Tyler Medeiros: Hip-Hop-Popper on Tour in Canada!

By: Lynn Barker

16-year-old Canadian popstar Tyler Medeiros is cellchatting with us from his tour bus while driving across Canada to his next gig. The dark-haired cutie is criss-crossing the country with his mentor Flo-Rida and fellow artist Pitbull and it’s been a wild ride so far. The tour also hits Toronto on the 28^th and Montreal, the 29^th. 

Tyler admitted that he had zero idea where he actually was but he was headed to his gig in Calgary, Alberta while telling us about his album, now being compiled, how he got the intro to Flo and how his cousins rapper/hip-hop artists Danny Fernandes and Shawn Desmond were a great influence on his pre-teen musical development.

Also, if you run into this hottie out on the town, he gives us a blueprint of how he might approach you. Get set to be charmed.

Kidzworld: So, where are you calling us from?

• Tyler: I have no idea. I’m out in the middle of nowhere on the tour bus. The first show was yesterday. Went great.

Kidzworld:  A huge trending topic right now is bullying and the damage it can do. Last year you recorded the theme song for TV’s Family Bullying Awareness Week called “What’s Up, Stand Up”.  How did you get involved in that and were you ever bullied?

• Tyler: It was Family that came to me because I was doing work with them before. They wanted me to be, I guess, the face of it and wanted me to really help out. I have a great following that they thought it would make an impact (on the problem). I got in the studio and recorded the song and I visited some schools and I think we made a difference.

I wasn’t bullied so much but in Grade 5, there was this kid who used to pick on everyone and no one would really talk to him or pay attention and he finally got the hint and relaxed a little bit.

Kidzworld: Your family is Portuguese and Italian. Did you grow up with a lot of music in your home? Who do you remember listening to a lot?

• Tyler: There was a lot because my cousins (Danny Fernandes and Shawn Desman) were around so music was always in my household. It wasn’t really that we listened to Portuguese/Italian music because of our background, it was more that they were in the business.
• Michael Jackson I listened to a lot, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Usher and also Massari (Lebanese-Canadian artist) when I was a little kid and when I got to meet him, it was like wow!

Kidzworld: Were you one of the artists who put your work up on YouTube before you had been signed with anyone?

• Tyler: No. I started dancing at the age of 10 and was dancing competitively for four years then I really took up my music and focused on that. About a year down the road, it was Danny, my cousin who got signed and he was always talking to them about “Yo, my cousin loves music. He’s always working on music”. They’d see me around and I was stylish. They finally put two and two together and decided to get me in the studio to see what I could do. I went in and recorded “Girlfriend” and it took off from there.

Kidzworld: How did you meet Flo-Rida?

• Tyler: It was Belly, another artist on the label, his manager is very good friends with Flo’s people. They were chillin’ out in Miami and he was on YouTube showing them Belly’s stuff so, he said “You’ve gotta check out this kid” and shows them a performance of mine and calls up Flo. So Flo went on and looked at it and a week later my record label was like “You’re goin’ to Montreal to meet Flo”.
  

Kidzworld: So YouTube did help. We know you dance and studied dance, right? Do you also choreograph your moves?

• Tyler: I haven’t choreographed yet. I give them my input, if I like a move or don’t like a move and want to do this or that but I leave it more to him. Romeo is the pro so he does that.

Kidzworld: You write songs as well so what is your songwriting process like.. lyrics first then music or what?

• Tyler: Sometimes I’m just sitting down and I’ll have an idea and just start thinking of melodies but what I really like to do is get a beat, sit down with a beat and just vibe off the beat, whatever feeling I get from it; a heartbroken song or a hype song or something like that.

Kidzworld: Let’s say you are out with your posse and you see a great-looking girl. How would you get to know her without scaring her off? What is your best pick-up line?

• Tyler: I don’t really have pick up lines. I’m just myself. I go up to them and introduce myself and make them feel comfortable. You just always have to be yourself and always have a compliment.

Kidzworld: So what is the debut album called? What tracks are already released as singles and which are coming out soon?

• Tyler: We have "Girlfriend" (featuring Danny Fernandes), "Say I Love You (Please Don't Go)" (featuring Lil Twist). We’ve got a single coming out called “Radio” featuring Flo Rida and right now that’s all we know.  The album was going to be called “Sweet 16” because it was going to come out on my 16^th birthday but we didn’t feel 100 percent on it and wanted to make sure it’s the best it can be. We’ll title it later.

Tyler Medeiros making "GOT IT BAD" at Circle House Studios Miami, FL

 

Kidzworld: Any interesting fan encounters so far?

• Tyler: Well last night was wild and I was performing at Summer Rush last year and I was in the park trying to go ride the roller coaster and walking back through a bunch of the fans, security was pushing me along. Someone reached out and had a bracelet so I grabbed it but security kept pushing me so I didn’t see that fan’s face. I looked at it and it had my name on it. I put it on my wrist and never took it off all day.

Kidzworld: What do you do to kick back on the bus while on tour?

• Tyler: I just watch TV. Lots of Netflix. I watched Tower Heist. And I always try to get out in the different towns.

Kidzworld: Do you remember the first time fans ran up to you? What was that like?

• Tyler: I don’t remember but I do remember the first time I heard my song on the radio out in public. We were getting ready for a show and were out looking for costumes and we were looking for wigs in a really girlie store. It was me and my choreographer walking in and my song started playing and I got shivers through my whole body.

Kidzworld: Who is your fave actor?

• Tyler: Johnny Depp!

Kidzworld: Who are you dying to someday collaborate with and who would you just pass out if you met?

• Tyler: I would say Michael Jackson but can’t meet him now. I think Chris Brown.

Kidzworld: What message would you like to get out to the fans?

• Tyler: I want to think them for all their love and support. So far it’s been a great journey and I hope they stand by my side through everything.

 

TYLER MEDEIROS FT. DANNY FERNANDES - GIRLFRIEND