On August 20, the Backstreet Boys, Bazzi and , the newest artist to join The Sound Drop by PEPSI performed live from the VMAs red carpet Pre-Show outside of Radio City Music Hall.
The Sound Drop was created by Pepsi to provide emerging artists with a powerful stage to promote their stories, share their art and connect directly with new and existing fans through insightful storytelling and the amplification of their music. The Sound Drop officially launched at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards with appearances by , and Jidenna, the first to become part of the platform. More recently, additional artists who have been highlighted by The Sound Drop include Max, James Arthur and Tinashe.
Pepsi invited The Knockturnal to the 2018 VMAs to interview Bryce Vine on the red carpet right before his historic performance. Check out our exclusive conversation below:
The Knockturnal: Congratulations! What has it been like to partner with Pepsi?
Bryce Vine: It’s been amazing. Pepsi is amazing at finding new artists and lifting them up on a higher level so to have been part of that is awesome.
The Knockturnal: You’re joining an impressive roster, Alessia Cara has been on the Sound Drop, what does that mean?
Bryce Vine: Yeah. Khalid, Max- who I’m going on tour with. It’s crazy, you could just name all the artists who Pepsi has really enhanced the brand and excitement over it, it’s cool.
The Knockturnal: How did you and Max link up to tour?
Bryce Vine: We met at a session actually, and we just hit it off immediately. I was like “Hey man, I love making songs!” And he was like “Yo dude I do too!”. So we just started writing together and he invited me to come on tour with him maybe like a couple months back, and now we’re going out in October.
The Knockturnal: And what was your reaction when you found out you were going to be performing here, and walk the carpet?
Bryce Vine: I was blown away. Kinda nervous but then that went away quickly. But just to be at this point, I’m very grateful.
The Knockturnal: What can fans expect from your Sound Drop episode dropping tonight?
Bryce Vine: They can expect to just know a little bit more about me as an artist and as a person and what I hope to accomplish. The kind of things that inspire me to do what I do.
The Knockturnal: Where are you from?
Bryce Vine: I was born here. I was born in New York City in my mom’s bathtub in her Upper West Side apartment. And then we all moved to Los Angeles. I’ve been doing music since I was like thirteen years old. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I taught myself how to play guitar and then I applied to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston, they gave me a scholarship and I started working on music from there even on a higher level.
The Knockturnal: Who are some musicians that you look up to or admire?
Bryce Vine: Childish Gambino for sure, I think he deserves to take home the best video for sure, no doubt about it. Gorillaz for their musicality. Frank Ocean, his lyrics are like reading a book or a poem. It’s poetry, it really is. Kid Cudi. And obviously Kanye West, he’s just an innovator, you can’t ignore him.
For more information visit http://www.thesounddrop.com and #thesounddrop to join the conversation.