TiaCorine Is Winning the "Lotto"

written by Sydney Ling

interviewed by Yoko Zhu at TiaCorine’s 1824 Press Conference

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By Bosha novART

Sitting in a foamy bathtub of Kool-Aid with juice boxes scattered around the tub ledge, a pink-haired TiaCorine raps, “ Like ice make everybody freeze / Get on yo' knees…And she mix like Kool-Aid /Drop bombs on a beat” in her music video for “Lotto.”

Born in Winston-Salem, rapper TiaCorine is an anime-trap chameleon. With bubblegum pink, trap-like music, she draws from her Japanese, African American, and Shoshone Indian heritage. Her 2018 single “Lotto” garnered the attention of local radios, DJs, and clubs after blowing up on TikTok, leading her to sign to South Coast Music Group(SCMG) in 2019. Co-signed with A$AP Rocky, Rico Nasty, and SZA, TiaCorine released her deluxe album The Saga of 34Corine in May, featuring a DaBaby remix of “Lotto.” An ode to her hometown, The Saga of 34Corine defies genre, not only blending different sounds, but also incorporating cultural references, from Samuel L. Jackson’s “Snakes On A Plane” monologue to an anime voiceover. The album playfully experiments with styles, chronicling the first story of TiaCorine’s saga.

How do you hope your music impacts your audience and what’s next for you? What do you see yourself doing in the next five to 10 years?

I just hope that my music lets people know that they can be themselves and you don’t have to follow a certain wave or sound or style. You can really just what do what you want to do because it’s possible. I’m doing it. I see myself, of course, gradually going up with my music, but I want to get into acting, so I see myself being an actress. I want to get into fashion, I did a fashion runway one time and I really liked it, so I want to get into that. I also really love anime, so I want to hopefully have my own animated series and also do voiceovers.

How has your heritage influenced your music and career?

My mom is Shoshone-Indian and my dad is Japanese and Black, but I didn’t really get to spend a lot of time with my real dad, so I have my step-dad. He’s Black, but he listens to a lot of Run-DMC, The SugarHill Gang. He listened to that type of music and also listened to Usher and Michael Jackson. But my mom, she was adopted in Idaho, so I only know a little bit of our Native-American heritage because she only knows so much as well. She was adopted by a white family in Idaho, so a lot of her music that she listened to was 80s, 90s, 60s rock, Teena Marie, Queen, and so that was what I heard growing up, mixed with hip-hop. That’s how I got this cool melodic pop, but it sounds old-school. It just helped me come up with those crazy, melodic flows, but I’m not scared to do funky beats, because I’m just so used to hearing them. 

“My mind is like a crazy library of pictures, so I see all of these pictures in my mind, and I string them together.”

What was the inspiration behind including so many samples from popular media? You mentioned how you love anime before - you also have some Super Mario influences in the album, and the movie “Rush Hour” is one of the transitions. How did you decide to include those?

It’s really weird - my friend Yola does my transitions. When we sit down, I think about the song and what I’m saying in it, and then I think about my childhood and stuff that I really liked, especially what I thought was so funny. That part of the movie, “Rush Hour,” I had just remembered, and we listened to it. We put it on the transition part and it just… the first time we put it on, it fit perfectly. And I was like, woah! That’s it! It made sense. “Who are you? Me! Who are you?”

And then the song had came in. I don’t know where I get this from; my mind is like a crazy library of pictures, so I see all of these pictures in my mind, and I string them together. I think I have a photographic memory, if that make sense. I remember key points of my life and Super Mario Smash Bros is something I can never forget playing with the guys when I was a kid. It just makes sense when I’m making these songs, those are the images. Like how I’ll watch anime when I record. They just make sense.

Shot by Bosha novART

What was the reasoning behind making the tracks of The Saga of 34Corine overlap and transition into each other? Is this an artistic choice to promote listening to the project in one sitting?

I think it just works in that favor, but for me, I feel like my songs tell a story. So they need to flow together to make a book. I feel like my project is like a book. Each song is a story and that’s why it’s important the way I lined them up. The transitions definitely helped to string it together; it almost gives you this sense of you actually turning the page- that’s the transition. “Okay, next story.”

“I feel like my project is like a book. Each song is a story and that’s why it’s important the way I lined them up.”

You seem to work very well with Kenny Beats and clearly, you make really dope music together. How is it like working on your album with him? Is there any other producers you’d like to work with in the future?

Kenny was so crazy. I love him. I feel like the first time we met, we just clicked and became best friends forever. He made me feel… just like never needing to second guess myself. When we met the first time, he brought me to the Cave, and I was like, Oh my gosh! I’m in the Cave! I was so nervous. The time that we got together - I usually take a while to make songs sometimes, 4 to 6 hours, depending on how I’m feeling. But I made that song ‘Luigi’  in two hours. I was so surprised because I never do that and I didn’t have anything written, I just freestyled while I was there, and he was calling me a genius. “Oh my god she’s such a genius! You just proved that you are not just a one hit wonder.”

He was so excited and working with him is so easy. Another producer that I really want to work with is Pi’erre Bourne. He sent me a few beats and I made a song to one of them, but I really want to get into the studio with him. So I’m really excited for that, I feel like it’s going to happen.

You’ve released this amazing deluxe album, working alongside Kenny Beats and DaBaby and you’re even set to perform Rolling Loud this year. How do you feel about your growth as an artist this past year?

I’m amazed at myself. I feel really proud of myself. It’s so crazy because I made ‘Lotto’ and all of these songs in my living room in my little tiny apartment on a $70 mic, before I moved. It’s just crazy how now I’m here. It’s kind of unbelievable, like a dream, like wow I manifested this. I said this so many times and people laughed at me, like, No, you’re from Winston, you can’t make it. You have to move somewhere else and do it. I was like no, I’m gonna be on the radio. I’m gonna be in Cali and stuff, I’m gonna be doing this. And here I am. So, I just feel amazing. It feels weird. It feels weird because this is just the beginning. I don’t even know, it makes me anxious.

What were your influences or favorites growing up that inspired you to pursue a career in music? What were your favorite artists?

Aaliyah, Michael Jackson, I really loved Usher. I really like [], Lil Wayne, Santana, Ashanti — I did a talent show to one of her songs before. Biggie, because Biggie was so smooth and so cool, he made me feel like… just so cool. That time, those type of people really inspired me because I could feel it. I just feel them in the music, and I don’t know, I could see myself doing what they’re doing. It was just like dang, I’m gonna do this. Yeah, this is it. This is so cool.

Your music incorporates a ton of different elements. We touched on your influences a little bit, but we have 2000s pop punk, trap, modern R&B as well, so what gave you an idea to blend those styles and styles that aren’t really blending in today’s landscape? How did you come up with that?

I don’t know! I feel like that’s just my inner self. That’s how I dress. That’s always my aesthetic, and so people just tell me your vibe gives me that 2000s, Britney Spears and Mariah Carey tones. I really think that’s just my personality, so I don’t think about it. That’s just me, and so I’m always wanting to pick these beats that nobody else wants to pick because as Kenny says, he feels that people are scared to pick those type of beats ,and those sounds, because they don’t know what to do.

But I know exactly what to do. I feel like the reason why I do pick some of these pop funk beats too is because I used to speed skate. In the skating room they’d play speed-skating songs, and I used to love them because they made me feel so electrified.

I could feel the energy in the beat and I loved it. It’s almost like a bullet point in my mind, so that’s the feeling that I always keep inside of me. It inspires me because it brings me back to that time and I had a pretty good childhood, so it brings that energy and that happiness and the clothes I was wearing and stuff like that.

So, I think that’s just me, I think I’m really just tapped into myself. So me just being me and knowing me, it’s easy to just do it and not think about it. I just do it.

“That’s my insides- I’m bright and colorful inside. I’m just pink.”

On your wall in the Zoom background, you’ve got Star Girl, Princess Bubblegum, etc. Your visual aesthetic is so bright and colorful. Where do you take inspiration for your visual style?

I watch a lot of cartoons and anime. That’s my insides- I’m bright and colorful inside. I’m just pink. Really just watching ‘Sailor Moon’ and ‘Dragon Ball Z’, anime is really passionate and over-exaggerated, and I like that because that’s how I want my videos to be. Also, Tyler the Creator inspired me a lot with my videos because he’s really crazy. The stuff that I think in my head, he actually does and it’s just like what? How is he doing this? So watching him and his TV show ‘Loiter Squad’ inspires me a lot. He’s crazy.

Shot by Brianna Alysse

The deluxe version of this record is double the length of its original. Was there ever a plan to make this a separate release or were all of these tracks coming from the same creative space and creative period?

All of these songs were coming from the same creative space. It’s just that I had so many, I couldn’t fit all of them on the first EP. Then things happened and I had to take two songs off of the EP, so then it was like, well, this opens up room for a few more. I was getting good feedback on a few songs that I’d just posted on my page. They were like, we should post these because it’s a good segue to show how your new sounds are about to be. So these songs are just like you said - the same songs I’ve made in the same time and space of ’34Corine’. Now we’re trying to slowly go into the new sound.

Since you worked with Kenny Beats on the track ‘Luigi’, are there any plans for a future Tia Corine episode of ‘The Cave’?

Yes, he actually told me the last time I was in LA, “Yo, we have to get you on ‘The Cave’, next time you come, we’re shooting ‘The Cave’.” So that’s definitely coming.

You and Kenny have made a bunch of unreleased music together, so can we be looking forward to any more tracks from the two of you?

We’re actually planning on releasing a project together. About five songs or so, I think we have four or five already done, we just wanted to cook up a few more, but yeah. It’s definitely coming. We have a crazy track together called, ‘Shock a Car’, and, whoo! You’re not ready for that. That right there, is going to change some things.

You said you wanted to get into acting, so is there a specific genre of film you’d love to star in?

Kind of something like a thriller movie, I really love thrillers. Thrillers, suspenseful, type of movie. I’m not ready for a horror movie yet, I’m a little scared. But thrillers I can do, for sure.

What’s your favorite verse of the whole project?

I said a lot of crazy stuff. Man, I don’t know. That’s so hard. I think it was in ‘Hotel Mink’ because I was going through a time where somebody was blackballing me, and it didn’t work. I think I said something like, “It’s funny how I’m still in the lead” because they were really trying to take me out, man, like three months. And it didn’t work because it was like, you can’t stop me! You just can’t, you can be mad all you want, but I’m still going to shine through this, and I did. “You a leech now, trying to intervene. I think it’s funny how I’m still in the lead.” That’s what I said, that’s probably my favorite one because it’s real personal.

You say you watch anime while you make music. So, what’s your formula when you write?

I have a few different ways. Sometimes throughout the day, when I’m driving around, I might hear a bar in my head or something so I type it in my notes, and I do that periodically throughout the day. I feel like they’re more like starter points to me, because I don’t know if a lot of artists know, but sometimes the starting verse or whatever you wanna say is the hardest part because once you start, then you just take off.

So I do a lot of ‘starter points’ in my notes and then sometimes I just get into the studio, I put my headphones on, turn my auto-tune on, close my eyes, and visualize a picture or the beat. I use my experience to match that picture. I’ll mumble a melody, and whatever comes to my mind, I don’t try to think about it too hard, I just let it come out.

What was the trigger point that made you get into music?

My mom and my dad play a lot of music, but my dad was always singing to it. That made me want to sing, so I started off singing. I thought I was going to be singer. I did a talent show in the third and fourth grade, where I got up and sang. Before I even got to do that, I had a group of girls that were bullying me in school in fourth grade. They decided to choose the same song that I was singing, and my dance teacher was like, Both ya’ll can’t sing the song so ya’ll have to battle it out right now in class.

And I was really shy, so I was like, What? Like, no way. Right now? I need some water, like are you serious?

Everybody pushed all the desks back and my teacher was there, and I had to get up and sing this song in front of everybody. I was so nervous, but I won. Everybody was like, oh my gosh I didn’t know you could sing like that!

It was like a movie scene, everybody just got up and crowded around me. It’s like I defeated my bullies because they lost. That was the shifting point for me- that’s what got me here. Because I think about how, what if I didn’t do it? I don’t know what that would’ve done. It definitely wouldn’t have took me here. That moment inspired me because people actually believed in me. It made me excited and happy for them to hear me sing.

I had a lot of guy friends, and they were recording in the closet of their mom’s house, and I would just be there. One day I was like, hey let me try! And they were like, What? And I said, Yeah, let me try. I got in there, I wrote something, and I thought, Woah, now this is it!

At that time, I was getting into Drake, The Weeknd, PartyNextDoor, so I was mixing my melodic sounds with this rap sound that I just found out that I could do. Then it just went from there.

If you could do a collab with someone dead or alive, who would you want?

Michael Jackson, easy. He is ridiculous. Erykah Badu, Biggie, because he’s just too cool, Tyler the Creator, and Pi’erre Bourne.

What advice would you give people who are trying to balance their regular life with following their passions and their dreams?

I would say get used to not sleeping, but that’s okay. It’s going to be tough, and that’s okay. You might cry, and that is also okay. You need to make sure you’re eating, and not just junk food. Please drink water and please exercise because that is very important. I would also say make sure you remember what kind of energy you have around you because that will reflect onto you and what you put out as a musician. I would say definitely try to fit in meditation sessions, it doesn’t have to be long, but it’s very important. It’s very important to keep a balance.

“Get used to not sleeping, but that’s okay. It’s going to be tough, and that’s okay. You might cry, and that is also okay.”

Your style is rather new, but also unique to the way you make music. What is your favorite part of about introducing other people to your trap-anime, type of style that you have created for yourself?

My favorite part is the look on their face, honestly, because a lot of them are just like, What is this? They’re so intrigued and baffled and confused, and they have no words. And it’s just like, Yeah, I have my own style, I have my own wave, it’s possible. You don’t have to sound like somebody else, you can really just be yourself.

So that’s my favorite part, is really proving to people you can be yourself. There’s no secret formula, there’s no ritual. You literally just take what’s in you, and you put it out, and you don’t care what anybody thinks, and this is what you come up with.

“I have my own style, I have my own wave, it’s possible. You don’t have to sound like somebody else, you can really just be yourself… There’s no secret formula, there’s no ritual.”

Being an upcoming artist, there may be a weight on your shoulders to make your next track better than your last track. When you’re collaborating with your producers, and some established producers such as Kenny, what do you look for in terms of musicianship? How you guys bond to create your unique style of music?

I really just look for understanding. Some people are trying too hard to be like, What about this? What about that? I’ll look for a good listener. Kenny’s really good at listening and asking questions. I love when someone asks questions, so that way we’re getting on the same page. If you don’t ask questions, I’m worried. So a good listener, somebody’s who’s trying to understand, and someone that asks questions, are the three things that I look for.