Interview by: Jewel Fiorillo How did the two of you meet? “We both moved to Los Angeles about eight years ago and we were both kind of just playing at local open mics at the time. He didn’t know anybody and I didn’t really know anybody either. We were playing the same open mic event night one day and had a mutual friend who was actually running the event. She had introduced us that night but we were both a little stand-offish at first and wanted to act cooler than we both were. But we very quickly became friends. We started hanging out and making music.” - Maxwell “In LA everyone tries to act cooler than they really are. They don’t want to be a certain way or act a certain way. So we both kind of just chilled and read the room with each other before realizing we make a pretty good team and friend. It’s kind of funny now looking back at it how ridiculous it was”- Connor “Connor had just pitched the idea of starting something together and we started writing music while we were hanging out and it just kind of took off from there.” - M When did Music become a part of your life? “Honestly I’ve been doing music since I was in the sixth grade and it’s been the only thing in my life that felt right. I felt like myself and I was good at it. I just stuck with it and then eventually it became a great way to express my emotions and any anxiety or depression I was dealing with. I feel like I speak for the both of us that music has helped us get out of dark places in our lives. We both have struggled with anxiety and depression, music is definitely an outlet for us to express those struggles.” - M “I was a choir boy and with that being said I was the only guy in the choir. It made me feel special, like I had something different to offer. Eventually when I got older I got picked up as a songwriter in Los Angeles and that’s really where music became a bigger part of my life. Music was always super important to me and my cousin was a great part of that. My cousin and I always talked about starting a band when we were younger. He knew how to play instruments and it always was something I wanted to do. We still talk every now and then to make music.” - C How was your experience performing at the Forecastle festival this weekend? In terms of performing or personal experience. “It was honestly a great experience performing on the stage here. We flew in last night and we already have to leave pretty soon so we don’t get to experience much of the festival but I wish we could stay for longer because it looks amazing. At the end of the day it’s an amazing experience to be able to meet artists that you’ve already listened to and now you get to play at the same festival as them.” - M “I second everything Maxwell mentioned, It’s surreal being a part of a line up with artists like Oliver Tree and DayGlow. Like one moment you are listening to their music and feeling so inspired by them. Next thing you know we are friends with them. I love the way festivals and live music bring artists together that way.” - C What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned about being in the industry ? “Being an artist is a cool gateway to realizing that everyone is the same. Everyone is normal regular people, just some have a larger platform than you might have. I think while we have been growing in the industry I personally have noticed that which makes it less nerve racking to be me.” - C

What introduced you to the EDM community? “I found out about it kind of through my sister. During her MySpace days she listened to a lot of electronic music that was posted on there. From there I found a blog that played mashup electronic music. It was something that I listened to mostly alone at first. It was only until college that I realized other people also enjoy that music and I was able to find a community in EDM. The rest is really history!” Let’s talk about your new rumored drum and Bass song, Tell me a little bit about it. “Over the pandemic in 2020 I got really into drum and Bass. I started streaming about twice a week on twitch at home and my viewers seemed to like the times I played drum and bass songs. Drum and Bass was always something that I listened to alone like I said again I didn’t know many people that were into it. I converted one of the streaming days I did a week into an only drum and bass day. I just really fell in love and found a new part of EDM that I’m passionate about. It helped me get through a lot of stuff through the pandemic and take my mind off of all the craziness. More recently I decided I wanted to try and make more drum and bass songs. At first it just started as a fun little side project aside from work but now I wanna make it part of my work.” Can you tell me more about your new single Tremors? “My new single Tremors is supposed to be a lighthearted and fun little summer bop! It’s about having that hot girl summer and your little crushes you're nervous about and falling for. It's just a moment where I am vibing and the lyrics are coming to me.” How was it performing at EDC last weekend? “It was insane. One of the things about opening a festival is you would think it wouldn’t be the most fun but it really is great. You see people running to your set and it's just the best feeling in the world. It was definitely a crazy experience. Starting with having no one at my set to having a fully packed crowd was the most insane experience.” What is your goal with your music this year? “I really want to take what I learned from the drum and bass world and incorporate it into the bass house more. I want to make it more emotional and moving. I love festival culture and I love when people sing-along in the crowd to songs. And ultimately that’s my goal to be able to make music that people can do that too.”

Interview & Photos by: Orchee Sorker | June 6, 2022 Originally from Seattle, Los Angeles based Surf Mesa sits down with Hazze Media to chat about the origin of his stage name, collaboration with Nitti Gritti on "Marching Band", success on "ily baby", and how TikTok is changing the aspects of the musical process. Why did you choose your stage name Surf Mesa? S: “Surf Mesa” comes from the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In high school, I would play it all the time. Surf Mesa is a map in Counter-Strike that you can play on. I didn't have a stage name before. I would just release music on SoundCloud as Powell Aguirre, which is my name. It was interesting. Back then, I thought of having a stage name because I didn't want my friends in high school to think I was taking it seriously because it's like you can get a little insecure when you're releasing music. It's kind of a statement when you're saying, “Oh, go stream” when you have like 300 followers who are just like your hometown friends. “Surf Mesa” was kind of like still a gimmick while also pursuing it. It definitely grew on me, and now I like how it keeps a foundation of where I came from..like from the gaming world. I think it's here to stay. Your latest single “Marching Band” with Nitti Gritti. I love the soft trumpet in it. What was the creative process behind that song and really any of your other songs? Do you usually begin with the rhythm and then work on the lyrics? S: So, the writing process gets formed in all ways. My friends from Loud Luxury (Joe and Andrew) say it all the time about how it's like a Frankenstein process. You can have a beat first or vocal first. You can form a song around that thing. Traditionally, if I'm the studio, I have a lot of chord progressions that I saved, like mini packs. I just kind of get like a good group. I'm thankful enough to be in the room with really talented writers who have written some of the best dance songs. That's like something I don't take for granted. When it came to “Marching Band”, this writer, Lowell, sent me this crazy horn sample. Then, it had a vocal around it saying, “your love is like a marching band”. I just started to produce this chorus around it and then. They wanted it to be a DJ collab. I made a version with Medicine. I made a version with Jaws, and then I made a version with Integrity. So, Nitti and I have been DM-ing for a little bit. He was in town from Miami to LA, and then we got in the studio and that was one of the first ideas that I opened up. We made something of it. He and I are very proud of how it's been digested…the live reaction and what it sounds like today. Congrats on all the success on “ily”! How do you think TikTok is changing the industry? Were there any things you did to push that song out on the platform? S: Yeah, definitely. TikTok really changes the direction of music. Obviously, there's so many songs released every week. The objective of these songs usually involves an audio piece of this track that you can create like a video too…like a transitional moment, or some sort of gimmick that can go along with a piece of content. It definitely changes the climate too. I mean if you listen to a lot of songs nowadays, you can tell. Remember, Drake's Tootsie Slide where it's literally a dance as the chorus. I believe that if Tik TOK wasn't around, there'd be less gimmicky noises and moments in songs. It's really interesting to kind of see how that takes over. I think the attention span is just so short nowadays with people just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Then, your goal is to keep the audio on a video to enjoy whatever song is playing in the background. That definitely gets affected when it comes to writing the song in the studio. People just want that moment and they want that to stick.

Interview & Photos by: Orchee Sorker | June 6, 2022 347aidan sits down with Hazze Media to talk about the meaning behind his name, his writing style, and viral song "Dancing in My Room". Why did you choose your stage name 347aidan? I chose my station 347aidan because my name is Aiden and 347 is an angel number. It means “peace that comes with time” and I really loved that meaning. I love your style in all your songs. For your songs, do you purposely have the same vibes or unconsciously have similar style? I think that I just make whatever I'm feeling at the moment. I make a lot of music. Some songs that I make are made like a couple of days apart and you know, so they're very similar. Then, some songs I have are very different from the rest. Congrats on your viral song “Dancing in My Room”! Were you dancing in your room when it started blowing up? What was it like for you? How did you feel? Haha, I wasn't actually dancing in my room, but I'm not sure what it was like. I was kind of expecting it to happen. So I didn't really feel any way about it.

Covered by Team Photographers Jewel Fiorillo & Kayla Saliman / June 5, 2022 Waterfront Park | Louisville, LA | May 27-29, 2022 Mob Rich by Kayla Saliman

Interview & Photos by: Orchee Sorker | June 6, 2022 Originally from Toronto, renforshort is a pop-indie vibe artist. At the Hangout Music Festival, she sits down to talk to Hazze Media about her songwriting process and collaboration with Travis Barker on latest single "We'll Make It Ok". She released her debut EP Teenage Angst in March 2020. I had no idea you wrote “Moshpit”. I love that song. Do you usually begin with lyrics or melody for the song? R: I definitely am a melody person first,. Then, I go to the lyrics. I kind of like to make fake words in my brain to the melody and then kind of fill in the blanks. For “Moshpit”, in the session, I was like, “this is what we have to write about because I'm really feeling this heavy today; so, let's get on this”. Your latest single is “We’ll Make This Ok” with Travis Barker. What was it like working with him? What was the creative process behind the music video? R: It was great. I got the song idea from a friend of mine, who's also an artist who I love very much. I was like, this is sick. It was more hyper poppy at the time. I just rewrote it to my style. I was in a session with Travis, and we were just like making a song. My producer, Jeff was like, “Yo, Travis can't play live drums on this. It needs to be ratified a little bit. He did a great job.” For the music video, I definitely wanted it to be more like art. I feel like a lot of my music videos just tend to be very conceptual, and I wanted to try doing something with a little bit less story-based. It’s one of my favorites. It was so quick and easy to do. It ended up being great. Very, just like chill, easy, fun.

Interview & Photos by: Orchee Sorker | June 6, 2022 Los Angeles based, dance/electronic artist JVNA sits down with Hazze Media to talk about life of a multi-instrumentalist and her past struggles which led to debut album Hope In Chaos. What is it like being a multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, and songwriter? Where did you learn how to mix? What motivated you to become skilled in all areas? J: It's so nice. I originally wanted to pursue film scoring. That's what I went to school for. I went to a classical music school to study film scoring. When I was in school, I went to a rave, and there was electronic music. I thought it was really fun. So, I went on YouTube and started to learn how to make EDM. There was part of me where I was like, is this “good and real music” compared to classical music…but EDM is definitely a very skilled way of studying that is different from classical music. With my project, I've been combining what I've learned in that field to what I'm doing right now. So, it was a mix of the education and YouTube and just like being in a session with a friend. Your debut album Hope In Chaos was released back in December. What was the meaning behind the album? Or like your thought process when creating it? J: It was an album about like a four to five years period of my life. From college to after college, I went through a lot of major changes…some including my dad dying and some sort of assaults in my life. It was just having the courage to want to pursue something in the creative field, coming from an Asian family, where they want you to be a doctor or a lawyer. The album was about just having hope. Even though in your young twenties, you're going through so many changes. and it's about perseverance. That's a very dominant trait. My personality is to always believe that I can accomplish something I want. I think that album was sort of like a coping mechanism for that.

Interview & Photos by: Orchee Sorker | June 6, 2022 Los Angeles based, Alabama born, Zach Hood sits down with Hazze Media to talk about performing live at his hometown. After beginning to gain the attention of 3M people after posting a snippet of "Flashbacks", Hood started sharing his songs regularly. Hood has accumulated over 1.2M followers on TikTok, and chats about how TikTok is changing the music industry. Being originally from Alabama, what is it like getting to perform at Hangout this year? Z: It's amazing. It's like a full circle for me. I started on TikTok, and it caught traction there. It was over the internet and everything. Two years have passed by, and now I’m back home in Alabama able to play in person. It’s surreal to play in front of people that I grew up with, my family, and my girlfriend. It's a very cool moment for me. How did you get started on TikTok? How do you think it is changing the music industry? Z: First of all, I think the music industry depends on TikTok nowadays. I got started on TikTok because my ex-girlfriend told me to download it and post my singing videos on there. I did that, and it was insane. The first video that caught traction was like three lines of a song that I wrote. Everybody loved it. So, I kept doing that, and I just gained this fan base. People seem to like the stuff that I was doing. It was really cool to see that happen.

Covered by Hazze Team Journalist & Photographer / May 25, 2022 Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver, Colorado, is one of the most coveted venues to perform at as a musician. It is a tremendous honor and privilege to do so, and on Wednesday night, Rex Orange County took the stage performing in front of a sold out crowd. With all 192 steps filled with screaming fans, the open-air venue held a serene environment for an unforgettable night. Rex Orange County, who also goes by Alex, began his night singing 4 songs from his latest album: Who Cares?. Nine songs in, he sang a cover of ‘Lovin’ You’ by Minnie Ripteron, and with a band of 5 supporting his show, Alex did not hold back on showcasing his musical talents. Throughout his set, he switched off between playing the piano, keyboard, and guitar. He also selflessly made sure every member of the band had their moment to shine, whether it was a solo performance during his song, or simply acknowledging their presence. You can tell the humility ROC holds, and truly the type of genuine and supportive artist he is. When you thought the crowd could not get any louder, it sure did. Standing in awe, Alex had to take a few moments between songs to take in the fact that he truly made it as a singer, musician, and artist. With the crowd singing every word to every song back to ROC, the small town English singer made sure he remembered the opportunity and experience as a whole. ROC then shared how he got started as an artist, and accompanied that story by singing Corduroy Dreams, which was the song that blew up on SoundCloud, giving him his first shot at stardom. It then led to him singing a Tyler, the Creator collaboration song: OPEN A WINDOW, and later on hoping back on the keyboard to sing Best Friend. That then led to him singing the viral TikTok song Loving is Easy, as beach balls were being tossed around the entire amphitheater. Finally, as the night sadly came to a close, he ended his set with Pluto Projector with everyone holding up their flashlights wanting the “encore [to] last forever”. As he exited off stage, he thanked the crowd once again, and shared that this was his favorite stop on the tour thus far. He again humbly showed his appreciation to his fans and band members, making it known that he will cherish this milestone of performing at the Red Rocks Amphitheater forever and ever.

Interview by: Jewel Fiorillo | Photos by: Shervin Lainez | May 31, 2022 Julia Bhatt talks with HAZZE MEDIA about her musical inspirations, recent single "On My Shoulder" and new upcoming music. I read in the article sent to me via email some of your music influences from when you were younger were by your parents and older sister...What really drove you to becoming an artist with the style you have? J: It’s all them. Growing up and being influenced by different people gave me different views of music. All those different genres add up to whatever I am now. I truly don’t even know what to call my own music. I think that’s pretty special, though. Has your style ever changed as you evolved as a musician and how/why not? J: Of course! I went from writing songs just to write them to venting feelings into music. It’s pretty cool. I used to just write about stuff that other people wrote about and common themes in lyrics. Now I've become more comfortable in my style. How did you learn to write music/play instruments? J: Mostly by learning simple songs on the guitar. I love singing other people’s music and the guitar was a way to do that. That’s why I’m not so great at picking or anything. I learned how to play just enough to start writing and get by! Do you have any large inspirations when you are writing your music/songs? J: Depends on the song. A lot of the time, once I establish a song, I go through my music and make a playlist of references for my producer. There's so much cool shit out in the world, you can’t not be influenced by it! When did writing and creating music become a priority in your life or what made you choose this career? J: I’ll be honest, I’m still unsure of this career. It’s hard to make singing and songwriting into an actual career that can support a person's life. Right now, I have a bunch of people who are motivating me to continue to sing and write, no matter what comes of it. Sometimes it gets hard, but I just have to remember that it’s fun for me. Maybe not all the promoting and stuff, but singing is fun and therapeutic for me. I’ll keep doing it until it no longer is. What has been your biggest challenge in the music industry this far in your career? J: Promoting and watching numbers. It’s hard when you’re already doubtful of your work. There’s so much shit that gets put into the world on a daily basis, so getting attention/listeners is a little difficult. It tends to get me in my head a lot. Do you have any goals for the rest of this year? J: Just taking it day by day! I want to get more confident in myself and my music, if I were to pick a specific goal. Not sure how I’ll accomplish it but I’ll try. Plans on performing at any concerts or festivals? J: I have a festival in June called Wet Mango Fest. Very excited!!!! It’s my first festival so I hope it goes well. I loved "On My Shoulder" as I was able to view to get a better idea of your music. What inspired your newest album It Is What It is planned to release in July. Aside from your musical career, what are other activities/hobbies you enjoy? J: Just making music! We finally had enough to put into an album. We were always going for an album once we had enough music. Other than singing and such, I’ve been getting back into cooking/baking, so that’s been fun. I’m a pretty chill person, and a lot of my free time goes into napping. Is there a message you want to send out to your following through your music? J: Thanks for following me! It means more than you know.

Interview by: Orchee Sorker | May 31, 2022 Photographer: Tim Schaeffer Photography (@timschaefferphoto) Hair: Mika Fowler (@mikahairstylist) Makeup: Anton Khachaturian (@antonmakeup) Stylist: Haili Pue, All Ze Details (@allzedetails) Dress & Boots: Charles & Ron Earrings: Kasha Bali Stack Bracelets: Kendra Scott Custom Rings: Hebdon Reblin Designs Kelsi Davies talks with HAZZE MEDIA about her story about discovering her psychic abilities, practices which protect her gift, her favorite paranormal experience, the "InTALKxicated" podcast, and creating a safe space for her community. How did you begin your career? K: Hi, my name is Kelsey Davies. I'm a 24 year old actress, dancer, and singer. I also have psychic medium gifts that run in my family. I actually started acting when I was 18 for commercials and such. Then, I started going over to YouTube and just going to the most haunted places to really experience the paranormal realm because when I was little, I never understood it. I was always terrified of it and so scared of ghosts. I just wanted to kind of overcome that fear. I always had my gifts and I didn't understand them until quite recently…like I'm communicating with spirits…cause I always thought it was normal. I started my YouTube journey and then I went over to TikTok to share that journey with everyone. People just really started loving it. When did you discover your physics abilities and interest in the supernatural? Do you have to have to do certain exercises or like practices to keep your sixth sense strong (meditate, etc.) ? What has been your favorite psychic experience so far? K: I started when I was 18 or 19. I always knew that it was there. This past year, I found out it runs in my family very deep. My cousin has gifts. She never really talked about, um, my other cousin does as well. And family members that have already passed, had insane abilities that my whole family knew about. Since I was a child, my mom always knew I was a little bit different. It was just something that we thought was normal. This year, they were like it runs in your family. Maybe meditation…I don't know different things. It's something I can't really turn off. I wish I could tap out of the medium ship, but the psychic stuff, it's just always been kind of draining. I would always take a lot of naps when I was little and stuff. I slept a lot because it was just always so draining whenever I would go out in public and stuff. I've found ways to protect my energy. I've found ways to protect my energy by meditating and crystals. Sage, which is what my native American ancestors used. I've been really practicing with my mediumship and just giving readings. I always always do them for free. So I just do them for family, friends, and whoever. It helps me practice, and it just has made me realize how strong my gifts are. I would always remember this woman. She’s on TikTok, and she lost her daughter when she was maybe two or three due to brain cancer. She just wanted to know her daughter was safe. She's like, can I pay you to connect with her? I always do readings for free. I'm just going to do it. I'm going to see if she comes through for you because I just couldn't imagine losing a child. You can’t really just move past that in an easy way. I connected with her daughter. Her daughter ended up coming through, and she was a little bit shy at first. She was kind of peeking in, and she was with an older woman. I was like your daughter is happy and safe. She had hair and was in a little dress. The woman said her grandmother passed away six months ago before we did this reading. So, she's like maybe it’s her. The little girl kept saying, “Mommy, I can hear you.” The girl kept showing me specific yellow butterflies. The yellow butterflies were their sign before the girl died. With the yellow butterflies, they were choosing between two funeral rooms. The one they chose for their daughter's funeral had yellow butterflies on the wall. It was interesting to just pick that up because something that specific you can't just make up. Then, her daughter also kept putting her pinky up like a signal with their hand. I'm not really sure what she was trying to show me. The mom was like before she passed, she was having a hard time speaking. We were teaching her, “I love you” in sign language, but she couldn't quite get it. That was just a really heartwarming experience. It brought me to tears. You also have a podcast “InTALKxicated”. What kind of message do you hope your audience will take back as they listen to your podcast? In other words, why did you choose to begin a podcast series? K: I'm a big marijuana advocate. I live in California and it's something that's helped my anxiety a lot. I want to advocate for legalizing marijuana. I wanted to do a podcast where I share stories, creepy, funny, and all well intoxicated things. Uh, so my, uh, my choice is always marijuana. So I wanted to share my goofy self with people. I want people to be able to listen to something chill, entertaining, but kinda dumb. I wanted to create a safe place for people to come and listen to different people's experiences of their paranormal experiences on the podcast. We're not faking it. I want it to be super authentic. My audience really loves it. I'm so grateful for that. How was it like being featured on Travel Channel’s Paranormal Caught On Camera? K: Some movies are pretty accurate with a lot of the paranormal things, but then some of them make it more entertaining. There will be instances where I've seen things fly. I've seen doors shut. I've seen chairs being thrown. I have seen that, but it doesn't happen all the time. That's something that's pretty rare for me to see. When it does happen, I freak out because it's just so it's just so surreal seeing. Whereas in movies, you know that they're moving it and making things a little bit more exaggerated. With Paranormal Caught on Camera, it was really cool to be featured there because I would watch that show all the time. I put myself through a lot going to these places emotionally and physically. There's a lot of risks when you go to these haunted places and to have what I've caught on camera and my experiences shared with other people and a very large audience. It's really cool to me. And I hope that that can continue. I saw that you create music. Your two recent singles are Done and Darker. Were you always passionate about music? What was the creative process behind Darker? K: I've always enjoyed singing. I would always do impressions and karaoke. My dad's side of the family are all like opera singers. It kinda runs in the family. I've just kind of wanted to do it for fun. I wanted to experience making a music video. All my songs have been written by Vago. They're super talented artists from London. For Darker, I wanted to do something creepy and could share Halloween. I wanted to portray the dark side of love. There's just such darkness like even the Amber Heard trial. You see pictures of them; they look super happy, but then behind the scenes that love is so dark and toxic. The song dug into that in such a unique artistic way. I absolutely loved what they came up with. They sent me the demo and right away I was like, “Yes, this is awesome.” The music video was directed by Chris Bullinger. He does an amazing job. What do you hope for your brand in the future? Do you see yourself focusing on aspects or still open to different things? Any upcoming goals? K: I just want to create a safe community where people can come and share their paranormal experiences. If they're mediums, if they're psychics, you know, people can call you crazy. People think you're faking it, or you're a fraud. I've gotten a lot of hate for that. and I'm sure a lot of people have. I just wanted to create a good, safe space for people to come and share their stories and share their struggles. I want to create a positive community. I'm really glad that it is building up. For myself, I do want to focus on acting. It's just been a passion of mine since I was young. I want to dig into it and I'll still be on social media, making content, no matter what.

Interview by: Orchee Sorker | Photos by: Cristine Jane (@visiblevibez_) | May 26, 2022 Lexy Panterra talks with HAZZE MEDIA about her story, creative process behind the new single "Girls", her goals for the Real Influence Agency, and focusing more on her music. How did you get started with music? Who are your inspirations? L: As soon as I came out of my mother's womb, I was singing. That's what she always says. I've just always loved music. Growing up, I listened to all pop on the radio. I definitely looked up to those people. My personal favorites are the really big voice singers like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey. I've always sang those records growing up. Stylewise, I love Rihanna and I love my R&B music. I love Kimani, Jhené Aiko, and some newer artists that are coming out now. Those are my vibes. What type of genre would you describe your music? L: My music is very eclectic. I'm a Gemini, so it's everywhere. I have pop, R&B, and rap. I really don't stay in a genre. That's been a hard thing for me in my independent music career. When you're an artist, they usually tell you, you have to stick to one genre, but I've always loved all types of music…which you can hear when listening to my singles/albums. Your new single “Girls” was released on May 20. What was the creative process behind the song? When did you start writing it? Would you like to shoot a music video? L: I did this song five years ago. I was in my feelings about this guy, and he was a celebrity actor. Everyone always tells you not to date celebrities, just because it's always a “problem”. They're all **** boys. The thing is when you're in the business, you're only really around those people, you know? I have dated my share of popular people. It's kind of about finding out that he's been DM-ing these girls and confronting him in the song, just not in person. I lived out my dream of how I knew about this…but I didn't really say that to him, even though I knew what was going on. That's where the inspo came from. My girlfriend and I just got together. I kind of ranted to her, and I was explaining to her what it was about. Then, we just went in to record. The song is also about being shown in public with paparazzi and TMZ around. All these blogs that want to pick up your stories and them just trying to hide you for whatever reason it could possibly be. Maybe because it doesn't go with their “brand” or they're hiding you from other girls. I want to do a video for this. I've just been coming up with so many concepts that I have no idea what to do. I’m getting inspiration from the girls. It's definitely gonna come. I just don't know when yet, but it should be dropping in June. I hope we'll see if I have enough time, I'm going to try a thousand percent. You have a wide audience with over 1 billion impressions across all platforms. Do you want to have this large audience or a condensed audience that is more interested specifically in your music? Ultimately, would you like to focus just on music? L: That's been definitely a double-edged sword for me because a lot of them are men and I love my women. I'm all about independence, empowering women to do what you like, and being confident in teaching. This was also in my twerk out class. I became popular from all those workout videos. Yes, I do wish that I did have a base that really focused on my music. Everyday, I definitely push my new fans and old fans to my new music…in hopes they turn into my music fans everyday…praying above. I'm blessed to have the fans that I do have for sure. What is one thing you would like to say to your fans? L: All I gotta say is be you, that's the best you can be. People will love you for that. Don't try to be anybody else.

Interview & Photos by: Orchee Sorker | May 26, 2022 Eloise Alterman talks with HAZZE MEDIA about her new EP Sad Bird, learning to live by herself from a young age, recently moving to LA from Nashville, and her upcoming personal goals. How did you get started on music? My entire life I wanted to do music. I started singing when I was really young. I started with karaoke machines. I definitely annoyed both of my parents with singing all the time. They were eventually like if you really want to be a singer, you have to play an instrument. You can't just sing karaoke, you have to play an instrument. I went and taught myself how to play guitar and piano. After learning the piano, they were like you can't just do that; you have to write songs. I started writing songs, and I really have always been kind of an emotionally sensitive person. Writing has really helped find an outlet for that. Music's just been something in my bones. I don't remember a day where I didn't love it. Sometimes when I think about that, I'm like, ‘how are you just born loving something?’ You usually find your hobbies or find things that you love as you get older. You moved to Nashville at a young age, like 17 years old. What were some aspects you learned along the way by living on your own? I definitely learned how to be lonely because when you're 17 and you're not in college and everyone else, your age is you just have to learn how to. There's not many friends that are doing the same thing at your age. Everyone older than me was trying to start their careers. They were all out of college. I wasn't able to get into bars or anything. So, I just spent a lot of time by myself and I felt very misunderstood by people my age too. I didn't really understand them either. Being by myself is probably one of the hardest things I ever did, but it's also one of my super powers. Now, I'm really independent and I don't ever want to have to go through it again, but I'm really glad that I did. Now you moved to LA, what made you move? How is the culture different in LA and Nashville especially in the music industry? I would say the reason I moved was because of my music. It was evolving a little into a different direction, and I spent so much time in Nashville. When I first moved to Nashville, I had so much growth and Nashville felt so big when I first moved here. I wanted those new challenges with a new city like LA. My management was there; I wanted to try writing with new songwriters, explore a new avenue, and keep finding new parts of my music. I moved there in January. I’ve had a great experience so far. In Nashville, it's less track based. It’s a guy with a guitar. People are writing the start with the hook (the last line) first. In LA, people maybe start with the chorus and loop type of hit. In pop, the title is the first line of the chorus and sometimes repetitive. In country, the title is the last line of the chorus or bridge, like the moral of the story. Who are your musical influences? I have so many different influences. I've listened to so many different types of artists growing up. I appreciate listeners who love all kinds of music too. I'd say it's just any artist who has songwriting as their main thing. I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Mumford and Sons. I loved Miley Cyrus when I was younger and Taylor Swift. I just listened to anything that tells a story. Your debut EP Sad Bird came out May 6. What was the creative process behind the EP? How long did it take? What do you hope your audience gets from listening? I wrote it through the pandemic. The creative process was really just unloading my heart and trying to be vulnerable. It just all poured out. It was very easy to be as open as possible when your heart's broken. Writing was therapy for me at that time. Then all of a sudden it was born. I didn't even mean to do that. Looking back, I didn't even realize I was creating something. These songs are so sad, you know, but it kind of also makes let that part of your heart go a little bit. Why did you make “Her” your focus single? What was the meaning behind that song? I made her the focus single because it is one of the more up-tempo songs. I wanted to come out of the gate with something that started the story. If you listen to any of the other ones by themselves, it doesn't really give you any background yet. I needed to kind of lay down the basis of the story before coming out with all the filler of everything else. At first, it sounds like a story about another woman, but it's really about me and unraveling comparing myself to another woman and wanting so badly for someone to see me the way I think they see the person they loved before…being ghost of the woman that he loved. What are you trying to focus on or improve this year? Whether it is personal or music related? I definitely want to be the best performer that I can be. I want to be as confident as I can be too. I want to work on my mental health and focus on me just as a person. I want to be kind to other people, empathetic, and just focus on the sweet things in life as well. I'm always very stressed out about the future instead of being present. I want to also just be in the moment, you know.

Photographed by Stephanie Siau from Hazze Media | Denver, Colorado | May 16, 2022

Interview by: Orchee Sorker | Photos by: @lindylinphoto | May 26, 2022 Former Chinese-Canadian Olympic Coach and popular TikTok content creator with over 4M followers, Peng Peng Lee shares her story, process behind creating videos, mental health, and representation on social media. To anyone who may not know you, how would you introduce yourself? How did you begin your gymnastics career? Was it always something you wanted to pursue? Now, you are an artist, actress, influencer, and host. Do you think there are aspects from gymnastics which you are using in your everyday life now? P: My name is Peng Peng. I was born and raised in Canada. I was a former national Canadian gymnastics team member. I went on to compete for Canada for about 8 - 10 years. Then, I went to be the 2012 honoree Olympic team captain. I went to UCLA to also pursue gymnastics and graduated from college there. Now, I am pursuing entertainment. Gymnastics has always been one of those sports as a little girl I loved. I actually quit when I was seven, so I didn't love it at one point, but my family, my parents, always put me in sports. I was always doing activities…it could have been like in the arts, I did theater camp and a bunch of different camps. I didn't realize that after gymnastics, I would still use those life lessons that I learned in the gym and practice them every single day. I have taken my work ethic and my athletic mentality definitely into the real world today. Whenever I do something, I want to give my 110% because I feel like if I don't give that full effort, I'm not going to reach my goal or I'm just not doing myself the honor of being able to. What made you start creating content? Why were you driven to TikTok specifically? P: It's funny because when I was in college, I didn't know what I wanted to do. Everyone was saying, “the world is your oyster. You can go whatever direction you want to go into.” Being a student-athlete, I didn’t have a lot of time for internships and working on campus. Something I really wanted to do was entertainment, whether it be hosting, acting, or anything in that realm intrigued me. Someone said, “why don't you get on social media? It can be kind of like your resume; your way to practice. It's on your own time.” Everything in college is about your resume. For me, I just really had a hard time. Having those aspects to put on my resume. So, I got on YouTube. I was doing things on Instagram, and it was only during the pandemic that I got on TikTok. After college, when I graduated, my world still revolved around gymnastics. YouTube and Instagram are very heavily gymnastics-based content. I was having a harder time branching out and really exploring and creating new content. During the pandemic, I got on TikTok to have fun with the platform and literally just do everything that I've wanted to do from singing, dancing, and transitions. How did you get so good at seamless transitions and lip-syncing? How do you schedule creating content? Do you have a setup for shooting? P: When I started getting on TikTok, I mainly thought it was a dancing app. However, then I saw Zach King. His content is so cool with little magic tricks. I googled how he was doing those magic tricks. It said Final Cut Pro. Then, I began using Final Cut Pro and spent hours trying to figure out how he was able to cut things and how he was able to mask objects…not green screen stuff, but just special effects. Then there was this one girl doing the transitions on TikTok. It was so cool to me! That's when I knew I wanted to get really good at it. Just learning and loving what I did and having fun with it…helped me get good at it because I was really excited every time. My college and athletic mindset definitely comes into play often. When I was a student-athlete, everything had to be planned out and I was not a planner. I am naturally very spontaneous, but post-college, I have become a planner. I very much enjoy planning out my days now and setting aside those content days. If I were to go with the flow, I would get stressed to a point where my life would be a little too much all over the place. I kind of write everything down about what I want to do. I love seeing other creators and what they're doing and adding a little twist to it. I'll take a day and film about 5-6 videos. There are definitely times when I see videos where I just film on spot and allow time for myself to have fun. Until October, I was living in my one-bedroom apartment and I was filming a ton in my bedroom. My workspace and my sleeping space were in the same room. It was hard to have peace in my room. So, I ended up moving. Now, I have a separate studio space, and it has been a game-changer. I have my little stand-up desk in my office and makeup in there. I have my ring light. It just makes it all more efficient. I feel so much better just getting out of my bedroom and having that one space to do work. Usually when everyone talks about representation on screen, it is referring to the Hollywood industry. However, most of the content people consume today is on social media. Do you think diversity and representation in these platforms matter? What is it like being a POC in the social media industry? P: When I was younger, I never put a lot of thought into ‘there aren't a lot of Asian people on screen…or there's not a lot of people of color on screen’ just because I think I was too young to even think about it. Now that I'm older, I actually do think it matters. I realized that when I was younger, I wanted to be blonde. I wanted to have colored eyes. I wanted all these things that I just couldn't attain. I just wasn't born like that. It's really fun to see on social media nowadays, the representation. There was one comment that I got, even when I was a gymnast that has really stood with me. This mother came up to me and said, “It's so awesome to see an Asian American or Asian Canadian, just doing her thing and being a gymnast and a face for the younger generation.” I never thought about that until that day. I didn't have a lot of people to look up to…maybe Jackie Chan was kind of like the one person who I really looked up to when I was younger. It's so awesome to see more people of color inspiring the next generation to have those role models who are just like them. May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States. Why do you think mental health is important? Are there any ways you create awareness around this topic? P: I have learned that mental health is so important. It was one of those things I never really put a lot of attention to. As an athlete, you're learning to push through everything. You're learning to take no days off. Whenever I was sad, I felt I was weak. After I graduated college, that's when a lot of things started coming up, and I was starting to have a lot of anxiety. I was having a lot of pressure and anxiety about what life is and where I'm going. In school, you always work on the next exam. For me, it was like, ‘what is the next thing in life?’ I am still on this mental health rollercoaster with myself. I'm learning a lot about myself that I never paid attention to. I do love sharing with my platform by being honest with myself and being true to myself. It’s very scary to me to share and open up about because I have never really touched upon it. I encourage people to really think about something that really makes them happy in sad moments or in those moments where they feel like they can't get picked up again. That's been really helpful for me because I was one of those people who locked everything in. I did not talk about it. I didn't want to share anything. As I've gotten older, it's been very helpful to reach out to friends, family, and people…and learned the importance of having a great support system. Music has been one of those things that has been very therapeutic for me. Music saved me from getting into a darker place. What are your upcoming goals for yourself and your brand? Do you want to focus on one niche or create various content? P: My upcoming goals are very open-ended. I'm open to anything. Whether it be acting, music or more content, I love being open to just learning and being inspired by other people. I have always been inspired by James Cordon and The Rock. The Rock grew up as an athlete, but he does acting. When I am older and I could see myself down the road, I would love to be like The Rock where he just explores everything. They have a very well-rounded background and don't stick to one niche. Besides gymnastics, music has been one of those big dreams of mine. Again, when I'm in those anxiety and stressful moments, writing music has been one of those things that has just helped me look past the darkness of the moment. I would love to share my background through my music. It's almost easier for me to write it down through a song rather than talking about it. I look forward to when I do drop my music, and for people to learn a little more about me than what they see on social media or gymnastics or anything like that.