Digital Social Hour
Mackenzie Sol: Mastering Personal Branding: Lessons from a Viral Creator | DSH #1508
25 Aug 2025
Chapter 1: How did Mackenzie Sol rise from humble beginnings?
people aren't realizing how crazy it is like if you go back to 1960s and you show them char gbt imagine what they think yeah you know it's it's insane like this artificial intelligence is it's going i don't know what i'm scared to say where it's gonna go i don't even know but you know we have self-driving cars we're not where back to the future was yet but we're getting there
Alright guys, we got Mackenzie Soul been making a name for himself out here in Vegas. How's it going, man? It's going well.
Chapter 2: What creative insights did Jason Derulo share?
Thank you for having me on the show, dude. Big fan. Yeah, you've been crushing. You've been crushing.
Chapter 3: What was the experience like behind the scenes of American Idol?
Formed with Shin Lim, all these big shows. Congrats. Yeah, dude. It's just crazy, man. Coming from such a small place in the UK to living out here in Vegas, doing this, that, the others.
pretty wild yeah you said you grew up in a thousand square foot home in uk yeah bro we you know we didn't really have anything back home i had working class parents you know we didn't really come from anything and we just did our best to just keep rising we're still not where we want to be but that's life bro you know you just got to keep going up and up and up and up that's the goal yeah so you had really high expectations when you were a kid on where you wanted to be 100 dude i always wanted to be a music artist and you know performer social media all that thing that's that's always been who i've wanted to be respect and that's a tough space to crack though
Alright. 100% bro. Like kids at school and stuff. Like no one liked me when I was in school.
Chapter 4: How can you create your first viral moment on social media?
I got bullied my whole life in school. Oh yeah. No one liked me. And it's just crazy to see now how people can switch up. You know now you get all these views. All these people care. They all want to be your friends now you know. And I think that's just… It's just such a funny thing.
Chapter 5: How is AI technology impacting the entertainment industry?
You know. And I think that's where social media can be beneficial.
Chapter 6: What are the benefits of having a large social media following?
But it can also not be beneficial as well. Because like… You're never going to know if people are going to like you for you, for what you have. You know this of all people. We're like 10 million on Instagram. So I'm sure you get where I'm coming from. No, 100%. You got to be vulnerable, you know? And you don't know what the feedback's going to be. It's definitely not an easy route. Yeah.
People's opinions are so big to me, bro.
Chapter 7: What lessons can we learn from Mackenzie Sol's journey to success?
It's so bad, but I really live off people's opinions. Really? Yeah. So you actually care? Yeah, bro. Like people say, don't read the comments. Don't do this. Like I'm literally sat here like…
you know just putting stuff in my head but if I can recommend that anybody just don't look at comments don't do what I do don't be in your head a lot of them are negative a lot of them are negative but a lot of them are positive as well and you just gotta think you know comment to comment at the end of the day yeah so you're really glued like that because you get 500 million views a month on your Instagram so you're reading all those comments that's so crazy hearing you say that out loud bro that's just half a billion views a month
am I supposed to be here? Like, is that me? That's nuts, bro. That's one-eighth of the population in the world. Well, that's the plan. Taking that 500 mil and hopefully converting it into music, you know? That's the goal. That's what I want to do. That's my push. And I just, I really think I can do it, you know? Give me the tools, which I've got, you know, the following and stuff.
Now I've just got to I got to show them who I am and just be me and be organic and don't try and be something I'm not. Yeah. Dude, that's nuts though. Was it a gradual climb up to that level or were you pulling that for a while? Honestly, I was, you know, I think a hundred million.
I stick around a month, which is still ridiculous, you know, but these past few months, the videos have just been absolutely insane, you know, but now I want to take that comedy content I've done and mix it with,
The music and try and keep that fan base, you know, and that's something I want to tell everyone watching this as well If you want to do something If something goes viral that you don't want to do try and incorporate what you do want to do with it Don't just fly straight to doing what you want to do because you'll take that fan base and you'll lose them Slowly incorporated together like say I do comedy, right?
So maybe I do like a video being pranked. Someone has a whole like band in my bedroom waking me up, like a six piece band with electric guitars screaming in my ear, you know? And then you're incorporating two different things into one. And I think that's where Social media can be your best friend for what you want to do. Yeah, that's smart.
Hitting them from multiple angles rather than just music. Yeah, and that's the thing as well. I'm not going to just say... I sat with Jason Derulo in his dressing room and he told me this because in my head I was like, I just need to stop doing the social media and do music. And he's like, no, you've built this platform. You want to keep that platform. You want to keep these people.
Just mix it together. Show them who you are. But keep being who they want you to be and mix it together as one. Yeah. He does a great job at that, Jason. He's killed it, man. You know what it is with Jason? He took being a music artist and he learned the social media game. I'm the opposite. Right. I've grown in social media. Now I want to take on the music.
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Chapter 8: How can personal branding shape your career in entertainment?
Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like... I don't know. I just... I don't see people who have pure talent just being picked up anymore. And it's, you know, it's sad. Yeah. Is that a reason you went on American Idol? Because you felt like that was talent-based? So my American Idol story is funny. I... I got spotted at a karaoke bar.
I was just hanging out with my friends and he's like, all right, would you want to audition for American Idol? Wow. And I was like, yeah, but I didn't know if this guy was for real, you know, because American Idol in a karaoke bar, you're a little bit skeptical. So I said, yeah, I'd love to. Can't wait. Whatever. Got my number. Amazing singer as well. His name is John John.
Huge shout out to John John. And he connected me with a guy called Kyle who was like, hey, you want to get on a Zoom with a, you know, casting producer of American Idol? I'm like, okay, yeah. And still I'm like slowly getting a little less skeptical about everything. Then it happened. I had the call. I signed. They loved me. And then I got asked to go to Santa Barbara, Katy Perry's hometown.
And they just walked in the room in front of Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. Holy cow. So imagine standing there with those three chairs just staring at you. The intimidation. But I loved it, man. It's probably the best intimidation in the world. So you delivered. I did my best, man. I made it further than I thought it was going to be. In my head, I was like, alright, I'll do this show.
Try and get a little exposure ready for my music.
but no it all worked out man and i i just wanted it more and more and more and more and to like be a finalist on the show it got my career started and back home here in vegas you know i have a residency at the virgin hotel now the aria like you said shinlim i'm you know i'm seeing in shinlim every night crazy the palazzo but yeah bro we we're busy man and that's that's all i care about i just want to i just want to stay busy too and stay active off from the karaoke bar that is nuts i know
And I also work for a candy company as well on the side. Oh, you do? Yeah, Espy's Candy. Yeah, I do social media with them. Oh, okay. Which candy company? They're called Espy's Candy. I don't know if you remember. They have the little goldmine gum. You know, the little yellow nugget pieces? Yeah, yeah. That you chew on for hours. They taste like little banana-ish. I remember those.
Yeah, they look really good. But no, yeah. Shout out to Espy's. But no, I love them to death. They're like my family. Nice. So yeah, I do a lot, dude. And then soccer, I told you about earlier. Yeah. I think my ADHD, we were talking about us both having ADHD. I feel like I can take on so many different things at one time.
But can I is the question or is it just in my head that I can and realistically I'm just a complete mess. Yeah. You know, I don't. I'm still figuring it out. I just got diagnosed like literally a year ago. So I didn't know I had it my whole life. Oh, no way. You found out that late? Well, official diagnosis. When I was a kid, they told me, but I never like got it confirmed. Yeah.
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