Before TheARTI$t knew exactly what she wanted her artist name to be, she was already practicing becoming one. Born Erica McCauley, the rising R&B artist has been a dancer, a preschool teacher and a basketball player, past lives that might seem disconnected from music at first glance, but each left lessons that she now carries onto the stage, into the studio and her everyday life. Dancing taught her precision. Teaching nurtured her creativity. Basketball taught her persistence: no matter how tired or exhausted she was, she refused to leave the gym until she made her last shot.
When her 2023 single “Sober” went viral on TikTok, TheARTI$t began to understand the power of allowing listeners into parts of her private life. Now, with her latest project DND, a growing presence in the next generation of R&B and a supporting role on the road with Kehlani, she’s entering a new chapter, one defined by showing everyone who she truly is, on and off the stage.
TheARTI$t’s newfound evolution extends far beyond music. Her recent collaboration with footwear brand Marc Nolan on the IRIS. loafer reflects an interest in fashion and design that has been part of her identity since childhood, while the shoe’s themes of love, devotion and connection mirror the values she wants to carry into everything she creates.
If there’s one thing TheARTI$t wants people to understand about where she is in 2026, it’s that this is only the beginning. “I’m literally just scratching the surface in everything,” she says. “I’m so far from finished.”
In our conversation, Billboard’s August 2026 R&B Up-and-Comer TheARTI$t gets candid about the experiences that shaped her, learning to embrace vulnerability, finding community through her music and stepping into a new era of her artistry.
Before music became the path, you were a dancer and preschool teacher and even considered basketball. What do you think those different versions of yourself taught you about the artist you are today?
Dancing comes with a lot of practice and precision as well, and I feel like I carry that with me in my performance. Even in moments like these, just being precise in talking to the press and having interviews, even meeting people in the public eye, I just feel like it’s important to carry myself a certain way. And it’s kind of the same thing when it comes to dancing.
As far as being a teacher, working with the younger age, like two, three year olds, the creativity that they have at such a young age truly is just inspiring. It can come down to anything, something as small as coloring to the way they put the blocks together. It just brings out the child in me, honestly.
When I played basketball, I wouldn’t leave the gym until I made a shot. No matter if I just had a game, if I just had a two-hour practice, I’m exhausted, if I have an injury, I do not leave the gym without shooting and making it.
And I feel like that’s the same thing in the studio and on stage. I feel like when I go into the booth, I don’t wanna leave the studio session if I’m like, “I didn’t accomplish anything.”
You were born Erica McCauley, but you perform as TheARTI$t. What does that name represent to you, and where does Erica end and TheARTI$t begin?
I feel like “TheARTI$t” represents everything that is me. I feel like everything in this world is art. You walk outside, look at the trees, it’s art. The cars driving, that’s art. And I feel like me as a whole, I’m so many things, but when it all comes down to it, I’m just an artist, truly, in my heart of hearts. And I feel like that’s how I wanna be represented. That’s how I want to represent myself.
I’m just an artist. I’m full of art. And I feel like Erica, it’s never-ending because this is truly who I am. When I get off the stage, I don’t turn off anything. I’m just the same person on the stage, off the stage, in the studio, out of the studio.
I’ve been learning lately, though, to have moments where I do kind of separate the two because I feel like it’s also important for me to nurture Erica still in order for TheARTI$t to be who TheARTI$t has to be.
Your music is rooted in vulnerability, but vulnerability can be uncomfortable. Has there ever been a song where you questioned whether you were sharing too much?
Yeah, a few songs. I feel like “Sober” was one of them, but I was so in my zone as far as getting that off my chest because I made that song years after I went through that experience. But I realized in that moment, in that session, that, yo, this is what’s been holding me back, the fact that I’m holding on to this. So I felt like I was just throwing it out there, and I’m like, “Damn, what if the person hears it?” But then it came to a point where I’m like, it doesn’t matter.
Because once the feedback I got was like, “Me too,” that’s when I knew that my purpose was bigger than what I believed it to be at that time. ’Cause I was very, very early in my career, and it’s like, yo, it’s so much bigger than me. And I truly felt like that was when I realized, yo, this is my purpose.
“Sober” took off on TikTok in 2023 and really accelerated your visibility. When you look back at that moment now, what do you think changed for you?
I believe my ability to express changed, just even in my personal life outside of being an artist. I feel like I don’t really talk much about the things that I go through. I don’t want people to feel like they have to treat me differently or feel sorry.
I’m a giver, a natural caretaker. So I feel like ever since making that song, it truly opened up a door for me to just be able to be vulnerable, period, and make music in my life and have conversations with a stranger. You know what I mean? I feel like it’s so necessary. It is so necessary to be expressive, honestly.
What did the experience of watching people connect with “Sober” teach you about what your audience is looking for from you?
It taught me that I believe they’re looking for someone who understands. There are so many people that feel unheard and unseen. It’s like, “Yo, we’re in this together. We damn near going through the same exact thing. I got you, you got me, we got each other.” I feel like they’re just looking for community, and I’m happy to provide that.
You described DND as living “between presence and disappearance.” What does that space mean to you personally?
It means exactly what it’s saying, man. I don’t always have to know what I’m doing or who I’m doing it with. But honestly, it meant a lot to me when making it because, in the career that I’m in, it almost feels like we have to explain ourselves and show a certain side in order to get things in return, I guess.
But I feel like there comes a point where sometimes I go on DND, just like my phone does. And most times when we put our phones on DND, it’s either we don’t wanna be bothered, we’re doing something that we don’t really want people to know that we’re doing, or we simply just wanna be within ourselves.
So I feel like it definitely allowed me to live more in that DND space in my actual life too, outside of just the creative life.
Was DND created from a place of wanting to disappear from the world, or was it more about creating space to find yourself?
I would say half and half. I truly just come from a space of having to explain myself all the time, and sometimes I just don’t want to. But at the same time, taking that space for myself was also necessary in creating that project too, one thousand percent. I needed to be alone to tap back into the things that I experienced in order to tell the stories we talked about.
What did you learn about yourself while making DND that you didn’t know when you started?
Well, I have a problem with taking a compliment, so put that out there. But I realized that sometimes I put myself in situations that I didn’t know I could put myself in. Being a lover, being a giver, a carer, sometimes you just overextend too much, and in the long run, it just fires back at you. And I also feel like I have to be cautious of just how giving I am because sometimes it can come off a certain way, and it’s like, “Well, I wasn’t thinking that.” But when I go back and read what I said, it’s almost like I can understand why they took it that way.
If DND is the most honest representation of where you are right now, what does it tell us about TheARTI$t in 2026?
I feel like it should tell you guys that I am in a space of maturing, of learning, of being teachable through and through. I’m literally just scratching the surface in everything.
I feel like being here is such a great project. It’s not possibly reaching the heights that I know it can reach yet. God’s timing on everything. But I believe it tells you guys that I’m not done. I’m so far from finished.
You’re currently on the road with Kehlani. What has this tour taught you about yourself as a performer that you couldn’t have learned anywhere else?
No excuses. Although I feel like that’s something that we carry as people every day. I feel like seeing her and her team in the flesh, yo, there’s no excuses for anything, man. You get up and you give your all. Whether it’s five people in the crowd or 5,000, you go and you give everything you got because it is a blessing to do what we do.
Like, we’re doing something for the people. They’re not doing something for us, and that’s how I see it. And I’ve also learned that, despite the horror stories you might hear when it comes to what we do, the familial aspect of it is so important. This circle is so important. I really honor the relationships I see amongst her and her peers, the relationships we’re building, and the relationships her peers and my peers are building. I honor it so much. And it makes sense why God put all of us together — myself, Kehlani, Duran, Dixon. It makes so much sense.
You’re sharing the stage with Kehlani, Durand Bernarr, Isaia Huron and WASEEL. What has it been like being surrounded by so many different expressions of R&B every night?
It is honoring and inspiring. I have so much more work to do and at the same time, I feel like these guys around me can help me achieve everything that I’m after. It’s such a blessing. They’re so welcoming. They’re so ready. I can say, “Yo, can you teach me this run?” I don’t even stop.
I don’t feel like I’m just in support of the tour. I feel like I’m a part of the tour. Do you know what I mean? There’s such a distinct difference. They make me feel like they love me, and I love them, honestly.
R&B feels like it’s having another major moment right now. What do you think is driving this resurgence?
I believe everyone is just being who they are. No one is trying to outdo the next person. No one is trying to take a sound from the next person. I feel like that’s what it’s all about. And honestly, I’ve been seeing a lot more collabs in the R&B space too, which is not something we see often. And I feel like we in this together.
Community at the end of the day, man. One hand washes the other, and I just feel like that’s what’s really pushing the resurgence. Whether it’s touring together, whether it’s songwriting together, whether it’s being a feature on a record, we’re building a community. And I feel like that is why it’s where it is now, honestly.
As someone coming up during this new wave of R&B, what do you think separates this generation from the artists who came before you?
I feel like we’ve been paying homage to the generation before us, with the sampling and honoring the ones that laid every brick they could lay before us. And I feel like what separates us is just our experiences. They had their experiences in their era, and we have our experiences in ours. So I feel like we’re able to speak to our experiences, just as they were back then as well. I feel like that’s what separates us, honestly. Just the world we live in right now is very different.
Who are some R&B artists you think deserve more attention right now?
My dog Remy. Remy’s crazy. Everybody knows Ambré, right? Her last album she just dropped, disgusting. It’s insane. Dylan Sinclair! I feel like we all know everybody, but it’s just like, “Yo, y’all should know more.” I feel like everyone just deserves their moment, and we’re all gonna have our moment, literally. All of us.
You’re not just expressing yourself through music anymore, you now have a footwear collaboration with Marc Nolan. Where did that interest in fashion and design come from?
I feel like I’ve always had a passion for fashion. My mom introduced me to thrifting at a very young age, and I always aspired to be different when I was in school, and we didn’t have uniforms. So I feel like it was always within me. I just needed the opportunity to express that. And Mark Nolen, gratefully, was the first to provide the opportunity with this shoe collab. I love shoes. I love a loafer. I remember one time somebody asked me, “You don’t wear sneakers?” I’m like, the loafer is me. I love fashion, and I look forward to excelling in that world too.
The IRIS. loafer is inspired by the iris flower and its symbolism of devotion and connection. Why was that symbolism important to you?
Love is important and we’ve been deprived of that, whether it’s showing up for someone, answering a call, just checking in on a friend you haven’t talked to in a while, or maybe it’s an old person who used to be helped across the street, anything.
My life is all about love. I can’t deny it if I wanted to. I feel like I wanted to express that with this shoe. Love should be in every step that we take. That’s why I decided to make that a part of the rollout when it came to the shoe, it’s so important. Everywhere you look, whether we’re saying our goodbyes to someone forever, or it’s a country being beaten down, broken down to their bottom. We’re watching parents and children lose their lives.
The least we can do is give the love back, at least the love we know how to give. I just want to implement that in everything that I do. So that’s why we went with the iris flower and connection. Love is so broad that’s why I decided on purple. Purple is a color we don’t see often, but it’s such a special color.
How involved were you in turning the concept into the final shoe?
They literally just provided the production, I did it all.
Do you see fashion becoming a bigger part of your artistry moving forward?
Oh, absolutely. I look forward to being a model, I look forward to my own brand, I look forward to collaborating with everyone, I look forward to the Met Gala. I look forward to truly just letting the music and fashion come together as one.
You said DND is about “what we choose to silence, and who that silence allows us to become.” What are you choosing to silence in this chapter of your life?
I’m choosing to silence the thoughts that come into my mind that try to put self-doubt on me. I’m choosing to silence the things that feel like they’re getting in my way, and I’m choosing to silence people who simply don’t believe.
I believe I’m done with trying to prove myself, and I’m walking more into being exactly who God made me to be.
