Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Trevante Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Trevante, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I believe I developed my confidence and self-esteem from my family and from just being myself. Whether it was from watching my mom or dad carry themselves in a strong manner or watching everybody in my family honestly. I knew from a very young age that I wasn’t like everyone else. I thought differently and I saw the world differently, so I knew I was gonna approach things differently. At six or seven years old, I was listening to 50s and 60s music, and by the time I was 9, I had the whole anthology of “The Temptations” or the “The Jackson 5” instead of going outside like the other kids. So, I knew from an early age that I was different. I always looked people in their eyes when talking. I also always had a firm handshake and I always stood on what I believed. I definitely learned that from my family.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a Christian R&B Artist that started in this music industry as an R&B Artist at the age of 11, At a young age, I always viewed the world differently and I felt that God gave me a gift to give to the world. Watching different family members be apart of the industry had a big impact on me falling in love with music. I oftentimes would find myself listening to old school music at the tender age of 6yrs old. My dad started to teach me the artistry of becoming a singer and really honed in and molded my songwriting skills. From that day forth, I knew that becoming an Artist was my destiny. Shortly after, I branded myself as “Tre’” and my mom established Sel Sum Records, where I released my first two singles, “That Girl” and “Baby Girl”, which were written and produced by my father Joe “Simply” Halliburton. Soon after the release, I secured a major distribution deal with FYE (12 yr old Tre’ at this time) and embarked on a regional in‐store tour of the South to promote the records and build my fanbase. “Baby Girl” hit the Billboard charts and spent 15 weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart and peaked at #50. “Baby Girl” then later hit #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop single sales for multiple weeks beating out Chris Brown, Ray J, NeYo & more. “Baby Girl” ended up selling over 80,000 units independently. In 2007, I also became apart of Radio Disney’s Incubator which broadcasted worldwide and aided to my success. The FYE tour as well as radio airplay opened the door for future tours as I began an aggressive schedule performing and meeting with artists such as Bow Wow, B5, Keke Palmer, Romeo, Jagged Edge, Crime Mob, Jonas Brothers and Nick Cannon just to name a few. I also had a role in Lil JJ’s Nickelodeon (Ralph Farquhar produced) show “Just Jordan”. Alongside this, I went on to perform on Lil JJ’s stand up comedy special “Almost Grown”. Eventually, I attracted the attention of industry heavy weights and I inked a major deal with Imani Entertainment Group/Geffen Records in 2011 and officially re-branded and changed my name to “TreVante”. By the summer of 2011, I embarked on BET’s “Closer to My Dreams” tour alongside fellow heartthrobs Mindless Behavior, Lil Twist, Tyga, Diggy Simmons and Jawan Harris. This era was coined by fans as “a time to be alive” as frequent viral posts highlighted the artists alongside myself who blazed the charts during that time. Shortly after, I also opened up for selected dates on Mindless Behavior’s “All Around the World Tour” as well as being featured alongside Jacob Latimore on Jive recording artist Jawan Harris’ “Keisha Remix”. I have had the opportunity to co-write and collaborate with some of the industry’s elite producers, artists and writers over the years: Chris Brown, Dark Child, Rico Love, Diane Warren, The Underdogs, Eric Bellinger, Diamond Love (which was recorded by Jacob Latimore), Vedo, Shameik Moore, Harmony “H Money”, Samuels & more. I also co-wrote one of the biggest hits of the era with Ezekiel “Zeke” Lewis of the writing and production team “The Clutch”. Alongside this, I also co-wrote a historic song for the OMG Girlz, (i.e. “Where the Boys At” in which hit #1 on 106 & Park for multiple weeks with over 18M+ views and #77 on the Billboard charts). Later, I was able to secure a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Publishing. At the top of 2012, My first single “Be Your First”, which was written and produced by Tank, allowed myself and Tank to perform live on the world renowned Wendy Williams Show among others. Following this, I dropped a 2-part movie-like music video directed by Benny Boom which included “Be Your First” and “Forever” (produced by Rico Love). Both music videos including “Bad Girl”, hit the 106 & Park top 10 countdown with “Be My Girl” peaking at #6. I later returned to 106 & Park in 2013 with “Bad Girl” featuring Lil Twist, which also peaked at #6 on the countdown. Despite my solo success, in 2014 I decided to fulfill my childhood dream of doing what I always wanted to do, which was to be in an all male r&b group. During my ten year tenure in the group, we were able to also have billboard chart topping songs as a group and joined Jacquees on stage and Soul Train as well as on the road on tours. Now, I have finally decided to rebrand myself as a solo contemporary gospel/inspirational artist and fulfill my God given destiny and purpose. I have recently released my first Christian R&B single “Remember” that is available on all platforms. My next single “No More Poison” will be released in a few weeks.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities I would say that helped me was confidence, spirituality, and charisma. I would also say that being unapologetic is important as well because you have to be yourself. The advice I would give is don’t come into this business if you don’t know who you are in life, because if you don’t know who you are in life you definitely won’t know who you are in this business. You have to be able to stand firm on what you believe in even if it’s not what other people want to hear. You have to be yourself because at the end of the day, if you aren’t happy, then what’s the purpose of doing this? I would hate to do something every day that I know I’m genuinely not happy with, especially if you have a talent or if you have a gift. You should be able to be happy broadcasting that gift. So be yourself, stand firm on what you believe and don’t give up. Also, you have to keep your faith. Keep your family close. It’s important to do you, because doing you is what got you here.
Also, if you want to be a great creative and if you want to be a great writer, study the great writers. Figure out who matters to you and figure out what gets you inspired. Take inspiration from that. If you wanna be a great singer or great dancer, study the greats. You have to study the greats to become great. Take a little bit of inspiration from everybody you see, and slowly but surely, you’ll find who you are in all of this.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
We all have struggles that we go through every single day, so for me it’s reminding myself that I’m supposed to be here. It’s the struggles that I dealt with since being a kid. Whether it’s been certain addictions, dealing with manly diseases, porn addictions, being almost a year sober from smoking weed or just not being 100% confident of what you do all the time. Because this industry is designed to just take take take from you; it leaves you almost in a shell of yourself. It’s important to keep the faith and that’s what I do. I keep praying & keep trusting in my Heavenly Father. That’s what my new single “No More Poison” represents from my new project “R&G” (Rhythm & Gospel). I continue to keep believing in God and I know with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I will overcome every obstacle that the enemy tries to put in front of me because he didn’t bring me this far to fail. I’m on the winning side 🙏🏽.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heis_trevante/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TreVante
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@heis_trevante
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