One of my fondest memories from the fall of 2016, before the autumn of life as we knew it, was writing up the first POPDOSE profile of Hailey Knox. Back then, she had just released her S-Curve Records debut EP, A Little Awkward, and was on a heavy promotional push that included an appearance on the Today Show Concert Series. Knox, now 20, hasn’t let up. She’s spent much of the last two years on the road, creating her songs live on stage (with the aid of a loop pedal) and in the studio with the likes of producers Mike Mangini and Peter Zizzo, and songwriter Imani Coppola.

Knox’s blend of pop music meshes bluntly confessional lyrics with hypnotic loops and earworm hooks; if Carly Rae Jepsen’s songs live in a Malibu Dream House, Knox’s hang out in a hip Brooklyn loft. Taking cues from the world of hip hop and pop superstar Charli XCX, she’s bypassing the album format (for now) to release a collection of her latest singles and works in progress as the Hardwired Mixtape, out today on all major streaming and digital platforms. The 11-track collection is an entrancing insight into an artist still honing her craft, yet Hardwired mixes in as many bankable potential smash singles as most chart-topping albums. POPDOSE caught up with Knox on the eve of the mixtape’s release.

POPDOSE: The “street hustle years” of both Madonna and Lady Gaga are a big part of their legends—how goes that phase of your career? What do you do to score gigs, tours, media, clicks, followers, etc.?

HAILEY KNOX: I always use click bait! Just kidding, I still to this day commute 2 hours each way into the city with all my gear (guitars, loop pedal, high heels) for shows, rehearsals and promo. I’m still in the street hustle years! I think as a musician, there will always be a hustle because you’re either touring, meeting new people, promoting new music, and just trying to catch up on sleep. I am very critical of what I put out to the world and always make sure my covers, lyrics and music are the best they can be. The music is the most important to me!

In my day, mixtapes were exactly that—cassettes and then CDs, dubbed at home, sold at merch tables or traded out of car trunks. What inspired the creation of this digital mixtape and how did you select the songs and sequence?

KNOX: Some of the songs on the tape work as interludes and help to transition one full song into the next. Labeling this project as a “mixtape” works because the songs are in different worlds. There are some completed, fully produced, and others that are ideas that could potentially be full songs. ‘Hold me’, ‘3 am’, ‘Fake a Laugh’ and ‘Unicorn Mushroom’ give you an idea of how I create. One of them is a voice memo I took directly from my iPhone because I felt like it’s raw and shows how music is such a big part of my life.

What is one of your most memorable experiences on the road so far — either with fans, from the stage, or along the road between gigs?

KNOX: There have been so many crazy, amazing tour experiences. While on tour with R5, the tour bus broke down the very last week. We almost didn’t make it but managed to get there just just time! I also will always remember on my first tour with Charlie Puth, we played New Orleans and my loop pedal (my band) wasn’t working at all. I kind of freaked out but just told the audience I’d play acoustically. A lot of times things don’t go as planned on tour, but you definitely learn from them and they make for great stories!

What — pray tell — is that delicious riff in ‘Bitch, Bitch, Bitch’? Sounds like an a cappella guitar hook.

KNOX: Thank you! My friend Miles Neretin and I were jamming a few years back and he was playing this killer stand up bass part over the song. The guitar part came from us playing off one another. Instead of strumming, I ended up hitting the guitar strings and creating this different sound. While producing the song, I also used my loop pedal to create a tremolo effect with my vocals which you hear in the track.

What topics do you primarily bitch, bitch, bitch about?

KNOX: I love performing but practicing is really hard for me. I love creating and playing in front of an audience but when it comes to practicing the same songs over and over, I get a little frustrated. I end up creating new parts instead of rehearsing. I think it’s because I have a terrible attention span and my brain is always coming up with new ideas.

Is that track a nod to the Complainer in Chief?

KNOX: Who, me? The song reminds me to not complain! It’s a reminder to stay focused on all the positive things in my life.

Is the album (as a format) dead—or do you someday hope to release one?

KNOX: I do hope to eventually release an album. I’m still developing my sound and think I always will be. I love a lot of genres so it’s hard for me to sit down and focus on one sound production wise and lyrically for an entire album. Although, I do want to get all my ideas out to the world and release as much music as possible.

What role does fashion, photography, and video play in your image, stage show?

KNOX: I usually wear a high heel because I’m really short and change up what I wear depending on how I feel. I wear a lot of black and usually let my hair do go crazy!

If you were starring in A Star is Born — perhaps even a platonic version and/or one with a happier ending — which music star would you want to help lift you up to superstar status?

KNOX: A Star is Born was such a beautiful movie. If I were in that position I think Ed Sheeran would be so cool to sing on stage with and tour with. We could have a loop pedal battle! I also think Zak Abel is really talented and has such a soulful voice.

Is there any fellow rising star in your world now you would return the favor to?

KNOX: If I was ever at Lady Gaga’s level I would help anybody and want to collab with a lot of artists!

Stream the Hardwired Mixtape or download Hailey Knox’s A Little Awkward EP.

How many artists can you think of whose careers spanned the years from doo-wop to classic soul and into the disco era and had hits in all of them? The one that leaps to mind for me is Gene Chandler. There were landmarks along the way for Chandler, from his 1962 doo-wop smash “Duke of Earl,” to his 1964 soul classic “Just Be True,” to his 1978 disco hit “Get Down.”

Chandler is a Chicago guy, born and raised. He was a teenager when he joined his first band, the Gaytones. In 1957 he became a member of the Dukays. His career with that group was interrupted by a stint in the Army but he returned to them when he got out in 1960. The Dukays got a record deal with Nat Records and working with producers Carl Davis and Bunky Shepherd they released their first single, “The Girl is a Devil,” in 1961.

A subsequent session yielded four more songs. Nat Records chose “Nite Owl” to be the next Dukays single so Davis and Shepherd offered another song from the session, “Duke of Earl,” to a different local label. Vee-Jay released “Duke of Earl” as a single in 1962 but under the name Gene Chandler as opposed to the Dukays. The rest is pop music history. The single sold a million copies in its first month of release and spent three weeks atop the charts.

The following year, Chandler left Vee-Jay and signed with Constellation Records. In the three years he was with the label Chandler had one hit after another including “Just Be True” in 1964, and “Nothing Can Stop Me” in 1965. Both of those songs were written by Curtis Mayfield. After Constellation went belly-up, Chandler alternated releases with Chess Records and Brunswick Records.

In the late ’60s, Chandler got involved as a producer and started a couple of labels of his own. He produced his 1970 hit “Groovy Situation” which was released by Mercury Records. The song was written by Russell Lewis and Herman Davis and had been originally recorded by Mel & Tim. Earlier, Chandler had produced the Mel & Tim smash “Backfield in Motion.” Chandler’s version of “Groovy Situation” had the magic though and it reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it was a Top 10 hit on the R&B chart while becoming a million-seller.

While it was nearly impossible to match the success that Chandler had with “Duke of Earl,” “Groovy Situation” became Chandler’s second biggest hit. Both songs have made numerous appearances in movies over the years. “Duke of Earl” is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

When disco was in its ascendancy Chandler adapted when many others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Toward the end of the 1970s, Chandler once again worked with producer Carl Davis and had disco hits like “Get Down,” “When You’re #1,” and “Does She Have a Friend.”

Gene Chandler has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and he has received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. In 1970 Chandler was named Producer of the Year by the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers and he has been inducted twice into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, once as a performer and again as an R&B Music Pioneer. From his first chart single in 1961 to his last in 1986, Gene Chandler has had a remarkable genre-spanning career.

For a pop songwriter, the gold standard is a song that has a chorus that people can sing along to. That kind of thing not only goes a long way toward having the song becoming a hit but also gives it longevity. If your chorus is catchy enough people are likely to still be singing it years later. Having spent some time in bars with jukeboxes and live bands I think it’s fair to say that “Drift Away” qualifies as one of those songs.

Lawrence Darrow Brown was born in 1940 into a family of sharecroppers in Texas. His grandfather was a Baptist minister which is how Brown first became inspired by gospel music. He moved to Los Angeles when he was in his early 20s with an eye on an acting career but it isn’t easy to break into the Hollywood scene so Brown turned to singing to make some money while he was waiting for his chance.

Brown recorded for several labels during this period, under several names. One of the people he encountered was a guy named Sonny Bono who thought the independent label Stripe Records would be a good fit for Brown. Once he signed on the people at the label suggested the name Dobie Gray which was inspired by the then-popular TV show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

He may have acquired his name at Stripe but he accomplished little else. Success didn’t come until 1963 when he was recording for Core-Dak and it was a modest success at that. The single “Look at Me” climbed to the not-too-lofty position of #91 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two years later, however, Gray struck gold with his #13 hit “The In Crowd.” With the legendary Wrecking Crew backing him up, Gray hit the Hot 100 again with the follow-up, “See You at the Go-Go.” But things dried up for a while, a long while, after that.

Gray kept recording for small labels and he even got some of that acting work he’d come to L.A. for in the first place. He spent 2 1/2 years in the cast of the L.A. production of the musical Hair.

Do you remember Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies? He was played by Max Baer, Jr. and after his acting career, Baer became quite a successful manager. One of his clients was a band called Pollution that had formed in 1970 and included Gray as the lead singer. The band recorded two albums that didn’t make much noise and by 1972 Gray had signed with Decca Records. He prepared to work on an album for the label to be recorded in Nashville with Mentor Williams as producer. Williams was the brother of the very successful songwriter Paul Williams with whom Gray had recorded some demos earlier.

One of the songs they recorded in Nashville was “Drift Away” which featured that indelible chorus as well as some fine guitar work from Reggie Young. The song was written by Mentor Williams and first recorded by John Henry Kurtz in 1972. The following year it became a #5 smash for Gray, selling a million copies and earning a Gold Record. Gray followed it up with his cover of “Loving Arms” which did respectable but not spectacular business, reaching #61.

By then Decca had been enfolded into MCA Records and Gray made three albums for the label. None of them was very successful, a problem Gray felt was caused by the fact that MCA “didn’t know where to place a black guy in country music.” Now a permanent Nashville resident, Gray signed with Capricorn records and had modest success with his last two solo singles, “If Love Must Go” (#78), and “You Can Do It” (#37). During this time, Gray toured in Australia, Europe, and after persuading the authorities to allow him to play to integrated audiences, South Africa.

Gray recorded for Capitol Records in the 1980s and had some success on the country charts. He continued to tour and release albums in the 1990s. Unexpectedly, “Drift Away” became a hit all over again when Gray recorded a new version of the song with the band Uncle Kracker in 2003. The new version made it all the way to #9 on the Hot 100 that year and spent an incredible 28 weeks at the top of the Adult Contemporary chart.

Dobie Gray died in Nashville in 2011. He was 71 years old. And we’re still singing that chorus.