Behind the Billboard: Cameron Gainley’s Partnership with Jaden Smith

Listen on Spotify here or watch on YouTube here.

Music Producer turned Creative Director Cameron Gainley describes the evolution of his 'Trippy Summer' trilogy, a strategic masterpiece that cemented his place in the music industry. But as the streams multiplied and his name grew, so did the pressure. He peels back the curtain on the not-so-glamorous side of fame: the burnout, the relentless expectations, and the realization that sometimes, stepping away is the bravest move of all.

But this episode is more than just a story of music and fame. It's about the love for film that inspired Cameron's music, the heartbreak that fueled his lyrics, and the passion for creation that never truly dies. It's a reminder to all creatives that success isn't measured by streams or followers, but by the joy that the creative process brings. Please enjoy.

Liv: Thank you so much for joining episode four. I think by the time this comes up, yeah, it's very new. But I'm so excited that people say yes to me because I just dm them and hope for the best.

Cameron: Well, that's crazy. Like, like literally, like, not even kidding. I think I was just like, on, like, Instagram explore. Maybe like three years ago or three, I don't know, three, four years ago. And I used to be like, obsessed with all the movie edits and stuff and the tv show edits, and you were the only account I ever followed, which is the, that's like the funniest thing to, like, I had no idea who you were. Nothing. That, and, like, when you dm me, I was like, wait, what? I was like, there's no way. I was like, oh, my God, that's so sick.

Liv: Wait, no way. That's crazy to me because I saw you followed me. I saw you were from the Boston area, and then I messaged you and then you were like, I'm moving. And I'm like, oh. Because I think I wanted to do, like an in-person interview.

Cameron: I would have loved to, but I'm in Orlando right now, which is really funny.

Liv: I'm trying to build a network. And then I was like, oh, Boston, and you're like, I'm moving. I was like damn.

Cameron: So sorry.

Liv: It's fine.

Cameron: Yeah, we're here.

Liv: But I wanted to go into everything. Like, how did you start? Why? When?

Cameron: How my influencer career started, when I was in 7th grade, a friend of mine, Connor Queenan, he was like my best friend in middle school. He was super into music production. And I'd always go over his house and he would always make these beats on Ableton Live, which is a digital, whatever it's called. And, we used to funny dis tracks about our friends in school. We used to make these rap songs about people we didn't like. We were bad kids, we weren't nice. But he introduced me, to production and hip-hop production, which I thought was one of the coolest things ever. And, growing up, I played piano big time. I always loved playing piano. I always loved playing guitar and like a bit of drums inside and I loved doing that. When I was young, I saw LaLa Land when it came out. I think it was like the first week when it came out. And when I heard that, that score by Justin Herwitz, I was like, I'm playing piano and I picked up a keyboard. After that, I just started playing. So Connor introduced me to Ableton. And I started fragmenting things. I wanted to learn how to make beats, and he kind of taught me a little bit. And, I just started making beat mixtapes on Soundcloud. I wouldn't even tell anybody, and I would post them to Soundcloud. I made probably seven or eight of them between the years of 2017, 2018, and just, like, one of them blew up, I made this ep called Preparation. It was like a little mixtape I did and had these three songs on it, Miles and Miles, Empty and Unavoidable. And that. It just blew up. It just started showing up on people's Soundcloud playlists, and people would add it to more playlists and it would double, triple, multiply like crazy. And the streams were just getting up there and I'm like, I can make money with this. I am not even 13 years old, and I'm doing this for free. I want to make money, make this, like, a more serious effort. Because what I was doing at the time wasn't that serious. I was kind of just having fun, which should be the number one goal of anyone's profession or career. You need to have fun. if you're doing a job and you're, like, dying, you feel like you're exploding or dying, or, like, I don't want to do this ever again, then get out now. Please change your job now.

Self-taught at 12

Liv: Did you teach yourself or did you watch tutorials online?

Cameron: A lot of the basic Ableton, how to use, how to put in drum loops, how to whatever. I had, like, a basic setup. I had my mom's laptop, I had, an amplifier cord that would make my keyboard work. That's all I had. I had no drum machines, I had no midi keyboards. I had nothing. I didn't have what most producers in a studio would have or more higher end producers. So I was really, like, working with what I had. And what I had wasn't amazing and I wasn't making money. I was 12 freaking years old. All I was thinking about was coming home from school and playing Call of Duty. I wasn't thinking about buying plugins. So when I put out preparation and that exploded, I'm like, wait a second. I can really do something with this. Let's get bigger. Let's make a studio album. Let's move to Spotify, let's move to Apple. Let's go to all the platforms. So I did a, record called American Standard. And that was my. This, is really funny. It's named after a toilet, really. And I went to the bathroom one day and I saw it said American Standard on the urinal, and I'm like, that's the title. That's the title of the album.

Liv: That's a good title. I don't know why they would use that for a urinal.

Cameron: Yeah, it's like a brand of appliances or whatever. I was like, my freshman year, high school is when I put out American Standard.

Liv: Did people you went to school with know that you were doing stuff like this?

Cameron: For half of it, I was like, the most uncool kid. And then the other half, I was the cool kid. Because in the beginning, people were like, this is so stupid. Like, you're making music on Soundcloud. Like you're doing dumb beats. No one cares about it. I mean, at that time, it was kind of a joke about what I was doing. What I was doing wasn't serious yet. And then I put American Standard out, and then it got serious. People are like, oh, he's actually, like, a legitimate producer. He's 14 years old, and he's like, he's getting, like, 500,000 streams a month. Like, what's going on? This is insane. Yes. So when I put out American Standard about three months before that, I moved Preparation to Spotify, and the streams got bigger and bigger and bigger. People always told me that the reason why they think my music got so big and was so, out there is because this is kind of, like, related to what you do. I was a big fan of using fragments, and scenes, from movies in my music. I wanted to tell a story always in any of my projects, even my beat mixtapes. I had a huge love for film when I was young, and I still do to this day. I would watch my favorite movies, and if there was something that was related to what I was making, whether it was like a sad song, happy song, I'd find, like, a fragment of a movie, take that clip out with that dialogue, and I'd put it in the song. And I did that on almost every single track when I first started out, and people dug that like crazy. My first song that ever blew up, Miles and Miles. I had a sample of Back To The Future, and everyone told me, you need to expand. You need to make music that involves people. You should write songs. Like, you should write lyrics. And I was really insecure about it. I was like, I don't want to do that. I don't want to write lyrics about girls in my school. I'm, like, not even 15 years old yet. I don't even know what love is. Like, I had one girlfriend. And I just started writing lyrics for pop songs. And I put out a record called Trippy Summer. And that was my first album, my first real album with features, with people on it, with rappers, with singers, with my writing.

I wrote, like, four out of the ten songs on there that came out actually three months after American Standard I mean, it blew up again. It did really well. I would go on Soundcloud and I would go on recommended tracks, and I would message people and say, do you want to make music with me? And they'd be like, yeah, I dig your stuff. I was making too much for, like, a 15-year-old. It was bad. It got really bad. I remember I had this idea in my mind. I wanted to keep it going. I was like, I'm going to do like a trilogy, like a movie. All my friends used to make fun of me. They were like, oh, it has the same initials as Toy Story. You're like, oh, my God, like, ts one, ts two. I'm like, yeah, I know. I wanted to do, like, a trilogy over, like, a span of a three year span. So I was like, all right, I'm going to keep the vibe going. I'm going to keep the pop, the rainbow, like, the big trippy vibe going. And the next year, the second album is where things got really big.

Jaden Smith and New Balance collaborated on a Trippy Summer collection

I got reached, out by this guy named Harry Hudson, who was, a pretty established singer that, ah, assigned a Rock Nation. And he worked with Jaden Smith, who everyone knows, obviously, his dad and his sister, his whole family, big family, big famous family. And they had this company called Msfts rep. They wanted to trademark the word, Trippy Summer. And they reached out to me because I had the biggest Trippy, Summer thing in the world. At that point, nobody was really using the words Trippy Summer, and he wanted to trademark it because he was planning on making merch that had Trippy Summer for his company. So they reached out to me and they were like, oh, wait, you're like an artist/producer. Instead of us literally trademarking your album, would you want to work with us? And I was like, in high school, I loved Jaden Smith.

Liv: What was it, his album that came out?

Cameron: When he put out Syre.

Liv: Syre. That was a big deal.

Cameron: That was a big deal. That was like, right after. Around when I put out, Trippy Summer. So we became friends after that, me and Jaden. So he's something. He's a visionary. He's always thinking about the next step, we had FaceTime calls about music, about clothing, because his big thing was clothing. He had his Msfts rep club line, and he wanted to do a Trippy Summer collection. So I helped out with that. I got to be a part of the creative directors of the Trippy Summer collection, which came out in the summer of 2020. And when it dropped, I put out my second studio album, Trippy Summer Two. So it was perfect. I just turned 16. I was in New York, and I had my first billboard in Times Square, which was insane, but it was even more insane because it was Covid. So, there was no one there. It was just me. And Times Square was empty. It was peak Covid. It was Summer of 2020. There was no one on the streets. Nothing.

Liv: That must have felt so unreal.

Cameron: That same day that I had the billboard was one of the biggest days of my life. Not because of, Msfts. It's actually because of, New Balance, which is, where I am now. But, I think what's really crazy is so Jaden Smith did a collaboration with New Balance, and he put out a shoe called the Vision Racer. And it was, like, this big platform blue shoe.

New Balance Vision Racers

I always liked New Balance growing up. I mean, they're a Boston company. I wore them my whole life. I always wore New Balance. We actually got hooked up. All of us got hooked up with the shoes. And I got in touch, with a couple guys from corporate that asked me if I wanted to wear test. And what that was like is they would send me shoes, I would review them, and I would get to keep them. So I was like, okay, I was 16 doing this. I wasn't really ready for the big picture yet, but I was like, okay, I can review shoes. This is like schoolwork for me. And it's free shoes. Who wouldn't want to get free shoes? It's the coolest thing ever. So they would send me samples of shoes, and then I'd wear them around the house and wear them outside, and I would write, like, a review, and then I get to keep them. I did that for two years, while still making music. And it was so much fun. In 2020, I had my first real paycheck of, like, $4,000. I just spent six months just, like, making beats for fun. And someone hands you six grand, and you're like, what? This feels wrong. It felt wrong to the point where I spent all of it. I didn't know what I was doing. I was 16 going on 17, and I wanted to have fun. I used that for crazy concert money. I bought computers, I bought game consoles. It was all leisure. It was, like, literally complete leisure. I helped myself out so much, I even bought tickets. I went to the freaking Reputation Tour. That was, like, my first paycheck before even the five grand. I got, like, a one grand paycheck, and I bought freaking Taylor Swift tickets for that. For me and my mom when I was a kid.

What was your favorite person to see live in concert? 

Liv: What was, like, your favorite person to see live in concert? Who would you say?

Cameron: I grew up a huge Coldplay fan. Massive Coldplay fan. They put on the greatest concerts I think I've ever seen in my life. I've seen them five times now. Every time I've seen them, they just get better and better. as of late, The 1975. They're amazing live. I love them. I've seen them, three times. They're amazing live.

Liv: So, obviously, you blew your money, but at the end of the day, you were getting these experiences that you probably wouldn't trade for the world because.

Cameron: 100%.

Liv: So you can't even really regret that, because you got experiences that most people don't. I mean, a lot of people don't have. Never go to a concert in their whole life. That's obviously worth it in my book.

Cameron: I think because of all the money I spent. I've been to over, like, 40, 50 concerts now. It's live music. I love live music. I don't care how bad the band is. At least I was there. Yeah, I've been to a fair share of bad shows, and they're not that forgetful. I actually remember the bad shows. I put out my third record, the end of a trilogy, Trippy Summer Three.

So I pretty much wrote every song on that record. That was the first, album that I really put my all into. It took me a year to make, and I wanted to make it theatrical as possible. And I put, like, a story. It was my sophomore year of high school, and I was a kid that thought he was in love. He wasn't, trust me. But, I was a kid. I had feelings for a girl, and then girl didn't like me, and, I was upset about it. And I made a record about it, and I made Trippy number three, all about her, which is so messed up with me, but I doubt she cares nowadays. I doubt she even knows it's about her, which is really funny. But let's say her name is Margaret. I won't say her real name because I want. Yeah, okay. Margaret had no idea about this. Like, the months of me making the record, she had no idea I was making an album. She had no idea that I was writing about her every single day. She only knew that I wrote runs. Like, there's this one song I wrote that actually ended up being unreleased. I didn't end up putting on the record because it made the effect that the fact that she knew about it, that it was about her. I was like, I am not putting this on the record because she's going to know the whole album is about her. So all the other songs I wrote, there was a couple of rap songs on the record that had nothing to do with it. But all the pop songs were all written by me, and they were all about her. And, about, like, a breakup in high school and very coming of age record kind of concept album that was doing. And I put her voicemails on the record. So, if she ever listened to it. I'm sorry. tracks seven to 14 all have her voice in it some way. The first six tracks on Trippy Summer three are all about a downfall. It's a climax going straight to the falling action into a resolution. This was, like, a long distance thing. She was from a different state. And I think one of the most ironic and crazy things that's ever happened to me is that I was in Boston in November, and it was like I was having coffee, and I walk out of The Pavement, and I'm walking, towards where Fenway is to go to Guitar Center, and I see this girl, and she walks by me and looked and triple takes. She goes, m m mind m you. This is the first time I'm ever even meeting this girl.

Liv: Wait, so you had a long distance relationship the whole time? Like, you never met in person ever?

Cameron: [Shakes head no] And she looks at me, looks at me again, looks at me again. We both don't say anything, and we just walk away. That's like, I call my mom. I'm like, Mom, I just saw Margaret. She's like, there's no way. I'm like, mom. She goes to Berkeley. I think because I had no contact with this girl at all by this point. This was years later. I saw this girl, like, a couple months ago. And this is, like, years past from the music.

Liv: Yeah.

Cameron: And I knew it was her. I immediately knew. I know her face, it was fragmented in my brain, and I saw it, and I was like, holy shit, that's actually her.

Liv: That's crazy. The universe is so crazy sometimes because the ods of that happening is, like, unreal.

Cameron: Yeah. So I saw her. I didn't say anything about it and I just moved on.

Liv: You didn't say anything?

Cameron: Kind of regret not saying anything? I kind of regret, but it's okay. We all move on.

Liv: That is like, straight out of a movie.

Cameron: I know a lot of my life is straight out of a movie, really. Sometimes. I put out the last record, Trippy number 3. I wanted to go on hiatus really bad because I wanted to come back with something that was super dark. I had a lot of planned, ah, projects in my head. A friend of mine, Austin Skies, who I wanted to do a collab record with, that never happened. My friend Wayne. Wayne the uno, I wanted to do a record with him.

The stress got so high when it came to music

Never did it, never did a collab. We were supposed to do a collab album together. Didn't end up doing that. I wanted to put out a solo record the year after that called Anhedonia, which was like a super dark, edgy, experimental record that was going to be the complete opposite of what I was doing for last 3 years. And I wanted to be dark, I wanted to be edgy. I wanted to be like, people are going to be mixed about it. I wanted to make an art gallery of all the art from this record. I wanted to trap myself in a room for 24 hours in an art gallery with this record playing on repeat. This was my mindset in my junior year of high school. I was like, I want to do the craziest shit possible. And the stress got so high when it came to music. When you're 16 years old and you're like 16/17 years old, and you have guys that are like almost double your age, 30 year olds, even 40 year olds, that are constantly calling you about making beats, about writing records, writing, like publishing deals, writing deals. And it's always about money, it's always about royalties, it's always about percentages. It gets stressful. There were nights when I had to be up from three to four in the morning and I had to make music, and I had school at 6:30. I was going for a D3 scholarship for lacrosse in high school, and I had to quit because of music. It was a business and I was taking it very seriously because my life was so.

Liv: You were getting opportunities that people don't normally get. So of course you're going to try and take every advantage you can and not let them down.

Cameron: The second record had 6 million streams, and that was like a big freaking deal to me. And no promo, no, playlist pushing, nothing. I just did what I could do and it happened and I got lucky. And people, always ask me for advice on that. They're like, how do I get big? How do I push myself out there? And I'm like, there is no right way. At least when I was doing it. Nowadays it's TikTok. When I was doing it, TikTok isn't like how it was, how it is now. Now TikTok is how you get popular, how you go viral. When I was doing it, TikTok wasn't like that when I started. It was before Charlie D'Amelio. It was before Addison Rae, before all these dancers, all these TikTok dancers were even viral. I was starting when baby Ariel was still Musica.ly, when I started making music, Musically was still around. So it was a different time.

Liv: Yeah.

Why do you think people resonate with your music?

Liv: What do you think it was about your music at that time or just in general? Why do you think people resonate and love it?

Cameron: Well, I always said is people love film the way I do, and people resonated with me using their favorite movies. People would make movie edits on Instagram, like how you do, and they'd put my song in it because it had that movie in the song. So people would do that all the time, and that's kind of how I got big. People would make edits, and that's how I got big, kind of, in a way. People would make edits, and, people would like, oh, what's that song in that video? And I'm like, a lot of anime edits, which I don't really know a lot about, which is really funny. people would message me all the time, say, like, oh, my God, I heard your song today on TikTok. I heard your song today on Instagram. And I'm like, oh, sick. That's so cool. A lot of my music just came from my love for young romance, hopeless romantic ideas in not even just film, but, like, in my life. I don't think that I would have made certain records the way I did if it wasn't for relationships I was in or crushes I had in high school or people that I thought were cute. Yeah.

Liv: Pulling from a real place, people can see that or hear that or feel it.

Cameron: A lot of heartbreak, a lot of, growth. And even when you're 16/17 years old, you don't really know what you're doing. But music was always the escape from it. So I think without that, I don't think the music would ever come to fruition the way it did. So what happened was, when I was planning on doing Anedonia, and I was planning on doing all these records. I kind of just quit without really telling anybody. What really happened was I was doing a couple records that was planned for the next album. I made a couple dark, songs with a couple friends. I was really going for like, an edgy style. And I finished a lot of songs, but I wasn't really satisfied. And I was really stressed about my past when it came to, people always calling me in the morning about music. Like three in the morning, two in the morning, whatever. I hated being. My biggest thing is I was kind of being used in a way. When you're so young and you feel like you're just on like, a string and you're being pulled every single moment, I hated that. And it drove me to exhaustion and stress and I almost got depressed because of it. I didn't want to do it anymore and I silently quit in a way I never told anybody. I never went on Instagram, I never went on Snapchat, twitter, nothing. I never went out and said, I'm done. I don't want to make music anymore. I kind of just stopped. 2021 was the last record. Trippy Summer 3 was the last record. July 23 of 2021. It's been almost 3 years and I have not put out a song. I haven't put out record nothing. I recently just took everything down, which is crazy.

Liv: Yeah. I was trying to find you and I could, but barely. I had to scrape the internet.

Cameron: Finding Cameron Gainley is a big search now. Soundcloud's still out there. YouTube's still out there, kind of.

Liv: But was it just like an anxiety thing like, you just didn't want it out there at all so you were just like, nope.

Cameron: My past, like, because a lot of people know me for Trippy Summer. A lot of people know me for American Standard, for Preparation, they don't know who I am. They don't know corporate Cam. They don't know corporate Cam yet. And I don't like that. And it fucked me up. And I was like, I'm done. I took everything down. and yeah, I am losing out on some money, but I might put up a greatest hits record and put all the high stream songs just to make a passive income on the side.

Liv: Do it! The people want it. I want it. Do it for me.

Cameron: I've thought about it. I've thought about it. In the next couple of months, I might just put it out and put out like, a 15th track record with all the biggest stream songs on it.

Liv: Yeah. Think about the impact. Like, just think about the amount of people that have come together over your stuff. Even if it was a couple of years ago, you were able to bring so many people together over just music that you were just so passionate about. You weren't doing it to go viral, you weren't doing it to get fans. You were doing it because you genuinely loved it. And because of that, so many people resonated with it.

Cameron: I was having a ball. And especially when I did the first two records, I had the most fun I ever had in my life. It was so cool. When the songs were finished, I was like, I made this. This is not me. This is not, No, that's impossible. You didn't make this. A ghost made this.

Liv: You get, like, imposter syndrome. You feel like it wasn't even you. Because when you are creative and you're in that headspace, it almost feels like something takes over your body and it's like you're able to just churn it out. And then when you're out of that headspace, you're like, who was that?

Cameron: I miss it sometimes. People always ask me, am I going back to it? Probably not. But there are some days when I do miss writing. I still play music all the time. I still play my instruments every single day. that hasn't changed at all. I still love playing live. I still love performing for friends and stuff. I still. Once in a while, I'll be at a party and someone's like, oh, he's the artist guy. He made music, and they'll pull out a guitar, they'll be like, play one of your songs. And I'm like, all right. I wrote this in 8th grade about some stupid girl, and it's like, oh, my God. Shout out to the fact that if there was no romance, there's no records. That's what I always say to people. If there was no romance and there was no love, there'd be no records.

Liv: That's very true.

Cameron: But I quit. I quit and I moved on. Yeah, it's sad. Ah, it's pretty bittersweet. But I had to move on. I had to move on from this young Cameron that was twelve years old when he started.

Liv: So young.

Cameron: I was eight years ago I started and I had to get out. I did. And I don't regret it. I don't regret at all. I don't regret not making more music, because I think if I made more music, I think I would have really messed, burnt out. Every time you make a new album. You think it's the best piece you've ever made? It's the best record you've made. I wouldn't put out an album I didn't think was good. And when I was working on the last songs before I quit, I hated them. I didn't like the direction. And what I loved is that, the fact that I had a blueprint that I set up in 2019 to put up 3 records as a trilogy in a row. I had a blueprint because they were all connected in some way, and all the vibe was the same. And when I finished that, I didn't know where to go. I had no ideas. I'm being honest with you. And then I had the dark idea.

Liv: Or maybe you had too many ideas.

Cameron: It really fucked me in the head, and I didn't really know what to do, and I quit.

Liv: Very similar situation. I mean, not so similar because we're doing different creative things, but feeling like, your passion turns into a job because you're doing it all the time and you want to one up everything you've done prior. And then eventually, for me, I definitely got to the point where every single edit I hated and they weren't doing well, and I was like, I don't even like it. They don't even like it. What's the point? And then that's when I decided to do this podcast, because I was like, I think people, can relate to this, and I think people want to hear other people talk about it. And I think that's why I started this. And since I've started it, my edits, like, my editing has come back to me almost like, a flower that died and then was brought back to life. I don't know how to explain it.

Cameron: But I'm currently in Disney for about four months, I'll be here and just working remote with New Balance, which is great. Coolest job in the world, best company in the world. I love them so much. and it kind of drove me away. Being corporate cam kind of drove me away from the music, in the entertainment world, even though I still work with a lot of entertainment people. I'm very close with an EDM festival called breakaway. These two guys, Adam Lynn, Zach Rubin, they own, these two big companies, Breakaway Music Festival and Prime Social Group. Prime Social Group is a huge management, label for artists and EDM. And then Breakaway is a traveling EDM festival that goes to different cities around America every year. And they came to Boston in September, and that's how we met, they came to New Balance, actually, and they wanted us to sponsor them in a way. And we helped out. And I was, the head of the project and I met everybody and we've been so close ever since.

Cameron Gainley and Adam Lynn, photographed by @natebcreates

It's been one of the coolest opportunities of my life. So shout out to Breakaway. Shout out to Breakaway festival. If anyone likes EDM music, they're the number one EDM festival out there. They're great. Even though it's so funny, when I went, I didn't know anybody because I don't really listen to EDM music. But it was a cool vibe. It was fun. I had a great time. And they're so unreal people. People are just like, in that genre of music, people are like, they're so creative. They're so creative and people are always expanding on them from what they're making. People are always trying to make a new sound in EDM. And I appreciate that. Even though I don't really listen to it, I listen to complete opposite. I like sad music. That's why I made so much sad. I made a lot of sad music when I was running. I love, sad music.

What is a creative director like? 

Liv: What is a creative director like? What is that job?

Cameron: It's all about when I was doing it originally, when I was 16/17, working directing for a clothing line. It's all about what are customers going to do. If they're going to see, a simple picture of a t-shirt that has rainbows on it and it says Trippy Summer, why are they buying? Okay, like, what is the main focus? Is it because Jaden Smith is tagged along with it? Is it because they like the art? Is it because they like the color? And what it was all about? It was all about creating clothing that involved recycled material and involved the least co2 carbon emissions that we could use. So that was the goal of that line. It was the, Trippy Summer, Summer 2020 line. And that was the biggest thing about that line, is that we tried to make it as cheap as possible and as, carbon, efficient as possible, and it worked really well. And we took these different products together and it was one of the coolest projects I ever worked on. And being a part of it, it's just unreal. And, I think what upsets me is, a year later, they did the same thing again. There was like, a v two. I didn't work on that project, but prices jacked up three times. T-shirts went from $35 to 90 to 100 because he was marketing it as a designer brand, which it really isn't. They went from making, they would use carbon cotton, t shirts that were, like, really, recycled material, like carbon emission shirts, and went from that to using Gildan. And the Gildan was shown as a luxury brand. And I'm like, you're making these t shirts for $3 apiece, and you're selling them for almost $100. I don't want to be a part of this. And what we did the first year we did it, we did the opposite. We were downcharging shirts that people could afford. It sold really well. People bought our stuff. People bought the whole collection. It sold out. It literally sold out in, like, a week. And people loved it. People loved the rainbows and the blue skies. Also, working as a creative director, we had to make storyboards of each piece, and what things were based on. We based a lot about the endless summer in the 60s. Woodstock was a big base. Sergeant Pepper's magical mystery, magical mystery tour was the biggest one because Jaden got a bus and he painted all over it, and it looked like the van from Magical Mystery Tour. But The Beatles, that was a big thing. That was one of the coolest experiences of my life. And the direction that it went in was awesome, and I wish they kept it that way, which sucks.

Liv: But that seems like a really interesting job, because you just pull how to market it through popular media and shows kind of, and then you're doing a modern twist on it.

Cameron: That's what I do with shoes now. So that's what I do with shoes now. What I was doing when I was 16 with film, and tv into t-shirts, is what I'm doing now with shoes.

Liv: I mean, I obviously had a good idea of what you did, but not like this.

Cameron: Like I never really did interviews. I was kind of a ghost. I didn't like to tell people about what I did. This is kind of my second or third time doing this ever, because I never liked to talk about what I did because I was very secretive, and I wanted to keep it original and me, and I didn't want people to know the process. But I'm older now, and it doesn't really matter anymore. I was 16 when I was at my peak of music, so it doesn't matter anymore about keeping a secret. There's no secrets anymore.

Liv: Yeah. And I think just growing up, you want to talk about it, whereas maybe then you didn't even know how to.

Cameron: Put it into words. Oh, I had no words back then. I was just like, yeah, stream it. Play it everywhere. Play it everywhere back, then I see the Palo Alto poster. I love that movie. So underrated. So underrated. No one ever talked about it. I love that movie. I love Emma Roberts. She was like one of my crushes in middle school. I was like, obsessed with her in middle school. Oh, my God, the book, yo.

Oh, my God. I love James Franco's brand. Paly Hollywood. It's so tight. James Franco's brand, Paly Hollywood is super sick. I love his brand. He works a lot with, Jacob Elordi. I know he wears a lot of his stuff.

Liv: Wait, who?

Cameron: James Franco, like the guy that wrote the book. He has a company called Paly Hollywood. It's like a, like, street brand.

Liv: That's his company!?

Cameron: You didn't know that?

Liv: No!

Cameron: Paly Hollywood. Like Jacob Elordi always wears. He wears like the, James Dean death cult hat all the time. He wears the hoodies. And that's James Franco’s company.

DEATH CULT HAT

Liv: Whoa. That is really cool.

Do not sign a record deal. It's going to ruin your life

Cameron: I love my fair share of pop culture. I want to add more and more to the resume until I feel like I'm satisfied. I don't feel like I'm satisfied yet. Everything I've done is independent. I never signed to a label. I never signed a publishing deal. I was independent for six years. I never wanted to sign to someone because I wanted to do everything on my own.

Liv: Yeah. Would you recommend that to, like, a rising artist? Somebody 12  years old learning in their bedroom?

Cameron: Do not sign a record deal. Do not sign one. I can promise you, it's going to fuck you over. It's going to ruin your life. And if you're not like a one of one, if you're not like Justin Bieber, then, it's not worth it. Especially a producer. When you're a producer, do not sign a record deal because they can't market you for your singing because you don't know, right. They're going to make you write for other artists that maybe you don't even want to write for. So don't sign a record deal. Stay independent, and if you want to sign a record deal, start your own label, do your own thing. Don't let someone else say go. Like, if Capital Records gives you $100,000 bonus and says, we're going to do like a 3 album deal, don't be greedy. You know what? Don't say, oh, my God, $100,000. I'm never going to see that number ever again in my life. Well, guess what? They're going to take it off from you. Anyways, they're going to give you $100,000, and then your albums are going to flop, and then three years later, they're going to say, pay it back. So all those bonuses, they're all loans. They don't have bonuses, they're just loans. So. I never believed in a world where I signed with someone. No way. I wanted to be all Cameron Gailey, LlC. That's all it was. So we had my, buddy Connor. We had, an independent label, just me and him. It was called cc Records, Connor Cam Records. It was like a thing we did in, like, 6th grade, and we kept that name.

Liv: Do you still talk to him? Are you friends?

Cameron: Not as much. Not as much. Shout out to Connor, though. It's my boy. But it's been a while. We talk once in a while. He doesn't really do the music thing anymore either. We've both grown. It was like a hobby for him. It was a hobby for me. It was a job. but he was much better at, ah, which is really funny. He was way better at it than I was. I just got lucky.

passion and timing, rise of Soundcloud

Liv: Yeah, I think at that time you said, like, 2018, I feel like that's when Soundcloud was peak for me.

Cameron: Yeah, that's when people like, lil Peep was still alive, and he was probably the biggest artist on Soundcloud. what's that guy's name? Rapper, XXX, whatever his name is. He was wicked popular on there. Trippy Red was a big guy on there. All these rappers were huge. And Soundcloud was, like, added. People were still consistently uploading songs to Soundcloud. people don't do that anymore. Soundcloud's still a thing.

Liv: Passion and timing, I think, is the key for most people's success.

Cameron: Definitely.

What do you do when you're bored

Liv: Final question, my favorite question. This podcast is called Bored.FM, Instagram, Boredxm, because I love the concept of boredom and just in general, I mean, that's why I've ever done anything creative is to navigate boredom. So what do you do in times when you're really bored? You have no creative ideas. How do you get out of that?

Cameron: I go to the movies. That's what I always do. AMC a list is my best friend. I go to the movies. I don't care how bad the movie is. I don't care how good it is. I always find a way to inspire myself. And I saw, like, 50 different 2023 movies that came out last year, and so many of them inspired me. There was so many great films in 2023. There was, tons Oppenheimer. Poor things. Barbie was amazing. Iron Claw was amazing. even Maestro kind of got me in a way. There were so many great movies that came out last year, and every single time I went and saw a movie was usually on a day when I was bored out of my mind. And movie got me high-spirited. I don't care how bad it was. Certain movies put a smile on my face when I left. Like, I remember when I saw Saltburn for the first time. I had the biggest smile on my face, even though it was the darkest shit I've ever seen in my life. I bought this v-neck because of Jacob Elordi. I literally bought this because of him. He wore this in Saltburn he wore at Oxford. He literally wore this v-neck.

Saltburn (2023)

I love just going to the movies, and it is the most relaxing thing. Going alone is my favorite thing to do. I don't even like going to the movies with someone. I like just going know, getting a popcorn and a pib and buncha crunch and putting all the bunch crunch the popcorn. I shake it up. I grew up with a mindset, big time, of always having somebody with me.

Liv: Yeah, me too.

Cameron: And even as an only child, I always wanted someone with me. Like, when I was in high school, it was always like, I always wanted a girlfriend. I always wanted a girlfriend to go to the movies with. I always wanted a girlfriend to go here and this and this. The mall, this and that place with game yada yada, Now I'm okay with being alone. It's okay. You really have to just come to fruition with it. You only have to learn to be alone, and it's kind of fun sometimes. People always think, oh, I have anxiety because I can't go alone. In the movies, once you break out of it, it's the best feeling in the world.

Liv: Yeah, I had really bad anxiety for a while, for most of my life, honestly. And then I don't know what it was a couple of years ago, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to start doing things by myself. Really does help you find yourself and who you actually are because you're alone with your thoughts. And then, I don't know, you can just figure yourself out more than you could if you were constantly around people. that's all my questions, but I had a really good, fun time talking to you. This went by so fast. Oh, my God.

Cameron: I appreciate it. Me too. I haven't done something like this in a very long time. I haven't done an interview about my music since I was probably 17 years old, so this is kind of a big deal for me. yeah, it's a good time. I love talking about my music career. It's something I cherish and I'm always going to cherish forever.

Liv: Yeah, it's like a little alter ego inside of you.

Cameron: It's literally nothing I do now. I could just go to a bar and play a freaking piano and be like, what the fuck is this guy doing? What the hell? Where did this come from? He's not the music guy. He's the corporate cam. Where is this coming from?

Liv: And you can always have creative stuff on the side. And I think, honestly, creativity, it's better when it's not monetized.

Cameron: I mean, that's exactly what I believe in. I don't believe in people just doing shit for money. Only for the money. Not for the happiness, only for the money. And for the fame. Like, no, come on. That was not my mindset at all. When I was working, it was all about being happy and having fun. I didn't think about money once, and when I got the money, it was leisure. It wasn't important to me. Sometimes I look back and I'm like, wish I saved it. But no. I was 16. There was nothing I was going to do with it. By the time I would have had the money now, it would have been gone anyway. So I don't take the music career for nothing, because it shapes who I am today.

Liv: Yeah. And then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Cameron: Exactly. I wouldn't be doing music. I probably wouldn't even be here.

If not for music, I think I'd be a jock

I think I'd be at college, probably on a D3 lacrosse scholarship, I bet you. And being a fucking jock. But thank you so much time. I'm happy I got to share my story with you.

Liv: Yeah, thank you so much.

This episode is a candid exploration of the pressures young artists face, the intoxicating rush of early success, and the courage it takes to step back and chart a new course. Listen to Cameron's reflections on fame, creativity, and finding his true calling beyond the beats on Spotify here or watch on YouTube here.