A Conversation with Jesse McCartney – HuffPost 12.17.10

Mike Ragogna: So let’s talk about your new album Have It All. Did you really get it all for this record?

Jesse McCartney: I did, I got it all and then some. I’m really excited for the fans to hear this one. It’s my fourth studio album, I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s the next step, the next chapter.

MR: Have It All has all the Jesse McCartney trademarks on it, but it also seems like you stepped out a little bit, and there’s lots of growth from your last album. For instance, you co-wrote a lot of the songs on this album.

JM: Yes I did. Ya know, it’s a very fair statement to say that there is growth. I mean, that’s a natural progression that’s naturally going to happen when you start out as a sixteen-year-old in this industry debuting your first album, and I’m gonna be twenty-four early next year. I’ve come a long way, and I think the fans certainly will hear it, and the music critics will hear it. It’s the next step, it’s my fourth chapter–the life of a 23-year-old male, sort of maybe a little bit sensationalized in the sense that I’ve lived a pretty crazy life and there’s a lot to talk about.

MR: You have some guests on Have It All, can you go into who palled around with you on this album?

JM: People always say, “Who did you collaborate with?” and they always think that necessarily means a singer or a rapper, which I did a little bit of that as well. But I worked with some amazing producers who are also artists, people like Sean Garrett and Kevin Rudolph who had the biggest song of 2009 with “Let It Rock,” and he produced a couple of records. And people don’t really know how amazing Kevin is, he’s just an unbelievably talented producer as well as artist. He sort of helped crystallize my goal for this album. I did do one collaboration, I did a record with Tyga…he is one of the new faces of Young Money, he’s an incredible rapper– I believe he’s like twenty, he’s younger than me. He and I did a record with Sean Garrett and it’s called “I Don’t Normally Do This.” It’s definitely one of the songs on the album where I took a left turn where people are going to be like, “Is that Jesse?” It’s definitely the next step for me where it’s more in the rhythmic R&B land. With the help of Tyga and Sean we were able to do that.

MR: Do you identify with R&B?

JM: Absolutely, I grew up listening to soul music. People like Stevie, Aretha, Ray Charles, Michael and Prince. My parents’ record collection was all I had when I was a little kid. If it wasn’t that, it was something else in their collection. I remember when I was four years old, one of the first records I ever pulled out was Elvis Presley. I remember thinking, “I want to be that guy.” He was one of the only white guys that could be soulful, in my opinion. I was like, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I wanna do,” so that was sort of how it all started. My parents were both very musically inclined, they were both songwriters and musicians, so we grew up in the house singing music together, and R&B had a huge strong arm in the foundation of my career. Yeah, that’s why I wanted to make an album to represent my youth.

MR: When you were a kid, you also were part of the pop group Dream Street.

JM: Dream Street was my first experience as a signed artist, I was twelve when I first joined this boy band. These guys were putting this together, and we first signed with Jason Solam who was, at the time, the president of Lava, which was a branch of Atlantic. I was so young that I hardly remember. We were with Atlantic Records for a couple of years and it was great, it was my first time getting a chance to experience what it was like to be on the road. We went on tour with Britney (Spears), it was my first dose of “stardom.” It was so early on, I was so green that I wasn’t really able to take it all in. It only lasted a few years and we broke up…I was only fourteen or fifteen. That was right around the time I branched off and did the solo thing.

MR: Then in 2004, you have the Beautiful Soul album.

JM: Yeah, it was a couple of years in the making. I got into the studio and had a few records that had been submitted to me that I hadn’t written because I wasn’t really writing at the point. Then, I just sort of recorded, I got in the studio with who is now my current manager, Sherry Kondor, and, at the time, my mom as well. They were very supportive, they pumped (in) a lot of their own money, and I pumped a lot of my own money into making this little EP that Jay Landers, who was originally at Disney, heard and said, “Who is this kid? I want him!” They flew me out to LA and the rest was history. I signed a deal within the next couple weeks of him hearing the record and that was it.

MR: Beautiful Soul was a #15 album, but the song “Beautiful Soul” was a top ten single.

JM: I think, on radio, it was #3 or #4. But yeah, it was certainly a monster record for my career. It launched me into a whole other stratosphere.

MR: And you had “Leavin'” which charted even higher, hitting #2. Then you had “How Do You Sleep” with Ludacris, another hit record that went to #15.

JM: Yeah, I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had a bunch of great records and I’ve been able to travel the world with them. It seems to happen at the right time. I’ve been really blessed.

MR: One of my favorite songs on this record is “Mrs. Mistake” that you wrote with Dr. Luke.

JM: Yeah, I appreciate that it’s one of my favorite songs as well.

MR: When you recorded your new album, who called the shots?

JM: Starting with the last album, when I took the reins creatively, and was able to guide my writers and producers in the right direction. At the end of the day, I have to be the one performing this music and living with it for the rest of my life. So, who better to make the final call than myself.

MR: It seems like your career has been tied into Disney and Hollywood Records, which is their affiliate.

JM: It is their affiliate in that Disney is the owner of Hollywood Buena Vista. That’s actually a common misconception, I’ve never been on any Disney show or any Disney-affiliated program other than maybe guest appearing on Hannah Montana when I was sixteen. I am signed to Hollywood, and they’ve been amazing to me and they are run by Disney. I think with my records, I can assure you that this next album I wouldn’t buy for your 7-year-old daughter. It’s not a Disney record.

MR: How do you approach recording your albums?

JM: There’s definitely the records that are little more light-hearted and a little more radio friendly, and then there are the songs that you definitely know are going to be the meat of the record, like “Mrs. Mistake.” There’s a song on the record called “Seasons” which is how I end the record. I mean, I wrote close to 50 songs in the last year for this album in particular. It’s really hard. You want to be able to trim the fat and bring it down to an eleven-song album and get to the point. You have to have a few of those songs be a little more light-hearted, fun, and easy on the ears. A song like “Shake,” for instance, is a little more like my last album and has a little bit of that lighthearted, rhythmic swagger to the track and the vocals, and doesn’t really dive in deep like the rest of the album. When people really buy the record and they really get into the heart of it, they’re gonna heart it. Thematically, it sort of represents what I’m going through, being in and out of relationships and understanding what a relationship is and not knowing what to do with it. That’s what made up this record.

MR: It seems like you guys had a good time with “Shake”‘s production.

JM: That was a fun record, it was really fun to record. We were going through the iPhone rings trying to find out the best ring, and it turned out it was the traditional iPhone ring. That was a great record and fun to record.

MR: When you tour in support of your new album, will you perform any of those 50 songs that didn’t make Have It All?

JM: Yeah absolutely, it makes for great extra material to perform live. Also, it’s material that I want to just give to the fans and not necessarily make them go out and buy it. In this day and age, I think that’s important. There are a lot of songs that I don’t want anyone to hear–I’m a human like anyone else, some are just not as good as the rest. I think, certainly, I’m going to whip out a couple of the records that weren’t necessarily on the record and perform them live.

MR: After all of your years of recording and touring, you’re basically a veteran at the ripe old age of 23. What’s your advice for new artists?

JM: It’s a good question. I think that there are a lot more ways into the industry. You look at somebody like Justin Bieber as a template, there are the amount of outlets that kids have with YouTube and Twitter and Facebook to be discovered. The only thing I can say is to make yourself viral, really put yourself out there. Just recently, I discovered somebody online, and I’m talking to my people about this girl, and I’m like, “Hey, this is someone that’s really talented.” We are talking about maybe signing her. As long as you are out there and you have face time with people, I think you have a great shot, especially in this day and age where you don’t have to walk into a building and audition for somebody. I think, also, a lot of hard work, putting time in, and really working your tail off.

MR: Okay, onto your acting career. I’ll just say it, I think you were great in the TV seriesGreek.

JM: That was a lot of fun. It was a special cast, you could tell there were a lot of people on that show that you know are going to go on to be big stars and huge comedians. It was really well written, it was kind of racy for ABC Family at the time. It was one of those shows that was pushing the envelope. I only did six or seven episodes, but I had a great time. I instantly became a part of the Greek family. It’s sad to see that the show is going off the air. They had a nice long run, it was fun to be a part of that cast.

MR: Yeah, I was going to ask whatever happened to Andy?

JM: Andy went away and we never brought him back.

MR: Sad, really. And it’s especially sad to hear the Greek was canceled. Anyway, a certain 13-year-old Gareth West wants to know about your role as the voice of Robin in Young Justice. By the way, what a great job they’ve done with the pilot. It looks like you’re a part of something that’s going to be huge.

JM: I totally agree with you. They’ve done an amazing job, the animators killed it, and I feel like I’m a part of something that’s really special. I can’t even tell you how much of a dream job that is. That’s one of the most exciting gigs I’ve had up to now. I grew up as a huge comic fan and a huge Batman & Robin fan. I watched all the TV shows, went to all the movies–I even had the lunch box, man, I was in! When they called me to come read for the voice, they were a little uncertain because I have a relatively (normal) speaking voice, and this guy is like this pre-pubescent cocky teen. I went in there and pitched up my voice as high as I could, I wore the tightest pants I could, and went in there and got behind the mic and they said they wanted me to be Robin. And I’m working with some of the most legendary voiceover recording artists in the game, and I’m the youngest guy in the room. It’s such a special gig…I just saw the first episode a couple nights ago when it premiered and it’s looking good.

MR: It’s an excellent show, man, good on ya! As you can tell, I’m also of the comic book nerd lineage, I think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to these shows. I’m a DC Universe fanboy and so is the kid I mentioned, and we think your Robin is pitch perfect.

JM: Thanks man, yeah I worked on it. Just in the first season, there is a lot of growth with Robin. He starts off as the young cocky kid who doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and then, he is kind of forced to take on the roll of leader of this team. Then, you see he’s becoming more of like a little Batman. There’s room for a lot of growth with the character. It was so much fun. I can’t wait to see it later in the season. I’m like a little kid all over again, but now, I’m a Superhero.

MR: You are! And if you’re like me, you’re never going to loose that, which is a good thing.

JM: Yeah, I know man, I’m sitting on the couch thinking, nobody talk to me, nobody call me, I disconnect the phone I’m super into it.

MR: Jesse. What’s in the future?

JM: In the immediate future? I’m literally about to leave for my first show in Sacramento, and for most of December, I’m going to be touring doing jingle balls and jingle jams across the country. And then the album release is going to be the 28th of December, and then, I’m going to do a big tour in the Spring with we don’t know who yet. Trying to find somebody to tour with in the Spring. Just trying to keep the momentum with this album.

MR: Good for you man. Thanks for giving us some time man.

JM: I’m a happy guy, thanks to all the fans for supporting me all these years.

Tracks:
1. Shake
2. One Night
3. The Writer
4. Club Hop
5. I Think She Likes Me
6. Tonight Is Your Night
7. I Don’t Normally Do This – with Tyga
8. Undo
9. Have It All
10. Mrs. Mistake
11. Seasons (My Love Will Never Change)

Transcribed by Theo Shier