33:11 Oh, well, I'm not gonna pay you blah blah blah But it's with people doing movies and music and comedy or whatever the case would be even being content creators People just don't want to give them that value that they deserve Because they just look at it as a I don't know a disposable type of thing exactly So I imagine you get that a lot when or you was getting it when you first started out. Sometimes, until they actually listen. Until they actually listen. But I like surprising people. I like it when people ignore it and they come back like, oh my God, girl, I didn't know you could sing. And a part of me wants to be like, you should be listening to that. You know what I'm saying? You should have been listening to that song. I've been playing that for, that song's been out two years. What do you mean?

33:54 You just not heard it and it's hot. And it's like, I know it's hot, you know? But I just take it with a grain of salt, with a smile on my face and I just be like, yeah, okay, now you're a fan. You could have been a fan though. Yeah, exactly. I'm right about that. It's like people have to see something else. You get on board. Yeah, it's like you got to over prove yourself just for them to get to that level of believing in you. That's that's the whole reason why I started to make that radio show. They wanted to create a platform where independent artists can be heard because I felt like major artists already have all the resources dumped into them, regardless of their A level, B level, C level, D level. They get enough resources that then to them. Why not, you know, I'm saying create platforms for these independent artists and not take advantage of them, you know, like all the people like, oh no, you got to pay me blah, blah, blah and do this, do that. I'm like, yeah, it should be paid for some of the things that you do. But at the same time, it's also about like, you know, figuring out what can you do to where, you know, you can still monetize your platform, but not have to do it at the expense of the artist.

34:58 Exactly. So right on. That's what I've been doing and I will continue to do so because just like how you took a break from music, I took a break from this, had to come back to it. Are you doing it? Yeah, I did. I only do the personal stuff like going through a divorce situation or whatever and trying to refine myself and rebuild. Oh, yeah. But now I'm back at it and it's going to keep going, keep going. And I'm looking. to build like, I don't know, you like, do you know Jason Lee is with Hollywood Unlocked? Yeah, I know Jason Lee. Yeah, so I'm looking to model my stuff like him. I'm like, he has a $50 million media empire. Nice. Yeah, so that's where I'm wanting to grow. I've been following him since the beginning.

35:43 I've been following him since he first started. He used to do a lot of salacious stuff. No, no, no. He's a city council person in Stockholm. Yeah, he's a council. But I do love the fact that this is a little off topic, but we can know that's what we do on here. The thing I do love about him right now is that he uses in the last couple of years, he's used his platform to bring and highlight things that need to be highlighted. So him being a council member and he serves. I'm like, he's not missing his council meetings and nothing like that. He's there and he shows up. He puts it on Instagram. He puts them on blast because I think it's the mayor out there. A couple of other people are doing something and they weren't being held accountable. So now that he has this platform, he has his name. I know that they don't like stuff like that. I know they they'd be getting all pissed and stuff.

36:34 So I love when people. You know have that realization of okay. I can use my platform in help my hometown To where you know, I'm saying we're gonna shine a light to the stuff and really educate and empower and inform the community because I think a lot of people don't get into local politics because they don't understand how it works at that level and They just don't like politicians right Because they're always thought of being like, you know, corrupting, you know, criminally or whatever. Corrupting, sneaky, doing something, taking the folks money. That's how people look at it. When you have someone who doesn't need it for the money and can use their platform like that, I think it's amazing. I really think he's doing it for the people. I really do. Yeah, he does.

37:25 I guess he doesn't have to do it. He didn't have to run it. He even spent his own money on the campaign. Oh, wow. I don't know. He spent his own money. He didn't spend a dime on nobody else's money. He spent his own money. Put it in the campaign fund, spent it, you know what I'm saying? Signs out our stuff with his seat. And I'm like, that's what I'm saying. I think that stuff like that is cool because it shows you the motive. He doesn't need to, he can use his time serving the people to make way more money through his business. Right. He chose to carve out a certain amount of time dedicated to the people. into for that particular city to like you know want to do better and leave a you know i'm saying get better yeah but they say leave a place better uh than let's say than how you found it and then when it was before he found uh and i really truly believe that's what he's doing so you know shout out to him you know if i could meet him one day that would be cool yeah and he came along he came a long way i've really we've i've watched the growth like he's really grown yes as a person as an individual Um, as a journalist, all that, um, cause he, he could have, he could have went to Macy's Zeus, Zeus TV route, but he didn't go that route. So I'm, I'm very proud of him.

38:40 I'm proud of what he's doing. Proud of his platform, all of that. Yeah. So like I definitely watched a lot of his stuff and you know, and I love it and I get, you know what I'm saying? He still has to report some type of stories because of the audience he has. Right. And you know, of course, you know, negativity and stuff like that always circulates way better than way quicker than positivity. but you know it is what it is and I understand because even building my platform you know I've had to start leaning in to more uh stories to like you know make people think a little bit and you know and I like reporting negative stuff but I do like to like yeah do something where you know let's put a spin on this or whatever like you know how can I look at this from a business standpoint or like I did post like uh because I used to be in the city of Macon uh for a good little minute and I saw that there was a big drug bust down there.

39:35 So I clipped the photo and I posted it, but I put the captions of like, they had got it to the point where I think the drug bust was like 800 some thousand in value. And I posted like, if they only use this ingenuity for positive, then that'd be all right. Yeah, like criminals make the best when they do it at those levels and in higher they make the best business people Really? Well, okay. So listen listen to where I'm going with this though So I say they make the best business people because look if you're a drug kingpin, right? And you're making a million dollars a week and I've met someone who did this in making Like long time ago back in that like 80s or whatever You are pushing a product that you cannot market in a traditional sense and you're having to fight external fights and internal fights as well at the same time while keeping this organization afloat because everybody wants to make money. Now if you flip that ingenuity into something that's legal and give that person a marketing budget and get them to go out there and push a product that's legal and all that stuff, you would have fantastic results. Right.

40:58 Because they're making lemonade with lemons. Well, yeah. Right. But it's just, you know, I'm saying an illegal way, but they're having to do it in a very confined manner to get to that level. Right. That's why I say they would make the best business people. Do you just have to flip? Yeah, that's true because that's marketing in a whole different way. That's like marketing in the dark and they're still making it. So I get your saying here. So you give them a situation where it's in a positive manner and it's legal and have them use that ingenuity. Man, these companies and stuff, they'll make them go crazy. Yes, but you know, that's just my theory on that.

41:38 So for 2026 and future goals, what are you trying to accomplish with your career and your music? I want to get some more sync licensing done for 2026. Sync licensing, my visuals, and more plays and views. I've looked into the AI. You know how they got a lot of AI singers out now? I looked into doing that, but it just don't seem genuine to my craft. So I don't know if I'm going to, I don't know if I'm going to partake in that area, but I'm definitely going to be pushing my music a lot harder. Uh, it's going to be a lot more visuals and a lot more charlotta, uh, in 2026 for sure. That's what's up. So I imagine that you don't like AI or you have some type of, you know, I do not, I do not. I think it takes away from the essence of true musicianship, real voices. You know, music is, is, is music touches the soul and I don't want no music from a soul, from, from a soulless machine or whatever is being made. I just don't like it. It's kind of like as an artist, it's somebody that studies music and stuff and just kind of, I don't know, it's kind of a shock to the heart, like, man, I could have kept playing tennis or running tracks or something, you know, doing something different because it's like, man, why are they going to take over the whole industry? We got real voices.

42:54 We don't need computers. Yeah. I don't think it'll take over the industry. I think it'll just be used as a tool, like auto -tune and stuff like that. And once the hype around it dies down, then so was the use of it. Of course you're gonna have some. I really hope so. Well, I think, you know, it's like with everything that's new and shiny, right? It's new and shiny right now. So we have to let the industry shake it out or whatever, because you're gonna have some for it, some against it, and some, you know what I'm saying, fall in the middle. And I think with every industry, you know, everything that's new and shiny shakes out, you know what I'm saying? And they'll... stand the test of time or stay with the times or they'll just fall off. I'm like at one point, you know, iPods and stuff like that were, ooh, gotta have that and blah, blah, blah. But then, you know, they, you can't even find one nowadays.

43:47 So I think, you know, again, I don't think AI can replace the human experience 100%. Now, can they manipulate some stuff? Sure. Can it make some stuff sound easy? Of course. But at the end of the day, I don't think it's going to change everything. Like some people who are like so for it and like, oh no, you got to get on board to get left behind. People say that with everything. Yeah, that's true. You're right about that. It's like when you look at stuff in the landscape of how things are, when stuff comes out, it's new, it's shiny. And then we either accept it as the masses. The hype just dies down. Then the hype dies down. if it falls where it's supposed to fall. And I think it will be a tool, just like I said, without a tune and synthesizing and all that. You know, some people will use, but it's not going to sit there. And I don't think it's just going to replace music in its totality to where, you know, we look we look up and every single song is generated and all that. I'm like, no, no, I don't see that happening.

44:54 Because when a lot of them on tiktok, it's a lot of ai phones It's been a couple that that kind of caught me by surprise that I isn't of liking, you know, I'm like this ai I'm like, wow, you know, uh, so that I get it There will always be stuff to stand out, but at the end of the day, I don't see it Really? Like I said just taking over everything. I don't see it taking over. I really don't I'm like, so let's let's go down that road. It takes over People yeah, you'll be able to listen to it. But what is AI gonna do about concerts, right? I want somebody who's asked him in there cuz he just had that artist that he released or whatever the AI girl and I haven't listened to any of the music but apparently it's good, but I Don't know. I just can't get down with the computer man. I'm gonna buy a real talent Hmm, I'm like we gonna buy a merch a merch Yeah, you know the only reason we like we as consumers we buy artists merchandise is because of the connection the human connection That's what it goes all the way back to why?

45:57 We go to a concert Exactly. We go to a concert we see them perform Are we connect on that human emotional level like that? So then we start supporting them Through the merchandise and all the other different endeavor endeavors that they have that we want to always have a piece of them We don't want you to do pictures and stuff like that. I'm like, AI gonna be giving like, you know what I'm saying? What is that? Chris Brown meetups? AI gonna be doing meetups? Right. Meet and greets. Meet and greets, yeah. That's true. So I'm really thinking about that. Yeah. So again, I'm like, you know, I think a lot of people, because it's new, it can always be looked upon. Oh, blah, blah, blah. But I'm like, at the end of the day, I'm like, come on. That's not gonna overpower no real voice. People said the camera phone or whatever with like, you know, kill uh the need for photographers yeah see we're there's still photographers out here there's people who still jump right industry yep so i'm like you know even when i can give another example podcasting right there is people say when it's over saturated uh based off the numbers that are active it's not because there's over six million podcasts and only six hundred thousand are active And that's across every single genre. So you're talking about music. Oh, really? True, true crime. You're talking about kids stuff. You're talking about narration. You're talking about movies. You're talking about relationships. That's across every single genre combined. Most people who start

47:27 a podcast don't even make it past their 10th episode. Really? Yes. Oh, I understand how hard it is to build a platform. It's a low entry barrier, just like with music. You can make music in your garage, in your bedroom. It doesn't mean you're going to cut through and make fans. But you can still do it. Exactly. A lot of people could jump into a lot of low barrier entries. That's the thing about those. And from a business person and perspective, no one talks about this. And that's why I like to talk about, that's why I blend the two with music and business. No one talks about the stuff that really matters as far as like, you know, Yeah, it's a low barrier entry. You can jump into it, but you're going to have a lot of work. Now, if it was a high barrier entry, then, you know, it weeds out people even getting into it. So the ones who do jump into it have a better lasting chance. But that's because they've already weeded out everyone and only so many people can jump into it who have the resources. When the industry does not require a lot of resources, Millions of people could jump into it doesn't mean they're gonna stay though Because again at the end of the day when you're creating something and like you're a business as an artist You're building something and showing value in order to build that value. You got to put in that work And putting in that work is real work. You have to show up every single day Consistently and people don't do that with podcasting.

48:56 Oh It's the same thing it's like, you know People are over here back to be a rapper. Everybody could be a singer that you know sing That's what people say but you know at the end of day They're not gonna last even if they jump into it because like you like you even learned You gotta put in that work. You can't just put your stuff out there thinking that you know, I'm saying it's going to Do something I tell you another stat and this is with music back in 2021 I believe because I used to do workshops and stuff iTunes had 10 million songs on their server that did not get downloaded at one time. Now what? Yes, 10 million songs on their server, on their store, that did not receive one single download. People just uploading music just to upload it, just wasting time, in the way. They didn't even like the crazy thing. They didn't even download their own song to like at least, you know what I'm saying? Get a report. Yeah. I see what you're saying. Yeah, that's gonna be allowed. That's gonna be allowed. You shouldn't even be allowed to post music if you're not gonna be not serious about it. It's like over saturated. There's already too many people and then you got to sit through, you know, all that kind of crap. That's not okay.

50:16 That's crazy. That's a lot of music. There's a lot of music going away. There's a lot of studio time going away. There's a lot of engineers time going away. So yeah, so that's how like, you know, I tell people, like when you look at the real numbers, you can't look at the numbers that, you know what I'm saying? People put out there in the media and stuff like that. You gotta look at the real numbers. So iTunes reported they had 10 million. That's just 10 million that didn't get downloaded. Of course they had 10 million. I mean, they also had the millions that did, but that's still a huge number to have 10 million songs sitting on your servers. No one bought and purchased. No one's listening. No one's downloading it at all. They should wipe. They can wipe it off. I think they should, but you know, if someone pays to distribute it. They're making room for the people who want. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, that's that's another story right there. But yeah. Oh, man, I like that. That's crazy. Hey, I'm full of numbers and stats. Oh, OK, that's cool. Yeah, you know, because I do this from, you know, a business standpoint and I mix the two. So you're in Texas. Are there people out there that are independent artists that you listen to? And if so, like, who are your top, like, you know, three people you're listening to right now outside of yourself? Let me go to my Spotify rep. Well, I listen to a lot of I listen to a lot of Reservoir, which is a there's like a contemporary jazz. I listen to a lot of music with no words.

51:43 I listen to a lot of Kate Renata as far as independent artists that I like. I like Lil Ronnie. Okay Little Ronnie in effort MF. He's out of Dallas. I like j -dog he is out of Dallas and Who else do I listen to this guy named solar swim out of Fort Worth? He's really good. I listen to a lot of his music some really good music Slow swim is from Fort Worth. So a lot of his a lot of his music is like his last album is funky town So he like talks about talks about a lot of the streets and historical Uh, places in the city and his rap. That's real cool. So Ronnie, I've been following him for years. He's been making music a long time. He just got some platinum.

52:25 I think he's just went platinum again, maybe gold. He just got some flax in the mail. He's really good. Um, Jay dog, I don't know if any, any of his accolades, but I didn't know his music and he's nice. Uh, a lot of their stuff. And then I listened on my Apple music. I listened to a lot of Metro Metro booming was my number one for Apple Pluto. A lot of Atlanta artists, Bender Boomin' Pluto and Don Pollyver. I listen to a lot of them. Okay. Very eclectic. Yeah, very, very. I hear it. A little bit of everything. I love it. I think people like you, y 'all make the best artists because y 'all are able to blend so many different sounds. Oh yeah, I think so too. Y 'all end up making new sounds. Yep, yep.

53:11 So I still, I still listen to the mainstream stuff. I still listen to the auto rap girlies and you know, everything else that everybody else listens to. But most of the time, um, like I said, I'm listening, I'm listening to music with no words, especially if I know I'm going to go record. I try not to listen to a bunch of mainstream cause I don't want to, I don't want to come up with the same phrases, melodies in that. So I'll just keep listening to, you know, uh, some jazz or some contemporary jazz, catered out or something like that. We'll start listening to that kind of house music. Yeah. I'll listen to a totally different genre before I go record. Even if I'm looking at the lyrics, even if I even if I know what I'm going to sing, I don't want to hear that before I know if that makes sense. No, I definitely did with my creative process. Yes. No, I understand that. I used to do stuff like that all the time. So if you had the power to change the industry, you can make you can wave a magical wand. What would you change about the industry? Oh, man, I would change how hard it is to break through. Like how hard it is to get broken. It shouldn't be that, it shouldn't be that hard. But just like you were saying before, it's, you know, 10 million songs on there, sitting on there to sit through. Just imagine all the people you got to sit through, you know, it just, it's over. I wish it wasn't oversaturated. I wish there was like, you had to have talent to do it, to even be in it, you know, that would eliminate a lot. I would just make it easier for new artists, you know, and then I would make

54:43 it to where Artists kick, you know recoup is some of the money in the end I would I would make it to where those contracts would be a little different because a lot of a lot of times a lot of people to get signed just is really not a It's really not a good thing. Yes, not Depending on what you sign. Yeah. Yeah, and I think I see a lot of Good. No, no. Well, I was going to ask, like, so do you have a do you currently have a manager? No, no, I don't. Not right now. So you bet you're managing yourself managing. Yeah, I mean to myself right now. So when opportunities like let's say you want to perform in a club and stuff like that and you're sitting over analytics or however you do your process, do you feel they take you as serious without representation or do you think they would take you more serious with representation? Still feel like I'm taking serious with that representation like I booked a show for For next Saturday without management Well at a club in Fort Worth Okay, I feel like it does I guess it just depends on the person and it depends on the crew whatever some people can look at that like oh She's just out here, but I look at it is I would be doing the same thing It would just be another mouth in them, you know in the play. Yeah, but I don't feel like it's changed anything or or anything like that. I don't feel like it's changed anything or made it difficult or anything like that. I follow the same procedures. If they say send an MB3 to here, you know, I'll do the same thing.

56:11 Or if they say, hey, DME, if you're an artist, blah, blah, I'll do everything. Okay. I'm like, you'll get to the point to where you're actually going to need someone doing it for you though, because you'll be so busy. Oh yeah, eventually. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And I do have help. I have a DJ DJ telling him he's been helping me. He helped me book the show. That was last month at Hawson theater. He got me that show. And he got me the sink placements for the movie So if I was gonna go with management or if I had somebody that in mind I would I would definitely go with him He's been a he's been a catalyst to a lot of things that's been happening Good things have been happening here lately, so I'm happy about that, but I'm saying even if you're not in your horny officially on the paperwork You get someone in your corner because I'm like it's hard. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely Absolutely, so he's helped a lot would encourage me, you know, encourage me to get back in the studio, encourage me to write, encourage me just to put my music out there to promote every day. You know, sometimes you need that voice in your ear, that little angel on your shoulder, so. Yeah, you definitely do. I appreciate him for that.

57:14 That's what's up. So is there anything that we didn't cover that you, you know, felt like we should have covered? No, I think we covered it all. This was fun. I'm glad you had fun. You know, if you didn't have fun, I wasn't doing my job. Already, already. Let everybody know. Where can they go to, you know, stream you support all that stuff? I know you can stream me Sharlotta, S H A R L O T T A Sharlotta on all platforms. There's Apple Music, the Spotify, a lot of music on YouTube. There are a lot of music on Instagram and a lot of music on Facebook and a lot of music on TikTok. Y 'all check me out. That's what's up. Everybody. I'll make sure y 'all go and check out Sharlotta. Like I said, I played her music.

58:04 Y 'all heard it She's dope artists out in the Fort Worth, Texas area Dallas Fort Worth area Yeah, and then you know, she didn't know about Georgia, too So yeah, I mean she I don't follow who y 'all stream stream stream support Whenever she does drop stuff for y 'all to be able to consume she's gonna drop merchandise or whatever the case may be Y 'all check that out and you know, just keep following her journey you know keep encouraging her because this is an artist that needs to be blown up just like y 'all be blowing up all these other people y 'all can blow up Sharlotta i am your host Andreas it has been a pleasure Sharlotta y 'all keep following the platform and as always you can follow banked out banked out underscore radio underscore show on instagram and all the other platforms you