Rising RI Music Star Olivia King on Creating Yankees Pitcher Brother’s Walkout Song - And More
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Rising Rhode Island music star Olivia King has over 87,000 Instagram followers, has partnered with a nonprofit to help promote education and job training for recently incarcerated individuals — and her music can be heard currently at home games at Yankee Stadium.
King, who graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2016, spoke with GoLocalProv.com about her evolving musical career during the coronavirus pandemic, and how she plans to shoot a music video at the home of the Yankees, where her brother Mike King is currently playing as a starting and relieving pitcher — and walks out to music created by his sister.
Messin’ with the King
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“We had always kind of joked about it,” said King, of talking with her brother about making a song for him. “So in his junior year in college, I said it would be cool to give him as a Christmas present.”
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“I worked with Toye at URI and we worked on the beat,” said King. “I saw Jimmy Fallon had Derek Jeter on the show years ago and they made him a walkup song and they had the Roots perform — it was empowering and game ready and I said that’s what I want.”
“So Toye helped me came up with it and it was perfect,” said King. “As I went along in the writing process I knew it needed a rapper. It’s not really cool having your sister do rapping, and really, I’m not a rapper. So I reached out to Maye Star — he’s a rapper out of Boston — I said hey, don’t judge my rapping, but I sent it to him with me rapping and said, do you think you can rap it and I’ll do lyrics? And he said damn, I didn’t know you could rap!”
“So we got together, and he worked on it for a while. I said are you change anything? He said, 'I got you.’ I had it in the third person, and he changed it to first, and it just worked. He knew exactly what he was doing with his flare and spin. We filmed one video, and my plan is to film another at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees actually reached out to me about the possibility and this was before the pandemic so hopefully we can do that in the near future.”
“All through my brother’s time at BC his teammates learned the lyrics,” said King. “I’m kind of hoping Aaron Judge will.”
With the Kings in Rhode Island, how does the family feel about having a Yankee in the family?
“Well, three of the four were always Yankees fans — my dad is the Sox fan,” said King. “My brother was a Sox fan as a little kid. But one year my dad got tickets for a Yankees-Sox playoff game at Yankee Stadium he couldn’t go to, so he gave them to my mom and brother. My dad had given my brother $20 — and he came back with a Yankees hat. My brother loved tweaking my dad. He was probably 6 or 7 at the time."
“Now, my dad says blood is thicker than dirty water,” said King, of her dad shifting allegiances to his son's current team.
Game-Changing 2020
“This year I have been fortunate enough to have a home studio,” King told GoLocal. “I’ve been able to hone in on creating as much music as possible. A lot of producers are stressed right now, lacking motivation — I’m the exact opposite. Being forced to be home has helped me focus.”
“There’s a big difference in my music from last year to this year. This year I wanted to focus on how I was feeling during this time,” said King. “One of my latest singles was about giving back to the Black Lives Matter movement. I saw a TikTok compilation of viral videos of a nonprofit screen printing shirts, so I reached out to them and wanted to see how I could partner with them. They take men straight out of prison and give them a job printing shirts and give them group therapy and then after four months help them with an official job — I really liked that and their efforts.”
So King reached out to the Turning Leaf Project, who were in turn thrilled to have the support of the musician.
“They’re based out of South Carolina — it was a few months ago I reached out,” said King. “They were very interested. We came up with a special edition King shirt and proceeds go to the program and portion of the royalties go to them as well."
“I just felt I needed to write and give back, and music is the way I know how to do that,” said King. “This year especially I’ve had a much bigger response to my music — being more vulnerable, and in the present day. With the song 'With a Little Bit of Love,' I was struggling on the hook and I had a best friend from college help me. I said I want it to be about what’s going on today, and he came up we can change the world with a little bit of love.”
Connecting Through Social Media
“Instagram is a huge part of my brand,” said King, of her presence on the platform. “I schedule out when I film my videos — it’s part of my job. That’s part of the daily routine. I really started doing all those videos on TikTok and now it’s come over to Instagram with their Instagram Reels."
“I feel people can connect with me more as a person, as they really get to see my personality — whether it’s a stupid or a serious one,” King. “So my latest single Take a Shot. it’s not about alcohol, it’s about the shots thrown your way and dealing with anxiety. I thought it was important to talk about. People are struggling more than ever right now, and it’s normal to feel anxious. The response was unlike anything I’ve ever gotten. That just made me feel so good. I don’t want to say misery loves company, but it felt good to know others felt the same way.”
Looking Ahead in 2020
“I have another single dropping in mid-October called ‘Old Soul.’ It’s about me talking about me always just wanting to do music — in college, I didn’t drink, smoke or party. I was always working on my music.”
“So you could say this year, my music is is definitely about getting to know me better. I’m talking about things personal about me,” she said.
