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Everyone knows how life-changing TikTok can be. The ultimate marketing tool for new stars, either signed or independent, with thousands of videos of kids flinging their shoulders to your tunes and raking in millions of views, itās the perfect hitmaker and, for Dallasā Kaash Paige, helped catapult her career to new heights.
Her viral smash āLove Songsā ā the ethereal, guitar-fronted R&B song full of teenage fantasies and lovesick lyrics ā racked millions of streams on SoundCloud as fans clocked on via TikTok and sparking a viral challenge. But, after such an explosive come up, let’s get the full rundown on this soon-to-be pop juggernaut.
Humble Beginnings
Growing up in Grand Prairie in Dallas, Texas, Paige ā real name DāKyla Paige Wollen ā was always surrounded by music ā her dad was an engineer at a recording studio. But music always seemed to be a side fling to her love for sports. Playing softball and running track in school, she was ānever consistentā in releasing and doing music, she says. But after making and releasing her first rap song with her homeboy in sophomore year of high school, she knew that she wanted to sing for a living.
Quick Rise
After releasing her first song on SoundCloud, āDNDā, back in 2016 Kaash kept the momentum going by sporadically dropping tracks on her page. Although, Paige released a few more gems onto her profile, last yearās āLove Songsā seemed to be the one that caught everyoneās ears. Slowing down the instrumental of āDNDā the Texan began to confess her love, trying to āpaint a perfect pictureā and āmake it last foreverā, which we all related to. But Kaash Paige always had someone to thank for her viral track; Doja Cat. Using the same instrumental as Dojaās āNo Policeā, Paige has always dubbed āLove Songsā as the underrated songās sequel.
āI miss my cocoa butter kissesā¦ā
Racking up over 17 million streams on SoundCloud and millions more on Spotify, itās safe to say only a few people hate the ethereal track. And because it is a soppy declaration of love, many TikTokers took the opportunity to use it as the soundtrack to their own love stories.
@hanahescott saw this cute kid in the cafeteria and made moves
should i make a part two?
In addition, huge stars like 16-year-old Hot Girl superfan Charli Dāamelio rocked out the viral dance associated with the 19-year-oldās hit single.
@charlidamelio
Now, the soppy opening line is engrained in the mind of many, and Kaash even told i-D that āIāve encountered like 1000 people who sing [that line] to meā.
Signed at 18
With such a buzz around āLove Songsā, there were quite a few labels after the High School senior. But it was Def Jam [070 Shake, YK Osiris] that were lucky enough to get the teen to sign the dotted line and after signing to the label Kaash had big names next to hers,Ā featuring on teen sensation 24kGoldnās āUnbelievableā and Don Toliverās āEuphoriaā.
Knockout debut album
After dropping her debut EP at the end of last year gaining critical acclaim for her relatable, soothing melodies and unique vocals, the 19-year-old Def Jam-signee has released her debut album āTeenage Feverā. The 13-track album harps on the emotional rollercoaster that is adolescence with a few high-brow names. The aforementioned Don Toliver returned the favour, laying a verse for āTeenage Feverā as well as 42 Dugg and TDEās incognito rapper, Isaiah Rashad. In just over a year, Kaash Paige went from your regular high-schooler with a dream to a budding R&B starlet in the big league.
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