24kGoldn — Mood. An exclusive live performance for Vevo DSCVR ARTISTS TO WATCH 2021, an annual series highlighting those that are shaping the future of music.
It’s safe to say 24kGoldn was born to shine. His first name actually IS Golden, how’s that for starters? What’s more, at the age of 20, the alt-rapper has already gone platinum with “Mood,” his insanely catchy track with pal iann dior. As the story goes, the chart-topper was made offhand during a Call of Duty gaming sesh with Golden, iann, and producer pals Keegan Bach and Omer Fedi. “It was the first guitar riff that Omer played," Golden has said, «and without even thinking I started singing, “Why you always in a mood? Omer was like, ‘that’s fire.‘” It may sound like lightning in a bottle, but the sunny San Francisco native’s success comes as no surprise to Soundcloud users. Three years ago the indie community was showing love to Golden’s early and strong efforts “Valentino” and “Ballin’ Like Shareef,” the latter an eye-wink reference to both Shaquille O’Neill’s son and their Gen Z tribe. Where’d the musicality come from? Goldens mom tells a story of her son frequently using chopsticks as drumsticks on an upside-down yellow bucket. After that he did time in a local choir. In high school, an older friend told him about the availability of a studio. “The more music I made, the better it got, and the more people wanted to hear it.” Now his tracks have A-listers such as Justin Bieber and J Balvin hopping on remixes. The pandemic precluded a full band participating in our Artist To Watch performances, but that didn’t affect the musics energy. Golden and his pink-haired pal brought plenty of fire. Enjoy these live takes of “Mood” and “Coco.”
Executive Producer: Micah Bickham
Director: Priya Minhas
Producer: Averi Smith
Producer: Sacha Noelle
Director of Photography: Franklin Ricart
Editor: Ramy Elsokary
Music