On the eve of the Billboard Awards, recording artists Anitta and Ty Dolla $ign headlined Billboard’s inaugural MusicCon, a two-day event held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 13.
Blavity spoke to the artist before his Saturday performance about his partnership with MusicCon’s sponsor, Smirnoff, preparing for a concert and keeping busy during the pandemic.
Ty Dolla $ign, born Tyrone William Griffin Jr., first partnered with the Vodka brand last year to help promote their new Smirnoff Pink Lemonade lineup. The artist told Blavity that he has always been a fan of the brand, sharing that it was one of the first alcoholic beverages he has ever had.
“My managers brought me the opportunity,” Ty said. “and I jumped right at it—cause I remember just like growing up [it was] probably one of the first alcohols I ever bought— Smirnoff Ice, actually.”
He revealed that his brother, Big T.C., who is currently serving a life sentence, was proud that he collaborated with the Vodka brand, describing how they would drink it together when they were younger.
“And my brother—a lot of people that know Ty Dolla $ign, know T.C., my brother. He’s been locked up since 2003. We just spoke yesterday, [and he was] like, ‘yo, I, I just saw the commercial man. And I remember when we used to [sic] just drink Smirnoff Ice, man. It’s just crazy—Just how you know how life works,'” Ty said. “But yeah, man, I’ve always been a fan of Smirnoff, and now, uh, we’ve been working together for over a year, and it’s been amazing. So shout out to my team and my partners at Smirnoff.”
The collaboration yielded both the alcoholic brand and the artist many successes, including the brand’s new Neon Lemonade collection. Over the weekend, the artist promoted the new release with a meet-and-greet and a televised commercial that was broadcasted during the awards show. He shared his excitement about the drop and asked his fans to “drink responsibly.”
“The Neon Ice [that’s] about to drop. I guess it’s out everywhere now. We got the—the Neon Seltzer—it’s out everywhere,” Ty said. “So just [sic] be expecting it to drop at a store near you and just drink responsibly.”
While the pandemic has been challenging to many people worldwide, it drums up curiosity about how artists have been dealing with their livelihoods in possible jeopardy. However, Ty continued to work and record, including releasing his third studio album, Featuring Ty Dolla Sign, in October 2020.
Ty tells Blavity that he is “self-taught” and all he needs is a few necessities. He revealed that his father, Tyrone Griffin Sr., a band member of Lakeside, owned a recording studio when he was young, so he always had access to one.
“Yeah, well, um, luckily, I was self-taught,” Ty said. ” I’ve always had a studio since I was like 14 cause my dad had a studio, and now technology has gotten even better. So I only really [sic] need a laptop, a few keyboards, a bass guitar, a mic, and I was doing everything at the house. I got a strong internet service, so we were doing a lot of sending back and forth and just making it happen, man.”
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Whenever Ty wasn’t in the studio recording, he took part in virtual performances, as many artists started to do during the pandemic. And while he enjoyed performing for his fans worldwide from the safety of their smartphones, he missed performing in front of a live audience.
“I’ve done a couple [of] virtual performances during the pandemic, and I would still be down to do it,” Ty said. “but it’s always better when you get that energy, like right in front of you, from the fans.”
He said, however, that he wasn’t entirely against performing virtually again.
Ahead of his performance at MusicCon, Ty shared that his show would have some “sangin'” and the fans would have the “time of their lives.” When asked how he prepares for his performances, Ty revealed Smirnoff is on the menu.
“You know, you just pop open a little bottle of Neon Ice, you know what I’m saying?” Ty said. “Take a sip or two, put on one of those warm-up playlists with the vocals or something; warm-up [my] vocals and get out there and go crazy. We’re just gonna have fun, you know? Turn up. It’s gonna be energy—gonna be sangin’. It’s gonna be playing instruments, jumping around, just having fun, man, the time of your lives.”
The singer-songwriter performed many of his hits, including, Nights like this featuring Kehlani, OTW featuring Khalid and 6LACK, and more. He began his performance with his hook on Megan The Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer, featuring Nicki Minaj.
After his performance, Ty hopped into the pit to show his love and take photos with his fans.
Ty revealed to Blavity that he has been working on new music, his new record label, EZMNY (Easy Money) Records, and his new artist Leon Thomas.
“Yeah. New music [is] on the way, for sure,” Ty said. “The Neon [collection] is dropping—the Neon Ice and the Neon Selter; make sure you go get that. New music [is] on the way, my new label, EZMNY [Records], Leon Thomas on the way. So many good things [are] happening right now.”
