In this episode of The Bobbycast, Cooper Alan (@Cooperalanmusic) joins Bobby Bones to talk about his career, wife and more! Cooper got married last September and shares his and his wife's love story and how she has inspired his songwriting. He recalls his days of playing basketball in High School and growing up playing the trumpet. Cooper also shares the moment he knew he wanted to move to Nashville to pursue music, the new projects he's working on and more!
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I think I saw Mama Mia when I was in like third grade, and then got into more of the disco scene. Then my brothers were like, dude, you got to stop playing the trumpet. It's just there's nothing cool about it.
Welcome to episode four sixty three, Cooper Allen. I would see this guy on TikTok and I'd be like, oh ya, that's cool, and I'd flip off. It's a lot of good people on TikTok. And eventually I started to see him like around town. He was playing shows, slowly getting bigger and bigger, and I was like, oh, that's cool. That kid from TikTok. Now he's done so well. I didn't even think of him really as the kid from TikTok all the time. Well, also, he's a man now. I mean, yeah, he's not really a kid anymore. Cooper Allen. He's from North Carolina, and I think the reason that I like him now as a person is I got stuck with him playing golf. One day we did a there's like a business thing and they were like, all right, everybody's teamed up with certain people, and I got I'm gonna say stuck because that's what I felt like at first, because I didn't know these people. I got stuck with Cooper and his dad. I loved him.
We played golf like.
Four hours and then I stayed unless TikTok's longer. Dang, Yeah, I didn't flip off immediately. He's really good and he's really tall. He's funny, he's you know, doing an independent style right now. But he's also you know, he has big people in his camp as well. That's the thing about these independent artists, like they don't have to take every deal now because they know they've kind of built it themselves and then go on tour. They don't have to have a you know, a label. They don't have to have representation if they're already getting enough representation by just putting tickets up. A couple things about him, he's got feel like hell, that's out five ten January, over March April May tenth. Yep, headed to my fingers and so there'll be three songs there. He's got two hundred and twenty five million total streams, fourteen million social media followers. A very talented guy. He's still a kid. He's twenty eight. He's not a kid. No, not a kid. Okay. Here he has followed him at Cooper Allen Music, his TikTok's Cooper Allen won and I hope you enjoy like I did. Here he is Cooper. Good to see again, Buddy, good to see your brother. I was looking at this picture behind. I to do a photo shoot today, which is why I'm like four minutes late to my own house. You have to do a lot of these. Do you like the photo shoots?
I don't like the photo shoots. I like video shoots. I don't like photo shoots.
Like we had to shoot a group one today with the whole show. The problem with photo shoots is if there's more than three people, everybody's faces gotta be exactly right. These idiots will not stop tickling each other like they've never been in front of a camera before, which I'm like, just take the picture. And they were like, well, these guys won't stop talking in the background. That's tickling each other. That's my and I'm coming from I'm I'm running hot and out of that photo shoot. Yeah, that's my I don't like photo shoots. And now with AI like, what's the need? Yeah, exactly, what's the need? Photoshop? AI? Me up I don't need need to be there. Maybe look skinny here, everything good with you?
You look good? You look good?
Yeah, well I have makeup on it. That's why I've been in a photosho. Was no flaws. Yeah, what's up with you? Like, what's what's happening in your life?
Dude on the road? Yeah, you know, writing a lot, playing a lot. How many even the whole thing?
Are you many weekends this year? Do you know that you have?
We'll probably end up doing about one hundred shows. Yeah, pretty heavy from like February to November. There are some off weekends, but mostly on And how's your dad? Dad's a man. Yeah, golf game is still rocking. He was just here this past weekend. He was eating up the CMA fest.
That's cool.
I saw that take Forever did really well over on satellite. That's gotta be cool, right, it did.
It was it was my first, you know, my first number one song on it, first big moment, so it.
Was absolutely it was pretty sick.
It is what it is, and it's my wife's song, so it's like that's what even better?
You wrote like you wrote it wrote.
It for her, Yeah, so like her. Halle's my wife's name.
So it's take Forever Prince's Halley's song, and I wrote it for our wedding. It was like a surprise, you know, the wedding reception.
And did you do a wedding version as well, because sometimes already have one that you'd bust out because some you know, they do the old remix, but like the wedding version.
Yeah, the song is like so wedding version as is, Like we didn't even need to do a wedding version because it just kind of sounds.
Like, oh, you can still wedding it up. I'm sure we could. We can still strings in there for a few more streams. I'm sure you could harp that thing up a little bit.
Well, wait till the one year anniversary.
We're just gonna ride out the wedding for as long as we possibly can.
How long have you been married?
It was September of last year, so was that eight months? Nine months?
Yeah? Because when I was with you, you weren't married yet. No, dang, yeah, is life any different at all? Did you've been married? I've been married almost three years, so I'm a little ahead of you. But is life any different now?
Dude?
It's uh it's better for sure, but we already lived together, so it was like not not a huge change, but I don't know, it's pretty awesome getting to walk around and say, like.
That's my wife. That's cool.
How'd you meet her?
We grew up together.
Oh that's cool.
Yeah, but we didn't date till college. We dated like senior year of college. We're you know, friends all through high school and all that stuff.
So you knew each other in high school, but you went to the same we went to the same college or different colleges nearby.
So I went to I went to Carolina, she went to State, so like thirty minutes down the road.
Let me tell you, here's the thing about those two schools, and I'll throw Duke in there too.
Don't even say the D word.
But well, so when I go to if I'm anywhere near the Triangle, if I'm in Durham and I played Durham Theater a bunch of times, if I mentioned any of the three, the other two lose their crab. Yeah, even the NC State folks, they start yelling stuff.
State hates us more than I've ever seen anybody hate anything.
And I hate State.
I hate Duke a lot but like State fans cannot stand us.
It's a little man syndrome. It's why we at Arkansas hate Texas so much.
I didn't say it, you did.
No, It's exactly what it is because I have it in sports, like we hate Texas. Why because Texas is bigger, They've had more success. Yeah, they have more money. So like we hate freaking Texas. It's why State hates you, and it's white. Let's be honest. Why you hate Duke?
No, no, no, let's be honest. We got more championships. Bro okay, but I'm just we retired coach k twice.
That is funny. You did? Yeah you did you play basketball? Did you?
I played it in high school?
Yeah? Were you good? Cause you're pretty tall? What are you?
Six ' four?
So I was like, yes, I'm tall, and I was one of the tallest guys on my team. But we were playing guys that were like we were playing like Theo Pinson and Harry Giles, and you know, we played in this ridiculous independent schools league, and so I would just like get my ass kicked every single time. And that's you know, I was just getting dunked on all the time playing guitar is a little more fun.
When did you start to play music or when did you start caring about music other than just listening to it?
Start playing guitar in sixth grade?
Why did someone give you one? Or were you like, I need one of those?
I was playing the trumpet.
That was like my first instrument because I was like heavy into disco, you know Casey in the Sunshine Band.
Abba, Are you serious? I'm being dead ass?
Okay? Who then was around you to expose you to that in sixth grade?
So I think I saw Mama Mia when I was in like third grade.
Okay, that's enough of a thing.
Yeah, yeah. I got hooked on that, ye yeah.
Yeah, and then got into more of the disco scene. Then my brothers were like, dude, you gotta you gotta stop playing the trumpet.
It's just there's nothing cool about it.
Did you learn to read music to the point where it still as beneficial to you, not to where it's still beneficial.
I could read a little bit, because you have to do, I guess, play the trumpet. But then when I started playing guitar, it was all I learned by ear, you know, from my teacher. He just wanted to said, what songs do you want to play? And I did him a list of whatever he talked about this songs? Of course, have you heard AB's greatest hits?
What did you want to play then when you picked up a guitar or why because you're moving? You were at trumpet because something inspired you? So what then was the new musical inspiration that made you pivot instruments?
Did?
We got Guitar Hero on the PlayStation two, Guitar Hero too, and it was just like it opened me up to a whole world of like fricking rock music.
Good for you for learning the guitar as you played Guitar Hero. I have so many friends that excelled at Guitar Hero, and if they would have just put half the time into learning the guitar that they learned playing the hardest level of Guitar Hero, they would be a freaking good guitar player. But instead they mastered a video game that now they don't even play anymore.
Dude, I will I will take this to my grave. Playing through the Fire and Flames on expert on Guitar Hero is harder than anything on the electric guitar you can play.
My wife is younger than I am.
How old are you twenty eight? Yeah?
My wife is thirty one. And so she will sing songs that are from like sixties and seventies classic rock that I knew because I listened to the oldies station growing up. Or she'll sing like some of the nineties alternative stuff and I'm like, you don't know this song and she's like, no, no guitar hero yeah, or rock band. She would play guitar and sing and like her dad will play the drums. Like that was such an introduction of music. It's funny, that's what really got you into rock music.
My favorite was the tambourine and rock band. If you're the singer, you also got to play the tambourine and so you're just like wailing on this mic?
Was it on those like on did you need to hit it with the same rid that was a tampa?
Yeah?
Yeah, And there were like different levels of tambourine expertise and like cow bells like Mississippi Queen also had the hit the mic.
It was. It's impressive stuff.
When you go and say I want a guitar? Who'd you tell that to?
My dad?
And I was like sixth grade when I told him my first guitar I got for Christmas that year.
It was the Les Paul Junior.
You stop playing trumpet at that time? Did you just go one to the other?
I think I yeah, I think I did stop. I remember the day I quit band. I think it was in sixth grade. You know, big, big drama at the middle school.
But it was time.
Yeah, I heard. I heard the stories. When you quit band, they call it the day the music died in North Carolina.
Absolutely green sleeves will never be the same.
When do you realize that maybe you want to do music like as as, like bigger than just being a hobby.
I mean, I started my band in eighth grade, and so we're called below the line.
That's actually kind of cool for an eighth grade band, not.
To be confused with blowing the line. It was. There was a little bit of controversy there.
I never heard of that band.
Well, just I think the the coke reference, right, Yeah.
I don't know coke references.
So well neither do I. Just I thought i'd sound cool for a second.
Yeah I am not.
So.
I don't know anything about cocaine. However, I think that's a pretty cool name for a group of eighth graders. Usually it's like Willie's gibblet and you're like, yeah, that name sucked.
Yeah, that was a pretty good one, not bad.
So it was below the Mason Dixon line because you know, we're of course, and we played dude, you know, all all kinds of stuff. We played a little bit of country, but it was mostly like it was hooty. It was fire for fighting, you know, Tom Petty. Like we took a little while to get to the full country band.
Were you the singer as well?
I was singer and played guitar until we hired another guitar player. I was lead guitar for way too long.
When did you realize you could sing? And did you start singing before you actually could sing?
I did like choir and chorus and all that stuff.
And I mean, you can look back at some eighth grade videos of me and it is it's terrible, but I could at least like hold some sort of tune.
You could tell there was something there a little bit.
Did you go through the whole voice puberty change? Oh, of course it was it obvious while it was happening, as you're if you're a singer. Yeah, was there a stage where you're like change.
Yeah, it was kind of eighth grade was prime, prime voice cracks. And then you go through the phase of like, I want to sound like hooting the blowfish, and so I'm not really gonna enunciate the words, and it's really cool when he does it, it's not very cool when I do it.
We went through a lot of phases.
And how did you find three or four other guys in your town that wanted to play the other instruments?
One guy played drums in the band, like you know, marching band, not marching band, but school band. And the other played the bass and the keyboard, so he would it's off between bass and keys, and we just all went to the same school.
Who was the leader of the band? It got the group together? Was it you?
We practiced in my house?
Were you the below the line leader like, hey, we want to start a band, let's get together and do this.
Yeah, I mean sort of. It was all.
Everybody was pretty stoked about it. But I mean somebody probably I probably cared. Somebody's got to string the band. Somebody's gotta have the idea of let's start a band.
Yeah.
I don't want to take too much credit, but yes, it was, is there credit to take? I mean blow the line? Not really a thing anymore, right, unless you guys get back together. I would go to that show reunion.
We had some damn good years. Let me tell you.
For a moment, he did some fight for fighting.
We didn't even play that one. We played the Riddle, which is a kind of a deep cut hit.
You didn't do Superman now whatever that song.
Was, No, I can't. I couldn't sing that high band. My falsetto was not developed.
And how long was below the line of band.
Until my like junior year in college?
What was that?
Actually a pretty long time? Was the Rifted Girl? No? No, no, uh no? Riffs?
We just like I knew I wanted to do it, you know, try to do the real thing and try to make it or whatever. And they all kind of wanted to be smart and do do real jobs.
What music was in your house played by your parents?
Oh, my dad loved classic rock.
My mom loved like Kenny Chesney, loved Hoody all that stuff. My brothers were really into, like you know Third Eye Blind and JJ Gray Moowfrow back when they were taking off, and you know, some jam bands and OAR and all that stuff, So I really I kind of got the full full scope.
And what did you gravitate to? Is like your favorite band? Like in college, what was your top three favorite favorite bands would have been.
So probably by college it was like Kenny Kid Rock That's he's been my favorite since eighth grade. And then probably like I don't know Eminem.
Yeah, okay, that's pretty typical.
Yeah yeah, Like and you had digital music, so that makes sense meaning I got digital music. I was luckily like the first generation that got Napster, But anybody older than me was like, no, if you're a country fan, you listen to only country.
Yeah.
No, if you're a hip hop fan, it's only hip hop. Which there's still a little bit of that that remains kind of in the culture of music, and it's slowly going away because the executives are starting to be younger obviously, and they grew. But you know, for a long time, you could only be one thing or another. Yeah, and that's why, because you really were just one thing or another. There wasn't the ability to have all these influences musically. Did you want to rap?
I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind at all. Then I tried to rap, and it's it was pretty clear. What do you mean you tried?
You know, we would try live a little bit and it just.
I've seen you on TikTok like rap stuff.
Yeah, now I've got it to like where I can do it enough to get by if I need to do it. But most of the shit I say, it's just kind of cheesy. But that's King of Cheese over here. That's what I do.
When you go to college, are are you looking for other band members to create another band or are you thinking you're going to play shows by yourself?
So college.
By the time I got to college, we had added some pieces to the band, changed some stuff around, brought in some other guys.
We had evolved a bit as a band.
It was still just you, though from the original it was.
Me and bass keyboard player. We played all through college together. He's still one of my best friends. And we just kind of found guys that wanted to play and play a little bit more. So that's when we kind of started to tighten up a little bit.
Was that your identity in college the music guy? Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, the girls didn't really think it was as cool as so I thought they might, but it was cool.
It's never cool with girls until it's really cool with girls. Yeah, whenever there's something about it that makes it special because of like, you're just crappy. You could be crappy at anything. It just happened to be crappy in music, exactly. But when there's like it starts to be special, it doesn't. It doesn't matter what it is. It can be boxing, it could be music. It could be uh making paper airplanes. If you get on ESPN doing it, well, all of a sudden, the girls think it's pretty cool.
Yeah exactly. Well, thank you for making me feel better about that.
Did you get girl? Did you get girls? No?
For music? No, I got my wife. It's all the matters.
But when did you start dating? I know you said in college, but freshman year? Ye, okay, you had three years of playing music. Music didn't get you in three years of no game? Bro? I felt that no I did. And so do you play? Is it a cover band? Uh?
Yeah, we would write some stuff.
We actually put out some some records, but it was you know, we were playing bars.
Nobody wanted to hear our shit.
Same name, blow the line? Yeah, why change it? It's a cool name.
It's a cool name.
It's still a cool name.
Yeah.
And then after college was there a point where you had to break the band up again?
Once I got here, it was kind of like, you know, and it wasn't even like a break up a band thing. It was like, you know, I'm moving out here and I'm doing this. I probably gotta find guys you know in Nashville that are here doing it and all that stuff.
What triggered the move here, like what specifically?
I just knew, I knew I had to do it.
I gave myself like one last chance at a at a real job. I interned an Haser Busch junior year of college up in New York, doing like wholesaling stuff.
What do you mean, like, what do you do day to day?
There nothing, absolutely nothing. The people that work there do something. They didn't need me. And the first as I sat down at my desk and I started writing songs, and I was like, this is I'm going to ride out.
The summer and do the whole New York thing. But I knew.
I knew then music up in New York at all. Did you like go to any little No? No?
Yeah, I went to Stapleton at Jones Beach.
But did you play like any bars or anything in New York?
Oh?
No, nobody would let me different environment.
Yeah, and I just like, well, who was gonna let me play at their bar? It's like I had nothing to show.
So you moved from New York to Nashville? Or do you go back North Carolina for a second for a year? I guess don't.
Yeah, I had one more.
Year in Chapel Hill, got it, and then moved to Nashville like two weeks.
After I graduated.
Exciting or scarier or both? Which one one more excitement or more scared?
More excitement?
But I mean the best part was like my friends were all applying to jobs back half a senior year and I didn't have to do anything.
Awesome.
What do your parents say about this, because, as you know now especially, this is not the most stable of jobs. Yeah, what do your parents say to you? Whenever? It's like, hey, I just did four years at school, I just graduated, all right, time to go and hopefully make some tips.
Did They were just as pumped as I was, and they knew that I was going to do it, but they were They've been so behind this since since eighth grade. My dad bought me a PA system and let us practice in the garage.
You have siblings, two older brothers. Yeah, you mentioned brothers. They have two, and you're the you're the baby.
Yeah. So they're seven and nine years older.
Are they musical?
They like music?
Yeah, so they don't play music or seeing now.
They were. They were both really good athletes.
My middle brother walked on the basketball team at Carolina Wow, which was sick.
And then my oldest brother he got on.
He got on the teams to walk on. Oh yeah, I mean you'd be really good. I know, like legit.
He was on it twenty eleven and twenty twelve. So the year Kendall Marshall gets cheap shot out by Creighton in the second round in the NCAA tournament, that was a senior year.
You had all the inside information.
I know it was sick.
That's the coolest thing.
And I got the hand me down like Carolina Jordan Brand shoes for high school games. Still didn't get girls.
That's awesome, And still didn't get girls.
That's amazing.
Hank Tight the Bobby Cast will be right back Wow, and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Why'd your current wife, like you familiarity from my school.
You might need to ask her familiar But.
It's like, you know, I know you're down playing a little bit. You're a tall, good looking guy with talent. But what what do you think it was about you? They got her?
I mean, I think I'm a pretty good guy, you know, and we just we really did know each other so well, and I always you know, we didn't date up until college, but she was always like, if I could get her, then I would drop whatever I'm doing and be with her.
I always felt that way.
Did you try to keep the friendship up, hoping for it like a little crack in the damn? Like did you have boyfriends and you would just like be a good friend, Yeah, but you'd be there just yeah, yeah.
You need a ride anywhere?
Yeah, I kind of got I got you. The problem with that is sometimes you get too close and they only see you as a friend exactly.
Yeah, it was the transition from friend to where we are now. It took a little bit.
Good for you, you got the I know, when did she When did she move out here?
She was six months after me. She moved out here and got a job doing commercial real estate. Marketing and yeah, that's cool.
Not creative, not any the creative industry at all, which is awesome. It's very nice to it's some balance. Yeah, so you don't freaking go crazy over things that sometimes matters, sometimes don't matter at all. But she, like my wife, does not she's not in the creative world, so she can slap me sometimes be like this is not important. You're putting way too much of like your creative your emotional inventory and something that's not going to affect anything tomorrow.
I need an absolute ass kicking weekly and she gives it to me. It's great.
What do you find when you moved to Nashville? What's the experience? Was it like when you were an athlete and you start to play the other school and you're like, wow, these guys are really good. Did that happen here?
I mean, I thought, because I'd gotten pretty good a playing in bars and I was good at entertaining a crowd and all that stuff. But you move out here and it is just it's going from high school to the NBA. And but at the same time, everybody's so nice. Everybody is very welcoming out here. That whole you know, family and Nashville community, and you find people that you know, give you advice, take you under the wing, give you opportunities, let you play somewhere you know that that really exists in Nashville. I think in a way that it, you know, probably doesn't exist in a whole lot of other places.
I agree, it doesn't exist like that in La No or New York. Yeah, you have to know know somebody, and here you can get to know somebody and they will help you out. The difference having to know somebody and having the ability to get to know somebody and they can help you out. Where's the first place you played in town?
I played at a Wrangler pop up shop during CMA Fest, like right off of the second or third. But I knew a guy because Ranger was from Greensboro, which is, you know, a town over from where I'm from, and he just like gave me a slot at this Wrangler pop up shop and it was like I was playing.
CMA Fest in Nashville is the coolest thing in the world.
How did you feel it went?
I mean, okay, not everybody left. Some people left, but the uh, Victoria Shaw was somebody who I knew before I moved to town, and like she came out to that show and you know, I think saw some a little bit of something and my performance or whatever. Taylor Phillips played after me at that thing, and like he was a really nice guy. So it was cool, Like it was a cool first Nashville thing.
I think when people moved to town, myself included. You have those people that moved town around the same time. It's kind of like your class, yeah, you know, and with me it was like Dan and Shay, like I knew them way early. It was and you know, four or five different people that I think of when I moved here, they also were here and we all started to kind of bubble around the same time. That would be like the class. Who is that class for you? That also was like getting their feet wet in Nashville.
Yeah, So it's kind of it was sort of two different waves for me. Like I had my move here and play on Broadway sort of you know a couple of years, and then once COVID hit and I got asked in that six one five house project, that's when I kind of found my class of other artists, you know, like Alexander Ka, Thomas Mack Tiger, Lily Chris Rudiger ashually cooked Priscilla. That was kind of when I met that class of people.
Yeah, you know, I like a lot of folks. I guess I discovered you on TikTok, but I don't really think of you as like the TikTok guy anymore. Which is a great thing to graduate from. It's a big it's a big part of your history. But I, you know, until you said that, I forgot that that was a part of the house. Thing was a part of it, and that was a big deal. That had been weird because you weren't living there, right, you were going and working out of there, right, We were working.
Out of there, you know, a couple of times a week, making content, getting to know each other and like it was still still kind of COVID, so you couldn't really do anything. Sure, but we could meet up at this house. And whose idea was that? It was Chris and Ashley. They came up with the idea actually cooked Chris Rudiger, So they really came up with it. They spearheaded the whole thing, found the house and.
Paid for the house.
I think they let us use it for free.
Maybe the house people did.
Yeah, because it was a wedding venue. They weren't having weddings.
Sure, I mean this is something well, I think like shoutouts and content.
Let me live in house for shoutouts. This the greatest rent ever.
This was Chris Rudiger negotiation skills. He's the one to ask there.
And what did you find amongst that group? Light minded, fresh minded Nashvillians kind of finding their place.
Yeah, just we all kind of had the same mindset of like we didn't really have anything going on, you know, or a whole lot going on before this. Now we have this, and now we have this tool that we can build fans and try to make something going for ourselves.
Yeah. You guys embraced that way early. Yeah, and I think you know, there has been that wave of TikTok artist has gone from awesome to I don't know, now it has to be. It's had different faces, right, Yeah, and now it's not even cheesy or corny, which it was for a minute. But before that it was just cool because it's how you found Again, it's had all these different iterations of what people feel about TikTok artists. I compared it to like people on American Idol or the voice that was that same thing, but now TikTok is if you don't have a TikTok fault, you just don't get signed.
Yeah, because it's you realize it's not just numbers. And the whole time through any of it, you know, I think myself and a lot of others saw it as like these are actually real people that are paying attention to us, and they're going to listen to our music and now they're showing up the shows and so it's like, you know, you can equate it to followings or whatever any of that stuff, but it's like you have fans. If you have a TikTok following that actually likes your music and that is translating, then you have a foundation for something pretty special.
Do you have any videos you regret that you did?
Well?
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, there's one. Uh I forget when this trend was. I was, but it's like me and my wife were standing in the bathroom and it's like you flick the light on with the beat and the light turns off and it turns on and I'm wearing her clothes and she's wearing mine, and like it was kind of weird, how how comfortable that'll last skirt was Yeah, I.
Get it made you feel it.
Yeah, I thought that.
Yeah, I'm wearing panties right now. But it's a who different story for free Man. What about in that house did you guys write together or was it creating content just mostly like going in.
And yeah, more creative content. Yeah, I mean we we wrote together some, but it was mostly just creating content. We all kind of had like our people we wrote with, and we kind of just kept that as you know, the TikTok stuff.
You're able to keep it a line there, huh said again, you're able to keep it like a line between you know, this is my TikTok group and I'm going to write with other people.
Yeah, for sure.
Who kind of popped out first? Was it Priscilla?
Priscilla was the first one, and I mean, got wait, what a freaking pop that was?
It was so awesome to watch.
That was my question. How any jealousy amongst the group was that ever? And I'm not asking you for names, but was that was it ever like a bit political? A bit I don't know, you know, when some people start to pop, some people get jealous.
It was more I think for everybody like Look at how big she is popping. I mean, look at all that is doing now for us. You know, there's there's hope for us to pop like that too, because we didn't. You didn't even know it was possible until she did that, And then like Janakis did his with Gone Too Soon, and it just was kind of reaching this different level of like song consumption that was like, oh, this isn't just a little app anymore. This is like a major player in the music business.
Did you have a song or any musical content that you did that early on hit really hard that gave you some confidence that people like you.
There was some like there was some viral videos and like that was cool, but they were all kind of like cheeky stuff a little bit. It was when that a song called New Normal that was like my first viral song on TikTok, and that was really the first like, holy shit, I've just got seventy five thousand Spotify streams in a day and like an iTunes sharply, Yeah.
Yeah.
Would you worry because you're funny? Would you worry that sometimes people would just see the funny part of you and not understand that you're also a serious artist.
No, because all of it, even like the goofy stuff, it all had a purpose in my mind of like getting more eyes on me, keeping me, you know, I guess quote unquote relevant until like my next song popped off or whatever. And I'm sure you worry about you know, are they ever going to see past like a mashup video or something. But at the same time, it's done way more good for me than bad, so I can't really worry about it.
How consistent are you now on TikTok about every day? Still? Yeah, it's it's such a tool like me. Yeah, for both tools not you come TikTok. You know, for me, TikTok has been interesting because there was content that I used to do that you used to do really well, and then all of a sudden that content wanted to do so well anymore. And then I just, you know, I felt like I was guessing, and then I was like, screw it, I don't want to guess anymore. I got with the idea of I just don't care. I'm just gonna put up stuff that I like. Yeah, and that has actually helped. That's been the best thing for me because I don't need a lot of stuff on TikTok. Now, no production, no editing. I just get up and hit the button and talk, which who would have known what I got successful doing is actually what I should do on TikTok. And like I was like, you know, I'm just gonna tell stories about my life in Nashville and country music and artist stories and I have a good little bag of those now and some inside. And so the first one I did, it was about Garth and I was like, maybe this was It was like an hour later, half a million, and I was like, huh, I wonder if I hit a weird algorithm. Maybe all G words were getting a lot and me not figuring out TikTok has been the greatest way to figure out TikTok.
Of course, do you go.
Through those where you're like, okay, well now it doesn't seem like this is working as much anymore. I need to shift it, Like what is your process?
Just like battling through the valleys a little bit and just you know, keeping consistent with it. But you know, yours popped off, I think because nobody else was doing that, you know. And anytime I've had something really do well, whether it's a concept or like a song, or something. It's kind of because it's just a little bit different than you know, anything else out there, whether it's like an EDM country song or whether it's a three minute matchup video. It's all just like you know, you're think about people scroll and they're going to stop on something that's like, oh wait, what's that?
I you know, I haven't seen that before, did you feel like?
Because again I got into the bad habit of it's got to be the more production, the better, and I'm gonna be like, man, I gotta I'm gonna get read. I got this, I'm gonna send it to read. Let's read. I'd be like, read, put this headed on there, do that, and we would work tirelessly on it because I'd be like, the more, the slicker it is, and we'd spend all this time on it and it would get It'd be fine twenty thousand, yeah, fine. But then it's like I'm going to cut off looking at the camera telling a three minute story that doesn't even always make sense. And I just posted like I posted one this morning. I haven't looked. I've had no time, so I haven't looked at it to see if I had any any results. So I posted it. Let's see what I got here? Okay, almost forty thousand, like two hours ago, I haven't even looked at it. It was the most the most trouble in the dumbest troll ever been in. I literally did nothing except go got fined a million bucks by the FCC. One of the guys on the show went to jail for a bit. We did. But the most controversy, the stupidest controversy, was we did a song that we wrote and everybody got upset about it. Was it the one? But before that? Who is the smartest people in Country Music? Four hundred thousand views? Yeah, I haven't looked at that till right now.
Who are the smartest people in country music?
Thanks for asking. So this is where I started to get some which is going to leave me to my next question for you. I started to get some feedback that wasn't pleasurable to read. Yeah, which is just hate mail or hate dms. And I'm okay with that. I've been getting my whole life. But I said, hey, these are the three people that I would consider the smartest people that I've been around in country music based on my personal experiences. And so I listened about and I listed on their.
I didn't get tagged, so I don't think of you did.
Not know you were fourth? Oh yeah, yeah, final Forest five Yeah. Fourth. It was Dirk Spentley because every time I'm with him, he is reading a extremely thick book that is like the fifty Laws of this or the forty Rules of Like he consumes. He loves reading books. I didn't know that massive book nerd. Yeah, awesome, right, but he doesn't really put that out there. But that's you know, I know, Dirk's a little bit. That guy loves to consume literature. It's crazy. Matt ste Hell, who plays I'm just I'm just a country boy. Which side of the corn do I eat? However? When got his masters and then was accepted into med school. But really, but the guy, what do you want.
To talk about?
We want to talk about political theory? You want to talk about medicine. His mom was a superintendent. He's brilliant, dude, exactly exactly, so, I said, Matt Stell, And then I said, for a different reason, Clint Black Because anytime, if it's on the show or off the show that I've been around Clint, if you're not ready, he will take his sword of jokes and carve you up. You have got to be ready to get in with Clint Black because he is quick. And so I mentioned that whatever so video did find pretty well, actually almost half million views, and people were like, well, classic, you don't think any women are smart? Okay, here's the thing. I didn't respond to it. What women am I around all the time. It's not like me and a married woman who's an artist ever just hang out. I hang out with Matt Stell or Dirk's or see Clint Black. I'm not around with a bunch of married women just chatting it up. That's not normal. I don't have I mean, I know Dolly a little bit. I'd put her on there for sure, but that's an easy one. But it's like I'm around other dudes more than I hanging out with dudes more than I am women of course, but people on TikTok a kind of dicks. Some of them are not all. But you have to deal with that too. At times, do you get do the haters get you down? Or have they got you.
Down every once in a while, because I mean you just everybody's human. You just kind of have those days that, like one common will just get to you. But most of the time it's like, dude, they're not going to like you whether you do something that one or not.
And you know what, most people are actually really cool. Most are most really just that fringe one to three percent that I got a community guidelined because I was talking about this. You ever been community guidelined? No, hey, you don't want to go to that part of town. That sound took my video down, big black mark on my TikTok's community guideline. We pulled your video. Kind of outlaw though exactly I'm the bad boy TikTok. Some dude had said it, had written something in a comment it wasn't good, and I just posted the comment and talked about it, and I said, I don't have one friend that's happy in their life that goes on anyone's social media and says mean stuff.
Yeah.
I wasn't even attacking him. I was like, I was thinking about this, like why would someone write this? And I started to think of my most fulfilled, happy friends, and no one's happy all the time. But really like people that like I look at their life and it's like, oh, they have a healthy balance. They're not always right on. Nobody is, but they kind of get it. They know what makes them happy, what to pursue. None of them go and write mean things on people's instagrams, tiktoks, facebooks, bro.
The saddest people I know don't even do that.
And I'm just saying that. And that person went reported me, said I threatened them and they community guidelined me. Hice's the twist. It was you there we go. There's the twist, noticed me, Bobby. What's happening with you now musically? Because I feel like you had when I was watching you, like there's a rocket ship, And I know you've had people come to an offer you thing I don't. And I know for a while you were doing your own thing because you wanted to be real strategic about who you partnered with. Where are you now in that still?
You know, I'm still independent on the label side, Victoria Shawl and I'm on this label together and we've been doing that for years. You know, I've got killer management, make wake.
Have the label deals not I've not been to where you feel like they're advantages to you based on where you are in your career.
Yes, And we also haven't really opened those floodgates yet, not that there are people hammering down our door every single day.
But I know there are people that want you. I've heard people talk about it. But if the deal's not right, especially when you've created your own audience, your own fan base, Yeah, why would you take a deal that wasn't advantage just to your career exactly?
And for me, it's never been like I don't want to deal ever, you know, I want to be independent forever.
All that stuff, I don't want to be.
But it's got to be the right thing, and it's got to be something that puts me in a better position than I'm in now. And you can just really, you can do a lot on your own own now until somebody wants to come in and really, you know, take it to that next level without taking everything from you.
Not that those are the deals we've been offered, but.
I will make you a deal. I'll offer you a deal, but I guess take everything from you.
Can I can I hang out at your house?
Yeah? Okay, again you can.
Sweet.
I was looking at some ticket data. I think I saw these. It sold like eighty or ninety thousand tickets. Dude, that's crazy, And I may even be right with that number. But that's a lot of freaking tickets. It's a it's a lot. That's why you don't sign a record deal unless they're giving you a great reason to.
Yeah, because what I mean, we're building.
We're building something that people want to come see live, and for me, the live show that's always been like the most important part of it. And we're getting to do that, and year after year it's growing. You know, we're not at five thousand tickets to show yet, but we're you know, we've gone from two fifty to five hundred, eight hundred hard tickets.
Yeah.
That is the greatest compliment, even though it's a like a it's a tangible thing that you can give to an artist to say, hey, man, congrat you sell hard tickets. Yeah, because there are a lot of artists that have one, two, three hits, but the hits and it's money, but they're so generic that there's no attachment of the person to them, so they do not sell hard tickets. So I was looking at some of your stuff. You sell hard tickets. That's crazy, man. I don't know why they show up, but they do. Were you surprised? When was the first time you put up a show that you were the headliner, and were you nervous about that?
My first so we saw our first tour was me Thomason AKA, we co headlined.
Were you worry if anybody would come?
We had no idea. We had never.
I'm pretty sure this was the case with the other two. I had never done a hard ticket show.
You know.
Mine was either play Broadway, play Tin Roof and Charlotte from ten to two, like Theo's the only show, So.
Whether there will be people already there or hopefully there'll be people that stop buying.
Yeah, And I remember the second show on that tour was we played in Louisville, Kentucky at this rock club. Like it was not a natural crowd, you know, country place. It was a rock club, and five hundred people showed up to see us three play our own freaking songs.
And it was insane.
I mean, we were hoping to maybe average hundred tickets to night and we had some five hundreds in there. I think we had one that was like eight hundred somewhere in Michigan. And so that was really cool. And then I did my first, like you know, sole headline tour of the year after that and was the same thing. It's just like people people are showing up and they know the ship.
Yeah yeah, that's I mean, that's how you saw our tickets because they know you, they know you, and they know your music.
Yeah.
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the Bobby Cast.
Do you ever go into your you're not your dms, but like your super dms from people that aren't your people that you follow, I forget what they're called, Like you're going to know better than I do. Requests? Do you ever go into your request on Instagram?
I do not one. I think I got like scared one time.
And place don't go over there. Yeah. Do you ever get on Facebook?
Oh? Facebook?
I love Facebook, But in terms of like Facebook messages, yeah, that is there are so many more scammers on Facebook than anywhere else that, like, I feel like ten million Cooper Allen's have reached out to so many people on Facebook that I've gotten enough like people to message me back like, yo, I got scammed. Can you do something about it? You know, which sucks. I wish they would do something about that, and.
I think they try, But what do you do when they're being farmed out? Ten thousand of a time coming up every day. I got one last night said that my sister would message them, wanted to give them like some tickets or something, and I was like, my sister's not messaging anybody. Yeah, like they do sisters managers.
And they make it sound and look very very realized. I see how people can fall for it.
Yeah. I felt for it on my own. I was like, Bobby wants to work with me? That's crazy. Here's a thousand dollars. How often do you write.
Every damn in town? Pretty much? So like it'll usually end up being two to four days a week.
Do you ever write by yourself?
I'll start stuff by myself, but I've I really really like the co writing process, and like for me, I'm so like, maybe it's because I'm type a while also doing creative stuff, but like I like going to a writing appointment and writing from you know, ten or eleven to three or four, and then I try to kind of back off of it after.
That, writt anything good lately that you're just like, man, this song.
Nah, all shit. I Actually I've got some stuff that I feel really good about.
There's a difference in a good song or maybe it's a song and something you're like, Oh, I need to send this to people right now because I love it so much. Yeah, I mean you yourself. Have you had any of those moments with songs in the past few weeks.
They're a handful I'd say like four or five that at least to me or like, this feels so me and it feels like something that will really hit people in a big way. And you know, half the time when you think that, they just flop or whatever. But there's a we got a good batch of songs.
And so with Take Forever, are you guys still on that train? I mean, or are you on something else?
We're kind of moving to the next thing, you know, whenever that next big thing will come out. I mean I still like I'm going to show up to a wedding this year and do the Take foreverything.
Uh. You know, obviously we played live all the time. I push stuff on socials.
But I guess I ask because if I were going to like highlight one of your songs, like the National Countdown or something, what song would you want me to do?
Well? If you did that, then I would I'd give you a big hug man.
No, I like you, and I think you're really good. I'm going to do that. And I was just finding a backway to ask you, like are you still on this song? And then randomly you'd get a message going, hey, Bobby's gonna but now we've ruined that because you've killed the you know, the surprise. So what is so? Or? Do you want me to just wait until you put something else out? Dude?
I mean I think take Fevor would crush on that. Yeah, that'd be sick. And I could tell my wife. I feel like, remember, remember what we did, Mike, let's do that. I got it, dude.
We'll put it on the next Yeah. So we're gonna feature on the National Countdown.
Thank you? Man? What's sick?
You're welcome, man, Damn, what's tay?
I'll take you out to play McCabe?
Sometimes you and me see you too much? You're too much? What's that? What's next? You are you? You have another you have more music they haven't released yet that you're ready to release or you're still working on what's next?
We've got about three or four that I kind of want to package together, probably put out sometime this summer, and then the the goal is kind of moving towards my first full length project, which I think will likely come beginning of next year, So we're kind of we're kind of in that mode for the rest of the year.
How many songs do you have fully recorded and produced it if you died today, they'd be able to still put out in your honor.
That are unreleased fully produced fifteen twenty And.
Would you prefer them to be released as one batch like the Cooper death tape or would you like me to dribble them out slowly?
I would like, well, I want to know what's about to happen here, because very specific.
I'm just asking. I would prefer mine to be dribbled out with the idea of I might not be dead.
That's true.
Yeah, Like, don't believe the rumors. I just need like one or two people to be conspiracy theorists that I've set up ahead of time. Yeah, like, no, he's not dead. He got another song, that's what that's how That way it keeps it alive.
Yeah, you're just somewhere with pac Man.
Amen. Amen, dude, I'm glad you came over. If you want, I can either wait, I'll do take forever. Michael's to take forever. Okay, it'd be sick. But then when you put out new stuff, let us know, and if it's good, we'll do some stuff with it. We'll play it.
The cool thing is I know where you live.
We'll get it. This is just a temporary Oh really, Yeah, I buy a new house every day and move from it.
Yeah. You build pickleball courts on the day.
Well, hey, I'm almost done with that, taking like two and a half months.
That thing looks sick.
Wait till it's done. It's going to have a real net and everything. Damn, I know.
Are you building like grandstands?
Now?
I am there you go.
I been thinking about that until right now. We have we have little things on the sides.
We're pretty You played Cooper Allen Grandstand.
If you die, you got it. If you die and I release your music, I will name the grandstands after you.
Starting to sound awesome?
Good deal? You play pickle ball? I do?
It's good right, Oh it's great. Man.
I blew my back out like a couple of weeks. You can't blow something out. You are too young to blow something out.
I know I've got a narrow disc and my muscles are like pushing on a nerve there. So I'm off the swim laps now for the next like month, So no pickleball for a while. I'm off pickaball for a little bit. I'm golf and everything. It's a shame.
I tore my rotator cuff in two places. I've not played around a golf I think since maybe since we played. It's been, which has been maybe a couple of times since we played, but I haven't played really at all because I just killed my shoulder.
But they said that's and then the most like painful, one of the most painful tears like that, and Achilles.
I think Achilles as far worst. I had two small tears. It was throwing over and over and over again. So I could act all tough, but I'm not.
It hurts practice or something.
We were working out, so it started. We went and worked at with Florida State softball team sick and I was in full catcher's gear time and myself throwing with their team, seeing if I could throw runners out that's what, and so over and over again. And I hadn't thrown in months before that. And then went to Oklahoma State and did worke out with their softball team and their baseball team, and I was like, something ain't right. And then I went to work out with Arkansas and when I did that, I was like, it's dead. And so I went to the doctor and he's like, you've torn your rotary cup in two places. Luckily my labor wasn't good, was perfect.
Has cal invited you out to a basketball practice?
They haven't practiced. They just had their first team meeting.
Wow, well they finally just got a team.
They find it and he's got a roster.
That's a great roster. Yeah, you took it.
Better be for the amount of money we were paying for it, you know, and for him. But now they haven't practiced yet. Yeah, so listen, I'm not used to being the villain, meaning Arkansas is at times spurdy, really good spurdy, like we have spurts of being really good. I'm not used to being the villain that has the big coach, the best players, we're spending I don't know how I'm gonna do. I don't know. I don't know if I'm gonna like it or not.
Yeah.
I think maybe if we win that'll just cure everything. But it's a little weird to me to not be the underdog.
The loss has become a hell of a lot worse just being a Carolina fan my whole life. Like, if we lose, it is awful. If you win, it's cool, but it's not as cool as losing as bad.
I hear you. I feel that way now, but with a bad team, so I'm always miserable. Yeah, So Cooper, good to see you, buddy, Thank you, bro.
Good to see so.
Yeah, when you get ready for the new music, let us know as well. They just let's just do it up. I'm big on the Cooper team. I'm Cooper Allen. Let's go TikTok Cooper Allen one. What's up? You can't get Cooper Allen now even after your TikTok fame.
Yeah, Coop Brown was never available. It's a shame.
But number more number one Yeah Instagram, Cooper Allen Music and then Cooper Allenmusic dot Com. I'm proud for you, man. You're really like you got you got a little knife when you're just cutting your way through and you're not taking it. You could have taken other things. And like, you know what you are as an artist. You're selling tickets, you're streaming. It's crazy congratulations on everything. I know at times it can be hard doing it by yourself, but better to do it by yourself and do it right than to take some bad deal and set yourself back.
Dude, Thank you, Thank you for saying that, Thanks for believing. And you know people like you that do your own thing, your own way, it's it's inspirational to people like me.
Thanks fire by me, just kidding, all right, Cooper own everybody can see somebody.
Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production