Knox is a Nashville based singer-songwriter who rose to fame after his single “Sneakers,” went viral on TikTok, gaining more than two million views overnight.
The Daily Illini sat down with Knox after his Lollapalooza set to talk about his festival experience, and what fans can expect from him in the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Daily Illini: How was your experience and your performance at Lollapalooza?
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Knox: Last year as Lollapalooza was happening, I just put out my song “Not the 1975,” and since they were headlining we came and flew fans here. So, I got to experience it last year and I did all of the press and stuff, but I didn’t get to play. So being able to actually do that part this time was pretty sick. So it was fun, I’m having a good time. Meeting cool people, it’s just sick dude. Lollapalooza is legendary.
The DI: Did you just come off tour?
Knox: Yeah, literally just finished three days ago. It was awesome dude. We were with the band CAMINO, who is like one of my favorite bands, and just like some of my favorite people in the world. We did a bunch of shows, and it was honestly just like a bunch of bros hanging out. It was sick, and people showed up to listen to us sing. It was a good time.
The DI: Do you have an upcoming headline tour?
Knox: We do soon, it’s in the springtime so we’ll announce it by the end of the year. It’s gonna be a huge huge thing, so it will be fun.
The DI: What do you think your fans can expect from that tour?
Knox: It’s going to be the biggest shows that we’ve done — headline shows. Honestly, we have a bunch of crazy production ideas, tons of songs— and my producer is going to join us. So it’ll be a little different, it’ll be fun. I think people will enjoy it. I just hope as many people show up to the shows as they just did for our set.
The DI: I feel like with big festivals performers always get a bunch of new fans.
Knox: For sure, I felt that way. I was a little nervous because I put a little thing on my Instagram, like, “who’s pulling up to the set?” It was a little vote thing, so like 200 people voted yes. I was like, “okay, at least we’ll have 200,” and then God knows how many people were out there. It was insane.
The DI: You had a song that went viral on TikTok, “Sneakers.” How did that kind of viral success impact your career?
Knox: It was the first song I ever put out. Being in Nashville, you’re constantly seeing people and around people that are going viral all the time. For me, it was just cool to be one of those people, but then I feel like I got kind of a layup. Right when I went viral, the band CAMINO took me on tour. They’re the first band to ever take me, so while I was having the viral moment, I also was put in front of real faces at the exact same time that it was happening. When they took me on tour, I had one song out. I feel like they definitely helped me kind of solidify a more consistent thing going on. The viral thing just comes and goes so fast. They kind of laid me up and it’s just been madness since then. I’m just kind of rolling with it.
The DI: You just released another song right, what inspired that song?
Knox: Dude, actually, it was so funny. I was signed as a songwriter to a company called Riverhouse, before I was doing the artist part. I still write songs for other people, and that day that we wrote “Treadmill,” we were writing for the Jonas Brothers. Literally, when we got there that day, we were like, “Okay, what’s a random inanimate object, like Waffle House, something random or weird. We were literally saying random things out in the room, and one of them said “treadmill.” And we’re like, “Oh, that’s cool.” So we wrote the story around that, and then when we finished it, we sent the demo to my managers and they were going to send it to the Jonas Brothers managers, and I was like, “Don’t. Don’t send it, I love it too much, don’t tell them it exists.” That probably would have been our one shot to actually get a song with them, but I was selfish. I was selfish as hell that day.
The DI: What are your plans after your tour? Do you have any upcoming projects or new music?
Knox: We’re doing some college shows, it’s kind of marketed as a tour, but it’s only six shows. It’s really quick. So we’re gonna do that, and then honestly, I’m just finishing up the album that is coming out next year … I’m very excited to just be chilling. I’ve been home less than 30 days this whole year. Since January it’s been nonstop. I’m ready to just hang out with my friends and play video games and kind of fall off the face of the earth for a couple weeks. It’ll be very nice. I’m very excited.
