Exclusive: Drake White Reminds Himself, Other Artists to 'Chill Out'

When Drake White launched his music career several years ago, he had no idea what the future held. With a degree in building science, he knew he needed to pursue his passion, trading a steady job for an unknown future.

Now, several years later, with his third project, Pieces, just out, and four Top 40 singles to his credit, including the Top 5 "Livin' the Dream," White knows exactly what he wishes he would tell his younger self.

"Chill the hell out," White tells PopCulture.com. "I would tell myself that. I have to tell myself that now. But just do what you do. And the big breakthrough was that I realized I'm going to do this the rest of my life, because I say I'm going to do it the rest of my life. You can manifest stuff, but you have to do it yourself. I would tell myself to just chill out. Don't be so hard on yourself."

The advice White would give himself could also be a mantra for other artists just starting out.

"Perfect music sucks," White says. "You don't want it to be perfect. Just put out what you feel, and consider other people first all the time. Just make it about other people and everything works out. And everything has worked out. We're in a wonderful place right now. It doesn't matter if this music blows up and it's bigger than The Beatles, or it keeps us rising. As long as we're better than we were yesterday, that's all that matters.

"So go easy on yourself," White offers. "Go play golf when you want to play golf. Go hunt when you want to go hunt. Spend time with your dogs, and just chill out. Just chill out. Turn your phone off and chill out."

White's Pieces, with famed producer busbee at the helm, combined all of the music White loved into one record, worrying less about commercial success, and more about making something authentic to him.

"It's soul music," explains White. "It's soul country, and there's a little bit of ramble-rousing Alabama mud in there, too. So I really love working with busbee. It was hard. It was really hard to do it and make it. I'm like a Ferrari on one of those big, huge ships that are shipping the Ferarris. So I'm on this ship doing donuts on the deck, waiting to dock, to where I can just get off and just speed through the streets."

Download Pieces on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/drakewhitestomp