Pacing Around New York City with Joey King | In Conversation

Waking up in the city that never sleeps, there seems to be a ceaseless amount of interesting people who can be seen parading around each and every corner. The city stays in constant motion around the clock— crowded subways, the blaring horns of midday traffic, busy people heading from each street corner to the next. One of these spectacular people happens to be Joey King, a 21-year-old student, and model who you could most likely find pacing the sidewalks of the big city. While visiting New York, Starmaker Machine had the unique pleasure of interviewing and following King around the fast-paced streets of Midtown to the residential sidewalks of Washington Square.

New York has become a place where many flock to fulfill their deepest creative desires and King is no different. Two years ago, King left their small town in New Jersey to attend college in the city and work towards their end goal of entering the music industry. During the pandemic, the opportunity arose for them to be signed to SKorpion MGMT, a modeling agency, where they began exploring another dream that had been sitting in the back of their mind from a young age.

QUINN: So, you’re a signed model. How did you get into modeling? And was it something you always wanted to do or something you came into by chance?

KING: Um, it was something I’ve always wanted to do. I just submitted my photos online over quarantine when everything was super slow, and I feel like that’s how I got lucky. They signed me this year. It was definitely always something I wanted to do because I grew up admiring so many people that got to participate in that type of art. I was like “I want to do that too”, then I basically just kind of had to— I felt like I had to do it.

QUINN: That’s so exciting. And like, I know you said you wanted to go into the music industry, but if you could do modeling full time would you?

KING: Ooh. I mean, yeah, but I feel like it's such an unsustainable career, especially long term, that I feel like you have to have something else to do. I feel like it would be less fulfilling to do modeling instead of music, but at the same time I would still be able to work with all of those queer people that I want to work with so I guess it would still be fulfilling in a sense.

Although becoming a full-time signed model is an opportunity few would refuse, the heart wants what it wants— and King’s heart is in the music. Around the time the landscape of social media became more popularized, platforms like Tumblr became a hub for teens and young adults alike. Fandoms were grown and several aesthetics surrounding musical artists such as Marina and the Diamonds, Lana Del Rey, and others began to flourish. What felt like a camouflaged area of the internet was largely dominated by young LGBT+ people who turned to this community as a way to find others like them. These spaces provided the comfort of a community that many queer people did not have the privilege of growing up in, especially in places where more prejudiced mindsets are more rampant. This online circle can even be thanked for bringing the creators of Starmaker Machine to contact with Joey King. For many like King and us at Starmaker, this time on the internet became instrumental in what would later influence decisions when it came to choosing adulthood lifestyles and careers.

QUINN: This one is kind of hard. If you could choose a form of media that describes your life or how you want to live your life, what would that be?

KING: Hmm. There’s so many albums I could pick from.

QUINN: You don’t have to limit yourself to just one.

KING: I would probably say all of those albums I grew up on, I would want my life to go similarly. Not necessarily what the albums themselves said but more-so the stories behind them and what they had to do to get them released and the process to making such an important piece of music. All of the albums have stories behind them and how they came to be, I feel like the artists get to look back on certain albums and really say that that was their life.

QUINN: Do you have an example off the top of your head?

KING: All of the girls like Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX— Two Door Cinema Club was a huge one for me. I wanna say Lana Del Rey but she was like a bad influence. [laughs] All of those really important artists from the 2010s that everyone still loves.

QUINN: Would you say that music is one of your biggest passions?

KING: Yeah. [laughs] It’s the only thing I want to do.

QUINN: What specifically made music your passion from the start?

KING: Growing up on Tumblr was definitely the turning point because there were so many emerging artists at that time that were so important. And then, it was also kind of like an escape. I was a very introverted kid and I was always online— like I grew up on the internet so it became such a source of comfort. Then I started attaching all of this music to my life and it only made sense for me to work in that field because that was the main thing I was thinking about every day.

Tumblr isn’t the only place where King found a sense of community. As a queer person in any industry, opportunities to work with other, like-minded queer people are ideal. While modeling was never their intended end goal, through the profession and the accessibility of living in a large city, King was able to connect with and be inspired by people they previously never thought possible. King also talks about the transition from living in a small town their whole life to a large city like New York. Oftentimes when moving somewhere new, there is anxiety surrounding making new connections. Luckily for King, they were able to hop right on the scene while living alongside their best friend.

QUINN: Before with modeling you were talking about how there were interesting and exciting people to work with, do you have specific people that inspire you stylistically and in general? Or things in general that inspire you?

KING: Yeah, there are a lot of people I either haven’t met yet or some of them that I’ve worked with already that are huge inspirations. I wouldn’t have any ideas about what to do without seeing their stuff first. There’s this one photographer named Sharna Osborne who I just love. I love her aesthetic, she’s amazing. And yeah, every time I’ve been on a set I’ve only been surrounded by queer people because they really do dominate the behind-the-scenes part of it. I came from a small town so I never got to work with queer people to that I felt like I related. That was a really cool experience to move to New York and start working with all of these people that I wouldn’t have known.

QUINN: What was it like moving from your small town to New York City?

KING: I feel like I got super lucky because I moved with my best friend from my first year of college. She’s from New York, so we were already going out because she had all these people that she knew. It was a lot easier, I feel like I got super lucky because a lot of people have to move and start from scratch. I feel like she made that transition really smooth for me. I still get to live with her now, we just got a new apartment so it’s been really cool.

QUINN: Could you see yourself staying in New York forever? Or is there somewhere else you can see yourself moving to in the future?

KING: I feel like it just depends on what type of career I manifest and where it goes. I would love to live on the west coast, that would be really cool. it’s just super hot though. [laughs]

Living in the city is not perfect though— King has had their fair share of challenges just like any other who has trekked through the infamous concrete jungle. On their path, they have gathered some wisdom and offered some advice to those seeking to take the leap of faith and move to the city as well.

QUINN: If you could give any advice to someone looking to move to New York what would that be?

KING: Um… to be patient. I feel like when you’re young you want to force things to happen super fast and you want something almost instantly when that's just not how it works. I learned that the hard way. I’d really kick myself for not making things happen instantly but nobody does, ever. When you see people doing things, you don’t know how long it took them to get there, you know? I would say be patient and trust that everything is going to happen at the right time.

QUINN: I love that advice. If you could pick a favorite thing and a least favorite thing about living in the city, what would that be?

KING: My favorite part is being around so many queer people like I said. I feel such a sense of community that I didn’t get in my small town. I think it’s really important for queer people to live in a densely populated area so they can have that. My least favorite part about living in New York is probably the people here. It's easy to run into a lot of bad situations that can make you intolerant of people, and I feel like I’m more avoidant of people and less trustworthy. Anyone on the street, I won’t really look at or interact with them. I just had too many experiences with people that make me like, “okay, just stay away, mind your own business”. Trying not to have any type of confrontation. There are Joey Kings in all of the biggest cities pacing their way to the top of their fields.

King can almost serve as a metaphor for many other young creatives who are still learning and trying to find their place in a world where the possibilities are endless. It’s always a pleasure to get the perspective of a young mind; not quite where they’re meant to be but also not entirely out of place. Almost any avenue can be explored, so it’s important to take any opportunities that arise even if they’ve never been previously considered. One thing to always remember is that if there’s a will, there will always be a way to achieve anything. If someone else has done something, chances are you could do it too. So take that leap, move out of your small town— be like Joey King.