Photo: Peter Dons
[KILLBOY](https://www.instagram.com/killboy/?hl=en) is in her own lane, killing it out here in Los Angeles all by her lonesome. Not only does she write and record her own music, but she produces as well. She states, “I learned to produce and songwrite so I won’t have to depend on anybody. I moved to LA and learned that nobody wants to do anything for you for free.”
Hailing from Texas, KILLBOY moved out to the city of Angels three years ago completely broke, with a thousand dollars in her pocket. On the brink of graduating with a couple semesters of college left, she realized she wasn’t on the right path—knowing music was her end-be-all. On the first day of her last semesters, she left and relocated to her own place in Koreatown. From there, she taught herself everything from watching Youtube tutorials.
Boasting 42K followers on Instagram, Killboy creates music from the heart, inspired by real-life experiences she faces on the daily. Following the release of her last single [“That’s Okay I’ll Just Fuck Myself,”](https://killboy.lnk.to/TOIJFMPR) Flaunt exclusively premieres her single + newest visual—“How U Gon.” Read below as we discuss her jobs before music, how she got her pub deal, the inspo behind her singles, and more!
**What was your 9 to 5 before music?**
I worked at a lot of restaurants, worked at a pizza place. I worked as a car salesman. I worked as a graphic designer. I did toplines and wrote songs for producers, for money. Then I finally got a publishing deal, I’m like “fuck all this extra shit, I’m going to focus on me.” I took the publishing deal money and invested in my studio, invested in getting people to teach me how to mix and finish my records. It paid off.
**How did you land your publishing deal at Beathouse?**
Through my manager, Nima. I was about to sign a $1500 publishing deal. \[laughs\] The people offering that put me in this session with DJ Brook Evers. I showed her my music, she asked, “Why don’t you have a manager, what’s going on? Why are you singing toplines for people? You should be an artist.” I didn’t know anybody. Moved to LA, I don’t go network. I let things come to me. She connected me with a guy from Roc Nation, I didn’t expect anything. Nima texted me one hour later, “you produced this song? This is you singing?” It’s my song “WHEREDAFUCC.”
He said “meet me tonight at the show.” We were wearing the same pants. \[laughs\] Immediately, I liked this dude. He said “we have to get you a pub deal, we have to start meeting people.” He accidentally texted Tiffany, he thought he was texting another person. They met up to go on a hike and at the top of the mountain, he’s like “you have to listen to my artist KILLBOY!” She was blown away. A few days later, she took me to Jon & Vinny’s. I’d met with every publisher, they bullshitted me. “You’re so great, we’re going to set you up with some sessions and see how it goes.” At this point, I’m sick of meeting publishers. I look at Tiffany like “what’s the deal, do you want to put me in some sessions to see if you like me?” She goes “I don’t have to put you in any sessions, I know I like you.” She offered to fly me out to a Pitbull writing camp the next week, I’d never done anything that big.
**How was that whole experience?**
It was in Miami, fucking insane. I got to write with Theron, one of the best songwriters in the world. He's someone I really look up to, writes for Lizzo, Dua Lipa everybody. All kinds of producers like Supa Dups, Ben Billion$, it was fucking crazy. I thought “how am I here?”
**What inspired “That’s Okay I’ll Just F\*ck Myself”? That’s a hell of a title.**
“That’s Okay I’ll Just F\*ck Myself” is really some shit I say on the daily. I’ve been doing music for 10 years, I started on YouTube. I was getting a little popularity from YouTube covers. My fellow YouTubers we’re blowing up, but they were so whack. There’s no originality, I didn’t understand what’s going on. I thought “that’s okay, I’ll just fuck myself.” I collected 30K or 40K Youtube subscribers, I figured “okay, I’ma start releasing my own music now.” I post a cover song, it’ll get 50K, 100K views. I release my song, it gets 1000 views. I’m like “that’s okay, I’ll just f\*ck myself!
You move to LA, labels want to sign really young artists who don’t write or do anything. I was seeing a lot of people that don't even make their music, what the fuck? I don’t want to write or produce songs for other people right now. In the future, that’ll be dope. I want to focus on my songs that I have. Yeah I could give my songs away to other people, but I’ll just f\*ck myself instead. Release them through me because they’re mine.
**How did the animated visual come about?**
I got to collab with this dope animator I found on Instagram, his name’s @[magic.mountain.](https://www.instagram.com/magic.mountain/) That shit’s fucking insane, the video’s my favorite thing I put out so far.
**Talk about your new single “How U Gon”**
“How U Gon” is a totally different vibe from what I’ve been putting out. It’s a really honest song about being in love with somebody, my ex to be exact. \[laughs\] When you find things out of nowhere, you feel you’ve been in the dark. What the fuck, how are you gonna do me like that? You were my best friend, my favorite person in the whole world. How? Being blindsided by someone, it hurts a lot. It’s really hard to lose somebody that you love. The future songs will be less sad. \[laughs\]
**How would you describe your sound?**
I like to make beats, then I’ll sing over them. I get really inspired by 2010’s hip-hop/pop, that’s what I think about when I write songs.
**Who are your favorite artists?**
Honestly, it’s not going to make any sense. I don’t listen to people who make music like me. I only listen to Young Thug, City Girls, Meg Thee Stallion. City Girls are my absolute favorite right now. I was inspired by the whole Lil Wayne era, 2010 was my favorite era. I was in middle school, back when things were easier.
**What’s one thing fans may not know about you?**
I have really bad social anxiety. \[laughs\]
**Goals for yourself?**
Some goals for my career is really for the Coronavirus to let the fuck up and let me start performing. I can’t wait to do my first KILLBOY shows, that’s what I really look forward to.
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