Carlo Errin is California-based musician and creative force whose genre-bending sound have been building a dedicated community of listeners online and on stage. Known for blending elements of hip-hop, r&b, pop, and indie influences, Carlo doesn’t just make songs – he creates worlds that reflect both the emotional complexity and raw honesty of life. Join us as we dive into his artistic evolution, his creative process, and the vision that keeps him pushing boundaries and allows him to connect with fans. 

words by Julia Mastalerz

First off, tell me a bit about your process and struggles as an individual artist.
My process differs per project; there has never been a piece I’ve made that has replicated a
prior piece of mine. When I made “the youngest we’ll ever be”, I did a few different things over
the span of 3 years to make that album. I remember during the early stages, I was going on
dates fairly often to get that sort of experience and have an accurate feeling of the album. This
differs from “i never took acting classes” in the way that I locked myself away from friends and
just made an album. The main struggle I’ve had is time management because I work two retail
jobs to support myself until the music gets to where I want it to be. I work those jobs, then I
come home and record content to promote my work. I’m in the process of starting my next
album, and I started something called “The Artist’s Bible”. I got this piece of advice from Clairo and
Leon Thomas discussing it.

What or who is your main source of inspiration?
My main source of inspiration is my community. Since I started taking music seriously in
2018, I have looked to create a community. When I was growing up, I began to hear people
whom I heavily related to. Early Kanye West was played every day in my household. Then I
started to discover my own listening habits and started relating to artists like Frank Ocean,
Dominic Fike, Mac Miller, Clairo, Aminé, Tyler, the Creator, BROCKHAMPTON, and more. I felt
that my experiences were similar to theirs, and it told me I could share my experiences and
have people relate to them and feel less alone. Community is such a powerful thing; we look to
find comfort in people. We’ve been able to do amazing things as a community already. In July,
the creative rights team put together an independent artist showcase. We had so many people
walk up to us saying they came alone and they met someone they’re going to work with. They
came down for this show just to support the community. It was an amazing event, and I’m
excited to grow that community.

How did you find your genre and sound as an upcoming artist? What does this journey
mean to you?
I do not like sticking to a genre. I personally love exploring different sounds and subject
matters. Many artists want to stay in their lane, and I respect it. I have always been drawn to the
artists who broaden their sounds. I mainly rap, I love rap. I’ll never say I’m not a rapper, but I
love to sing. I love to sing a song and then do a rap verse on the same song. I love Outkast
because that’s hip-hop, but you hear melodies, hard-hitting flows, and beautiful singing.
Examples of genre-bending to me come from artists like Childish Gambino with “Awaken My
Love”, Tyler, the Creator making “Igor”. I love Mac Miller because he found the perfect lane with
his soundscape. I love Ms. Lauryn Hill because “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” works as a
hip-hop record as well as a beautiful R&B record. I’ve tried to do this with all my bodies of work.
I get booked for indie rock concerts, I get booked for rap concerts, and I get booked for R&B.

I’ve been able to fuse elements of genres into my sound and I think my listeners really
appreciate it.

What does your writing process look like? Are you a ‘lyrics first’ type or more of a ‘catch
a vibe then build’? Maybe something even different?
My writing process varies per song, honestly. There are moments when I will write a bunch of
songs with no beat in my head. However, there are times when I hear an instrumental and
immediately I write to it. I wrote my song “gf” in around an hour. I knew what I wanted the song
to sound like, and I found it easy to write to. With “goldmine,” I had a bunch of verses written,
and I combined them to write that song. So it truly does vary per song.

You just released your album “i never took acting classes”. How was it as a creative
experience? What kind of story you want to tell us?
It was a cathartic experience for me personally. I knew that in 2022, I wanted to release two
albums in the same year. After the elongated process of “the youngest we’ll ever be”, I wanted
to make this album immediately after. I started making “i never took acting classes” because I
had seen a lot of inauthenticity in the world around me. I had a close friend of mine show their
true feelings by saying my views on music and music as a whole isn’t credible because we’re
not working directly in the industry. The rise of AI in the world has caused a lot of people to
question everything. I wanted to sit in my room alone and write an album. I wanted to tell my
listeners to be authentic, be you, do what you enjoy doing. People will try to undermine who you
are but I don’t let people sway who I am.

What’s your favourite step while making your music?
My favorite step of making music is the collaboration. I have so many people in my group who
will lay down vocals for two seconds on a song. Or who want me to send vocals of me
screaming for an outro. Collaborating is so special because you get to view music from
someone elses viewpoint.

What would you like to see more in the music scene nowadays?
I’d like to see better performances. I go to shows where you’re standing there with a full track
playing. Like you’re a statue, you’re not doing anything why would I care for your set if you are
just standing there mouthing along to your songs. It’s our job to get the audience excited so if
we’re being boring on stage why would they invest in you?
Now for the audience, can you literally move? I’ve gone to so many shows where people aren’t
singing, they’re not dancing, not even bopping their head. These people are pushing and
shoving to get to the front to just stand still. Show some life, let’s participate in the show. We’re
paying so much money to be at shows like this and if an artist is giving you their all you should
be there willing to give some energy in whatever way you can. Stop talking during opening acts,
they’re there to get you excited and warm you up. For all you know they can become your
favorite artist in 6 months time. I think everyone just needs to have more fun as a whole.

Talking about artists nowadays, who is your main fixation this year?
Anyone who knows me knows that the two artists I will talk about consistently are Clairo and
Dijon. Those two are my favorite artists and I just find so much comfort and relatability to them.
Some other favorites of mine right now are Magdalena Bay, Doechii, Chappell Roan,
PARTYOF2, Rosalia, The Marías / not for radio, Matt Champion, Orion Sun, mk.gee, and way
more. I try to listen to new music weekly so I find so many amazing artists to latch onto.

Artistic highlight of 2025 – can be a concert you went to or played, a particular
event/moment or something else?
As I mentioned earlier, we did an independent artist showcase in July called Find Your People.
We had an amazing time with that show. We had sets from SHEEP, Groceries!, twin trees,
4js.world, Madeline Dean, and myself. Everyone there was there to dance and participate in the
show. Third St Vinyl Club collaborated with us to give out free vinyls to a few audience
members. Kelly printed out physical tickets and we gave them away, on the back of the ticket it
had a place to write who they met. We had a little camera for audience members to take photos
of the show.
An event I went to was Camp Flog Gnaw. I had such an amazing time running back and forth
meeting alot of my listeners and viewers while I’m in the pits. My goal is to be on a Camp Flog
Gnaw lineup. Big bucket list moment. Some other great shows I went to this year were Sabrina
Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Magdalena Bay.

Can you tell us some more about your plans for the upcoming year 2026?
I want to stay consistent with the releases. The plan is to put more music our and perform
more. I want to do a festival soon. I think I can brighten up a festival lineup. I want to expand the
community even more than we did this year.

Finally, please let the Starfreak community know: Do you identify as a star or a freak?
I think if I said anything other than freak my friends would call me a liar.