The guy whose music T-Pain wanted so badly to hate, I got to talk to last week. If you haven’t heard of him yet, Mason Dane is a music producer from Australia that’s been popping off on TikTok (for good reason). We talked about his music, TikTok, and a bit about caravan life. Read the full interview below.
Mars Khan: How old are you, where are you from, how did you get started?
Mason Dane: I’m 21, and I’m from New Castle, Australia. It’s like two hours out of Sydney. So yeah. I grew up in New Castle and then I did the last two years of high school on the other side of the state with some family. And when I came back, my parents had moved into this new house but they like forgot I was coming back. Like I didn’t say, so they didn’t have a room in the house for me. So they bought me this little shitty old caravan and were like, You can have that, you can live in that. So I sort of was living in there and it was just so hot. Like, when you wake up the sun’s already heating up this big metal box-
MK: Are you in there now?
MD: I am inside a caravan. But we just rented this one because I’m shooting a video today and we wanted to get a caravan back because it’s a big part of, like, the come up story. So we’ve just gotten this one as a prop for today’s video. But we had this old caravan and I sort of decided to turn it into a little studio. I still kind of sucked at making music but I really loved it. So I turned it into a studio and just worked in there every day and you know, put my first little efforts into getting better and better at music. Put an EP out by myself when I didn’t really, you know, I didn’t know any producers or know any labels or anything-
MK: When was that?
MD: This was like late 2018. So a few years ago and then I caught the attention of Kid LAROI’s manager at the time, Ziggy. He hit me up and we ended up linking up and going from there and then since then I’ve been sort of living in Sydney just really trying to hustle and get this music stuff going.
MK: What DAW do you use?
MD: I use FL studio for my beats and I use Logic to record vocals. I just think it’s way, way easier to record vocals on Logic.
MK: Do you play any instruments?
MD: Yeah, I play most instruments. I grew up in a very musical household. My dad had me playing guitar as soon as I could when I was like three, four years old.
MK: They were probably thinking of the house and that they would rather have you be in the caravan making noise and shit.
MD: Yeah.
MK: Who was your inspiration when you first got started? And then growing up, how it all culminated into your first EP.
MD: Well, growing up I listened to everything which is sort of why I feel like I’ve grown as a more versatile artist, but when I first started making music, it was just Travis Scott. I was so into Travis Scott and when I was making those songs, I was just like, What would Travis Scott do on this song? You know, I mean I’d just like make Travis Scott songs. But yeah, I don’t know, like that’s sort of where it first came from because I was super into it and I love that sound of trap music and stuff like that. So that’s where it all started. But then as I grew, you know, I was getting into studios in Sydney and being able to work with producers who can do other things. Like that was what sort of opened it up. And now, I sort of just make everything.
MK: Are you aware that your voice doesn’t match your face? Like a Post Malone kind of situation.
MD: Thank you. Yeah. I like that. Me and my managers really like the fact that I look nothing like I sound. The best part is when you’re in the studio with someone and you show them a song like, That’s you? and it makes them lose their mind a little bit, just because you wouldn’t expect me to make this kind of music. So yeah, I love it.
MK: How has TikTok affected your music?
MD: I mean, it’s really sort of the first viral moment I’ve had, like, my managers had been telling me for six months, You’ve got to do the TikTok thing, you’ve got to do the TikTok thing. And I do it here and there, but when I’d post my music TikToks, they wouldn’t really get many views. But then I’d post just me doing some stupid shit and it got views. So I was like, Oh, I don’t know if I want to do this music thing, but they’re like, No, it’s just about consistency. So I was like, All right, cool. I’m gonna try to do a TikTok every day. And it was building, it was building but then obviously the T-Pain thing happened and that just took off. But as far as my music, that pretty much kicked it all off. Like, the song that T-Pain listened to, “Dash” was sitting on like, 9,000 streams after a month. And now it’s at like two hundred.
MK: Which also isn’t bad.
MD: Oh yeah. 100%. I’m still so early in my career that I’m just, you know, happy that the music’s out and stuff like that. Me and my friend Liam made it in like half an hour. But then we kept going, kept pushing and then, you know, T-Pain reacted to it and had a funnier reaction than we could have ever expected. Then it just took off and actually turned into, like proper organic streams. A lot of the listeners are from America, which is so odd, especially, you know, being from Australia. Usually it’s like, you know, you conquer the home turf first and then it slowly branches out as you get bigger and bigger. But it’s really cool to see. But yes, it’s just gone crazy for my numbers. And I’ve doubled my Instagram followers in like a month and my TikTok hit like 60,000 followers or something like that. So yeah, it’s really crazy.
MK: Do you think it’ll be a lane for you, just posting on TikTok? Or when you grow more in your career, do you think you’ll try and mature a bit away from it?
MD: I’m still gonna keep hustling on TikTok just because it’s like, if you’re consistent there it’s really easy to keep growing and growing. So I’m gonna keep trying to grow it, but I’m still always doing other things and trying to attack from different lanes and stuff like that. I don’t know. It just depends if I get so busy that I can’t make a TikTok every day, you know what I mean? But I’m still fine with, you know, hustling away at it.
MK: Do you have anyone in mind for collaborations or battles?
MD: My dream collab is like Justin Bieber, or I want to make a song with John Mayer. I think that’d be amazing, I’ve loved his music so much. But as far as like, right now, I think it’d be hilarious if we got T-Pain on a remix of the song that he wanted to hate so bad.
MK: That would be really good.
MD: Yeah, that’d be hilarious. He just hit me back with a follow on Instagram, which is pretty cool.
MK: Nice.
MD: So yeah, I’d definitely love to suss that out and see if he’s down.
@masondane @T-Pain funniest reaction ever😂😂 #tpain #viral #reaction #fyp
♬ original sound - Mason Dane
MK: What’s your writing process? Do you start with producing? Do you start with lyrics? Is it kind of free-flowing?
MD: Yeah. So it really just sort of depends on who I’m working with. Like I’ll usually sit there and as the producer is like, making the beat, I’ll just be coming up with lyrics on my phone and stuff like that and have it all ready. So then when it’s time to record, we just do it. But when I’m by myself, like if I’m making the beat I’ll make the beat first. And then, a lot of the time, I’ll just get the sample, and then I’ll record over that, and then build on it afterwards. But my process, when I record alone, I just punch in line for line. Like, I don’t write, I just sort of think of the first line and record it, think of the second line and then just, you know, do that until the end. But it really just depends on who I’m working with.
MK: Yeah, for sure. And then if you could go back in time to 2018 when you put out your first release, what advice would you give yourself?
MD: Um, promote it. I didn’t really promote it at all. I just put it out and I posted on Instagram and that was it. Like that was as all I did and I sort of wish I did more, but then again it did lead me to where I am now. So, it goes both ways. But yeah, I definitely would have tried to push a little more.
MK: What are your plans for the future? Any releases you’re working on?
MD: Yeah. So I’m shooting a music video for a single that’s coming out at the end of November. And then I’m gonna take a break for a while, put out a new EP in a couple months which is gonna be really dope. Super different vibes. Very versatile project, super special, so that’s coming out at the top of next year.
MK: What does it mean to you to be Frank?
MD: I mean, I think it’s just about being honest with yourself first over everything. Just being realistic with yourself, but also, you know, wanting to push further and stuff like that. But yeah, to be Frank I think is just, you know, to really be yourself and then you won’t have to worry about anything else.