Ryan LeutzCoi Leray has taken the music industry by storm this year. Following the release of multiple hit records and multiple viral moments on social media, she’s become one of the hottest artists on the scene. Even though she is nonstop working right now, she stopped by for a conversation with the Rockstar Experience podcast – straight off of a 15-hour workday.
“I got in late, like at 5 a.m. last night,” she began. “I was on a 15 hour shoot with Mooski for the ‘Track Star’ video shoot.”
“You are just going!” exclaimed Brian Calle, host of the Rockstar Experience podcast. “What aren’t you doing?”
“What I’m not doing these days is thinking negative, for real for real. I’m just thinking positive thoughts and just doing whatever to be where I need to be. I’m just getting my feet wet,” she replied.
While Coi has been going viral on social media and the charts alike this year, she is still relatively new to the music scene. She recalled finding the inspiration to begin her musical career in 2016 from fellow east coast artist, A Boogie wit da Hoodie.
“I was on my own since I was 16, living in my own crib. I was working in sales and dropped out of high school early like 10th grade,” Coi explained. “Boogie had dropped that song, ‘Trust Issues.’ He was the only male artist that would talk crazy about females but speak facts and make it sound so good. I wanted to be the girl that talked back to the boys, so I made my first song called G.A.N. and it blew up from there and I was like, ‘Yo, I’m an artist.’”
Photo by Brian Ziff
Coi’s foray into the music industry has paid off immensely and she’s confident to keep on paving her own path to stardom.
“Everyone wants to be at level 10 or level 100,” Brian started. “Everyone wants to be a millionaire or a billionaire or on tour and the hardest step to take, but the step that matters the most, is from 0 to 1.”
“You gotta trust the process. With me, I feel like this is the year I’m really gonna break into a superstar status artist. People are really gonna start knowing me for my music and see my full potential. You just gotta trust the process for real for real, count your blessings,” Coi replied.
Arguably, one of Coi’s biggest blessings is her record, “No Parties” with Lil Durk, which is her biggest song to date. Coi explained that she knew she wanted a Lil Durk verse on No More Parties, so when the time came, she quickly reached out.
“I had been listening to Durk so much it just reminded me, ‘Durk would sound crazy on this,’ so I hit him up. I was like ‘Yo I need you on this’ and he was like ‘Alright bet, it’s fire.’ I had tweeted ‘Durk hoppin on it [No More Parties]’ just to solidify it. Man, I got the verse in two days. He loved the song, he believed in the record and shout out to him because now we’re like, what, #37 on Billboard charts right now with 10 million views in a week on YouTube?”
At the time this article is being written, the song is still charting, peaking at #11, and has collected over 40 million views on YouTube. Apart from the sheer energy and catchiness of the record, a key factor in the song’s viral rise, and Coi’s rise as well, is her presence on TikTok.
“How much do you think TikTok helped the record? Because you go crazy on TikTok,” we asked.
“It’s crazy because all of my content and everything I do is never forced, it’s something that I do organically. TikTok is something I actually need to be MORE present on,” Coi said. “I try to be on there as much as I can but whatever feels organic, it just goes. So when I made ‘BIG PURR’ I just leaked the snippet. That shit’s almost got 300k TikTok videos and it ain’t even drop yet! It’s just dope to have this world of young, youthful, fun, kids that just wanna dance. I don’t know, I just love it, it’s so viral.”
“A lot of artists like me, it’s a lot of diamonds and designer that people can’t relate to. Some people just know how to put the camera on and dance in some Levi’s,” she continued.
Coi was fun and exceedingly charming on the Rockstar Experience podcast, but she also has another side to her. One that takes her life and career very seriously and with confident poise. She sees her path as definite.
“You’re all about being an original. It’s so funny because people always say ‘I wanna be the next this person or I wanna be the next that person,’ but being able to be like, ‘Nah I’m gonna be the first Coi Leray and I’m good with that’… that’s maturity,” Brian commented.
“I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t me,” she replied.
“At such a young age, how did you become so centered?” Brian asked.
“I’m the only girl in my family, I grew up with five brothers. I got a lot of tough love growing up. I also learned good customer service skills and realized that a lot of stuff is based off of relationships and being a good person. I’ll be 24 on May 12, but I’m a big ass kid. I’m still learning every day, more and more, and I feel like I’m the chosen one. God favors people for real and I feel like I’m God’s gift.”
Check out Coi Leray’s music on all platforms and be on the lookout for her debut album, which she revealed to us will be dropping in May. Keep up with her on her socials as well, tap in with her cooking show “Cooking With Coi” on YouTube, and tune into her Rockstar Experience episode for more thoughtful gems and hearty laughs from Coi and the guys.
You can check out the full Rockstar Experience Podcast interview on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeart Radio.
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