Being a role model carries responsibility “one-hundred percent,” said seventeen-year-old singer, songwriter, and social media star Payton Moormeier in a recent interview.

On Monday, Feb. 8, a press conference for student journalists was held on Zoom in which Payton spoke with student journalists from twelve states across the country, including the “Green Wave Gazette.”

Payton Moormeier has 4.7 million Instagram followers (@paytonmoormeier) and another 13.7 million followers on TikTok (@payton x). He said, “Everything you post you’ve got to be careful; you need to make sure you are being the influence you need to be.”

One of the biggest things that many social media personalities have dealt with is hate online. Payton actually has a very positive outlook on that, “You can’t please everyone, I just try not to engage with it.”

Payton’s origin story of getting into music all stemmed from rock music. His stepfather at the time used to play a lot of Metallica and other rock music, which first sparked Payton’s interest. Initially Payton started playing the guitar and eventually switched to the acoustic guitar during his musical journey.

When asked if learning instruments is difficult, Payton said, “You can learn very easily if you have the drive to learn.”

His biggest musical influence for his guitar work is John Mayer. But Payton has also been influenced by artists like blackbear, Post Malone, and others.

When Payton put out his first song, he was not expecting that his life would change. “Of course everyone wants to get somewhere, but I never thought that it would take me here,” he said.

Traveling and being seventeen-years-old and in the spotlight can be hard. The normal teenage things could be lost. Being famous might be affect a person and their family life. Payton said, “I’ve been doing it so long that it doesn’t feel different anymore.”

However, making music videos and traveling during the Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult. Having a crew to make a music video would either require extreme social distancing and masks or Covid-19 tests, both complicated solutions.

Payton would like to continue making music for as long as he can. He mentioned, “Music is just a thing that comes, there’s not a schedule to it.”

When asked what his favorite social media collaboration has been he said, “with rapper Swae Lee. And that was one-hundred percent because of TikTok.”

Payton dropped his new song “Nevermind” on Feb. 12. When asked what inspired the new song, Payton replied with, “It is about hanging onto a toxic relationship, if you leave you’re heartbroken, but if you stay it’s not good for you.”

Although his biggest accomplishment so far was releasing his first song, he has dreams for moving forward. His biggest goals are selling out an arena, and attempting to collaborate with blackbear in the future.

When asked where he might see himself in ten years, he said he imagines sitting in his vacation home in Iceland, playing the guitar and piano, while writing songs, and looking out his big picture windows at the scenery around him.

Payton started the “Payton’s Artist in You Scholarship” to help independent artists follow their dreams.

His new song and all of his music is available to stream on Soundcloud, so go show your support!