Singer Songwriter Keith Milo

Singer-Songwriter Keith Milo sits down at iHeartRadio Detroit with Jay Towers. Originally from Dallas, Keith shares insights into his musical journey, spanning from his early days singing to the influences that have shaped his unique sound. Keith opens up about his experiences in Akon's studio, explores the intersection of music and fashion, and unveils the captivating narratives behind his hit singles 'Care 4 me' and 'Crazy'. Keith Milo's interview offers a genuine peek behind the curtain of a promising artist on the rise. 

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Keith Milo. How are you.I'm good. How are you welcome to
the Motor City? Thank you,thank you. I feel welcome. Let's
talk a little bit. You grewup where I'm from, Dallas originally,
and what age did you have aninterest in music? Probably like eight or
nine. I was at a rehearsaldinner for one of my dad's a military
friend's wedding or something. Yeah,and everybody's just wasted and doing karaoke.

(00:26):
And I went up there and Isang Alisha Keys and some guy paid me
like twenty dollars to golen and singit again because his wife was in the
bathroom. What Alicia Key song?Was it? Falling? It was nice.
You're like, hey, this couldbe my future. This is what
I want to do. Literally inmy thought processing. It so typically any
young person that wants to sing,they either do it or they want to

(00:47):
get a little better at it.You had some training right when I first
started. My mom was really adamanton me getting voice lessons, which I
took a fence because I'm like,well, i think I'm pretty good,
right though. I not only foundlike a voice teacher, but I went
to like a private artist development centerright, which is damn near unheard of

(01:08):
for like kids my age, especiallylike growing up in Texas. Do you
feel like she recognized that you hadthe gift to do it? Back then
they were giving, they were signingme songs like Mariah Carey and Leona Lewis,
So I'm pretty sure they could seethe potential, they could hear the

(01:30):
potential, because those are not likewomen to be played with. Do you
have to sing bleeding love? Youbetter do it right well? And I
used to have to sing while Iwas on a medicine ball, holding weights,
like doing sit ups while I'm singing. Does that work well? It's
so that your brain doesn't go offfrom the core, you know, it
like forces you to stay right thereand where your support is at. You

(01:53):
mentioned Mariah Carey, You mentioned DeliciaKeys, who were your musical influences.
I always always loved like anything Rand B like. Truthfully, when I'm
alone, probably I'm singing like Sadreally like BELTI like Alight, like Jasmine

(02:13):
Sullivan, and like I love deepsoul stuff like that. But I think
at some point in my producing journey, I just was like, I'm not
adele, I'm not going to standon stage for two hours and like,
weep, Sure I got a datethat level. Yeah, don't get me
wrong, but I got a dance. I got it this. I started
to actively make things that would allowme that space on the stage. So

(02:39):
LA is tough because you're in acity where it's tough to stand out because
everybody wants what you want. Theyeither want a music career or they want
an acting career. So how doyou stand out there? I really do
love to chop it up as theconsistent work because I know that that is
a major major part of it.Like I have not really stopped for years

(03:00):
and years and years and years andyears. You can't really call it luck
because it's like you've done the workto be prepared, but the luck comes
when the opportunity meets you. Whatled to the situation where you worked with
Acon's team? So I had afriend who was kind of like a mentor

(03:20):
of mine in fashion, and atthe time I was having like a really
like I was not feeling good.I wasn't working on music, I wasn't
feeling artistic. I was feeling likethe woes of my LA, like struggle
life, Like anywhere you move you'regoing to like work through the kinks of
that city at first, right,right, He introduced me to a friend

(03:42):
of mine name Amanda, who wasmanaging that studio and Akon at the time.
First day we kind of just talked, but I'm kind of like,
Okay, this girl knows her stuff. And when she invited me back,
I just brought all my stuff,like my mike, my interface. I
brought the stuff in the studio withme and kind of just and she let
me stay. Yeah, And Istayed until Akon got back from Senegal,

(04:06):
which was like weeks. And thenwhen he got back, he's like,
who is this And she's like,I signed a new that's our new kid.
And he's like, cool, youdidn't thry out. No, I
even played them some songs. Sofrom day one that I met him,
he was always like open to whateverenergy I was bringing to the table because

(04:28):
she brought me. You know whatI mean? Would you say that that
experience or one of those that typeof experience probably taught you more day to
day than you would have maybe pickedup on a classroom. I was a
music business and songwriting major right allthose years in college, and I learned
really important stuff. But it's nothinglike being in the room when the six

(04:49):
am call is on and people arescreaming at each other and like, I
don't know, someone doesn't have proofof funds or someone misappropriating funds, whatever,
all that back end stuff that asan artist you don't even hear about
until like the time comes or it'spast or whatever. Your team is like

(05:09):
taking care of it. You know. I was seeing it like NonStop,
day to day to day, soyou could say I almost even had like
PTSD kind of thing going on formy time being in that studio because I'm
just fearful of everything that could happen, but you certainly know what to look
out for. Yeah, yeah,yeah, I wouldn't. I don't.
I wouldn't take that time back foranything. For the song you released,

(05:30):
Crazy, which I watched the musicvideo for, which is so good.
Thank you talk a little bit aboutthat. I felt good about it always,
from the first day that I startedmaking the beat. So the song
has been written and demoed for yearsnow. You know. It's just I
wanted to get more legitimate people onmy back end, people that do what

(05:54):
they say they're gonna do right,and people that are really like tapped into
like real market and stuff like that. It was just things that I wanted
for myself that I was like,I can't just waste this song when I
feel how good it is and I'mclearly getting the reception that I want from
this song, right. No,I wait sometimes on things for things to
feel right. And finally it's certainthings like my background vocalist, the person

(06:21):
who I wanted involved with the video. But just certain things started to like
really come together within a few monthstime. But I'm like, okay,
this is it's now. It's thetime, you know, And I still
agree with that. I love thatit's it's now. Let me play,
Let me just play like you carefor me, like you care. This

(06:51):
might be the this might be yourbest stuff. I think it might be.
I think. So you can hearthat song and so many scenarios and
so many people can relate to Ithink that. Thank you so much.
Yeah, it's probably the most rawemotional song that I've recorded that's out,

(07:12):
you know so far. It's likeyou get the texture from the voice,
you get the texture from the instruments. I was reading something on the way
here, and it's like this girlthat I met in London who's from Hong
Kong. She's like editor of somemagazine and freaking some other country. She's
messaging me, She's like, I'mlistening to this all night. It's made

(07:33):
me cry. It's made me feelresolved with my own situation as a songwriter.
That is exactly what you want tohear. But I don't think when
you're writing the song that you necessarilyimagine this specific messages that you get back
from people, you know. Soyeah, I'm just really thankful. I

(07:55):
saw a viral clip of you onthe news at a Beyonce show. Yeah,
what is the Beyonce effect? Anytimesomething has happened with her name,
even like remotely in proximity to mine, it's just goes really really really crazy

(08:16):
with just the way people perceive me, my career, my potential, whatever,
whatever. There's the after effect,which is like something whatever you saw
me and on the news, Itook that fashion Week and it's like that
same outfit made Vogue, not evenjust Vogue, but it's like the cover

(08:37):
picture of streets. It says thebest street style of Paris Fashion Week.
Nice, and I was the coverphoto. So that proximity just sends it
into the stratosphere. I can't reallybe mad at it. Now, what's
next? What do you want todo next? I want to get on
the festival circuit, yeah, whichis why I started at the top of

(08:58):
the year this time with my releasesso I can keep a consistent thing.
But yeah, I wanted to getahead of the curve before spring and just
get in there do somehow because theway that it's happening online right now through
word of mouth, I can onlyimagine what live festival would do. So
that's kind of my goal, aswell as some TV stuff. I want

(09:22):
to get into my acting bag.You're in the right city for it,
Keith. It's good seeing you youtoo, man. I'm excited to hear
what you do next. And youknow you got friends in Detroit. Now.
I feel so good to be here. I'll definitely come back. I
gotta spend more time so I canlike see what you guys as food is

(09:43):
like, that's usually what I liketo do it in the city. That's
good. We like to eat.All right, good work, all right,
We'll be back one under point threew one. I see