Paul Russell Talks Viral Hit 'Lil Boo Thang' & What's Next

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I want to two point seven KissFM. First of all, I'm glad
that song ended on time. DidI just see Tanya break out the lipsticky?
No makeup, no mascare these days, but let me just put on
glos So this is not lipstick.This is just my chapstick that is colored
with a gloss. It's like andsparkles. It's no, it's the honest

(00:20):
beauty, just chopstick. But wejust we just decided to bring in Paul
Russell for match game here at KissFM. We're gonna throw him onto the
panel before you even really get toknow him. Yeah, he's the guy
behind this song little booth thing,and I think Mark has gone out to
get him. But Kiss FM,there it is, and I will play.
I know it's annoying when I keepstopping the song, so I will

(00:43):
play the whole thing in just afew minutes. But getting the two contestants
up on the line for the matchgame, I thought Sysney was reaching for
her lipstick. No, I wasgetting him some notepads and a sharpie.
Part of the panel. Everybody's ina tizzy with a guest today. Good
timing Paul Russell. So Paul,we are it's great to meet you.

(01:06):
I'm so excited. I'm oozing withenthusiasm. Let's go. Wow, Hey,
same good well and by this dude, cool looking dude, Thank you,
I mean thank you, cool lookingdude. Uh, you exude coolness.
So we're going to just throw youinto something that's very easy before we
get to know you. So Idon't want to ask you anything yet.

(01:26):
I want to not know you duringthis Wow all right, all right deal,
So I'm ready. We are goingto start with contestant number one.
This is Julie here. Hi,Julie, good morning, It's Ryan,
It's Sisney, Tanya and Paul Russell. How are you. I'm doing great?
How are you super good? Thankyou for listening to Moderate Park.
Tell us about yourself, Julie,Julie, I'm trying to win these tickets

(01:49):
for my granddaughter who would love togo to jingle Ball. What's her name?
Her name is Riley? Great?Riley? Oh, great name.
Okay, stand by your contestant numberone, Julie. Let's meet Jessica.
Jessica. Good morning. You're contestantnumber two. How are you? Good
morning? Good morning. So you'rein Woodland Hills. Tell us about yourself

(02:09):
Jessica, Well I'm interested in newbus. Okay, that's good. Now
we're ready to go. So here'show it is going to work. I'll
explain it to everybody listening, includingyou, Paul Russell, the coolest person
in the room. Right now,we are going to give you a phrase

(02:30):
with a blank in it, Julie, Jessica. Okay, our panel here
of Siciny, Tanya, Ruby,maybe Tubbs, Paul Russell will write down
what they think should go in theblank. Then we're gonna hear your answer
and see if it matches up.Okay, it's traditional match game, very
easy. Wherever gets the most matchesis going to our jingle ball, presented
by Capital One. We start withyou, Julie in gonna hear the music

(02:52):
the match game, all right,Julie, yours is don't say it out
loud, Julie, blank, damnblank. Dance think about that for a
second. On the panel writes downtheir responses. Okay, all right,
so let's see and I to tellyou, Paul us so we're not great
at this as a team. Nopressure, but let's see it. Let's

(03:15):
start. Julie, what'd you say? What? Dance? Just dance?
Oh so good. Okay, let'sgo to Siciny. I said break dance,
breakdance, no, Tana, Isaid first dance. No. Ruby,
I said salsa dance. Paul Itold you we sucked at this game,

(03:37):
and clearly I sucked too. Isaid slow dance. That's okay,
So Julie's stand by. Let's goto Jessica. Now for another round.
Here, Jessica, contestant number two, you're up. All you need is
one match for the win, andyours is fire blank. Think about it,
don't say it out loud, fireblank, fire blank. Okay,

(04:01):
I got it. Okay, you'vegot it. Panel's written down their responses.
I hear Lucky in the background there, chanting. So Jessica, what
did you say? I'm gonna sayball, fireball, fire ball. I
like it, fireball. Let's goto the panel, sistany for the win.
Fireball, fireball. Congratulations. Ohmy gosh, what'd you say?

(04:30):
Tanya? I said fireball too,I said fireball? What you say?
Oh boy? All right, Jessica, you're going to our jingle Ball presented
by Capital One. Congratulations, Thankyou, thank you, Julie, thank

(04:51):
you so much for listening. Ireally would love to give something for Riley
Grace. How about tickets to ourKiss FM screening of the Taylor Swift movie.
That would be amazing. It wouldbe so excited. Don't even tell
her about the lost match game thing. Just tell her you got these tickets.

(05:14):
Okay, I will not All right, good Julian, Jessica, thank
you for having on. And whohas the hungry dog? I Jessica got
it. I'm sure all the petslove it. Hang on one second,
and uh, this is great.Okay, now we've done that, We've
set the tone. We're coming backto pay a bill and we're gonna spend

(05:35):
some time with Paul Russell. Hereone of two point seven It's Kiss FM.
Hang on DJ Triple xl in themix with some Nile Horren and meltdown
one of two point seven Kiss FM. Well it is Friday morning. Let's
set the tone right now. Heya Friday, Welcome, Paul, Thank

(06:00):
you for having me, well,thanks for coming in early. This isn't
already said, arrived forty five minutesbefore the scheduled interview, and I have
to tell you I love that.Yeah, you are speaking Ryan's language.
Wow the language. Look that wasin the area. I was like,
let me just a little bit.Let's let's see the real stuff. See
what's happening when I'm not around mylove language, that and off the menu

(06:21):
pasta, so we'll get to allof that perfect. So it's true,
this seemingly happened pretty fast. Iknow that you've been making music since your
middle school, but like with thissong, you picked a sample, you
put some great catchy lyrics together,you put it on TikTok, and then
talk about what happened in your view. Yeah, yeah, like, well,

(06:43):
you're right. I posted it TikTokand reels and people just loved it.
And I had to, you know, because I hadn't created a full
song yet. It was just tome. It was a piece of content.
When I put it out there,I had to then go back and
go, wait, I guess we'regoing to make love this. I had
to make a song now, andso yeah, it was just I went
back to my bedroom and I finishedthe song, thinking, you know,

(07:04):
hopefully it comes out, but butwho knows because it's a sample, and
you know, I didn't know theprocess of getting it cleared. It's been
a journey. And so those thatwant to use little booth thing in our
regular you know, out in thewild life? What is it specifically for?
Wow? Does it mean? Like? How would I use it in
a sentence tonight? The words littlebooth thing? Yeah? Yeah, I

(07:25):
mean it's somebody you love. Youknow, it doesn't have to be somebody
I've seen like people there's a lotof people calling their dogs. Yeah,
you know, it's got to besomething that you know, you care about,
that you love. It's got tobe kind of cute. It's got
to have some swag to it.So you go up in Dallas? I
did, yes? And then didyou have you Do you live in Hollywood
or have you moved to La?Yeah? I live in La now,

(07:46):
been here four years and I loveit. It's like home. And do
you have a regular job also?Or did you up until this thing took
off? I did? Yeah?Yeah, I quit my job really like
the week this song came out,Wow, which was wild. Yeah.
I was working in tech like ata it was like finance tech company.
Yeah you hear that. Paul Russellwas working in tech. You better watch

(08:07):
it. See we've an engineered thestudied history. Oh hey, when it
comes to wires, sometimes it's questionableHey, yeah, hit me up.
Hit me up. So how didyou so let me play the original song
that you sampled That's my Life,which puts people in a in a mood?
How'd you pick that as a sample? Yeah, well, so I

(08:28):
was listening. I was just listeningto music, honestly, and I don't
know. The thinking for me was, I love how songs like this are
just so happy and they you know, they make you feel good. It's
like you hear this at weddings andyou hear this at you know, events
like that. But I felt likeno one was really making music now.
That felt like that. You know, I think there's a lot of angsty

(08:50):
stuff. There's a lot of youknow, angry stuff, which is fine
and I, you know, Iconnect with that as well. But yeah,
it was like, oh, thisfeels different for some reason, and
so maybe, you know, makingsomething that kind of references that would be
fun. But again, back then, it was like, this is a
piece of content. Yeah, youget throw it out there, yeah a
few followers. Yes. Is itdifficult to get permission to use a song

(09:11):
like that? Yeah. Yeah,it's a whole process which I had no
idea how it worked. I mean, it was at the moment that I
had people. I remember when Iput it out, there were so many
people who were like, the nexttime I see you on my feed,
it better be because the song isout and the thing like, oh my
god, if you don't release this, I'm gonna be so mad. And
I've ship I know people. Yeah, which it's like, it's amazing because

(09:33):
they love the song, but it'salso terrifying because I didn't know how to
release it. And so not onlythat, like you set out to make
people feel good and they're pissed atyou already. Yeah, this is not
having the right effect. All right, Paul Russell's here, Let's take a
quick break. We'll come back.I'm gonna give you some freak gas and
we'll play Lebang in its entirety nextd Kiss FM, Kiss FM in the

(09:54):
studio. The reason I came towork today was to witness what I just
did, which is Tanya and Sicinydancing to you for you, in front
of you, to your song.I love it and you guys know the
words. Let's go. I haveused this song on Instagram at least dozens

(10:15):
and dozens of times, but Istop myself from using it. I use
it too much. But the thingis that is a great lesson in how
to put a hit song together.I mean, artists work really hard for
a long time to find something thatbreaks through, and that broke through,
I mean, like, how teachthat class to us? Like I wish,

(10:37):
I wish I could teach it.Yeah, I don't know. You
guys, you gotta get lucky,I guess without putting pressure on you.
Now, as you said, peopleget like really intense about what's coming up
and what's next. So now thatthat's everywhere, what what is your next
move? Yeah, I mean moremusic. I've been making a lot of
stuff. I mean, I thinkthe good thing is that, you know,

(10:58):
by the time that I released this, I had already been making music
three years, and so there's there'sother stuff that I even planned to have
come out before this, and thenyou know, this whole thing has just
breaks the eye like oh okay.Yeah, So so yeah, a lot
a lot more music. I'm stillfiguring out the timeline of everything, you
know, which which is hard becauseit's like when you have something that's moving,

(11:18):
it's like I don't want to youknow, I want to soak in
the moment a little bit, Butthen I also want to get people ready
and go, hey, here's thenew thing. So yeah, I'm trying
to figure it out. It's aninteresting juxtaposition, isn't it. Yeah,
here's the thing, Like, youhave a star quality, you have a

(11:39):
I mean, obviously have a hitrecord. But I'm watching you. I'm
listening to you, I'm looking atyou. I'm watching the way that you
speak and move and also sort ofengage people who are looking through the window
watching you in the studio. Thatis something that's really special and either have
it or you don't from what I'veseen, So you got it and you're

(12:00):
hype. People in the back arenodding their heads there, but I see
them and one's very tall. Sothe other thing that I really struck me
is that you're a bit of afoodie. I see, Oh yeah,
I love food. So do youknow we have something like specifically in common

(12:20):
about food and about pizza. PizzaVenice is Jelena. Oh my gosh.
First of all, I think theydo some of the best pizza in the
country. I absolutely agree it is. You know, we talked about Jelina
down there on Abbot Kenny for many, many years I can't go in there
and not get the pizza. Andthere's also like a three or four onion

(12:41):
pizza that I love there as well. I'm so glad that you mentioned this
place. I whenever anyone comes toLa, I'm always like, go to
Jelina, sit some pizza in.Oh my gosh, it's so good.
It changed. It changed the gamefor me. I didn't realize that pizza
could be that good. It's I'mtelling you, it can make you so
happy. And if you listen tohis song while going to have that pizza

(13:03):
or after, it's gonna change yourYeah, the whole experience, you're gonna
be a new person, life change. Well, bro, it's so nice
to meet you. We have beentalking about you and every time that we
get to meet somebody new for thefirst time, it's such a great memory.
So thank you for coming in tosee us in person. Congratulations and
we look forward to when you decideto hit the button on that next move

(13:24):
at the exact right time. Yes, yes, that's what it'll be.
Thank you so much. Thanks forhaving me. Paul Russell little booth thing,
it's out everywhere now. Grins oneveryone's face. By the way,
A bunch of high school football teams, probably listening to on the way to
a game. I Pump You Up. Oh yeah yeah, it's like specifically

(13:46):
football. There's been so many footballthings for this song. So kiss FM