We Spoke with T-Pain on Boats, Grammys and Burger King

By Jocelyn Richards and Matthew Bossons, December 6, 2016

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T-Pain: a man ubiquitous with bartenders, boats and golf cart incidents. With a myriad of hit tracks under his belt – as well was two Grammy Awards – there is no denying T-Pain is a musical force to be reckoned with.

In anticipation of his December 16 performance at Shenzhen’s Face Club and December 17 show at Pacha Macau, we caught up with ‘Tallahassee Pain’ to get his thoughts on Chinese fans, boats (naturally) and hamburgers. 

When you began your career, did you expect to end up with two Grammy Awards?
No, to any new artist starting out it’s considered a dream to ever be considered for a Grammy. 

With 50,000,000 digital downloads and over 16,000,000 albums sold worldwide it’s obvious your work is popular with people. What do you think makes people connect with your music?
I think I make music that is real for the common person.

Your NPR Tiny Desk Concert where you just sing is incredible! Do you plan on releasing any further stripped-down (aka no auto-tune) work? And if so, when?
Nothing quite like the NPR concert, however, all of my projects have songs without auto tune.

T-Pain-live-in-shenzhen-2.jpg

What was it like to be on that boat?
So much FUN!

You’ve collaborated with countless famous artists. What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had working with someone?
Had to be working with Michael Jackson. The fact that he told me he was a huge fan and actually listened to my CD everyday completely blew me away.

How sick are you of the question: “can you buy me a drink?”
Never gets old. 

t-pain-in-shenzehn.jpg

Out of your 13,000,000 global fans, how do the Chinese fans differ? What can we expect from your Shenzhen show on December 16?
I wouldn’t say my Chinese fans differ. I think my music brings all my fans together and united in having fun. Expect to have fun and to do a lot of singing along.

You’ve been through some sh*t. Any life advice for kids these days?
Kids, never let anybody tell you that you can’t.

Last question, which is the superior burger: the Big Mac or Whopper?
Whopper.

Watch T-Pain’s video for ‘Bartender’ below (VPN off):

A special thanks to Xin Wang & MusicFest.Asia for bring T-Pain to China!

Shenzhen: Dec 16. Face Club. See event listing.

Macau: Dec 17. Pacha Macau. See event listing. Buy tickets.

[Images via Hitsync, Wikimedia, Huffington Post]

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