Not everyone you come across online is pushing messages filled with positivity, for many of the influencers that you may see online when scrolling social media tend to show off and give an “I have a better life than you” vibe. Kanou Awata, on the other hand, leverages the hundreds of thousands of followers that he has as a platform for doing good.
As a singer, actor, and live streamer, Kanou has quite an impressive amount of people consuming his content, and many of his followers really look up to him. He didn’t have the smoothest upbringing, for he was adopted at birth and grew up in the deserts of California. His father was a US Marine while his mother was a stay at home mom, and he always felt like he was destined to go a different path than most.
Kanou got his start in his career with social media by live streaming to create genuine friendships online since he didn’t really have too many in school. Interesting enough, it soon grew into a vehicle for him to not only connect with a large amount of people at once, but he also began making a living from it. Kanou’s reach has grown to over hundreds of thousands over time and is showing no signs of slowing down.
With the attention he has managed to build up, he has also leveraged it to catapult him into the music industry. In October of 2019, he released his first single “hstry,” and before that he played minor roles in Disney movies such as “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam” and “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.”
I was curious to hear what he felt has helped him get to where he is currently at in his career.
“My biggest piece of advice for people looking to be successful in entertainment is don’t lose yourself trying to keep up with everyone else. It’s easy when everything is going right, but when things go wrong, they go wrong! You just have to rely on your support system behind you, and know that you are one step closer to being successful,” Kanou mentioned.
His inspiration for getting into the entertainment field came from genuinely wanting to bring happiness to people, and you can sense his genuine presence when you interact with him through his lives on TikTok and Instagram. When it came to acting, however, the challenge of needing to bring life to another character was also exciting for him.
“I am all about being someone who people feel they can relate to, and when it comes to acting, that’s a challenge that I always enjoy having to go through. There’s definitely a process to being able to do that right.”
Kanou recently started working with a new management team called “Influences,” and he says that he’s currently in great hands for the direction he is currently heading.
If you want to check him out, be sure to follow him on social media @kanou.