Find out what The Crown had to say about Red Bull Dance Your Style 2023

I think it kind of shows how I feel friendships should be. Obviously, we support each other because we were team-mates and we won together, but at the same time, I think it's important to challenge your friends and to be like, 'Hey, I'm gonna push you, you push me and we keep pushing each other'.

So I thought that was really dope. A real friendship should mean you are always pushing to get better.

One hundred percent Verb. He was definitely the one that stood out the most to me. I feel like the history of beating him in South Africa, last year, and then battling him again in Germany, like he fought to be there and I also fought to be there. We both made it through the pre-finals.

So it was really cool to see both of us come together and then have a beautiful exchange. It didn't even really feel necessarily like a battle. It felt more like a conversation.

I think my first round against Waackxxxy, I think she took it, but in terms of a battle, no, I don't think I felt like I lost a battle.

I think it's a mix of experience and being honest with yourself, like not sheltering yourself through excuses, ego or pride. It's very easy to be like 'Oh, well my leg hurt'. No, you have to be real.

She took that first round. Cool. It's going to motivate me to go crazy in the second round. You just know it. If it's a battle, both dancers know the truth.

Man, I ain't gonna lie. I mean, I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it. But one track definitely threw me off. I'm used to more traditional battles. Usually, if there's a tie break, the third song is some type of crazy banger. It's just like an unspoken rule. When that tiebreaker came on and I heard Ed Sheeran, I felt like the energy really dropped from Kilometre.

In terms of a DJ, it's kind of a rule to keep the energy rising. At least that's what I would think. But at the same time, though, I did enjoy the challenge because I was like, 'Okay, Ed Sheeran, my mom loves this song I'm gonna just rock with it'. I still feel like I did very solid in that round. So I wasn't mad at it, but just for a second, I was like, 'Dang, how we go from Kilometre to Ed Sheeran'.

Nine times out of 10, you've probably heard a little bit of it. And if you really don't know the song, just enjoy the challenge. That's, to me, the reason why I play this game - because I enjoy the challenge. If it wasn't challenging, I probably wouldn't do it.

That's a question that can go really deep. I have my own type of philosophy and way of listening to music. My upbringing naturally made me very open-minded to music. Because my dad is Korean, but he was adopted in Chicago, I heard a lot of rap and even sometimes rock. And then my mom is just African, straight from Liberia. So I heard a lot of African music and even church gospel music, which can lead to R&B. I heard a wide range of music when I was young, and I think that already opened my mind up.

And then when I got into dance training, I was never shy to dance to anything. If I enjoyed the music, I was never shy to dance to it. And I think over time, that made me build a formula in my head that makes sense to me. The way I listen to music is almost like a relationship. If you're with a partner, you have a relationship, or if you meet somebody new for the first time, if you're hearing a song for the first time, it's a little awkward at first, you might not know this person, you might not know how they work, but eventually, if you guys keep trying to get to know each other, you guys are going to blend together and have a connection. That's how I look at the music.

For me, it takes me a solid 10 to 15 seconds to really know 90 percent of a song, just because I stay present, and I really listen and try to connect. But I don't try to anticipate the song. I just react to the song. I let it lead me. But with my emotions and my dance, I lead the song almost like we're dancing together, me and the song and it blends into one.

So that's my biggest formula, I would say. I try to become one with the music by just taking my time, breathing and really listening as if it's just a new person I've never met. This is your story. This is my story. Let's bring them together.

No, in terms of preparation, there really isn't much of a difference. I've kind of always just been very open to music and I'm a firm believer in staying ready so you don't have to get ready. That's just how I do it. I'm always ready.

So, for me, there wasn't much difference in terms of preparation, maybe in terms of conditioning my body. Maybe it was actually mostly just mental things because that's a big stage. It can be overwhelming if you're not mentally prepared for that. It could throw you off, especially if you don't like one of your rounds, and that's the only round you get. You have to prepare yourself because, for months, that'll be showcased to a wide range of people who don't care about you. And you have to have the mental strength to accept this and be prepared for that.

The scene surprised me a little bit in terms of the audience. I didn't have many expectations, but it definitely surprised me how receptive they were to dance. I don't really know too much about Germany on a deeper level. So I was always like, 'Okay, they're kind of rocking with the vibes'. Not even just for me, just seeing other dancers dance.

But Germany has amazing dancers like Luam, Breeze and Sydney. They have great talent, that I think should very much be highlighted.

I just shot a whole bunch of fire content. I'm not really even a content kind of guy, I just go with the flow and I do love to create art. Especially art that like resonates with me. I just made a whole bunch of crazy art that I'm excited to post throughout the weeks and months on my socials.

And while that's happening, I'm really just going to be training because I just want to be the best version of myself, every day. And this continues to evolve in that infinite process of butterflying.

I'm 100 percent going with the flow. I have friends that are really into the social media and content thing and they have a schedule. I got to shoot this day and do this and do that. Not for me. If I feel like making some art, I'm gonna make it. And if I like it, I'm gonna put it out. If I don't like it, it's probably not going to come out. Sometimes I like it and I don't even want to share it because it's personal to me. So I'm very much the type of person who's as organic as possible.

When I started doing TikToks during the pandemic, I was doing dumb little chant-like dance stuff, not even challenges. I was just making up dances. And one day, I had a million views on one and I was like, 'What the hell?' It just grew organically. Same with Instagram. I think that's why I also love the people that follow me and that are tapped in, because it's not forced. It's very much a human approach to using Instagram and TikTok and not really your robotic approach.

That's what works for me. Just keep it real, you know.