Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Warren Zeiders | His Fast-Track to Fame: From Tiktok to the Twister Movie Soundtrack!

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

#826. Kaitlyn sits down with viral country sensation Warren Zeiders, who went from recording covers in his childhood bedroom to headlining the Houston Rodeo and landing a song on the Twister movie soundtrack. Warren opens up about his journey from pivoting from lacrosse star to breakout artist, the unexpected TikTok video that changed his life, and how Instagram Reels helped him build a loyal fanbase. They also chat about writing his first hit on only his second day in Nashville, why he hasn’t had a sip of beer in over 2 years, and how 50 bras once ended up on stage. Plus, Kaitlyn pitches a wild idea—should Warren date Kelly Clarkson? Tune in for a fun and unfiltered convo with one of country music’s fastest-rising stars! If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE! Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals! Covergirl: Superboost your lashes with NEW Lash Blast Supercloud Mascara from COVERGIRL! Clump-free, smudge-free, and lasts up to 24 hours—perfect for any look! Only from Easy, Breezy, Beautiful COVERGIRL. Apartments.com: The place to find a pet friendly place! Audible: Go to Audible.com/Chrissypodcast or wherever you get your podcasts and start listening today. Cook Unity: Go to cookunity.com/VINE for 50% off your first week. Thanks to Cook Unity for supporting the show! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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And Progressive, visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. You're listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow. Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. Today we have country music artist Warren Zeders on the podcast. Honestly, one of the most followed country music singers I've seen out there. And he has a story as to why. He doesn't take his shirt off.

I'm sorry, but maybe at the end he does. So tune in. Hi. I'm finally taking a deep breath. I'm like, hi. You're at the front door. Your crew is already here. And I'm just in the kitchen.

sweating making a beef short rib. And I'm like, why did I start this? But I remembered why I started it is because I have friends that are staying here right now. And I always brag about how I'm a good cook. And then I like haven't been cooking for them. And they're like, we should do like a homemade pasta night tomorrow. And I was like, oh, I make a great beef short rib, yokey, blah, blah, and so then I panicked. I was like, oh, shit, I got to make that tonight because they leave tomorrow. And so I started, I got all the groceries and the groceries were late getting to, why am I explaining myself? I'm cooking a beef short. when I smell like it. I'm sorry. No, you're great. Okay. Here's my question. You're working. So what are the

friends doing? Are the friends working right now? Yeah, why are they cook at the beach? That's what I'm wondering. She, I just, I was like, when that starts boiling, put it on simmer, I'll see you two hours. There you go. But I don't, do you make your guests cook at your house? It depends how close you are to them. Like, if I had my best friend in town and I had stuff going on, I'd be like, homie, help yourself. That's true. Like, you got it. Well, if you don't mind, if you want to go down and just finish it, I'll prep on this right now. I'm just kidding. So, wait, where did you grow up? Hershey, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania.

Okay. And you were into lacrosse? 12 years. For 12 years, you did that. And like, is it kind of like if you're an athlete in any other sport, like you eat, sleep, breathe this sport? Like you were super into lacrosse. Yeah.

I mean, definitely in today's generation very much so. Yeah. I feel like the days of when you were a kid and you kind of experiment with a bunch of different sports and, oh, I play these many sports. Now my generation here now on, I believe that you find a sport that you find a sport that you you love and you're committed to it. Uh-huh. But what happened?

Did you get an injury or did you decide to quit? Well, play for 12 years. Yeah, that's a good career. Yeah. And you just were like, you know what? I think music is my blood now. No, not even. I got to college and that was my hope and dream to go play in college because I was

number one told that it's a great thing to have on your resume when it comes to looking for a job. Yeah. And I love the team camaraderie and what it instilled in you. Yeah. With 4 a.m. wake-up calls, two lifts a day, two lifts a day, two practices, film room, all that stuff. And like teamwork. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. And teamwork. I always say that because I feel like I grew up dancing my whole life. And there's

so many similarities because my dad coached hockey. And I'm Canadian. So that's making sense. And so I feel like there was a lot of similarities between athletes and dancers growing up. And it was kind of the same thing. Like I loved being in the room with the girls and hanging out. And I loved the road trips to do dance competitions on the week. weekends and all our parents would drive us. And it was just, I don't know, I just, is that similar? Does that sound similar? I think that the athletic background, whichever way you look at it, whether it's dancing, whether it's hockey, whether it's lacrosse, that mindset and that camaraderie or same thing for me when it came to lacrosse, you're going over the summer, you're playing

tournaments, you're doing showcases, you're meeting with colleges and stuff and you're missing out on vacations, but you're with your friends that are also playing the sport. That's true. And I was actually going to play hockey. That's the story. I was been between hockey or lacrosse for me. Oh, funny. Oh, yeah, because Pennsylvania, they're in to hockey there, aren't they? Yeah.

Well, I feel it's maybe more than like Los Angeles. Yeah, I mean, you got the flyers, you got Pittsburgh. I grew up, uh, hopefully your friend's doing okay with. I think she laughed, actually. I hope the short ribs turned out okay. Me too. If they don't, it's her fault anyways. There you go.

They can't blame it on you. You're still a good cook in my book. Yeah, I did all the prep for you. All you had to do is watch a simmer. Sorry. No, you're good. Okay, so what, you did it for 12 years. At what point were you like, I'm moving to Nashville and being a country artist.

Okay, so there's a window there. Yes. For me, I got to college to play. Little did I know that I'd be the first day on the field at practice that I would get laid out, snap my neck back off the ground, blackout, start seizing. No. They called an ambulance for me. Woke up, came to, and I decided to go back to practice those next couple days, and I was whacked out of my mind. And I was like, okay, I definitely have a concussion.

Oh, shoot. So at that stage of the game, that was my sixth at that time period. And the good news is that not all the concussions were serious. Some of them were minor and stuff. But that one was definitely a major concussion. I was out for about six months. Wow. So lo and behold, I come back.

I have another one. No. Yeah. Oh, are you okay? They're good. Thanks for asking. Yeah, I'm like worried about your brain, but then you write music. So I'm like, you're okay.

Good Lord's watching over me. I'm good. Oh, my gosh. I say that that was the good Lord's come to Jesus moment for me when I had that last one. And it was a tough pill to swallow to give up something that I had committed myself to for 12 years in my life, almost half my life. And, you know, you do something for so long, you kind of grow in an identity to it. And it becomes a part of you.

So that was a tough space for me to go through. You fast forward. I transfer schools and COVID hits. Wait, don't fast forward yet. Okay, okay. What was your mental state from that to when COVID hit? you made a decision like what were you doing how were you doing i'll be honest with those concussions you know i don't mind talking about it but like i went into a depression yeah like when you have

such a serious concussion like that i was like for example right now we're in a room with bright lights like it was i couldn't do any of that i was missing classes i missed files that'll put anyone into depression yeah that's like what that is because you probably like didn't want to even get out of bed yeah i was like couldn't even like look at my phone i was like confined to a dark room. Yeah. I even missed my finals my first semester just with everything going on and had to come back early this spring semester and take them before classes started. So I went through that and you know, although it sucked at that time period, it was something that I kind of, I don't want to say I'm glad I went through, but I think I needed to go through it. And I think it, you know, I'm a firm

believer in motivation and I think it calloused my mind to build me into a better version of myself to come out the other side. Yeah. I've talked about this with many guests on my podcast is how often, like when you go through the dark times, like how it shapes you the most. And then you realize you're, you always get through it. And then you always come out better the other side because you're like stronger and more equipped and you understand why it happened. But it's always what I say, the benefit of hindsight. It's always like later in life that you look back on that time. And you're like, holy shit, that literally shaped where I am today in the best way possible. 100%. Okay. So it's 2020. Yep. Paint the picture for us.

Okay, so 2020, the stage of the game, transfer schools, I'm now living at home under mom and dad's roof. Yeah. COVID's hit and I am going insane. This is five years ago. So how old were you five years ago? I was 20 and turned to, my 21st birthday was during COVID. Oh, so you are young. Yeah, I'm 25. Oh my gosh. Okay. Not that you look like old. Let me guess. Let's hear it. I know.

No, I was going to say maybe like 30. I know. That's normally what women guess about me. But I'm only saying that because I'm like, I had to move back in with my parents at 27 and it was after I went through a dark depression and then I ended up going on TV and my whole life changed. So this is kind of like your version. Yeah. Oh, okay. Go on. Yep.

So. But 21's a little bit more reasonable than 27, but go on. Either way. We've got our own story. It doesn't matter. The thing for me that sucked the most was I turned 21 and we're celebrating in my basement with like I had some of my homies over. for friends that were allowed to come over because of the whole. Oh, because of pen.

I was like, oh, your parents were strange. No, no, the whole six feet roll, you know, whatever, whatever. We had already got it at that point. We're like, we're fine. We're immune. We got the antibodies. Yeah, yeah. So that's how we celebrated my 21st.

It was iconic. That's amazing. Yeah. The picture is like you guys are all just six feet apart, being like, yeah. That occurs. And my sister. at the time. She was huge on TikTok, so I would hear her on her phone all the time, these

audios over and over again. And I'm like, what are you watching? Like, it was driving me nuts. Yeah. The sound on loop. Yeah. Uh-huh. So then now I'm that person. Yeah. You know, that's me. Yeah. I'm the problem. I'm the problem with me. I go ahead and I'm like, what are you like, what are you doing? And she's like, oh, this is TikTok. You've never heard of TikTok. I'm like, I've seen it through the great vinyl on Instagram or whatever. Yeah. she's like you should like you should download it and you should post yourself singing music on it and I was like okay maybe did you always dabble in singing I I always say that my love for music began in the church yeah and I was never in a band okay never never took like the church choir no school

marching band the only thing that I ever did was one semester I want to say in like sixth grade yeah of the school choir and hated it really because number of one my mom made me do it. Yeah. And what you're singing in the school choir is not, it's not music. You're just making noises. You know what I mean? It's, oh, I don't know. I did choir in the seventh grade and we took it very seriously. I wasn't singing what I wanted to sing. I wasn't singing Bieber. I wasn't singing, you know, I wasn't singing something that would win over the girls. Okay, got it. Fair enough. That being said, I did that for a year. I've dabbled in the guitar in in sixth grade, took some lessons. But it was never anything I took serious. But what made your

sister think that you could really do something on TikTok? Like she was like, I believe in you? I think that she always knew I loved music and I was, you had made a comment before we started. I was just humming. I was always humming or singing something around the house. Didn't matter if it was in the house or on the lacrosse field, practice, a game. I was just, music was always a part of me. Okay. I was the kid that would sing around the bonfire.

Yeah. I'd grab a guitar. Give me a request. I'd mess around. That was me too, but I couldn't play. But I always wanted to be that girl. I would like love the idea of singing around. I'm actually being part of this music festival called Lady World.

It's like live podcast of music next year, and they're doing a sip and sing where I actually am going to sing around a bonfire, which I'm so hyped up. But I can only feel like four chords on the guitar. Four chords in the truth. It's all you need, right? That's what they say. Yeah. I could do it. I can do it.

Sorry, go on. This isn't about me. No, you're good. I probably only know four chords too. It's great. Hey, you know what? You nail those four chords. And as long as you have a good voice at a stage like performance.

What is it called? Presence. Presence. There you go. Thank you. It's all that matters. the wine and the short ribs going up the nostrils. So what's happening.

Okay. So you were like, okay, I'm going to do this. So I download the app. And one night I go ahead and film myself singing Tennessee whiskey. And in my old, you know, we called it the playroom growing up. Yeah. Right. Then it turned into the Xbox gaming room for me and the homies.

So I'm in there and I record this video. Little did I know that I'd post it and go to bed and wake up to like 350,000 views. Oh my gosh. Like 30, 40,000 likes. Whoa. That was your first TikTok? Yeah. Yeah, that's nice.

I was like, oh. My first TikTok, and I have a platform didn't do that well. I was like, this is kind of crazy. What is this app? And people just started to fall in love. And again, not every video was like that. So then through those next couple of months, I was posting sporadically. There was no, I'm going to beat the algorithm or I'm going to come up with a plan.

it was just whatever I was listening to or whatever I wanted to sing, random post times, whatever. Yeah. And over the course of those couple of months, it was, we love your covers, we want original music. I'm like, I've ever said I was a writer or I never claimed to be an artist, guys. So I'm like, okay, I'll take a crack at the bat and went ahead and wrote a song in my childhood bedroom, my first one called On the Run.

No one's telling me how to do any of this. So I go to guitar center and I buy a microphone, SM7, and another microphone so it could record my guitar. I find a free software, download it, watch a YouTube video on how to record, soundproof my room with some panels I bought off Amazon. And I sang my first song and recorded it as a one take. And that's kind of where my manager Charlie comes into the fold. He'd been reaching out to me for, I want to say it was four months. like it was a long time yeah yeah and i wasn't checking my dms because i wasn't in that headspace of like people were reaching out right but he's reaching out turns out there was record labels in my

inbox there was publishers like you might want to check up yeah so he gets a hold of me and at this stage of the game i didn't even know how to upload a song yeah to spotify and stuff yeah like i just knew how to put it on youtube and sound cloud that was it right i didn't know there was licensing things and all that right how even do that so he comes in he helps me out we come kind of work together on like a gentleman's agreement, him and I for that next month after first getting in contact, we're on the phone for almost three, four hours a day throughout the day, just talking about social media content, what are we, what are we feeling, just kind of brainstorming.

Yeah. I mean, then he invites me down after a month of talking. It sounds like we're online dating. Yeah. It was great. Like, should we meet up face of face? I have no idea what to expect. My parents are like, we're just going to let you go down and meet.

a complete stranger. I'm like, we've talked to her a month. I mean. You're like, I'm in my 20s now, parents. I'm going to. Go fuck yourself. Just kidding. I'm like, I'm going to stay with them and his family. It should be fine. Yeah. And then this is where the story gets really crazy. My second day of being in Nashville was my second time ever writing in my life, first time being alone, second time ever co-writing. Who would have thought that I'd write my first hit song, Ride the Lightning? That's crazy. That's like so different from a lot of people's journeys in the music industry. I mean, now, I don't know, who was I talking to? Priscilla.

Yeah. She like kind of same thing. Like really built a community on TikTok and now is doing big things with it. That's crazy. So did you already have any following on Instagram? Because, okay, because I was going to say, you have a pretty good following on the gram for starting off on TikTok. How did that happen? So fun fact.

I was one of the first people to realize the potential of Instagram Reels. Ah. So Instagram Reels back in 2020, 2021, when I was posting on TikTok. had just kind of come, like, to surface because they were trying to compete with TikTok. Yeah. And I'm looking around. I'm like, why is nobody using this? Right.

So I was one of the first inbound people in the scene to use it, and it helped me. I mean, I must have gained 100,000 followers when you and I first started talking in a matter of like, what? Oh, it was crazy. Well, here's what I'll tell you. Yeah, tell me, teach me. That time frame was so volatile because no one was using it. Yeah, so they were rewarding you. You're pushing your content, exposing you.

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Yeah. That's crazy. So you were living at home. You wrote your first song in your old like childhood bedroom and now your parents are working for you. Tell me about this dynamic because I tried to do my mom was a professional ballerina. And so we tried to work together when I grew up dancing. She'd try and like choreographed solos for me and I would just, I couldn't do it. See, that's a little bit different.

Okay. So like if my parents had a musical background, maybe that's where there could be a rub. Ah. But they don't. Okay. They leave that to me. Yeah. My dad can hum a tune.

Where did it come from then for you? I don't really know. Interesting. Because my parents both asked the same question. My great-grandfather kind of was a good singer. Okay. That's what I've been told by my grandmother a bunch. And I'm like, that's great.

I guess that's where it comes from, maybe. But it honestly, I mean, when it comes to singing, it just kind of naturally came to me. And it's been really cool to see from the time of posting on TikTok for five years ago until now with all the singing on the road, how much better my voice has gotten and control and all that stuff. My voice teacher always told me it was like a muscle that you're just like working and it gets better. The more you use it, blah, blah, blah.

But if you're going to start off with Tennessee whiskey as you're like introduction to music, that's ballsy. I went big. Yeah. That's a tough one. So I'm like, obviously you started on a good note, but you also are now even better five years. Yeah, five years later. Yeah. And now you're on the road.

What are you about to tour with jelly roll or did you just finish? Just finished in the fall with him. and then got a little bit of a breather over the winter. And then now was just over in Europe and the UK on my sold-out tour on my relapse tour for about a month. Now we're kick-starting the relapse tour here in the U.S. at the end of March here. Tell me the name behind relapse lies of betrayal. That sounds juicy.

Yeah. What is it as juicy as it sounds? Juicy is a great way to put it. It's number one. It's juicy. It's eye-catching too. Yeah. And whether you're a fan or you're not a fan yet, it makes you, um,

It makes you wonder what that's about. Yeah. But Relapse was the first part of this double album that I had put out back in August. I listened to Relapse while I got ready today. Hell yeah. I did. It's good. It's not bad, right?

No, it's really good. It's really good. So Relapse was project number one. We didn't call it the album. We called it the project to let fans know there was more music coming. Hence, Relapse Flies of Betrayal. Originally, there was conversations being had about doing a three-part series where you have relapse, you have lies, you have betrayal.

Yeah. That would have been my theatrical way of doing it. Yeah. Very Taylor Swift of you. Yeah. It sounded good. Yeah. But in time, in time's sake, I just wanted to get the music out there.

Yeah. And the demand's there for it. So we just were like, okay, we're just going to put it all together. Yeah. The double album. That's, wait, you said earlier that your sister was big on TikTok. Is she still doing TikTok? What is her story?

I mean, I wouldn't say she was big. on TikTok. She had TikTok just to view. She was never a poster. Oh, got it. I thought you were like saying she was big. Oh, okay. And then she was the one that kind of put me on to doing it and then bitch and moan every time I would sing. Why? I mean, because I do take after take or I like this take better or whatever. Yeah. She's like, I'm trying to do homework because we're obviously all four of us and are in the house together during COVID. Yeah, yeah. So she's hearing me. Is she older or younger? Younger. Okay. That's amazing. So do your parents like tour with you and So dad does.

Okay. Both my parents actually... It is. I love it. My dad's my best friend. Yeah. Mom and dad toured with me for the first 15 shows I ever played on my first tour. It was me and a guitar player in a van.

And then my parents followed behind in my dad's truck and kept merch in the back of the truck. So supportive. It was super cool. That's awesome. But now my dad rides the bus with me. Cool. And he was just over in Europe with me. Like the country fans over there are.

serious. They are. Yeah, like Europeans love country artists and music. That's so fun that you got to go there. It was. There's different crowds. You have Europe and then you have the UK crowd. Okay. Europe, I mean, so what we did, uh, Stockholm, Switzerland, we did Oslo, Norway. We were in three shows for Germany. What's funny is, is those crowds, everyone's amazing. Yeah. But those crowds are, I always like to say that they're more reserved. Oh. And how they, um, are enjoying themselves. Yeah. Almost like a finish the song. It's like a golf clap and you're like.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Like that's cool. Like I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. You're like, are you just here because you like have to be? And are you really? Yeah. You're like, I'm a performer.

I feed off of a good crowd. 100%. And I even vocalize that to them too. Yeah. I'm like song four. I'm like guys, you know, like the more you feed me the more I'm going to feed you back. Yeah. I get that.

It's a give and take here. Yeah. So, but they were great. Nonetheless, it was awesome. It was just a different. to get used to. Yeah. And then you got to the back half of the tour and the UK, whether it was Northern

Ireland, Scotland, England. That's so cool. What a cool way to see the world, too. Just a touring musician, whatever. Well, what's funny, though, is, like, you get to see the world, but you also don't. That's true. You're like, I see the bus and the venue. So, yeah, so I joke around about this.

My bandmates, they get to see the world because on their day off, they get a day off. Yeah. For me, there's no such thing as day off. I call it non-show days. Oh. I'm committed to the grind. So I'm either out and about trying to figure out where's a place we can shoot content. Yeah.

How does this? Like, I have to get a blowout. I got to get curls. Yeah. I have a hair treatment to get to. I got to get a sauna, ice bath, steam room. Hey, that is work. It is.

I'm joking. We'll get to your looks later because Sexiest Man Alive and People magazine is a cool title to add to the resume as well. You're like, fuck the cross. This on a resume. Reservet is pretty cool. And for 25, now that you know I'm 25. Yes. That's crazy.

Okay, sorry. So your days off, you're still like doing the grind. I think the ones that truly are committed to their grind, to their career. And it's a neat, sleep and breathing. Just back to that mentality of whether it comes to dancing, whether it was for hockey or any of that or lacrosse, it's like that, I was obsessed. And that's what I am now. Yeah. I'm just, oh, whether it's interviews, whether it's whatever I have going on, phone calls, this needs to be done.

or, I mean, I'm over in Europe. And you're learning as you go. There's so much to it. You are. Yeah. And I'm over in Europe trying to figure out, okay, when are we announcing my fault tour? Yeah.

How's the album rollout coming out? What do we do? Like all this stuff. So don't get me wrong, I did have some time to explore to a certain extent. But being over there, the most amount of work was trying to find, number one, the correct foods that I wanted to eat. Yeah. On the diet I was on.

Oh, gosh. Yeah. Okay. We were talking about how juicy this is. Because I feel like you've written about love. Lies, heartbreak. Yeah. Are you pulling from personal experiences?

Yeah. I always like to say this. Yes, there's always a little bit of truth in each song. Some songs have more. I guess I would say. Some songs are closer to heart for me. But, I mean, Relapse is my current radio single right now. Country Radio.

Obviously, he's got off the relapse tour in UK and Europe. Now we're going on the relapse one here in the U.S. So that's been really my focus track. And there's a reason for that just with how prevalent that was in my life. for the last, you know. It's a good past year. Yeah. And then betrayal, that was something that was also a huge part of something. Who betrayed you? I'll get them. Yeah. It's again, the dark times you want to call it. Yeah. You learn from it. You go through what you grow through. Yeah. Or you grow through what you go through. There we go. Mix them up. It sounded in my head. I was going, yeah. That's good. I sound believable

when I say something. So there you go. Yeah, put that on a T-shirt. I was like, that's good. The other way around's better. Yeah, the other way around's better. Yeah, that was a tough one to go through. But, you know, I have a very, my parents both work for me. I was very small circle in my life.

Yeah. I'm notorious for not really being out and about and stuff. I just at the gym before I came here. What gym do you? Oh, don't say it because of people. Not telling y'all. I've already bumped into some of y'all before. Really?

You guys are respectful. Oh, that's good. Yeah, they're low-key, though. It's nice. but don't worry I showered before I came. I got, I got showered about it. I was sweating and smelling like beef when I came up here. Even if I did, at least I'm far enough away from you.

I literally can smell. Well, I guess it's cookie downstairs, but I'm like, oh, my God. No, that's fine. So you keep a pretty, like, strict schedule with working out. Yeah. Did that come from, like, kind of being an athlete? It did. And for me, the weird thing, the pivot that was really hard for me was going from the athlete

and then coming into the music scene where it's, you can kind of fall into it, where it's like, oh, let's go meet up for drinks or, hey, we're going to meet with this person, we're going to have a couple drinks, we're going to grab dinner, and then it's like you lose sight of it. I mean, you know, I got no shame in it. I went from being absolutely an amazing shape. Yeah. And then when I was going through that signing process, that first year of touring, I was probably,

I put on damn near 35 pounds. Really? Yeah. That is actually so real, though, because that is part of the gig is, you know, you go meet people and you have dinners and you have things to do and then it catches up with you but i mean that's oh no you gain 35 pounds and got a million followers and record deals and now you're the shirt wasn't coming off as much so yeah what is this is that like your signature move you like i just know you did an interview with gq as well for your like fitness routine and then you were

how did you get picked for sexiest man alive in people magazine well the kelly i was on kelly clarkson oh yeah she got like flabbergasted by a shirtless photo of you definitely help a lot. Oh, that's good. Yeah, with her reaction to seeing me shirtless on TV. Cool. On TV. That helps. You should date Kelly Clarkson. Yeah. Let me just get right on that. Wait, I feel like she's quite a bit older than you, but still. I don't know if Mala Bear would be in love with that. You guys could make beautiful music together. We could. We can start with that. Okay, that's true. I'm like, no, you have to date her to make music with her. You guys have to be a couple. Wait, who would be your dream collaboration.

Wait, a Kelly Clarkson bop with you would be so good, though. It'd be really good. Yeah. I mean, she does like the Kelioki thing, and I would love to go on that and do that with her. Kellyoki. Yeah, she's one hell of a vocalist. She's unbelievable. Like, who is like the vocalist of your type?

Who are you like, that's the best vocalist? Oh, when it comes to me, for an inspiration for me is definitely me. You can't go wrong with Chris Stapleton. Oh, yeah. Hence why I did Tennessee whiskey. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I've cut out of the songs. so far that are released on my catalog, the two songs that I've put out that I haven't written

our old Chris Stapleton songs. So there's a through line. Got it. Through my inspiration who I admire. But yeah, I mean, whether it's Chris to collab with, I'd collab with Morgan. Yeah. And then outside the genre, I'd collab with Justin Bieber if I had the opportunity. God, I love him so much.

Me too. I like, he's like my Canadian heartthrob and I've really loved him for a very long time. and he sees my DMs sometimes but I don't know if it's actually say like scene yeah damn okay I know that's a flex okay well I know he watched the bachelor and bachelorette so I know he like if he didn't like but I don't know how he saw my DM but so embarrassing because I think I was tagging him in a bunch of things like I was going to get his name tattooed on me if I got a tent I was on dancing with the stars and I danced to one of his songs and I said I would get Justin Bieber's name tattooed on me if we got all tens we didn't but that like he's going back probably and looking

at my dance being like the fuck this girl's getting my name tattooed on her and then I like saw that he saw them and I was like and then I went back and deleted some you did the unsend but I did the unsend but I'm like he's probably already seen it but I answered I was too embarrassed I love how like that's such like an iconic thing now in our generic in our world the unsend you can even unsend emails now You can? Yeah. And you can do unsend text if you get it within like a certain window. Yeah.

It's so crazy. I actually had to do that once. I sent my dad something that I meant to send somebody else. It wasn't a nude. Thank God. Okay. I was like, thank God. It was just something, but it was like not something I'd want my dad to see.

And I hit unsend and then it said, unsent. But it said might not have this feature if he isn't like upgraded his phone. And I was like, but I don't think he saw it. I know. It was spicy. But I really don't think he saw it. that's good because it also says red when he's seen the message and it hadn't okay and i unsent it okay and yeah oh you're making me nervous over here i know i know no i know there's so many that i do

like this you probably heard that i do confessions and like embarrassing stories on the pod and i don't even know if i've told that one before it did happen a while ago i feel honored that you know oh yeah that i yeah i haven't shared that with the class yet that's that's a bad one What was your parents' reaction when you got sexiest man alive? And your sister, were they like, what the? My sister rolled her eyes. Because we have a joke. Charlo, man, who's the one who said it?

When he first started working for me, this whole thing went around about, who's the football player that said it? I love me some me. Yeah. Okay. He said I love me some me. I love me some me. Yeah.

So he made the joke about me when he first started working with me being like, Warren loves themselves more in that kid that kid's not shy in confidence like i think i can work with this yeah when we first started working together you're like i will take my shirt off at every show and then he met my parents and they're like oh yeah yeah he gets it from his dad and my dad is very i my dad is very much my best friend yeah the confidence my parents love them the death they did a great job at raising me with tough love and love yeah and i think it's important to instill your kids with confidence in those early years and i would like to see jelly roll as the sexiest man alive you face tattoo person or is that your thing yes actually i'm glad you asked you know who my like crush was when

i was really do you know who the band avenge sevenfold is of course i do sinister gates i like was in love with him and when i served him at a restaurant and he was wearing an eyeliner and i was like my god i thought it was so hot so yes i do like face tats okay yeah avenge sevenfold um Huge inspiration of mine, love their song, Hail to the King. Oh, it's so good. And the producer that did that for them actually helped me produce half this record. Yeah. Really?

Yeah, that's how we kind of put the two and two together. And obviously, his name is Mike Elizondo. He's done, he's worked with Dr. Dre. He's done M&M. Cool. But we worked together on, he's got about half the record. Wait, that's really cool. How did you swing that one?

Through my label and stuff. And we just kind of sent him, I guess my A&R sent him my music. And he's like, I love. I'd love to work with this kid. Cool. I'm glad you're referring to yourself as a kid because you are 25. Do you know how old I am? But if you thought I was 30, I'm going to go with like, I'm going to shoot like the 31, 32.

I'm turning 40 this year. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay, thank God. Botox is working. Yeah, 40. But I'm like, my mom is 72 and she looks like she's 50.

Okay. And my dad is 73 and he looks young and they're both like really upbeat, like a lot of energy. kind of people and I feel like my sister and I are kind of the same like that. Like we feel I feel 25. It's good. Yeah. You feel youthful. I feel very youthful. Except at 25, do you know what I was doing at 25? Let's hear it. I was, you're touring Europe and like with jelly roll and working with all these people. I was like, if I had $5 in my bank account, I was like Starbucks. Like I was like, yes. I was Hiked. I was working at a restaurant and I had to give up dancing because I was not good enough and I was just like, where's my life going? And that was at 25. I was literally living in a 400

400 square foot apartment. My bed was like in my kitchen. And like that sounds cool if you're an artist, but I had no plans. If you're like a struggling artist, you're like, yeah, and I did this. And I'm like, no, I just was, I was just partying. Was this? I was just partying all the time. Were you in Canada? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I was in Vancouver. And then, oh, wait, you're on the Twister soundtrack. That's actually really big. Did they pick your song to be on that? Or did you nominate your song? Or how does that work? Did you nominate yourself? I have volunteers. They actually reached out to, they reached out to Ross, didn't they? Yes. So they hit us up. Yeah. And they sent us the, what I want to call it? The clips, the screening of the portion that they wanted

the song for. So we sent that to my producer and we looked through my catalog on something that might work. And then we ended up, I ended up just writing the song to fit the script and everything. And we came out with the cards I've been dealt. What would be, like, I feel like you've done a lot of cool things. What would be something on your bucket list that you haven't done yet besides a cool collab? Well, cool thing I'm about to do is headline the Houston rodeo. Oh. In front of like 70,000 people.

Damn. So that's exciting. Isn't that funny? Because you picture like 70,000 people watching your TikTok and you're like me? But when you are there? and you see the impact you have on 70,000 people, that it's so bananas to think about it like that. The energy is unlike anything other.

What's the biggest crowd you've performed in front of? 40, 50,000, probably. I mean, that's crazy. Oh, yeah, with Nickelback. Nickelback. Yeah, amazing. Oh, my gosh. Wait, you have one song, Sin So Sweet.

That's giving Nickelback a little bit. Mm-hmm. right it's like nickel back like it's taking that hinder yeah like three doors down like that's what i literally thought that while i was listening to it i was like i couldn't put my finger on what it was i was like maybe a little creed i don't know yeah but i was like oh i liked it it's sexy yeah it is it's really cool it's a it's a vibe it's a start to wear the tease for the shirt coming off happens oh really so do you take your shirt off every show if the crowd's good enough they deserve my abs if the girls were

screaming loud enough where I can hear them and I have in-eers in, then you know what's a good crowd. Got to do what the people want. I mean, honestly, some of the craziest crowds I've ever played in front of for that kind of stuff is Canada. Oh, 100%. They're insane. I was going to say that when we were talking about Europe and you were talking about how they're more reserved.

I was like, well, go to Canada, which you probably have. I love it. Yeah, Canadian girls are, I can say it because I am one. Crazy. I love it, though. Oh, yeah. They're probably showing you their boobs. A little bit of crazy.

It's not bad. They're probably like, yeah, take my bra. Have you heard of bra? thrown at you? I think the most we ever had on stage at one time was 50 bras. Yeah. Fifty bras? I'd be so insecure. I'd be like, was I sweaty? Like, not that you'd know whose bra it was, but like, oh, what do you do with them? Do you collect them? Well, it was funny at one point, oh, and one of the tours, we were like, we should start like doing like a thing where we auction off the brawes off from your, you sign them and do like a, or do like a charity

thing. I was like, that's actually kind of smart. Donate them to a women's shelter and like sign You should definitely do that. What is your, like, cringiest moment you've ever had on stage? I don't really... You're like, I'm not cringe at all, actually. Never have been, never will be. Just straight sex appeal. Yeah, you're like, just straight sex up there.

Sorry. Cringe? I don't really know anything come to mind that's been... Yeah, okay. Ha, ha ha. Oh, he takes his shirt off. It's pretty cringy. You're like every show when he takes his shirt off when the girl scream.

When he's like, you know what? I just had to because the girl... I could hear the girls screaming at me and throwing your bras at me and so I just have to take my shirt off. But I don't know when I've been cringe. Summer festivals are normally, it's a wife beater and I rip it off at the, for the last song. And then if it's like indoors, I'll normally go away before the encore.

And then that's when I come out without a shirt on and I lose their mind. So there you go. If you want to call that cringe, whatever you want to call it, it sells tickets. Yeah. And it works. Nobody said it's bad. Yeah, it works. I'm sure I do shit that's cringe that works for what I do, you know?

But as long as you love yourself, it's all that matters. Oh, I thought the shirt said self-love. It does not. I wish it said, love me some meal. Could you imagine? I'm like, wait a second. I have the same way. It just says love Caitlin.

Caitlin loves some Caitlin. I said we're going to talk about this. I need to know the story behind long hair. Oh, okay. Well, you dated a hockey player. You've told me about it a couple. Sometimes the hockey players normally have flow coming out the back of the helmet. So it's the same for lacrosse players.

Really? So you've always had it? Yeah. So, I mean, if you're from Canada, like box lacrosse. But like, what is your hair routine? I'm not even being funny because, or how long I guess did it take you to grow up to where it is? Everybody want to know what the hair hair. Yes, they do.

So give the people what they want. Not until I get a branding deal and I get paid for this shit. You're like, Lori Allen looking at you. For honestly, though, for me, it's good genetics. I'll say that much. my dad had a really thick hair and started my grandmother but my dad it's funny you'd have no idea he's my dad's bald really yes he started losing his hair when he was like my age and he got to like the maternal side my grandfather on my mom's side has full head of beautiful white hair yeah but for me

predominantly I actually got made fun of all the time as a kid for having from having a long hair and you know like if I was like if I was wearing something specifically or like from behind of the behind here, like, she's so cute. I turn around, I'd be like, bruh. Jokes on you. I'm like, I know I am cute, but I ain't a she. But, yeah, I mean, predominantly for the majority of my life I've had long hair, yeah. Okay.

I have two games for you to choose from. We're either going to play a little like this or that or what would Warren do. Okay. Any like, what's the more? I'm not giving you anything else. Oh, what's the more fun one? Like, what do you think, Athena? Okay.

Okay, okay, this or that. A honky tonk bar or a dive bar. That's kind of similar. They're kind of the same thing. I'm going to go with dive bar because there's, this is going to sound so assinying. But there's probably not live music going on. So when you do this for a living, the last thing you want to do. Yeah, you probably want to just go chill and a little dive bar.

You kind of want some chill, go play some pool, hang out with your homies. Fair enough. Love live music. Don't get me wrong. I do it for a living. Yeah, no kidding. You must. But when you're trying to have a conversation, especially as a vocalist too,

trying to talk over that. Yeah, you don't want to push the vocals. Don't want to train the vocal cords. I just don't want to do any of that. So I'll go die more. Protect the abs and the vocal cords. Yeah. Whiskey or tequila?

Well, at one stage of the game, it was whiskey. Okay. I think the dark, well, I think the dark liquor helped me put on some weight. Oh, that'll do it. I haven't had a beer in almost two years.

What? Yeah. Isn't that crazy? That's like that movie, stepbrothers when he's like, I haven't had a carb since, oh, four, this is what I'm working with.

And his abs are oiled in everything. Yeah. That's you. Kevin had of beers. That's crazy. So we'll go with tequila. Okay. We'll go with tequila to keep the gear tight. Got it. Okay. Cowboy hat or trucker hat? Oh, man. You got both going on here. I got both. I got both. I mean, because a cowboy hats for, you know. The game is called this or that. Why? I know. Okay. If I had to go with everyday life, I'll go with truck or hat because that's what I'm notoriously in most of time. But you're a cowboy, so you sometimes. You know, you got a cowboy up

sometimes. Cambo up. Um, love song or party anthem? Oh, that's tough because I do both. Okay, think about what do you prefer. You can do both, though. You can. You can have a party song that's still a love song, hence relapse. Why are you always trying to find a loophole? I mean, there's no loophole here. I was a good debater in school.

I can see that. That's your answer? Okay, fine. I'll do this and that. Okay, I'll let you have that one. Morgan Wallin or Luke Combs? Love them both. I'm going to go Morgan.

Okay. Yeah. I feel a collab coming up in the future. Nashville hot chicken or Texas barbecue? I'm going to go Nashville hot chicken. Yeah, so good. Tour bus or private jet? I'm going to surprise people.

I'm going to go tour bus. Okay. Because number one, it's your home on wheels, and it's nice just having your stuff. You can walk around and there's food. And plus I've only ever taken one PJ. So I don't like, I haven't, like, fully. I feel like they're scary. I could hear you laughing back there.

I could like feel him laughing. He's like, ho, well, wait until you start PJ and I have. everywhere. I love a PJ, but they're scary. They're scary and expensive as shit. Yeah, they're expensive as hell. Not good for the environment, people. Okay, classic country or modern country? I mean, I was raised on classic country, but there's stuff that I do like and there's stuff that I don't like in modern country. But I think that it's good for it being genre bending in a way that there's enough people in this genre now where we can all kind of have our own piece of the pie or our own piece, own place to play in the sandbox where we can draw in so many different

types of people. So I'll go with modern actually. Okay. Pickup truck or Harley? I'll go pickup truck. My mom would kill me if I, if I ever had a Harley, even though I grew up riding dirt bikes and all that fun stuff. It's that time of the podcast where you have to share something embarrassing. Here we go. I was trying to think of something and like I have two. Like one's embarrassing. Yeah. But it's also like motivational. Okay. Then there's one that's just straight up like funny and It's pretty funny. Which one you want to hear? I want the funny one.

Okay. She's like, screw motivation. Yeah, the motivation, but I'm like, no. So the funny one is I actually just was talking about this with my best friend. Yeah.

Since I've been friends with this, I've been friends with my homie, Justin since like fifth, sixth grade. We still keep in touch. Long story short. One night, we were back in,

I want to say like eighth grade. This is even more embarrassing. Or I might have been freshman year of high school. And we were hanging out at my, one friend's we called it like his rec room yeah but it was like a shed there was weights in there xbox it was where the guys hung out oh yeah like a man cave yeah so we're hanging out in there and stuff this is my ladies lounge yeah exactly we got ladies lounge we got man cave yeah so we're hanging out and i'm like probably i'm on the pull-up bar just doing pull-ups and there was this poster on the

wall oh no was it pamela Anderson you got a boner did i just guess it no no i did not get a chubby no Why? I'm just like, that's like somebody trying to like steal the punchline of the joke. I'm like trying to guess it. But there is a poster on the wall and it is, it's Yosemite. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So I'm on the pull up bar and I'm like Yosmite.

And the guys are playing Xbox. They turn around and look me and they're like, yo's mite. They're like, that's Yosemite. I'm like, what? Like, what are you talking about? Like, that's Yosemite. And they're like, that's Yosemite. And they're like, and then it became this joke that I never outlived.

That's, they should call you that from now on. Well, the joke is like, mind don't, but Yosmite. So, like, it's become like this thing. That's funny. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Thank God.

Yeah. Thank God I can write. But the fact that you didn't realize that until 20, like 21 is bonkers to me. Yeah. That's a fun thing to realize in your 20s. Oh, wait, I do have a gift. Oh, wait. I think I could go, like, number one with this.

Oh, this is cool. Hey, you know, why? Yeah, I'm going to go on tour in Europe, cello shows, and then tour with jelly roll. Cool. Bye. Well, congratulations on everything. Thank you. That's amazing.

I mean, 25, please don't blow it. Don't get canceled. Oh. I mean, it's worked for some of us. That's true. Actually, you're a male in the country music industry. Don't do whatever you want. You'll get away with that.

No, I'm just kidding. Well, you're very talented. you're very sweet thank you for coming and thank you for putting up with the chaos that was my dogs today i loved it oh and tell everybody where they can find your tour dates obviously we already named where your website was your album your instagram your ticot relapse lives betrayal is officially out now you can find it on spotify youtube apple music anywhere stream music amazon um and if you're curious about me you want to see the shirt off uh come to a all female audience come come to a show yeah uh you too can see six-pack. And if you're curious on getting a taste for it, follow me on Instagram and

TikTok. What is your Instagram and TikTok? Just my name, baby. And it's the one with the blue check mark. That's the real one. Oh, are there a bunch of frauds out there? You would not believe. I've had, I used to get those when I was like on TV. Have you had like the AI videos yet? Oh, no. It's insane. That's creepy. On a whole other level. Yeah. Okay. So don't fall for it. If the shirt is off and the pants start coming down, that's not him. Unless we're trying to get canceled But that will get me some downloads Okay, well thank you again for coming

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