Russell’s latest song “Slippin'” featuring Trainor dropped July 12
Paul Russell is here to tell you he’s next.
The 26-year-old musician has taken the world by storm with his hit single “Lil Boo Thang,” and now, the Georgia-turned-Texas native, whose Instagram bio reads “aspiring two hit wonder,” tells PEOPLE he’s just trying to ride the wave.
“I try not to think too much about like, ‘Am I making another hit?’ Obviously I want to keep this going, so that’s why the aspiring two hit wonder is there. But it’s fun stuff, and it’s cool to now have a fan base of people who are excited about my music and have opportunities to go to crazy places and do so many fun things. I’m just enjoying it,” he says.
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Paul Russell performs on the Today Show in October 2023
Russell, who is signed to Arista Records, released his latest single “Slippin'” on Friday, July 12, and the song features the vocals of his new friend Meghan Trainor, whom he’ll be joining on the road this fall.
The Timeless tour kicks off Sept. 4 at the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, then makes stops in cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, Toronto, Phoenix and more before wrapping up on Oct. 19 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
For Russell, the chance to collaborate with Trainor has been beyond anything he could’ve ever dreamed up.
“It was wild that I could make something and be like, ‘Oh, let me text it to Meghan Trainor, see if she likes it,’ which was pretty insane,” Russell recalls of first sharing the track with the pop star. “She’s just such a fun person, and she’s super welcoming, and I’ve met her whole family, and they’re all so nice. It’s just been a good relationship. She’s the homie. The tour is going to be awesome.”
Prior to his viral fame last August, Russell got his musical start performing in his church choir in the Dallas area, and he even learned to play ukulele for a girl he had an early crush on.
“As I sort of describe in this song with Meghan that’s coming out, I definitely was always the kid that your mom wanted you to date. I’m a parent-approved person for sure,” he says with a laugh, and gearing up to traverse the United States with a mega-star like Trainor is a wildly different set of circumstances than Russell found himself in just a year ago.
“Music was a hobby of mine, and so when I look back, I guess I’ve been making and releasing music for a few years now. But it wasn’t me being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I am trying to be the world’s biggest musician.’ It was just kind of like, this is fun,” he says.
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Paul Russell at the People’s Choice Awards held at Barker Hangar in February 2024 in Santa Monica
In fact, it’s that fun feeling that led Russell to tease the chorus of viral sensation “Lil Boo Thang” on social media in the first place. Prior to the song’s global success, Russell was working a job in finance at a tech company, which he was “prepared to do forever.”
“I was on Excel! So yeah, it’s cool. It’s weird. And after doing the music thing, I’m so glad that I’m not working at a desk anymore,” Russell admits.
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He adds: “By the time ‘Lil Boo Thang’ came out, I think that was the first time in my life where I felt like, ‘You know what? I think I would like to be a musician,'” Russell says. “You can’t really plan for something like that. I just had to keep making stuff and if the opportunity presented itself, I’d love it, but I didn’t imagine I was going to do this as my actual job. It all just kind of happened. It’s the dream.”
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