Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Lil Angel: I grew up in a small town in California. It’s known as El Centro. I decided to be an artist in eighth grade. I had a lot of older friends who were writing and recording music. Some friends and I decided to make a song and since then I kept writing music.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Lil Angel: I had a couple names before I chose the one I have now. I was Lil Jerk, Lil Fresh, Yung Fresh, then I just came up with Lil Angel. I’ve been called Lil Angel my whole life because my dad was named Angel also. I thought it would be a good idea to just go with Lil Angel for my name.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Lil Angel: I post my songs on Soundcloud, Twitter, and sometimes YouTube.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Lil Angel: I would say to not give up, to keep going forward and whoever tells you to stop, don’t listen to them. They will tell you to give up, but it’s only because they envy you.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Lil Angel: I haven’t had a performance in a while, but when I last performed, I didn’t make any mistakes. I practiced before I got on stage and I memorized my lyrics.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Lil Angel: I don’t tour.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?Â
Lil Angel: I get my inspiration from my life. Everything that I say in my songs, or the themes of them, is stuff that’s happened to me or stuff I’ve done. The way I write songs, is I go on YouTube, look for a beat I like and once I find it, I start thinking about what I should write about.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Lil Angel: I don’t have a website. I use Soundcloud and Twitter to share my music.
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Lil Angel: I probably got a couple weird songs on my phone. I got some songs that people wouldn’t see me playing.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Lil Angel: if I had a year off, I’d most likely just write songs and hang out with friends and family. If I had half a million dollars, I would give half to people who really need it and the other half I would just save up.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Lil Angel: I don’t have any studio upgrades planned. I use a regular studio microphone, and my friend helps me record with his laptop and his program.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Lil Angel: I usually tell some friends of mine to spread the word that I have a new song on Soundcloud. I post them on Twitter and sometimes Snapchat. I think my friends telling others about works best because it gets around a little bit faster.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Lil Angel: I would like to perform with 2Pac in a concert in Los Angeles. 2Pac is one of my favorite rappers ever, performing with him would be simply amazing.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Lil Angel: I got a couple songs I’m working on, some new surprising songs.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Lil Angel: I would be doing what I’m doing now, working and going to school.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Lil Angel: The first album I bought with my money was Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast. I really liked Outkast because their flow was something I liked. I was excited to buy it because it was Outkast and they were just really really good in my eyes.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Lil Angel: I just do everything I need to do ahead of time so I won’t be stressing on forgetting things while I’m recording songs.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Lil Angel: A lot of songs are gonna be coming out soon and music videos as well, so they should be looking forward to that.
