Introducing Tron Austin: A singer, songwriter, producer, and musician.
Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Tron Austin has been making his own waves through music. Being the son of stars, Chili (from the iconic female group, TLC) and Dallas Austin (musician and record producer), Tron has created his own sound. Tron has always had an interest in instruments (from as young as nine-years old) and now has developed his artistry. Before his career as an artist, Tron was accepted into Berkeley University to play the drums. However, he later graduated from Full Sail University, a music school in Florida, and created his first EP ‘Reflections’ back in 2018.
After graduating and producing his EP, Tron released his first single “Captions” in March of 2020. From there, his career has elevated and his music heard by many. In October, he released his second EP “Insomina” which hit over a hundred thousand streams on Spotify in mid November. While only having four songs on the EP, he created a project that people can escape and vibe with. I was able to sit down and speak with Tron in his hometown of Atlanta as he told me about himself, work, and the music.
You just dropped your new EP “Insomnia“. Does this feel monumental to you seeing as you just hit 100k on Spotify?
To be honest with you, as an artist you don’t really know what to expect when you put stuff out. It gives me motivation to keep doing my thing and keep developing and pushing out projects. In this day and age in the music industry all you see is consistency. In my parents time, people could drop in a couple years if they wanted to. Because it’s not about the music being long lasting you know? It’s so much music out right now because of the whole social media era and everyone is so involved. People are always expecting more. It definitely gives me the motivation to keep doing my thing.
As far as creating this new project, where did you get the name “Insomnia” from? How did the whole creative process come about?
The creative juices start flowing at like 3am or something like that. You know you’re not in the studio and the next day you‘re like “I have this idea”. I would say insomnia is like a double-edged sword because it sucks. But at the same time I definitely do get a lot out of being able to utilize those hours. I try to make it more of a positive outlook I guess. I hope it’s not something I live with forever, but put something into music formation, stamp it, and try market it. It is a very important part of my life and it’s been there for a long time. Why not put it as a project?
I know you have four songs on your EP; what was the most fun song to create? One of your favorites?
“Captions” is the song that got any kind of juices going for me. Me and my writer wrote it together and we were actually on a hot strike right after ‘Captions’ came out. You know the plan was just like to keep working because when the fire is hot you can’t just sit there and embrace the ambience, you got to keep moving. You don’t know what’s gonna [be a] hit. So that was one of those songs that we recorded in 2019 before the pandemic came and it got vaulted. The whole song was pretty much completed without the verse. It was my girlfriend who actually said “Hey what happened to the “Sunkissed” song?” You have to have a really nonchalant approach because you still want to be humble enough to go back to the project to make it better. My original plan was to release it in the summer. In a perfect world, I would’ve released it before the pandemic. But, if you look at the timeframe, around July things were just super shut down for a minute. I thought it was a good opportunity to show versatility because I don’t have songs like that. I kind of made it that reggaeton kind of vibe and depending on the feedback that I got I was like OK maybe I can make more songs like this. That was the most fun because it got really revived and finished.
The “Take You There” song was dope. [For me] You know sometimes you’ll just have like an idea of something but when you get there it’s just not what you thought. It could be a tattoo, it can be anything like an outfit; for me that was “Take You There”. It was actually one of those songs where I sat in my home studio and I just kind of flowed through a beat. [when] I actually went to the studio and I was like it’s actually coming to fruition. Most times for me, I’ll kind of just make skeletons and make flows and whatever hits I just kind of go for it. This one once again, I had a whole hook, wrote it at the crib, so it was one of those kind of songs I actually got that came from super scratch.
So as a celebrity kid, I know you have access to resources and opportunities. Did you just want to do it on your own? I know they help you and support you 100% but did you just want to do everything on your own?
Way before I even got into the artistry part I didn’t do any chorus like that in high school because I just didn’t want to sing. So when I dug into artistry, I know I’m not a street rapper; You got to be humble from where you’re from. I knew I was from the industry and I just had to develop my style. I didn’t want to sing or ride any kind of wave but, I wanted to get organic attention. Even with “Captions”, it was organic. I had a listening party of 70 people that didn’t know me and literally had never met me, or didn’t have any bias. I just had the song(s) playing out loud and “Captions” had the most hands. That’s why I went with that song because in my opinion you don’t want it for yourself, if it doesn’t show now, it will show later.
In life, I just wanted it for myself. When you have the resources for it, that’s cool but you have to really want it for yourself. From seeing your mother on stage you see sold out crowds chanting and if you really wanna go in that direction then wouldn’t you want that for yourself too? I always thought “Man this is dope I totally will want this for myself”. You develop a lot of working relationships and your sound.
You’re doing a music video for “Take You There”, do you have any visions or ideas yet for the video coming? If you can give any hints?
Yes, I just want to keep that futuristic style similar to “Captions” because “Arson” was during the pandemic. A lot of things are factors that go into it. “Captions” I’ll use as an example, I want it to stay in that futuristic zone and dream space kind of vibe. When I was six years old I was the biggest KISS fan ever. My mom couldn’t take it she was like “Oh my God”. My dad took me to a concert and I made him stay for the whole KISS concert just to say “Are these old guys just in face painting?” he laughs. As an artist it is very important to draw the attention.
Without giving too much away, let’s just say that it involves dimensions. I had to really think thoroughly on a visual for it all. It is very important to draw the attention without giving too much away. Let’s just say it involves multi-verse like dimensions. I had to really think thoroughly, a vision for it ’cause “Take You There” that’s a very broad statement. You can go a lot directions but why don’t you just go to the most extreme direction and “Take You There” be like space. So, that is the biggest hint.
I know you said you played the drums, what or who inspired you to play the drums?
Back when I was about nine years old in my dad’s studio around downtown (Atlanta) right before 17th street. They had a British brand come in and they had guitars, bass, and a drum set. Instruments were always interesting to me. I was learning guitar at the time for like five months but they had a drum set there, and I just remember playing around on it. I end up kind of teaching myself. My dad‘s older brother, my uncle Plankton, he was the first drummer in the family and I love him very much.
As far as the inspiration, I just kind of fell in love with it. Started teaching myself how to do it in the studio and it made me want to go further into it. I asked my parents could I get a drum set, and I was playing guitar already. I was going into percussion at school and I got into the marching band. Went to ensembles trying to build my thing and I had the opportunity to go to Berkeley College of Music in Boston to try out for drums. It was literally an every day thing on drums. I still have a lot of things I want to do with drums and I’m going to be putting out drum content for Youtube. Really I want to be able to have a live band because when I see live shows, drumming always will be for me. It’s always there and I always wanted to cooperate it in my production and tracks. Now I’m in a good spot. I got an electric drum set at my house and I’m gonna be putting in contact with that for sure.
What do you have coming up next? Could you tell us a bit more about the upcoming MTV series?
It’s still in the developing process. I’m supposed to be shooting for early next year but, it’s pretty much catching up on my life and my lifestyle. For me, I grew up being in some VH1 shows and on my mom‘s TV shows. You know for me it’s like it was enough for me to commit to something. This opportunity can open up for more and give a deeper analysis into my lifestyle and beliefs. Also, people that’s from the industry trying to build new artists and I support. People hit me up on Instagram all the time and be like “Yo, you from the industry”. I never shy away from giving advice because you know where you have advantage.
What is some of the best advice you have been given? What advice could you give to any upcoming artists?
You’re going to hear more no’s than yes’s. No matter who you are it shouldn’t discourage you. It should make you hungrier. I know it’s cliché but I got to say it; you shouldn’t let money and stuff alter you. Because you have people that want to invest in you. They’re going to want to have some kind of say in something because they are putting the money in. Make smart decisions from jump because you got to get to point A to get to point B. You never want to make a decision that’s going to make you unable to move to point B. You get stuck in something but now you’re getting bigger offers and opportunities but, you can’t even take them because you didn’t make a smart decision. I have learned from both my parents and how they bounce back from terrible situations. Because you get to make money off your skills as a blessing. It all goes to a greater good.
You can be from the industry but still have to start at level one. That’s why you have to have a humble approach. When it comes from the industry they want to feel entitled they can feel entitled all they want to but the only thing you’re entitled to is knowledge that maybe someone else didn’t have access to. Have your own organic appeal. Make sure you know your worth and take your time making sure you take the right opportunity. You cannot be creative if you’re not happy.
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