FETISH - How To Create A Viral Hit Song (Hint: Don't Try To)

Fetish's song "Come Check This" is one of the biggest viral hits from the past few years, being used over a billion times by content creators. But he's not chasing viral moments. His genuine passion for production and experimentation has been the fuel behind his success and growing brand and reputation in the dance music industry, with a constant schedule of releases being supported by some of the biggest DJs in the world and getting millions on plays on Spotify.

Follow Fetish here:
https://www.instagram.com/itsyourfetish
https://www.tiktok.com/@itsyourfetish_

And visit my site to join the mailing list, book a free coaching call or get in touch:
https://www.nikcherwink.com

Transcript

Justin: 0:00

There's so many justifications for not putting out music that I've heard, you know, my artwork isn't ready or my song isn't ready or I'll be better in six months or, you know, I don't have a manager. I don't have the team that I need to be doing this correctly. And just a million reasons to not do it. And every day and every minute, you're not putting stuff out. Someone else is passing you up. the more songs you have out, the more chances you have for something to have a really special moment to either go viral or to be used in a, in a great video or to just be discovered by your next fan and if it's sitting on a hard drive and it's not out in the world, good luck. you know, who's going to find

Track 1: 0:41

What's up, everybody. Welcome to the headliner mindset podcast. Today's guest is the artist behind one of the most viral songs of the past few years that you have certainly all heard and probably even used in one of your reels or Tik TOKs. Come check this. It's been streamed over 3 billion times, getting shared by celebrities like Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, and Britney Spears, but he definitely is not a one hit wonder. And some of his other songs are also getting millions of plays on Spotify. This is Fetish.

Justin: 1:11

Yo, what's up guys? What's up, man? It's good to see you.

Track 1: 1:14

pumped to have you on, brother. Always good to see you, man.

Justin: 1:17

I appreciate it. It's great to see you too. I know we've been talking for a minute here. I'm, I'm really enjoying the episodes and the podcast has been valuable and fun to watch. So it's awesome.

Track 1: 1:26

appreciate you listening, man. I'm stoked that you've been tuning in and happy to have you on. you were a student at Icon. That's how we originally know each other. Right? When did you go to Icon?

Justin: 1:37

Yeah, so it's been a minute. I think it was 2018 was the year I think I left. So I was there for the full certificate program, uh, the year long course. And I think that was the first time we met was, was you, were you teaching at that time? You were a teacher, weren't you?

Track 1: 1:51

I left in 2019. So that's what I was trying to remember was if I had you in class or not, cause I'm not, I'm not sure. But,

Justin: 1:58

Yeah. I think we did maybe for one, one class or something.

Track 1: 2:01

yeah, yeah, yeah. And you are still living in LA, right?

Justin: 2:04

I am. Yeah, I'm still in L. A. Loving it. it's been, uh, it's been the right, the right home for music. That's for sure. It's been great.

Track 1: 2:11

for sure. Did you move to LA to go to icon or were you from the area?

Justin: 2:15

No, I'm, I'm born and raised here. I'm a, I'm a actual L. A. Person living in L. A. I've been here from, uh, I grew up in the, in the Valley and now I'm out in North Hollywood area.

Track 1: 2:24

Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's kind of a rare thing. You know, it's, it's the same thing here in Austin. Like when you, when you meet someone that's from Austin, you're like, Whoa, we call them a unicorn. You're like, Whoa, you're actually

Justin: 2:33

Yeah. Yeah.

Track 1: 2:34

that's pretty cool. Right on. Well, look, man, let's go ahead and just jump right into the fucking deep end, dude. Cause you have had one of the most viral songs ever. Like everybody knows your song. Come check this, right? it's like, it's just was played. Literally billions of times and you can't open up your TikTok or your Instagram without seeing somebody using that song on their reel, so like, how the hell did all of that happen?

Justin: 3:00

it's honestly, it's, it's pretty insane. The place it's gone and you know, how, how we've gotten here is pretty wild. I take no credit for how it kicked off. Initially it was on a playlist. I think when I first released the song, it was on a, uh, A spotify editorial playlist and someone, you know, some influence or some, some correct page used it on tick tock and it just blew up from there. I don't really know what the catalyst was. It could have been a cat video. It could have been a, you know, a dancing video. There's a few of those ones that were, that were early on all happened at the same time and it just sort of took off.

Track 1: 3:30

It's So, crazy, man. It's so crazy how it's like just luck, really. It's just like, I mean, it really is a, like a, like a fire, you know, it's like a little spark that just ends up in some dry grass and then just fucking takes off.

Justin: 3:45

100%. 100%. It's, you know, I talk about that a lot when I'm asked about it. It's always my response is like, look, no one knows. I don't know how to get songs to do that or any other video to do that. I don't think anyone does. And it was a, it was a real stroke of luck. And it's happened. It's the interesting thing is that it's sort of happened a couple of times. It had its first moment and it sort of came and went and. And then it happened a second time on Instagram and it went even bigger that time and now it's sort of happening a third time. So it's, it ebbs and flows and I don't think anyone really has the rhyme or reason for what, what conjures those moments, but it's been pretty, pretty awesome to watch.

Track 1: 4:19

that's interesting. That's interesting. And I remember when we reconnected, I don't know, maybe six months ago or however long ago that was. And I mean, my first question was like, what did this do for your career? You know, it's like, did this, was this like a, did this blow you up and send you on tour around the world? You know, but, but it seems like that's kind of still been a bit of a slow burn as well. Right.

Justin: 4:40

Yeah, 100%. You know, it's, I think a lot of that matters. I think a lot of what happens when you have a moment like that is sort of around the infrastructure of what you have going on at your project at any given time, you know, is your, is your team all ready to go? Do you have all the right puzzle pieces in place? And for me, this was one of my first songs I ever put out in my first project. So when this moment initially happened, I was sort of just like, you know, flabbergasted by the whole thing, sort of in this unprepared moment of just being like, Oh my God, I have one of the craziest songs on TikTok. How do I capitalize on this? So that that game has been part of the learning process for me of of now having had a couple songs and a couple different moments where things like that have happened. knowing what to do and how to do it, you know, in those moments when things are functioning is its own whole learning process. So it hasn't translated into some crazy world tour for me, but what it has done is really given My project, a heartbeat, and it's made me play international shows. I mean, last year I played, uh, I played a sold out arena show at India on New Year's night because of what's happened with that song. you know, I, I, this year I played in Iceland and I'll be playing in Canada and there's so it's, there's no question. It's led to some international shows and some things around that, from just having these viral moments, but it's not a. It's not a, you know, end all be all you get one of these songs and boom, you're done. Your whole project's ready. Good luck. You know, you're off to the races and and there's no other prep to do. You sort of have to have everything prepped and lined up around these sort of special moments, I think, to really capitalize. But it's done a lot for me. It's given me, you know, my favorite thing that it's done. It's really connected me with so many amazing creatives and artists around the world. I mean, I've seen videos from you. Literally every country in every domain. I've seen home decor videos and people surfing and people making food and cats dancing. Like you, you name the type of video or the type of content creator or the type of, you know, creative doing something cool. I've been connected with them now because of come check this and because of trench. So that's, that's been my favorite part personally.

Track 1: 6:38

that's pretty cool. I didn't really think about that. Just the fact that like how many people have actually experienced your music and they've used your music, they've taken the time to put a piece of their art in collaboration with your art in terms of, you know, making, you know, reels and tick tocks or whatever. Like that's a pretty special thing. That's pretty tight. You know, like you've touched there even if just for a small moment, but like you've touched their life in a way, right. If you've been connected to literally billions of people, like that's crazy.

Justin: 7:04

100%. That's, that's my favorite part for sure. I saw a video of a, uh, one of my favorites was early on. I saw a video of a girl who was obviously facing some sort of health issue. She was, she was in a, you know, a hospital bed. And when the first song went off, it had a, it had a dance, you know, with the song was part of what got it going. So if I had its own sort of custom tick tock dance and this girl, Got out of bed to do the video and did the dance to the song and like that just It's has stuck with me to this day because it was just like I mean why else that's the whole reason I got into music or one of the main reasons to get into music in the first place is to like have this sort of like some sort of emotional connection with people who are Needing something creative in their life and to watch this girl get up and do this dance. It's just like what's better than that? You know nothing Yeah

Track 1: 7:51

cool, man. I love that. That is what it's all about, bro. It really is. And I think it's funny because a lot of people are chasing, they're wanting the viral moment. They're like, Oh, like how do I get my thing to go viral? Like, how do I get hell of people to listen to my music? I want everyone to, but it's like, where's that coming from? for one, you weren't really chasing it. It just happened because it's a fucking good song and you're an amazing artist, you're an amazing producer, but even just hearing that. there's like some purity behind just the real love for why are we doing this in the first place, right? To make people dance, to make people smile, to, to bring some joy, not just to get a bunch of fucking vanity metrics and like, you know, get a bunch of numbers, right?

Justin: 8:27

Oh, of course. No, I mean that's, that's the whole look. You could, I mean, we have one life to choose what you want to do with it. Uh, we chose, uh, you're in creative places. I'm in creative places. We chose to do these things for, for specific reasons. For me, it had nothing to do with numbers or chasing some sort of viral moment or chasing, um, chasing some sort of metric that I wanted to achieve. Those things are. I think are rewarding in their own way and nice to see as things have sort of blown up. And some of those metrics are crazy. I mean, I think the song was come check. This was the most used audio on Instagram on earth of any artist like in 2023. And it's like, that's just, it's a mind blowing statistic to think about, but it was never the reason to be making songs. And it was never the reason I put out those songs. I wasn't chasing We're thinking, you know, Oh, this is going to be that song that goes insane. It was just like, I love this. This is making me dance and giving me that bass bass and that feeling on the, you know, the dance floor that I love. So I'm going to put it out. And lo and behold, those are the ones that have connected, you know, it was the same with that other song trench. It was like, that just had me just feeling it. And, you know, that's, that's why I put it out and ended up working.

Track 1: 9:31

Dude, we gotta talk about the fuckin Bassface for a minute, cause like, you have, and everybody please go on his Instagram and just like, find some videos of him actually DJing and playing sets, cause you have the best dance moves out of any DJ in the entire industry,

Justin: 9:47

my God. I

Track 1: 9:48

you're like, you're having so much fun, and like, you have, you have like, your move. You know, you've all like, Already just like naturally found, you know, everyone kind of has their little thing, but you have your thing and I fucking love it. And every time I see it, I get excited because it's, it's so clear how much fun you're having, you know, when you see somebody having fun, then you kind of start having fun. And it's just rad, man.

Justin: 10:09

God. I love that. I love that so much. I mean, I have different names for it. I just, you know, I, I don't know where it came from. It's just such a natural. I was always the first person on the dance floor, the last one on the dance, you know, to leave and just, you know, As long as I've been going to shows, I just get those tentacle arms going. And I just, I just feel it. Like I can't, I just can't help it.

Track 1: 10:28

Dude. And I think that's so important, man. Like you feel it, you feel it, it takes over your body. It consumes your soul. You have no choice but to dance. And I think I see a bit of a disconnect with some artists between the actual like culture, right? There's a lot of artists that are like, I want to make music and I want to be on stage and I want to be the DJ and, and, and versus like, I want to. Be consumed by the music. I want it to move my body. Like I actually want to go to shows and get in the middle of the fucking show. And I want to dance, you know, like there's, there's, there's a little bit of a disconnect, you know, for, for some people that are just like only sort of living in the bedroom and not actually like go get on the fucking dance floor and let loose. And like, you got to feel that shit, you know, cause it carries over into what you do.

Justin: 11:13

Oh yeah. And it's so true. And you can tell immediately when you, I mean, I've met a ton of artists. I'm sure it's the same for you. You can always see when someone's like, it for a reason that isn't because they really love it or because they weren't really an EDM fan or a raver or something in the beginning. It's so, for me, I can't, I can't hide that. It's like such a, I'm literally helpless to it when I show up at shows. It's the exact same as I was when I was a teenager first starting to go, just like, Absolutely feeling it at every show when I mean half the time when I'm playing dude, I don't even want to be playing my set. I want to be, I, I want to press play and go down and walk into the dance floor and just fucking rage with everyone. I'd be in half the

Track 1: 11:52

should, you should, you know, you got enough time. bro. You could get like a good, like 60 seconds in there and make it back. You know, you got to pull, you got to pull that off at some point. Just

Justin: 12:01

No. Yeah. Seriously. That's, I mean, it's for me, it's just totally help. But then I hear what you're saying about the disconnect. It's like, that's. Again, it's just a huge reason I got into it. I love to dance. I can't not be dancing. I can't not have that bass face. It's just part of part of what got me so hooked. So I try to keep that in all my shows, you know?

Track 1: 12:19

And again, you know, not to discredit people at what it is, is it's just authentically who you are and it's a part of who you are. It's also a part of who I am. I'm a dancer. I love dancing. I love shaking my ass. I do it every day. I'm going to Daybreaker tomorrow. It's one of the funnest parties ever. It's a daytime dance party. I'm so excited to just totally let loose and at the same time, I will say It, not everybody is that way and that's okay. And if that's not your natural element, that's not your natural state. That's not naturally what you're drawn towards. Don't feel like you have to be, you know? So I, a little bit, I kind of take back what I say, because there are a lot of producers that are like, their zone is super deep in world of sound design and like, you know, down the rabbit hole of like all the science and I, and, and that's awesome. Like if that's authentically really, it's like what actually lights you up. If that lights you up and you're like, dude, I love just being in the studio, nerding out on sound design. Like I wasn't really a raver and I'm not actually drawn towards dancing, but I just love making the music. I love the science of it. Like. You know, I, I, I want to take back what I said. There's the, you're, you're just as much an artist as everybody. but you know, there's some of us that like also we're, we're also dancers and we also like to

Justin: 13:33

hundred percent. I love the way you said it. It's whatever lights you up. You know, that's the, that's the way that, I mean, that's at the, that's really at the core of what I've always wanted fetish to be, to begin with. It's just like, what is that thing? Identify the thing that gets you just, you know, just absolutely motivated, just floating above the ground. What is that thing for each, for each individual person, each artist, each How do you be the most that thing, you know, like whatever that thing is and just dive in headfirst, a hundred percent. That's, you know, I love that.

Track 1: 14:04

what is the concept of Fetish? Because you have a really cool brand, you have a really good understanding of branding as well. Like, that is something that you've thought about. So, what's the concept and the message behind the brand?

Justin: 14:17

Yeah. Well, thank you. I really appreciate hearing that. I mean, it means, it means a lot to hear. I know you've seen a lot of, you know, amazing projects and a ton of great artists over the years, so that that's high praise. there's, in my mind, there's two ways of looking at it. There's the sort of surface level, Like sort of topical things that I think is how I see fetish in some ways, which is that, look, the name is, it's playful, it's memorable. It kind of instantly gives you that Bay face because it's almost gross in a weird way. So it's got a lot of the, it's very house, you know, so it's a lot of the surface level things I think that are, are, uh, benefits to that name. But on the deeper side, it's, you know, when I fell in love with dance music and I started going to shows, it was, It was just so intoxicating the, the bright color, you know, like my pink, the bright color of the place and the total passion and just freedom of self expression that was, I was watching at these shows, you know, dancing, how everyone wanted to dance the sounds themselves so new and pushing the boundaries and hearing everything so fetish. To me at its home is always trying to capture that feeling that initial premise that I had going to shows was like what is this place with all of this color and energy and passion and it's a little out there and fucking beautiful and it's it's all of that wrapped into one, you know, kind of fetish than the word and the name really felt like that landed home for me there and it says something to pick a name that's, you know, So polarizing because a lot of people I think hear that name and they instantly go, ew, that's, that's gross. And it turns them off. And why would you even pick a name like that? And that's okay. Maybe it's not for you, but for the people that like it, for people like me to hear it, they go, okay, this is weird. I like this. What is this? Like I

Track 1: 15:58

my fellow weirdos at?

Justin: 16:00

yeah, where's, where are my people right now? And we're going to go see fetish and get, you know, freaking weird. And that's. It always landed in that, that center of bullseye for me of that like freedom of expression, that feeling of freedom I had it shows, you know?

Track 1: 16:14

We're gonna go see Fetish and get our octopus tentacles out.

Justin: 16:18

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Track 1: 16:20

Yeah, man. Um, well, you know, I really want people to also know that you are such a well rounded producer, too. You know, it's like everybody hears that song. And that's cool. It's a banger. But like you got a good catalog of, of other music as well. Right. You said, you said, come check. This was one of the first songs that you had put out.

Justin: 16:47

Yeah, come check. This was early. That was one of the first two or three I think first song I ever did was on Chami's label confession That was a that was another house track and come check. This was right after that. It was probably only two or three songs later

Track 1: 16:59

Well, that says a lot that the very first song that you put out was with, uh, Chami's label. Like, obviously Confessions is a really, uh, you know, great established label. I think a big goal for a lot of people to get on. Did you have another project before that? Were you putting out releases before that? Or were you just, like, preparing and honing your skills? Because you definitely, at least with this project, you came out the gate, like, really, really as a heavy hitter, putting out some really solid tracks.

Justin: 17:25

No, I, this is actually my first project ever, you know, it's, it's my first attempt at trying to get things off the ground and running. And I, you know, again, I appreciate hearing that. I think, um, I was really lucky when I was an icon. I met a couple of really great friends and I lived in a house. I had, you know, one of those classic producer dens for a few years with my buddy, Sully, who was in my class at icon. And, um, and then adjacently a bunch of his friends from Michigan that came out. So guys like Peekaboo, FN were all guys that were, you know, bass music producers who have had really amazing projects obviously exploded in the last few years. And I was super lucky that we all became super close and I lived in a house with those dudes. so I had a, I think I had a really, you know, lucky and helpful period of a few years there, where I was just building up music, just writing, trying to get better and better. And I think I waited until I had six or seven songs ready to go. And then I just started putting them out. and you know, I will say I've done a lot of tutoring with new, newer producers since then. I even taught like a high school Ableton class for a little while after, you know, in the last few years. And, um, one of the things that I always tell them is just put out your music. You cannot. If you have songs that are done already, you cannot be sitting on them. So that's what I've tried to do is just be really consistent with releasing, you know, it's been five years now and just steadily dropping tunes, you know, for that period of time has really done wonders for me. I think

Track 1: 18:46

And why do you encourage people just to put their music out?

Justin: 18:50

It's just, it's not going to do anything for you on a hard drive. You need that feedback from people out in the real world who are listening and hearing what you're doing. There's so many justifications for not putting out music that I've heard, you know, my artwork isn't ready or my song isn't ready or I'll be better in six months or, um, you know, I don't have a manager. I don't have the team that I need to be doing this correctly. And just there, just a million reasons to not do it. And every, every day and every minute, you're not putting stuff out. Someone else is passing you up. Someone else is taking the song that they've had done and putting it out and getting feedback and then dropping another one. And, you know, back to the viral thing, I'm not saying it's a good thing that we're in this place, but we're also in this place where, you know, the more songs you have out, the more chances you have to something for something to have a really special moment and to either go viral or to be used in a, in a great video or to just be discovered by your next fan and if it's sitting on a hard drive and it's not out in the world, good luck. It's, you know, where, who's, who's going to find it.

Track 1: 19:48

Yeah, yeah, and I also think that it's important to put out music so that you learn how to put out music also, like that's a whole other skill set, you know, there's the skill set of making the music. And of course, first and foremost, you have to make good music, but you also have to get good at learning how to release a song, you know, how to, you know, You know, get it onto playlists, how to set up, set it up with the distributor, how to create content to promote your track, how to get it into the hands of DJs. There's a whole other skillset there. And if you don't ever do it, like you're not really going to get good at it. You know, you gotta just, you know, you gotta, at some point just get in the arena. You know, as I say, I like to say, like you build the plane while you fly it, you might not have all the answers, but like you gotta just dive in and figure it out at some point. There's a lot to be said for that.

Justin: 20:34

yeah, it's so true. There's just no, there's no excuse for, for not getting your stuff out into the world. I think the only real justification, there's one actual good reason not to do it, which is if you don't think it's ready, you know, if you're listening to it and you don't like it in that day, so I was in order. Never came where you heard it and you're like, Oh, I love this. And this is cool. If that hasn't happened, then maybe it's not ready yet. Or if you're listening to sort of, you know, industry level and, and sort of comparing it and it's not there, it's okay to not put it out. If you know that it isn't ready, that's okay. But once that day comes where it's close enough and you had a day that you liked it, you just got to do it. It's like you said, you know, build, build the plane of fly at the same time, get it out into the world. you know, don't, don't wait for someone else to be putting out your good ideas, you know, get them out and share it with everyone.

Track 1: 21:16

Yeah, for sure. Now, when you had all the success from Come Check This, did you notice that affect you or attempt to affect you in your creative process? Were you like, ooh, that worked, so I should make something like that again? Like, did you notice any of that come up for you?

Justin: 21:36

you know, for me, not so much. I think I maybe had one or two days where I tried to make something. I said to myself, Oh, I'm gonna try to make something that sounds like this again or feel like that. And I did. And it's just never. It wasn't. First of all, it wasn't fun to do it because it wasn't following the creative initiative that I normally follow, which is just total Experimentation. It's just sitting down to find something cool and experiment and letting that run. And I wasn't doing that. So I remember just being like, this isn't this isn't fun. This isn't why I started making music. And again, it's like, you're just sort of doing it for the reason of chasing the fact that you had some positive metric on this other record. And that isn't what got me those records. You know, the thing that got me to the to the place where those records actually started doing that was it. Just total experimentation, playing with sounds, finding something I like, diving in on it because it had me feeling that bass bass or had me feeling, you know, some type of way when making it. And, you know, anytime that I've tried to even, even not create those types of songs, but just create like, even like, Oh, I think this label would like this type of song, or I want to make this genre of song. I can never do that. It never works out. Right. It doesn't come out into something cool. It's all my songs that I, that I've ever released and that I ever really like are from just. Blind, you know, playing with things and experimenting until something that I love happens,

Track 1: 22:56

Because then it's coming from the mind. It's coming from the intellect. I'm trying to intellectually create this song so that it can fit in with this label or it can do X, Y, and Z. It's coming from the mind and thinking rather than coming from feeling, right? And that's like, you know, you're, you're an energetic person. Like you're, you're, everything that you're doing is coming from that place of how does this make me feel,

Justin: 23:21

100 percent 100

Track 1: 23:22

that's what, and that's why it

Justin: 23:23

Yeah, I Hope so. I to me that seems to be the secret sauce, you know I have this thing I've talked about in some posts before like I have this thing This test called the stand and dance test where like I literally stand at my desk and close my eyes and imagine I'm at the show with what I'm listening to my own songs and working on them. And if I can't just absolutely lock in and feel it, it's that's, it's not ready. It's not done. So that's really become my criteria. And, um, you know, I kind of have like this weird, like existential mind when it comes to this stuff too. And my part of my goal from the beginning of music has been how many songs, how many cool, good songs Can I contribute to dance music? And it's not so much. I want to make one sound and get really good for that thing and be known for this thing or achieve some crazy viral metric. It's like, how many cool songs can I make? I want to make hundreds of songs that are all different and push the envelope forward and really contribute a big heaping stack of music by the time I'm done with dance music. You know what I mean? And I don't think I ever will be, but that that's really been part of my goals. I see it as like, how much can I contribute? And that's, that's sort of helped guide me,

Track 1: 24:31

That's super cool, man. Well you've definitely been contributing some really great stuff so far. what are, What are some of the other songs that have done well for you so far? Mm.

Justin: 24:42

Um, so the one, the other one that had that sort of viral moment was, uh, it's called trench. And that was that sort of, down tempo, like slow or heavy hitting one. that was used by really amazing influencer. Her name's Christina Gerard. She has a, uh, her own workout class called power and flow, and she used it in one of her videos and that went nuclear. And that was a whole. It's whole own story, which was super amazing.

Track 1: 25:06

and I think I saw you went to her studio and like did a class with with her. Is that correct?

Justin: 25:11

I went and took her class. I mean, as soon as I saw that video going off, I was so, I was like, oh my God, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. So I DMed her, I said, I gotta come out and take your class. So, and she's the coolest person ever. She's super down to earth. So just welcoming and um, and just a fan of EDM. So I flew out to Arizona. For literally like, I think it was like a four hour window and I got out of the airport, went to her class. I did two spin classes with her and her team. And then I got back on the plane and came, um, it was, it was just so much fun though. She, she has an amazing, just class and routine. And she brought me in and we basically danced and she played a bunch of my tunes in the class. I did the whole energy was just unbelievable. It was, it was amazing.

Nik-1: 25:51

Dude it's so cool because what this is really opening up for me is Hearing about how your music has had these viral moments where it's connecting with like really other industries other influencers and other people whereas For a lot of DJs and producers, I think there's a bit of a tunnel vision where all they're looking at is like, okay, I got to get signed to these EDM labels and I want to get, you know, a manager and an agent, and I want to play these festivals with these promoters. And like, that's the whole game, but there's a whole other ocean of possibility out there of like, yeah, I could be collaborating with spin class instructors and like creating content together. And, you know, There's just so many other directions that you can go. And some people are doing it for sure. Especially, you know, bigger artists like A list artists, you know, they're, they're doing all sorts of stuff. They have a lot of opportunity to do that, but it's just a good perspective shift to actually expand the horizon of what you're looking at, of what's possible and like, yeah, there is, there are these things in these lanes that you can go down as a doer. music producer, but the sky's the limit and there's, you know, there's an infinite amount of, um, opportunity as long as you allow yourself to be creative and

Justin: 27:06

A hundred percent. Well, and I love, I love the way you phrased it. It's just like, there are so many, there's just no one on this earth that is single faceted or that can be narrowed down to one dimension like that. And I think too many artists are so focused on this narrow dimension of, okay, I got to get the, you know, go to the shows, play the shows, be the DJ. And it's just like, You know, if you're lucky enough to have songs that other people are using for video post or for any other reason of playing them in workout class, whatever they're doing, those are all people who are in these creative spheres that are now connected through you by your music. And that's, that's just unbelievable. That's, that's all I ever wanted, you know, for music in the first place is to meet other amazing creative people doing things that maybe aren't even related to music and connect with them. Share what they're doing with the world. Share my music with their audience. Share their audience with EDM. I think it just comes from this place of like my real, my actual gut feeling is that the world needs more artists and more creatives doing more creative things. And whatever lanes those fall into, I don't care if you're someone, I just did a post two weeks ago with this person who's just does, has this amazing page of her cat just doing these really funny dances. And it sounds like such a meme because it is kind of a meme, but it's just like, But at least they're building something. At least they're doing something. I'm a fan of people who build, who take action, who do things. I just did another one yesterday with this guy who does these like beat box renditions. He, all he does, he's a really talented beat boxer and he takes these big tracks and he does these amazing versions of them. So I posted with him and it's just like, that's kind of music related already, but it's just, I'm just a fan of people who build and do things. It doesn't matter what it is. If someone's taking action and building something, then that's it. I want my music to be part of it. I want to build with them and help share them, you know?

Nik-1: 28:59

Yeah. And I think what the opportunity is here is how do you see yourself? I like that. You said. Artists and creatives. Cause those are really big blanket terms, like as an artist, as an artist, I create art and that art can be anything as a creative. I just create versus. I'm a DJ and I'm a producer. If that's, if that's all you see yourself as, I only identify as a DJ and a producer, then all I'm really going to do is DJ and produce. If I see myself as an artist, then some of the art that I create might be music. I also might make. Merch, or I might be a, I might be a dancer. You know, that's a form of art. I'm seeing myself as like the, the, the podcast is a form of art. It's a, it's a cre, it's a creation, you know, I'm A creator. Am I gonna limit my creativity just to this or these other areas? And so I hope I just am planting some seeds for everybody that's listening in terms of how you identify yourself to, to start expanding your identity, to truly being an artist and being a creative versus only. Doing this one thing and maybe in this, this season is just about music production and DJing, but it's also so cool to see, you know, you see people that expand beyond that, you know, you see, uh, rappers that start acting, you know, or you have, you know, like people that just move from one industry to another. And, and that's so rad where they're like, yeah, I'm not going to be limited by this one thing that I did. and. You know, it might just be one chapter of their career, but who knows where all this is going to lead. There's so much, so much potential out

Justin: 30:30

It's so true. It's so true. The creative act and the act of being an artist transcends any individual medium. You know, it's a, um, it's a way it really all it is. I think I think my favorite artist or the people that I hear speak about this talk about it. It's always comes down to the same basic premise of storytelling. Artists are people who have something to say. They have a story to tell and they share it through storytelling. Across a spectrum of mediums. So, you know, identifying for, for any new artist or any other artists listening, what is, what's your story? What's the thing, the superpower you have that no one else has that you can share with the world. And then how do you share that in any, in any way with, with people in the world? Maybe that means you're a DJ producer. Like I am like many of you guys already are great. Share it through music. How do you, how do you share it through film or other creative acts or do it? I mean, there's just a thousand. Roads to walk and it really comes back to the central question of what's your story? What do you have to share with the world that no one else can share and how do you do that as widespread? With as much energy and passion as you can, you know, at least for me that's been that's been sort of the home base

Nik-1: 31:39

Yeah. And you kind of have to be at this stage in the music industry and just where we're at, where, you know, I always like to say, it's like the music is just the soundtrack to the movie we know. That it's not only about the music anymore, right? We know that it's also about having a brand and creating content, creating other things to go with the music, right? So even they're expanding your identity and seeing yourself as a creator. Yes. I create music. But I also create all of this other stuff that goes with it. And that can be really, really exciting. It's also a place that a lot of people get blocked and feel a lot of resistance because they're like, well, I just only want to make music and I don't want it. I don't want to create social media. I don't want to do all these other things. And, and that's fine. You might not have to, you know, you can build a team around you. You can collaborate with other people that are. Better at it than you can. Awesome. Uh, you know, and I highly encourage you to, if you really, really don't want to, but there's also an opportunity to really just shift your perspective and be in line, just see yourself as like, yo, I'm a creator. I create music. I create content. I create relationships. I create fun. I create fucking dances. I create, I just create joy. I create energy. Like, you know, if we want to get real deep and go fucking art of flow on all of you guys, you know, we are living, walking. Manifestations of creative energy. We come from, you know, our parents creating us, you know, through the process of procreation. Like I like to say, we are literally just fire hoses of creative energy and we got to learn how to turn that shit on and point it where we want it to go. So I'll come, I'll come out of the rabbit hole and not go too woo woo on you guys, but like we are all creators and we're creating all the

Justin: 33:18

love it. I'm a fan of rabbit holes, man. I love it. I love it

Nik-1: 33:24

Hell yeah, man. So, what's next for Fetish? What's coming up? What are you excited about? What are you looking forward to?

Justin: 33:31

so honestly right now a lot of my I'm just excited about Miami coming up I cannot wait to get to music week this year I've just got so many friends, you know playing shows and going to hang out So I just can't wait to catch up with everybody and get back to Miami. I'm a huge fan of Miami and You know, I'm sitting on just a ton of music that I think I don't know if I can announce it yet, but I think I'm playing something this year. So hopefully share that in the next few days with everyone. But, you know, I'm just super, super excited to get a lot of my new songs out to the world to come, you know, share it with people and, and all the pool parties. And that's, that's sort of taking up a lot of my attention right now, but

Nik-1: 34:05

it. Are you developing I don't want to say alliances, but you know, it's like when we get affiliated with a certain label, you know, there's all these label showcases out there at Miami Music Week. And so putting releases out on certain labels kind of create those opportunities. Are you, are you playing that game at all and kind of, you know, aligning and associating yourself with certain groups and brands?

Justin: 34:28

know, I, I try to when, uh, when it feels natural and when it makes sense, I, the label question is, um, I think it really depends on who you ask. For me personally, I am finding it harder and harder to want to work with labels unless there's friends and really, really, you know, responsible, cool people I know that are already there working at them. Um, I just find that you lose so much by. you know, by the way of your own schedule, by the way of timing you gave, you give so much away. You know, and we're just in an age when you don't have to do that anymore. You can promote your own music and share it with the world and do all that yourself. So in terms of like, I don't know if the word like alliances fits, but just going and spending time with friends at these different labels is definitely something I want to do. I really love connecting with all the teams that have helped bring me up in the last few years, and that's always a blast. So I can't wait to see those guys and, and really hang with everyone. But, in terms of releasing, I feel a little bit differently about labels,

Nik-1: 35:24

That's great. That's great. I really love to hear you share that perspective because a lot of times we're really looking at like, I want to get signed to my favorite label or I need this label to in order to increase my profile or build my resume or get in with this certain group. And also he's like, no, dude, you can push it out yourself and still stand in your own two feet and, and really like get some good traction. So that's a good, it's good. I'm glad you're sharing that perspective. I think it's good for some people to hear.

Justin: 35:50

Yeah, it's, um, you know, don't, don't wait on anyone. If it's, there's nothing wrong with having goals, you know, specific labels you love or that helped, You know, raise you in the EDM space or, or, or places that you really look up to. That's great. You know, send the music and, and there's nothing wrong with that. but also understand what you're getting into and understand the trades that come when you give other, other places and other people, your music. And. Understand that that isn't the only road you can build independently and do your own thing without big marketing plans, without labels, without big massive teams behind you. That's how I've gotten started and it's worked so far, you know, not to say that I've accomplished all the all the things I want to accomplish. Obviously, it's early days, but. There's no reason to, to believe that there's no road forward. If you're not with a label or you're not with a big team or some big marketing budget, you, you have all the resources, you know, right at your fingertips to do it yourself.

Nik-1: 36:47

Yeah, 100%. And also, once you go out and create some buzz for yourself, that's when they'll usually come knocking at your door anyways, you know? Yeah. have you been out to Miami Music Week

Justin: 36:59

So I went last year, just for a really brief period, I'm going for a little longer this year and I've got, got some more plans this time around, except other than just showing up and hanging out. So, but, uh, I'm, I'm definitely excited to get out there. It's always fun. Are you going out this year? Are

Nik-1: 37:12

it's, It's a great question, because it's actually been on my mind recently, about wanting to get, Plugged back into the scene and especially going out to Miami Music Week, EDC, Amsterdam, you know, when I was a manager, I was going out to that stuff all the time and, you know, networking is such a big part of this industry. To be honest, when I started life coaching, I really saw that as being kind of my Exit from the music industry after I left icon and I was like, all right, I'm just going into this coaching world and going on this personal development path. And I really saw that as the next chapter of my career. Um, it really wasn't until the, this last year that, um, I really circled back and I was like, wait a minute. Like, yeah, I want to do life coaching. I, this is my passion. This is my mission. It took me a while to get sort of clear on specifically what lane that was in. And ultimately it really brought me back to the world of artists and the music industry. So now, now that I'm like officially back now, I'm, you know, I'm calling myself an artist coach. All the people I'm working with are all artists. Now I'm like, okay, you know what? I should probably be like back in the mix. You know, I should probably be booking some of these trips and, you know, go to go. Like, I think, Going out to Vegas this year for EDC would be really cool. And just, you know, just to see everybody, it's, it's nice living here in Austin. Cause I get to see people as they come in and travel, like tomorrow we have Ilfess, so I'm going to go get to see a handful of artists, but yeah, there's nothing like, you know, just even once a year, seeing it as like, uh, just even like a, like it's an investment, you know, it's like an investment for your business and building that, that network, that network is so important and you can go see it, you know, a hundred friends in one

Justin: 38:57

Yeah. Yeah, a thousand percent. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad to hear that you're back in the fold and in at least in that sort of direction. I mean, the, the combination there of coaching and. You know, just being someone who elevates other creative people sounds so right up your alley. You're such a natural, effective communicator all the times that we've spoke, that's what it's felt like. And, um, you know, I can't imagine a better place for you to be giving people, uh, the, the tips and the help that they need than the, than the artist area, you know?

Nik-1: 39:25

Yeah, it's wild, man. It's wild. It's wild. How it all unfolded. It really did start from teaching the art of flow class at Icon Collective and, you know, eventually had students coming up to me asking me to mentor them. And I was just like, all right, there's something here. And, uh, it's taking me a little while to figure out what that looked like. Exactly. But that's the beautiful thing of. You know, just the journey is, is it's not always clear, you know, you're maybe, you know, you're making one genre of music and really chasing that. And then all of a sudden, you know what, there's actually, I want to do this instead. And you got to allow yourself to experiment and ultimately like follow the feeling like we were talking about before. It's not, it's not just like an intellectual, there's no way I could have calculated this path intellectually. It was always just more like, Hey, what feels right?

Justin: 40:10

Yeah,

Nik-1: 40:10

just keep chasing that feeling. What feels good? Oh, this feels good, and then maybe at some point it doesn't, and you pivot.

Justin: 40:17

it's at the very core of being a creative person, I think, and being an artist is the, is the, the double sided coin of having the confidence to say, I'm going to follow and trust my instinct, my gut in this moment down this path that I may not have initially thought of. That's, that's a confidence and a, um, and a way of being that you have to have if you're going to make it, I think, as an artist or, or as anyone really in a creative field. And also the humility, and I think the humbleness to take those roads and when they don't pan out. to not not to discourage or think that, or if the, even if they do pan out to say, Oh, I'm, I'm the greatest, I made that call. And I was the smartest guy on earth for making that decision. It's like, no, you're luckily stumbling upon the path. And I think that's the one thing that, You know, a lot of a lot of people I don't hear talk about enough is so many people say, you know You got to go 100 percent all the time do everything you can every day and it's like that's all true Hard work has its place and it all makes sense. But if you don't have the luck and you don't have the sort of just gratitude along the way for for the path you're walking Then you're not going to get very far, you know, let's see how that goes after a few years so

Nik-1: 41:22

yeah, you can, you can push a boulder up the hill, but it's going to be a, uh, you know, there's a lot of people that are at the top of the hill that aren't actually like really fulfilled with any of it either. You know, you can kind of force it to happen. And, you know, I think you just posted yesterday or today about, uh, just, uh, Gratitude, you know, you were just, it was simply a post just saying like how thankful you were for everybody, like listening to your music and stuff. And I think that that's so important. And I talk about it all the time and I'll continue to talk about it all the time, but, you know, living in a state of celebration, living in a state of gratitude, you know, the, the energetic state that we're living in makes such a difference on not only the results that we get. But also how much we're actually enjoying the journey, you know, cause I see a lot of people that are frustrated as fuck where they're not actually having any fun on this journey. It's heavy. It's like, oh, it's like, oh my God, I'm trying so hard. And you know, a lot of that is, you know, some of it's coming from a good place if you just want it so badly. But like you got to stop and smell the roses and you got to be grateful for what you have. And, and you know, it's life is happening now, you know, and I think that gratitude is like the practice that, that really helps with that. The most is just to be thankful because there's always going to be what we don't have. We're always going to want the next level and more money or, you know, the, the next level of success. There's always going to be something we don't have. But you do have a lot and when you, whatever you focus, you know, where focus goes, energy flows, whatever you focus on is going to grow. So focus on what you're happy about and watch that shit multiply.

Justin: 42:49

true. I mean, it's so true. There's always something else to achieve. I think 99 percent of our life, you know, in, in music and really, but in every field for any creative field, especially is just, we're so spent and we're so used to being on the treadmill. You know, I call it being on the treadmill of like, okay, how do we get this, this next milestone? How do I get that next viral song or my next release out or this next label to say, yeah, I mean, just add your, your own list of whatever the next thing is. And, um, we have to be able to do that. In some respects, setting goals is valuable. Achieving goals is valuable. All of that matters. But there's an entire other operating system, instead of the becoming self instead of that always chasing. It's just. Taking that pause and realizing, look, look, look what you have all around you. I mean, most of us have amazing family, amazing friends. We're healthy. We're getting to do some creative field or the thing we want to do to begin with, or, you know, we at least have the people in real life that we care about. There's so much at any given day to be grateful for. And, you know, to, to bypass that for the chase or the pursuit of some other goal and to not take the time to say. Look how amazing today is right here. I'm on this journey. I'm, I'm trying, I get to do it. I'm putting effort at it. It's working. And even if it's not working in every respect you want, it's probably working in a lot of ways that you're not even really taking the time to feel. And that is something we all need more of. I think. Yes.

Nik-1: 44:16

actually doing and have what a year ago you couldn't imagine. You're two years ago. You know, if, if, if the younger version of yourself could actually see where you are, even if you're just at the beginning of your path, you know, part of us wants to look ahead and be like, Oh my God, I wish I was here. I wish I was at this other point. But like, also look backwards and be like, yo, you're further along the path than you were before. You're probably making better music than you were before. You probably are, you know, just doing something differently. So that's, that's something to take into consideration. I noticed myself sometimes get caught up in that too. Be like, Oh man, I only. I only made like this amount of money this month or whatever. And I was like, man, there was a point where I just wished I could be doing this full time at all. And I don't even remember talking to one of my early coaches where I was like, yeah, I have this vision of like, it'd be cool to like, you know, take off Fridays to just like not have to work on Fridays. And now I'm like, I work whenever the fuck I want and I can, you know, like I'm just doing things that a few years ago I would blow my fucking mind. And so, man, I get to be grateful for that. And I think a lot of us, if we're serious about it, we're probably in the same position, you know, we're all probably further along than we give ourselves credit for. so um, don't get me wrong. We gotta, we gotta keep, we gotta keep pushing, you know, and, and, and keep moving forward and all of that. But, having a little bit of gratitude along the way doesn't

Justin: 45:34

for sure. And adding, and just having it be about balance, you know, it's, it's good to push, it's good to achieve goals and to set them and to all those things are great, but a lot of people are going through their day to day life, I think with. No hint of the other side and adding that in for some balance goes a long way for sure. Yeah

Nik-1: 45:52

yeah, definitely. well, what are you grateful for right now?

Justin: 45:56

I'm grateful for a lot right now I'm grateful for my my family that supports me and great for my friends who have been listening to my you know Crappy songs for five years and telling me they're good when they're not and so, you know, I'm grateful for you for being a mentor I'm grateful for You know What else am I grateful for right now? There's just a ton. I'm grateful to be sitting on a ton of music that I'm really excited about. I'm grateful for the chance to go meet a bunch of new friends and hang out in Miami with, a bunch of, uh, a bunch of really awesome artists and hear some new songs and hear what's going, going through the pipeline at the moment. So that's going to be exciting. think mostly I'm really grateful. Shit in the background. Grateful for that. Uh, no, I'm, I'm, I'm grateful for all the people have been listening and streaming my music. It's, it's been the biggest year that fetish has had yet and I'm working every single day to make that bigger than, you know, every day that I can over the next year. So hopefully that keeps happening, but

Nik-1: 46:51

Hell yeah, man. Hell yeah. You know, this reminds me of one of the, one of my first real clients that I had that I worked with for a couple years was this guy, James Egbert. And he's an incredible person, incredible producer. Uh, but also really just an incredible person. The first time either of us had ever traveled outside of the United States, he got booked in Tokyo, and so we got to fly to Tokyo, paid for, you know, got to fuckin party in Tokyo for a week, like, with, you know, it was so, so fun. And I remember we were You know, early morning, we're out on the balcony, you know, like in our hotel overlooking Tokyo. And, uh, we're like, I don't know how we came up with it, but we were just like, man, we are so blessed. Like we are so blessed. And I was just like, what do you, what are you blessed about? And then he would say something he was blessed, blessed with, and then. And then he's like, what are you blessed with? And then we just started going back and forth and we're like, Oh, we're happy. We're like, we started calling it a blessing war. And so we would just start, it was like part of our thing is we would have these blessing wars and we would just like go back and forth about like, do all the stuff that we're thankful for. And it was a cool way to just practice gratitude, to, to keep ourselves humble, to, um, stay grounded, you know, and, and, and all of it. Cause it's, it's not an easy journey. There's a lot of crazy shit that happens and a lot of ups and downs and stuff. But. But that was, that was very fun. So I want to throw it back at you. I am very, very grateful, uh, to have you on the show today, man. I'm very grateful that, that we've been able to, you know, reconnect and share in this journey just to share some energy. I'm so grateful for everybody that's been listening to the headliner mindset podcast, like so, so, so grateful. I honestly can't express my gratitude enough, you know, seeing people. Send comments about the episodes that they resonate with and the DMS that I get. And, um, you know, just really grateful for you. Really grateful for all the other artists as well. It's episode, I don't even know what episode we're on right now. It's 40 or 50 something. We're, we're getting worse. We're stacking them up. Um, so for every guest that has been on so far, that's taken their time to be on here. Full of gratitude, man. So yeah, thank you for being on today. Such an awesome conversation conversation. Very excited, uh, for everything that's coming up. Cause I, I know you got some heaters, uh, you've been, she's been sharing some teasers, uh, with your audience and they're all sounding fire. So I know you got some good shit coming

Justin: 49:04

man, that means a lot. Thank you so much. I'm glad you dig them. I hope you like them when they come out. And again, thanks for having me on. I'm really enjoying all the episodes and I hope we do it again. It'd be great.