Speaker 1: Money. We are thank take val. We are the authority
Speaker 1: on all things and ladies and gentleman. My name is
Speaker 1: Tank and this it's the RB Money Podcast, the authority
Speaker 1: on all things R and B. Yes it is. Some
Speaker 1: people just make it happy. Spirit is good, beautiful inside
Speaker 1: and out. When they walk in the room, it's electric. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what's another word for it? Spark A spark? Yes, you know,
Speaker 1: the detail is immense in terms of who and what
Speaker 1: this young lady is. I would just say incredible. I
Speaker 1: just want to stop there and introduced spark. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but definitely has to be one of the best intros
Speaker 1: I've ever had. Intros. I'm good, I'm really good. How
Speaker 1: are you guys, I'm awesome. I want to I want
Speaker 1: to start this. I want to start this pod by
Speaker 1: by telling a story. Okay, okay, Um, you're a you're
Speaker 1: a very popular singer. Extremely thank you, and sometimes that
Speaker 1: can be confused with pop as if you aren't urban, right, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: once you coming to a club in knowledge, you're just
Speaker 1: chilling your business. We hosted you know our people down
Speaker 1: to knowls. You know who you are? Ye look at
Speaker 1: you and I say, if the largest laces on your
Speaker 1: heart to come on up on this stage, you know,
Speaker 1: just hang out with us. You ain't gotta sing, You
Speaker 1: ain't gotta you ain't. There was a lot of festivities.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of festivities going on, and Joan,
Speaker 1: you proceeded to walk on this stage, you know, in
Speaker 1: your in your shy dashful kind of way. You use
Speaker 1: your shy dashful really not you're you're you're dope at
Speaker 1: it right. No, it's not me, it's you. Oh God.
Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of us had grabbed the
Speaker 1: microphones and sang, you know, and sang our hearts out,
Speaker 1: and we had who we had all night? Who? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And you came on that stage and you started singing,
Speaker 1: and everybody in that love Casino, whatever that room was
Speaker 1: that we was in, said what they start without fut
Speaker 1: They started out on yeah moment she got that, And
Speaker 1: I'm like this, good, Oh you ain't you ain't my
Speaker 1: dog and everything my dog do. The whole thing you
Speaker 1: were just you are just an incredible talent, no matter
Speaker 1: the room, no matter the setting, no matter the demographic,
Speaker 1: the gift gonna show up, the gift, thank you. It's
Speaker 1: just it's just is what it is. So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to. That's what we wanted to give you, you know,
Speaker 1: the respect and the love and the flowers that go
Speaker 1: along with it. Any room, don't get it twisted. Get
Speaker 1: a twisted old Martin Luther the Cave or suns that
Speaker 1: plus or Rodeo, you gonna go crazy. Thank you. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate that I received that because it's it's definitely
Speaker 1: a gift. It really is a gift. I was born
Speaker 1: with it. There's nobody in my family that really sings
Speaker 1: like me. Yet we might have some you know, my nieces,
Speaker 1: my my nieces and djamily. I mean, we have musical
Speaker 1: people in my family. So like my uncle was in
Speaker 1: a band and my nana played piano. Everybody played piano.
Speaker 1: My grandpa played the organ, like, so we have musical talent.
Speaker 1: My dad said he was in choir, but I've never
Speaker 1: heard him singing seriously enough to like be able to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but music is well loved in my family, for sure,
Speaker 1: But nobody somebody was just getting choir because girls a day. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll set them talking to my son. I know why
Speaker 1: you got inquired. I'm like you, I got it a
Speaker 1: lot for it a choir. We'll talk about it. So
Speaker 1: so let's go back to that. Let's go back to
Speaker 1: the to the beginning to where you know you have
Speaker 1: this musical family. Um, but then but then there's you
Speaker 1: and everyone's looking at you like, well, where did that
Speaker 1: come from? Yeah? I mean I knew at seven that
Speaker 1: music and singing was what I wanted to do. I
Speaker 1: knew in seven. Yeah, yeah, I knew at seven. And
Speaker 1: I that was also because I started realizing that when
Speaker 1: I would sing, people would be like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: like that's really good. But I realized that it wasn't
Speaker 1: in the way that it was towards little kids when
Speaker 1: you kind of, you know, you you encourage them all
Speaker 1: the time, you know, just because um, but they really
Speaker 1: were meaning what they were saying, like yes, You're voice
Speaker 1: is really good. And I was like, oh okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I loved doing it. So I just started singing.
Speaker 1: And then American Idol came on. I watched Kelly Clarkson win,
Speaker 1: and I got I just was so excited. I watched
Speaker 1: her and I just remember looking at my mom saying,
Speaker 1: I want to do that, not necessarily idle, because I
Speaker 1: had no one knew it was going to be around
Speaker 1: for as long as it's been around, but I just
Speaker 1: the emotion she was she was singing, she was she
Speaker 1: was choked up and she was singing and everybody watching
Speaker 1: her was just looking at her with awe and the
Speaker 1: Prioro Technicus going and people were clapping, and I just
Speaker 1: loved the emotion and how charged it was being on
Speaker 1: stage and the ability to sing a song and to
Speaker 1: change somebody like that. And I knew that that's what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do, and so at I think I
Speaker 1: was eleven or twelve, and I was like, I want
Speaker 1: to do that, mom, And she goes, Okay, well, if
Speaker 1: that's what you want to do, i'll help you get there.
Speaker 1: But you have to do your side of it. You know,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a lot of work. But it
Speaker 1: wasn't like work to me. I couldn't wait to get
Speaker 1: out of school so I could sing, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? So, UM did all that? I grew up
Speaker 1: in church singing in church. Yeah, I sang in church. Um.
Speaker 1: I wasn't able to join the choir um in the
Speaker 1: big church, but I could sing the solo and have
Speaker 1: the choir back me. So that was wait what Yeah?
Speaker 1: It was well, because you couldn't there was a certain age,
Speaker 1: I couldn't be in it because I was too young.
Speaker 1: So I was singing in the big church at like twelve,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't be in the choir. I was in
Speaker 1: high school worship though I was doing like junior high
Speaker 1: in high school worship as well, so it was like
Speaker 1: I couldn't sing the solo, but you were too young. Christmas,
Speaker 1: it was Christmas and Easter. You know, Jesus born on
Speaker 1: this day, so they let you rock. Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: rocked it. I brought the house down. And then guys,
Speaker 1: we have a special guest for you guys right here
Speaker 1: high students. Yeah, but it was fun, I know, but no,
Speaker 1: just a little special guest. But it was where are
Speaker 1: you at this time? I was in Arizona, Arizona. Grew
Speaker 1: up in Glendale, Arizona, and so I went to that
Speaker 1: church and then I did that for a while, and
Speaker 1: I did local stuff. There was this place called Mister
Speaker 1: Lucky's that was a country western bar, and they had
Speaker 1: a family fish fry Friday. Sorry it's hard to say, um,
Speaker 1: but they had a competition there every Friday for the kids.
Speaker 1: So everybody would calm families and their kids, and um,
Speaker 1: I would compete in this competition and I won. I
Speaker 1: came back the next week and I won, and I
Speaker 1: came back the next week and I won. And I
Speaker 1: came back the next week and they were like, all right,
Speaker 1: so were you one of those people that would acts
Speaker 1: of frised after you in the third? They were really good, Gus,
Speaker 1: there were kids. You never knew. It was different. I
Speaker 1: guess I was the only person who kept but there
Speaker 1: were different There were different were different people. So well
Speaker 1: they did was They tould me aside and they said, okay,
Speaker 1: look it's it's not fair. Um, so what we what
Speaker 1: we're going to do instead is you can sing with
Speaker 1: the house band. Yeah. And so you're born and raised
Speaker 1: in Arizona. So was your dad did? He played for
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. He was that why you were there. He
Speaker 1: played for the Giants. So my parents met in Phoenix. Um,
Speaker 1: they both went to Arizona State University. That's when my
Speaker 1: dad went to college. He was drafted out of there
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety two to the Giants. And so during
Speaker 1: the season we would move to New Jersey and the
Speaker 1: off season we'd come back to Phoenix. And when he retired,
Speaker 1: we came back to Phoenix. So Arizona was really my
Speaker 1: main constant, whereas I love New Jersey and I love
Speaker 1: the Tri State area, but I was always changing schools.
Speaker 1: I was always the new kid. I was, you know,
Speaker 1: I was always trying to do something new. I couldn't
Speaker 1: really like plant any roots there, but Arizona, I went
Speaker 1: back to the same school, I saw the same friends,
Speaker 1: my family was there. So um that t work, but
Speaker 1: I definitely think that helped prepare me for what I
Speaker 1: do now. That's why I was going to ask you
Speaker 1: just to move around and new friends, new schools. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because we people don't realize in this business, there's so
Speaker 1: many people that are coming and going at all times.
Speaker 1: There's even if you're at a label, still people coming
Speaker 1: and going. It's it's not it's not like that. It's
Speaker 1: very rare that you find someone who's been at the
Speaker 1: same job for thirty years in the music business. They
Speaker 1: may be you know, they may be still being a
Speaker 1: music business, but there'll be at different companies. It might
Speaker 1: you know, it just moves around, and I think sometimes
Speaker 1: that's that's a little difficult for people to deal with
Speaker 1: who haven't experienced that, especially before they get into the
Speaker 1: music business. You know, so for you as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know you're moving around, you know you're changing schools,
Speaker 1: you gotta make new friends. It's kind of preparing you
Speaker 1: for what's coming in a sense. Yeah. No, I definitely
Speaker 1: think that it helped me m just because you walk
Speaker 1: into different rooms all the time and you never knew
Speaker 1: who's gonna be in there, and you never know what's
Speaker 1: going to come out of going into that certain room,
Speaker 1: whether it's a meeting or it's a gallo, or it's
Speaker 1: an event or it's a party. You know, every time
Speaker 1: you go in there's somebody that you don't know. Um,
Speaker 1: and so you have to have kind of this ability
Speaker 1: to not necessarily kind of be a chameleon but not
Speaker 1: changing who you are, but being able to like, oh okay,
Speaker 1: I can I can rock with this room. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: I can rock with this one too. And I think
Speaker 1: that's it's a special gift and talent as in and
Speaker 1: of itself to be able to do that, because it
Speaker 1: can be really hard, like you said, if you're not
Speaker 1: used to constantly seeing new faces and new people and
Speaker 1: doing things like that. And also with my dad being
Speaker 1: who he was, you know, he was in the spotlight
Speaker 1: and we were kind of on the outside. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: were on the outside. So for me, I got to
Speaker 1: watch him interact with his fans. I saw how he
Speaker 1: did his interviews. I you know, saw how people loved him.
Speaker 1: My dad has this special ability to just make you
Speaker 1: feel like you've been best friends, like yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: guys would get along really well, you guys would really
Speaker 1: get along, but um yeah. And so I watched him
Speaker 1: do that, and I he made everybody feel so special,
Speaker 1: and that's what I want to do whenever I have
Speaker 1: an interaction with my fans. Sometimes I don't want to
Speaker 1: do it, but I do it anyway because it takes
Speaker 1: much longer to say no and explain why you don't
Speaker 1: want to take the picture and la da da da,
Speaker 1: instead of just being like okay and just just just
Speaker 1: to look at it. Yeah, I mean like it. It
Speaker 1: takes two seconds. Most of the time. There are those
Speaker 1: moments where people want to start sharing their stories and stuff,
Speaker 1: which is fine if I have the time. I love
Speaker 1: to listen and you know whatever it is, um, but
Speaker 1: I never want to be that person who they're like,
Speaker 1: don't meet your idol, so your favorite people, you know.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm always thinking about that I do have
Speaker 1: my moments though. If I'm sitting down and eating, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I will politely be like, well, after I'm done eating,
Speaker 1: I would love to take a picture with you. And
Speaker 1: their response is up to them at that point, so
Speaker 1: I can go either way. Yeah, I had it either way.
Speaker 1: We just kind of thinking into that picture. Well, it
Speaker 1: was two pieces. First, I was gonna say, I knew
Speaker 1: you would. I knew you probably were able to see
Speaker 1: things at a different level because of your father being
Speaker 1: at the pinnacle of a thing, you know what, he's
Speaker 1: in professional sports, know, so those rooms for him, it's
Speaker 1: real rooms. You're in those rooms, so you're able to
Speaker 1: see that move around and understand those movements. But going
Speaker 1: back to the sitting down eating food, I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering, Yes, if in twenty twenty three, if people
Speaker 1: haven't figured out don't do that. No, I think it's
Speaker 1: worse now, to be honest, I'm eating. I think it's
Speaker 1: more so instead of respecting your time, they're thinking about
Speaker 1: the time they have, like can I wait for this
Speaker 1: person to finish? Which is you know, which is their
Speaker 1: own selfishness? Right? That's you know, because anything when you're
Speaker 1: when you're getting into someone's space. That's your own selfishness.
Speaker 1: But I think in the mind, it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: this nigga eating slow to desert, you know, and you know,
Speaker 1: and it's one of those things where people feel like,
Speaker 1: I may never run across this person again. This is
Speaker 1: my opportunity. Let's see if it's if it's that right,
Speaker 1: if it's that thing where you may never get this
Speaker 1: opportunity again. Don't like that, don't right, right, because I'm
Speaker 1: okay with when you finish eating or get a second. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: my wife, My wife would love to I said, I
Speaker 1: got you, I got you. I love to eat. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, like I love food, Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: speaks to me. Yeah, Like and I'm having I'm having
Speaker 1: an intimate moment when I have a meal like this
Speaker 1: is not it's not regular. Yes, the relationship you are
Speaker 1: interrupting snacks is talking snags that I love that. Ye.
Speaker 1: Here we go. Um, So I just had to touch
Speaker 1: on because I just think that you know, it's like
Speaker 1: you said, you may never When you're in a position
Speaker 1: where you may never be in that space again, you
Speaker 1: want to make the most of that space. You do
Speaker 1: want to Yeah, I get it, okay, I had somebody.
Speaker 1: I literally was sitting I was sitting down eating by myself,
Speaker 1: and I was like in a little booth situation, and
Speaker 1: somebody just slid in right next to me and started talking,
Speaker 1: and I was like, that was your plus one. Literally,
Speaker 1: I was just like hi, I didn't know what to say.
Speaker 1: I was in such shocked like I'm normally though, like
Speaker 1: you know, at the table right there, but no, this
Speaker 1: person just slid right in started talking like we had
Speaker 1: known each other for years. And I was like, I
Speaker 1: literally I did not know what to do in that moment.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember what I did. And then there
Speaker 1: was another time I was with my mom and her
Speaker 1: best friends essentially like my mom number two, and we
Speaker 1: were out sitting. It was just me and the girls,
Speaker 1: and this lovely lady pulled up her chair and just
Speaker 1: sat down and started chatting with us and like reaching
Speaker 1: over and like she got yeah, and we were like
Speaker 1: excuse me, and I exactly, and I couldn't say anything
Speaker 1: because I was like exactly, but she had an attitude
Speaker 1: When we asked her to leave, she got an attitude
Speaker 1: because we were like, we don't know you, and you
Speaker 1: don't know us, like you don't just people forget. They
Speaker 1: just forget, you know, with babies and celebrities, people just
Speaker 1: they just forget. It's I think it's another layer deeper
Speaker 1: than that, because some people feel like they really know
Speaker 1: you yeah yeah, and they don't know how to act
Speaker 1: outside of that. They see you, they've read about you,
Speaker 1: they've listened to you, like oh shit, what and they
Speaker 1: just and they just jump right in yeah, like because
Speaker 1: I'm I've done that before where I think I know people.
Speaker 1: Are you done it to people too? I've done it
Speaker 1: to people too, because I'm like a fan of people.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh shit, I already known man, you man,
Speaker 1: you man, what's up with you? Baby? Like what were
Speaker 1: you doing? We kill training that dam And I'll be
Speaker 1: thinking I know him and I don't. I've never because
Speaker 1: I've never thought I know because I got like a
Speaker 1: photographic memory like it. So like I'll be scrolling on
Speaker 1: the ground or whatever, like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes you go down a rabbit hole and just
Speaker 1: dive in. Oh yeah, and I'm really locked in and
Speaker 1: I'll see a person I saw this, this, this, this, Hey,
Speaker 1: how's your kids doing? And I compect myself at home.
Speaker 1: You know what, say you got your basketball right like you,
Speaker 1: I got a guy, you know what, I really show
Speaker 1: what I'm like. So but it's a little bit different
Speaker 1: because you get you get a little grace because you
Speaker 1: were also in the same I get a little great
Speaker 1: but I'm still kind of doing it. Get a little
Speaker 1: bit again. I understand the mindset of seeing somebody that
Speaker 1: you really think, you know, you know me and him.
Speaker 1: It's always funny with us because he's doing that and
Speaker 1: I'm like, you don't know him, You're just in the back.
Speaker 1: But the funny thing is, I know they know who
Speaker 1: he is that whole day, but we're like being a
Speaker 1: basketball game. But oh, you know, that's chief or we'll
Speaker 1: walk away and Jay bad, who's that? I don't know?
Speaker 1: Oh I do that a lot. I don't mean to,
Speaker 1: but I do that a lot too. He just he
Speaker 1: just looked like somebody yeah, and that's just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that happened the other day and we were driving. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I was talking to this person and he goes,
Speaker 1: who was that? I said, I don't know, I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I can't hide it on my face. So they always
Speaker 1: you don't remember me? I don't. We meet a lot
Speaker 1: of people. It's really hard at this I don't feel
Speaker 1: as embarrassed as I used to when people would say that,
Speaker 1: like you don't really remember me, and I'd be like,
Speaker 1: you know what, honest thing, I don't. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: I gotta get better of that because I just like
Speaker 1: saying I remember faces. I might not know exactly where
Speaker 1: we met, but I'll be like, you got you got
Speaker 1: a mom, right, Mom, don't you can somewhere you get
Speaker 1: you like basketball? Right? Yeah, you got the outfit. I
Speaker 1: did all those kind of competition things leading up to Idol,
Speaker 1: and then I auditioned and my auditioned here in Pasadena
Speaker 1: and I was up at two am. I was in
Speaker 1: line with everybody. Everybody's singing for hours before we even
Speaker 1: get let in. And it was at the Rose Bowls.
Speaker 1: There's like fifteen thousand people that are there. And I
Speaker 1: go in and I auditioned. There were four of us
Speaker 1: in a row, and it's like we stepped forward, step back,
Speaker 1: step forward, step back, and I sang my song and
Speaker 1: she was like, Okay, well it's not gonna this is
Speaker 1: the end of the road for you guys, blah blah
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, okay, well, is there any
Speaker 1: like advice you can give me? We're not allowed to
Speaker 1: give advice. And I was like, okay, she wasn't. She
Speaker 1: was a kind of a judge. She it was. So
Speaker 1: the way they do it, I guess I can say
Speaker 1: this now Kispence Long. But the way they do it
Speaker 1: is you auditioned in the stadiums. They have a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of tents set up at the bottom on the
Speaker 1: field and it's like four two a table, so you
Speaker 1: have okay, if there's I don't know, there's two a table,
Speaker 1: so you've got you've got ten of those and then
Speaker 1: four people. So you got forty people auditioning and they
Speaker 1: all stand up one one at a time, and there's
Speaker 1: like either one or two people sitting at the table
Speaker 1: and they're involved with the show in some way, so
Speaker 1: they may be an EP, or they may be somebody
Speaker 1: around the back or somebody like that, because Simon Randan
Speaker 1: and Paula we're not going to sit there fifteen thousand people,
Speaker 1: but let's just be um. So that's like the first
Speaker 1: round that they kind of go through, and then there's
Speaker 1: another one and then another one, and then you get
Speaker 1: to the judges. So is pretty much what she told
Speaker 1: you exactly. She was like, we're good, thanks, and I
Speaker 1: was like okay, um, And I remember people throwing tantrums
Speaker 1: on the ground actually, like when I was walking out,
Speaker 1: because they would cut off your wristband. And for some people,
Speaker 1: twenty eight was the age limit. They that was it,
Speaker 1: like they could never audition again. And so you could
Speaker 1: audition up until twenty eight. Yeah, as many times as
Speaker 1: you want. Um, it depends on how far. I think.
Speaker 1: If you get to the top ten, you can't audition again.
Speaker 1: But top ten and under or before that, I think
Speaker 1: you can say no, no, no, no, I'm about to
Speaker 1: say it. Somebody's getting bad keep calling you. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so I went back home. I did a localized version
Speaker 1: of American Idol called Arizona Idol. All the Fox affiliates
Speaker 1: at the time, we're doing that because Fox was a
Speaker 1: sponsor of the show at the time, And um, I
Speaker 1: won that, and the prize for that was being sent
Speaker 1: to the next nearest audition city, and so I won
Speaker 1: a ticket to Seattle the same season and that's where
Speaker 1: I made it. And yeah, there as so you go
Speaker 1: to this one and don't make the cut, go back home,
Speaker 1: same program, win it, and then go to Seattle and
Speaker 1: get it cracking. Yeah who, I mean, maybe you don't know,
Speaker 1: but who is the person I'm trying to see? If
Speaker 1: she read, if she ran into the hayter too? Yeah,
Speaker 1: did you have your stare? No? I remember, I remember,
Speaker 1: I remember. I know exactly what this person looks like,
Speaker 1: I know their name, I know the whole thing. But
Speaker 1: when I got back to the show, they were not there.
Speaker 1: So that tells you there's that. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that had anything to do with me or not. So
Speaker 1: you let her go, but it's okay, we're gonna let
Speaker 1: you go. Maybe that could have been how it went.
Speaker 1: That's that's the story from R and B Money. Everybody
Speaker 1: has to have their villain story, sure, and that was
Speaker 1: your villain story. I I definitely think it taught me
Speaker 1: a lot in perseverance though, truly, because like and especially
Speaker 1: in this industry, well, yeah, we get told no all
Speaker 1: the time. We get told no all the time, every day.
Speaker 1: It's not just before you make it, it's while you
Speaker 1: make it, when you make it, as you keep making it,
Speaker 1: like you're always told no. And I think that was
Speaker 1: a really big lesson for me, although I wasn't thinking
Speaker 1: about it at the time. I just was like, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to stop singing. I'm just gonna keep singing.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I can audition again because I
Speaker 1: was the youngest you could be at the time. I
Speaker 1: was like, I was just audition again next year, onwards
Speaker 1: and forwards, you know, to doing the other things, and
Speaker 1: you know, doing that led me to being able to
Speaker 1: make it back because if I didn't, I would have
Speaker 1: never won that competition. I would have never gone to Seattle,
Speaker 1: I would have never gotten the ticket, and I would
Speaker 1: have never made it on the show. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like it kicks you into overdrive to a certain degree
Speaker 1: or you was just like this is what it is.
Speaker 1: Or do you feel like did you have those like
Speaker 1: I said at that villain moment? Were you like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna see you again, I'll see you again.
Speaker 1: I thought that when after we left, because I figured
Speaker 1: that that person would be around here if I auditioned again.
Speaker 1: Um So I did walk into the building after I
Speaker 1: made it, thinking that that person is going to be
Speaker 1: around and they weren't there, and I secretly was like, okay,
Speaker 1: but I think that you know that ultimately speaks to
Speaker 1: just you know, the next generation of people who are
Speaker 1: coming up, who really want to do this. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like you gotta keep pushing,
Speaker 1: you gotta keep chopping. I keep pushing. Yeah. And there's
Speaker 1: always if a door is closed, there's always a window.
Speaker 1: There's a sliding glass door, there's a basement, there's a chimney.
Speaker 1: Jay always says this, you only need one yes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you need and more. Now that yes is more available
Speaker 1: than it's ever been. When you started. That wasn't That
Speaker 1: wasn't the case. You couldn't just go make some content
Speaker 1: get cracking. You literally had to wait on the next
Speaker 1: thing to a different city to it. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Now it's like I don't. I don't. I
Speaker 1: honestly don't understand talented people that don't get cracking now
Speaker 1: in some capacity, for sure, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because you just don't have any hustle, right because now
Speaker 1: literally you can wake up in your room and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: can I make in this room to look like something?
Speaker 1: And how can I sing such and such a song
Speaker 1: or singing my own song that I just gonna make
Speaker 1: people pay attention to me. Yeah, Okay, that one didn't go.
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm gonna do one thousand more, yes,
Speaker 1: and hopefully somebody will see me. And it's like, you
Speaker 1: can cheat. You can do the analytic on the songs
Speaker 1: that get the most traction when you sing in a
Speaker 1: certain city, a certain time, but a certain time in
Speaker 1: which day. Yeah, yeah, the data is incredible. We're doing
Speaker 1: that now, Like even you have to you have to
Speaker 1: roll with the times. Even though sometimes I feel a
Speaker 1: little left behind. I'm like, what is that? What? Wait?
Speaker 1: I'm ah, what, But I do think there's You're right,
Speaker 1: there's so much opportunity for people. And that's how I
Speaker 1: felt at the time as well, not necessarily because of
Speaker 1: the times, because it was different, but there were thirty
Speaker 1: five million people watching us twice a week every week
Speaker 1: while I was on the show, and so my whole
Speaker 1: mindset was, Okay, I want I want to win. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I want to win, so many variables have to line
Speaker 1: up for that to happen. But if I can get
Speaker 1: to the top ten, you know, I'll be on live
Speaker 1: television in front of thirty five million people. If I
Speaker 1: get tenth, I'm still winning, how am I? And that's
Speaker 1: my mindset because I know there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people that didn't really have the greatest experience with the show.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got a different perspective. I had a great time
Speaker 1: with the show. But that's what I always looked at.
Speaker 1: I was like, you can't be mad if you're not.
Speaker 1: You have all these people who know you now, and
Speaker 1: if nothing's happening, you have to look at like what
Speaker 1: are you doing? Take that? Yeah, you can take that
Speaker 1: for sure. Last was half full. Yeah, and you can
Speaker 1: have a whole career. You could tour, you can do
Speaker 1: everything with those that many eyes. And now it's exemplified, exemplified.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, No, that's a church word. Amplified, thank you.
Speaker 1: It is amplified a million times that it was. Then
Speaker 1: because you can do a TikTok and you can have
Speaker 1: a million views in an hour. Yeah, Like it's just insane.
Speaker 1: What are your nerves? Like, what do you mean on
Speaker 1: the show thirty How do you think it's thirty five
Speaker 1: million people? Yes, but I was excited for that. I
Speaker 1: wanted you were ready, Yeah, I wanted that. She was
Speaker 1: already hammed up, she was already it's just thirty five.
Speaker 1: I was still nervous, Like it was still like, you know,
Speaker 1: nerve racking to go out there, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: it was more the waiting and the lead up to
Speaker 1: getting on the stage, because once I on the stage,
Speaker 1: that's where everything makes sense to me. Everything everything goes
Speaker 1: like this. So that part is fine. I get nervous
Speaker 1: before and I'll start I get really shaky after I
Speaker 1: get off stage, but when I'm on stage, nothing insot me.
Speaker 1: When I'm on the just Idol in general, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a lot. There was definitely a lot. I feel
Speaker 1: like American Idol was the boot camp that everybody pretty
Speaker 1: much needs to go through for the industry and also
Speaker 1: for media training as well. So the schedule typically on
Speaker 1: my season, because I don't know what it is now,
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's even crazier, but for my season, it
Speaker 1: was Monday, we woke up and we recorded the full
Speaker 1: length version of the song we were going to sing
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, because that was the first year that they
Speaker 1: put the singles on iTunes that of what we sang
Speaker 1: on the show. So Monday we would wake up and
Speaker 1: do that, and then it was rehearsal and possibly getting
Speaker 1: close and a little bit of like downtime because the
Speaker 1: show was on Tuesday. Tuesday was show day. You wake
Speaker 1: up at five am, go there, everybody gets ready, you
Speaker 1: do a full dress rehearsal. Then you do a full
Speaker 1: live show. Wednesday, do the same thing again and then
Speaker 1: there's a live show. But then somebody gets kicked off,
Speaker 1: until you're all emotional. Thursday, you're still emotional because your
Speaker 1: friend just got kicked off. Thursday, it's first come, first
Speaker 1: served for the new theme of the week, and then
Speaker 1: you have to pick the songs and it's whoever gets
Speaker 1: them in emailed in to the person gets first, first come,
Speaker 1: first serve. UM. So I would take like five songs
Speaker 1: and I'd be like, but I want all of these
Speaker 1: and these are my options, and that's what I would
Speaker 1: go for. UM. I had twice. There were two weeks
Speaker 1: where somebody asked me for the song that I wanted
Speaker 1: to sing and I was like, okay, okay, you can
Speaker 1: have it, so yeah, yes, but they were like, please,
Speaker 1: I don't know any other song whatever they said, and
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, cool, I can I can
Speaker 1: sing another one, no problem. UM. So we did that
Speaker 1: and then a Friday would be the same, be shopping,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what we're wearing all of that stuff,
Speaker 1: and then Saturday was, yeah, they would take us, so
Speaker 1: you can kind of now you're starting to find your
Speaker 1: own style too. Yes, yes, you're trying to like figure
Speaker 1: out everything because now they have style lists that like
Speaker 1: that will constantly be around you early early on. We
Speaker 1: didn't get that until Top twelve. So everything you saw
Speaker 1: up until Top twelve was just what we had in
Speaker 1: our suitcases, you know, just what we had, and so
Speaker 1: they had the person there helping us, but we ultimately
Speaker 1: had to pick everything because they didn't want anybody to
Speaker 1: be able to come back and say, well, they told
Speaker 1: me to do this, they told me to sing that.
Speaker 1: All of the decisions definitely fell back on us, which
Speaker 1: makes sense. And then Saturday was the the mentor shoot,
Speaker 1: so they would have, like Top twelve, we had Diana Ross,
Speaker 1: so I know, it was incredible. We had Diana Ross
Speaker 1: and she the shoot is basically all day because we're
Speaker 1: on their schedule and their time, so sometimes we would
Speaker 1: start right on time. Sometimes people's flights would be delayed
Speaker 1: or different things like that, we'd still had to just
Speaker 1: be in the spot that whole hurry up and wait situation.
Speaker 1: So we did that all Saturday, which was kind of exhausting,
Speaker 1: and then on Sunday. Ford was a sponsor of the show,
Speaker 1: so we would shoot a car commercial for Ford on
Speaker 1: Sundays and then Monday we wake up and do the song,
Speaker 1: Tuesday do the show. Yeah, so you learn real quick
Speaker 1: like and that was all here. So it also was
Speaker 1: a change to have to do that like that everywhere else.
Speaker 1: And that was once you got into the top twelve
Speaker 1: top Yeah. Top twelve was when we had the mentors
Speaker 1: and we started the Ford shoots and the whole thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: win does when does a business start? Because at a
Speaker 1: certain top what that they top ten, top ten, they
Speaker 1: signed everybody right m top ten. They basically it was
Speaker 1: they put us in a room and said here's this
Speaker 1: is the lawyer he told us about like bullet points
Speaker 1: and then they were like, you need to sign this
Speaker 1: or you can't continue in the competition. And do you
Speaker 1: and does anyone have a lawyer present? No? One not
Speaker 1: at that time though, so you literally I didn't know
Speaker 1: any different and I don't think any I don't think
Speaker 1: any anybody else, honestly, don't think at that point you
Speaker 1: have a choice. No, No, no no, you don't. But it's
Speaker 1: not so with there people that were in that room
Speaker 1: with you that were like I can't sign that. Was
Speaker 1: there was there anyone that was just like, I'm not signing.
Speaker 1: I don't remember really, it's kind of vague, but I
Speaker 1: do remember feeling like all of us felt a little
Speaker 1: weird signing it, but then knowing that we could potentially
Speaker 1: be off the Yeah, potentially. No, it's like you either
Speaker 1: sign it or no. And so it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: they put you in the situation to really be like
Speaker 1: this could this could change my entire life exactly, This
Speaker 1: could change my entire life, um, And so we signed it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, all of us signed it, so that under directs.
Speaker 1: If I wish, I would have know, but but it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't too I mean, because I won, it definitely
Speaker 1: benefited me. It was different, UM. And there were two
Speaker 1: two different contracts because it was the label contract and
Speaker 1: that I was signed with nineteen Entertaining as well, So
Speaker 1: there was like this dual thing happening. UM. But basically
Speaker 1: they had the option to manage the top ten UM,
Speaker 1: but it was up to them they could or they
Speaker 1: had a management production DIP DIP dip dip dip, Yes,
Speaker 1: lock it up literally, yes, But okay, so we also
Speaker 1: like to give the other side. We always like to
Speaker 1: give the other side and have a true understanding of
Speaker 1: the business and with people walking when people walk into
Speaker 1: knowingly and unknowingly. Yes, but then give you know, the balance,
Speaker 1: because this is also a show that it's supplying everything
Speaker 1: you need to become successful in the music. Yes, they're
Speaker 1: supplying everything everything. There is no manager, there is no agency,
Speaker 1: there is no producer, there's nothing else attached to you
Speaker 1: as the artist but American Idol, and they're building every
Speaker 1: single thing that will be a part of you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know it sounds crazy, like you know, we
Speaker 1: make jokes about it like, oh my god, they got
Speaker 1: they got everything. But they're supplying everything as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, they're giving you a platform. They're put you
Speaker 1: in front of thirty five million people weekly. I signed
Speaker 1: the track twice seventy million. I wasn't nobody in front
Speaker 1: of nobody. I just signed it. They signed this champ.
Speaker 1: I hope we do something. I hope we do something
Speaker 1: to no. So you know, I also want to point
Speaker 1: that out. Yeah, obviously, you know that's a tough spot
Speaker 1: to be in for a creative and for an artist
Speaker 1: to to where it's literally like sign it or get on,
Speaker 1: I get about it here. That's tough, yes, but that
Speaker 1: opportunity in itself, you have to start weighing it out
Speaker 1: of Okay, what else could I do that could put
Speaker 1: me in this position? At the time, there wasn't anything
Speaker 1: like that. There was I mean, still isn't really anything
Speaker 1: like that that that sets you up that way, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm still Look, it's it'll be sixteen years, yeah,
Speaker 1: sixteen years since I won. That was in two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, and I still and I'm like, I still
Speaker 1: have there are people I feel like, I feel like
Speaker 1: but I still have people that come up to me
Speaker 1: and they remember like specific performances that I did. I
Speaker 1: still have people come up to me that are just
Speaker 1: like we toured. We like there were people that followed
Speaker 1: us on tour, Like I saw the same people like
Speaker 1: every day on tour. They would drive and follow you.
Speaker 1: Super fans exactly, yeah, and like and all of us
Speaker 1: in the top ten had our own fans like that.
Speaker 1: We all had our own fan bases. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if there's anything I mean, I guess you get.
Speaker 1: It's just a different type of fan base with like
Speaker 1: TikTok and stuff like that. I feel like with Idol
Speaker 1: because people really did get to know me. They got
Speaker 1: to know me every single week, and then they they voted,
Speaker 1: they had to we were invested. It was it was
Speaker 1: calling numbers. Yes, so that's how they made that break too, though,
Speaker 1: six six Idol zero six. I will never forget. I
Speaker 1: will never forget. My audition number was prison number right now,
Speaker 1: the same thing, zero zero six. All the numbers, you know,
Speaker 1: ain't nothing but a number. We got six bring them in. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so it was it was, it was really
Speaker 1: it was just really a time, truly, it really was.
Speaker 1: And my season I think season six and season seven
Speaker 1: were the peak of the show then, um, and it
Speaker 1: just was it was nun you won what season did
Speaker 1: you win? Season six? Yeah? So you were six number six,
Speaker 1: number six one season six? Yeah, how here you go
Speaker 1: these numbers? Yeah? Yes, and I was sixteen. Addition, oh
Speaker 1: my god, oh my god. Listen, Lebron thirty eight thirty
Speaker 1: six points to surpass Kareem scored thirty eight thirty eight
Speaker 1: years after Kareem. This is what's happening right here. The
Speaker 1: real six guy re six. Thank you so much. So
Speaker 1: I'm playing Roulette number one, sixteen and six, Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: my new number. And we're yelling, Jordan Spark, were yelling,
Speaker 1: go ahead, spend it, Joe Hey, hopefully I'll give you
Speaker 1: a little bit of luck. Listen, definitely want that w
Speaker 1: No Air, Yes, because No Air obviously was a record
Speaker 1: that you know, we were very familiar with because it
Speaker 1: came out of a house that we were part of
Speaker 1: helping and we're part of and building with. You know,
Speaker 1: all the amazing writers and producers that were there and
Speaker 1: that record. James from Leroy, James from Shout Out to You, James,
Speaker 1: my dog. My dog used to walk around the building
Speaker 1: with a backpack with his imaginary friend in it named boo. Oh.
Speaker 1: He still does he still has the backpack you already know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is this is early early, no records placed,
Speaker 1: No I mean just pure gift, pure talent. When I
Speaker 1: heard that record, shout out Bluetooth, shout out Damon, shout
Speaker 1: out Harvey, like shout out the guys. Like. When I
Speaker 1: heard that record, I was like, this is different. How
Speaker 1: post to Brieven, No Air, No air. No, No, Like
Speaker 1: that record was really really special and hearing you on
Speaker 1: that song was like, oh it's this is a matchmate
Speaker 1: in heaven. Literally that record was so special when it
Speaker 1: came at such a great time for you, and putting
Speaker 1: Chris on the record was just like, Okay, this is this,
Speaker 1: this doesn't matter, but this doesn't make any sense, like
Speaker 1: this is just and it just like it was. I
Speaker 1: think that record had all of the elements. Yeah you
Speaker 1: know what I mean of you as a as a
Speaker 1: pure singer, but also um as a but as a
Speaker 1: teenager too, as a teenager, but also as a big singer. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a power record record. You gave us the
Speaker 1: you gave us the technical like I really do this,
Speaker 1: you know, all through the verses and all through the things,
Speaker 1: and like no, no, I'm really good at this. You
Speaker 1: know you heard it too. But then you went to
Speaker 1: but you know, I've also sang in front of thirty
Speaker 1: five million people. Always always a man yeah people, Oh
Speaker 1: you okay, got it? But you did. I'm ready, I'm ready,
Speaker 1: I'm ready. It was definitely a moment and it was
Speaker 1: like it was like I'm a I'm a live performer.
Speaker 1: That's my thing. You know what I'm saying, nothing like it.
Speaker 1: I'm always like, how is that gonna translate live? Because
Speaker 1: that is a lot of information on that damn record
Speaker 1: that I've seen a lot of singers who are good
Speaker 1: singers try to recreate, you know, they're outstanding on record
Speaker 1: moments and crash and burn. Not because they're not good singers.
Speaker 1: It's just that when you're recording a record, it's different
Speaker 1: than performing a record. Yeah, you get rest time, you
Speaker 1: get water in between. Hey man, take a five minute,
Speaker 1: Take a five minutes. We're gonna get some lunch. Just
Speaker 1: we'll get back to it. I'm you know what, we're tired.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow's today. You get all that. But again, going back
Speaker 1: to New Orleans, like in your in your chest bear
Speaker 1: flat footed, yea, probably actually top to bottom. That's really disrespectful.
Speaker 1: Love it, Yes, I love disrespect you know obviously, I'm
Speaker 1: always somewhere in the corner. I'm like, I was my
Speaker 1: hands got off sweaty. I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: he put me on the spocket cooking you just I mean,
Speaker 1: so how big? How big was that record? Or is
Speaker 1: that record? Because we speak in the present, as my
Speaker 1: brother Rico love how big, big is that record. It
Speaker 1: is UM in two thousand and while it is the present,
Speaker 1: but in two thousand and eight it was. It was
Speaker 1: so close to being It should have been the number
Speaker 1: one song of the year by two hundred spins two
Speaker 1: who bought them, other two hundred who bought them two hundred.
Speaker 1: You know, we're gonna talk about who beat you, whatever, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 1: The song that came in front of me was massive
Speaker 1: as well, UM, which was Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis,
Speaker 1: who also was it was the winner of X Factor
Speaker 1: the same year I was the winner of Idol, So
Speaker 1: it was really crazy how all that worked. Yeah, shout
Speaker 1: out to Leona. I love her. UM. But that song
Speaker 1: is definitely my biggest song to date, and it is.
Speaker 1: It just passed the four million Like UM singles come
Speaker 1: on four million singless, but the streams streams is probably
Speaker 1: somewhere else. Yeah, it's I know the video is at
Speaker 1: like three hundred million. I think a little bit over that,
Speaker 1: but it's like the numbers are huge, Like I look
Speaker 1: at it and I'm like, I can't even believe that,
Speaker 1: Like this is the stuff that I've done. But that song,
Speaker 1: like it's a living song. You know it like it.
Speaker 1: It took on a whole life of its own without
Speaker 1: Chris and I performing it or doing any promo for it.
Speaker 1: We did it one time in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: and we just performed it again last year in August
Speaker 1: for the first time you have since I have only
Speaker 1: performed it twice twice ever ever, So the first time
Speaker 1: is where is that on? Item was on American Idol
Speaker 1: during the promo week right before it came out, we
Speaker 1: performed it on stage. And then fast forward, I got
Speaker 1: to perform it with him at his his last concert
Speaker 1: of his Under the Influence tour fourteen years in August. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was awesome. It was so good. I was so
Speaker 1: happy that it happened. It was It was crazy getting there.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Dana because he called everybody and like
Speaker 1: tried to We tried to make it work and figure
Speaker 1: it out. And he he does this thing at the
Speaker 1: end where he puts up all his like classics that
Speaker 1: everybody knows and loves, and then he has the audience,
Speaker 1: you know, clap and whichever one they clap for the most,
Speaker 1: he'll sing. Because it was his last show, I think
Speaker 1: he just was like, I'm gonna do everything. So he
Speaker 1: was singing all of them, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is going to happen or not.
Speaker 1: And so I walked down there and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I have of my in ears and I just need
Speaker 1: to I brought what Okay, I brought them with me.
Speaker 1: Stay ready, so you don't have to get rid of Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't have but if I did, you feel me
Speaker 1: go ahead. Yeah. So I was like, I have my ears,
Speaker 1: give me a pack on the microphone, and I will
Speaker 1: just wait and if he calls out the song, I'm here,
Speaker 1: like I'm ready to do it. And so I'm standing
Speaker 1: there like, oh, I don't know if it's going to
Speaker 1: happen or not. We'll see. Because the LA show he
Speaker 1: didn't do No Air and so um I was not.
Speaker 1: I wasn't there at that show, but I was heard
Speaker 1: from people who went, all my friends who went, but
Speaker 1: they didn't do this. He didn't do the song because
Speaker 1: the audience wanted something else. And so I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this might happen, this might not. And so they you know,
Speaker 1: there's somebody on the side in his ears and say, hey,
Speaker 1: Chris Jordan's here. He turned us out what and he
Speaker 1: looked at me and I was like, oh good, he's
Speaker 1: happy to see me now, like you had to crash
Speaker 1: your stage right because I was like, this could I think?
Speaker 1: I think this will be good. And he lit up
Speaker 1: and he was so excited. I ran up there and
Speaker 1: it was such a cool moment, like to be able
Speaker 1: to sing that, and especially because you know, when we
Speaker 1: recorded the song, we were kids. We were seventeen years old,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know anything about like that kind of love,
Speaker 1: like a relationship kind of love. So I was singing
Speaker 1: from the perspective of losing like my friends or my family. Yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: And so to go from then to now we have kids,
Speaker 1: got kids or all they're like, yeah, there's there. It
Speaker 1: was different and it was different to sing from that space.
Speaker 1: So I hope we get to do it again. I
Speaker 1: would love to do that again. But yeah, that was
Speaker 1: a really cool moment. I've heard new music. Okay, snap,
Speaker 1: I've heard new music. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right. Um,
Speaker 1: I heard new music. When when are we going to
Speaker 1: get the goods music? So literally the last two weeks
Speaker 1: have been trying to figure out which songs are going
Speaker 1: to make the album. You saw the list. The list
Speaker 1: is extensive and very long. It's now up to one
Speaker 1: sixty three sixty three. I want to take people on
Speaker 1: an experience, you know, like I want to be able
Speaker 1: to sing the type of music that I want to sing,
Speaker 1: and they all might be different, because you heard there's
Speaker 1: pieces of everything I r and be over here. I
Speaker 1: got pop over here, I got singer, songwriter, I have acoustic,
Speaker 1: I have ballads of a piano ballad, power anthems like
Speaker 1: I have all of them, and that's all a part
Speaker 1: of me as well. So, um, we're in the process
Speaker 1: of picking all of the songs for the album so
Speaker 1: it can come out by May Come Home. May is
Speaker 1: the goal. May is the goal. Um, I gotta shoot
Speaker 1: the movie in the middle of all this, so we'll
Speaker 1: figure it out. But um, that is the goal for that,
Speaker 1: and we're trying to also correlate it with a tequila launch. Um. Okay, yes,
Speaker 1: tequila ain't tequila man, Tequila man in the body, that's
Speaker 1: what they call me mad Tequila. No, they don't do.
Speaker 1: Can't give the name of it yet, but um, is
Speaker 1: it gonna be tequila mane. That would be a good one, though.
Speaker 1: You should do that, I should do that. However, we
Speaker 1: can do it. Go ahead, don't nobody still so right?
Speaker 1: I'm working on a bunch of different things, you know,
Speaker 1: I think for all of us it's almost like a
Speaker 1: not a trigger phrase, but I feel like people say
Speaker 1: it a lot now, but generational wealth. Really trying to
Speaker 1: Now that I'm able to do so many things now,
Speaker 1: I have to figure out what things are going to
Speaker 1: be the most beneficial for me and for my family,
Speaker 1: so that my ceiling is my son's floor. You've given
Speaker 1: us so many bars and so much life today. Oh
Speaker 1: thanks you guys too. I love I love seeing you guys.
Speaker 1: Where are we going? Come on, man, be talented? Tequila Maine, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Tequila Maine. Jordan. Top five, you're top five, take it
Speaker 1: back back to the top. Okay, you're top five? R
Speaker 1: and D, R and B saves. Who are you called
Speaker 1: nut juice? Who are you called nut Juiceall your top
Speaker 1: top deep dive? I don't bosto, Bye bye you top
Speaker 1: fin with the breadth of the end. Whoa He learned
Speaker 1: that at his IDOL audition. He did listen all we
Speaker 1: can't give you any advice? Can you? Cain't got nothing
Speaker 1: for you, Okay, top five. I wrote it down on
Speaker 1: my phone because I just wanted to be I have
Speaker 1: more than five unfortunately, Um Whitney Houston kick it off,
Speaker 1: definitely kick off, kick it off, Mariah Carey. Those two
Speaker 1: women I listened to my entire life growing up, and
Speaker 1: when you hear the new music, you definitely can hear
Speaker 1: the influence from them. Um. I know this is three people,
Speaker 1: but Boys to Men four collectively as a group one
Speaker 1: oh four you righte, you rite you right? Four four
Speaker 1: four you right? But boys Boys to Men is definitely
Speaker 1: up there. Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, an usher, m I
Speaker 1: gotta throws in there. I know it's more than five
Speaker 1: two three four group. Okay, now that that's a lot.
Speaker 1: That's a lot. Although I have the same for my
Speaker 1: top rby song. So get ready, you know, let's get
Speaker 1: to it, because I feel like, let's go, come on,
Speaker 1: okay ready. Um Earth song is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: songs by Michael, just the emotion, the feeling and everything.
Speaker 1: Man in the Mirror obviously Dirty Diana my faves three
Speaker 1: songs in one that was three of Michael's because he's
Speaker 1: the king. So I just felt like I can put
Speaker 1: all this we belong together. I carry love that song.
Speaker 1: It came out at such a pivotal time in my life,
Speaker 1: like like core memories to that song. Um water runs dry? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that song. My dad used to sing it
Speaker 1: around the house like so, I just I remember him
Speaker 1: singing it, remember listening to it? Could he sing it?
Speaker 1: Could he sing it? I mean he was joking around
Speaker 1: when you sing it, and he would always sing it
Speaker 1: to my mom, he like, don't do it, joding like
Speaker 1: exactly that was, And then um, I want to dance
Speaker 1: with somebody. I feel like that was such a pivotal
Speaker 1: song because it brought so much of the pop elements
Speaker 1: into her huge voice, and I feel like that really
Speaker 1: helped pave the way for a lot of like what
Speaker 1: we're doing now, and especially someone like me who loves
Speaker 1: both sides of it, you know, um and then burn
Speaker 1: uh sure, And the last one is it's not five,
Speaker 1: but the last one is you Actually your cover of
Speaker 1: I Can't Make You Love Me is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite songs. You sing that song. Yeah, I don't even
Speaker 1: know what to even say. You using that song so beautifully,
Speaker 1: like he's on our playlist. Look he got tears in
Speaker 1: his eyes. Oh sorry, No, it's a great it's a
Speaker 1: great song. We had it on our playlist, like, we
Speaker 1: played it all the time. It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: So I had to put you in shout out to
Speaker 1: shout out to Craig count Man. I had to Craig
Speaker 1: count who said, take you know, you should, you should
Speaker 1: visit this song, you should visit just a little visit.
Speaker 1: And I knew it. I knew the song and no
Speaker 1: idea what the song was. Really. I've known that song
Speaker 1: for a really long time. So when I found your version,
Speaker 1: I was like, Bonnie Raid is my favorite version. Yeah,
Speaker 1: her version, it's so beautiful. It's just it's it. It's
Speaker 1: the song. Yeah, it's what the song was meant to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And we all kind of do our best at you know,
Speaker 1: trying to capture that, you know, capture that, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, like like ten remakes of that. I
Speaker 1: was trying to figure out how to have my own
Speaker 1: moment with it. But every time I sing it live,
Speaker 1: I always revert back to her version. It's hard. I
Speaker 1: never seen my version of the song. I just like saying, Gods,
Speaker 1: people they think it's tanks, so they kind of do
Speaker 1: think it's my song when you're down in the delta,
Speaker 1: down you down to delta? Yeah, yeah, wrote produce everything.
Speaker 1: I'm like, great, I never heard of right, Like, you
Speaker 1: know what, don't worry about it. It's me, that's yeah.
Speaker 1: So sorry. I know I have a hard time getting
Speaker 1: anything down to under five. So it's it's fine, it's fun.
Speaker 1: It's just why I'm having such a hard time choosing.
Speaker 1: It's so hard to get it under so hard. You
Speaker 1: really awesome? Okay, Um, we're gonna build a voltron here. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: A perfect in your world, the perfect singer. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. We want to know who
Speaker 1: are you going to get the vocal from? Who are
Speaker 1: you going to get the performance style from, the styling
Speaker 1: and the passion of that artist. Yeah, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Who are you going to get the vocal from? Only one?
Speaker 1: Probably Whitney. Definitely Whitney, I mean definitely Whitney Houston. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so vocals from Whitney, okay. And performance style, performance style,
Speaker 1: Michael definitely Michael's. I mean he could just walk out
Speaker 1: onto the stage and it was commanded. You know what.
Speaker 1: I mean presence was just different. Yeah. Yeah, his presence
Speaker 1: was everything it was. It was like it was like
Speaker 1: he was nice but he was mean. Yeah, Spad, you
Speaker 1: know that was great. He had this, he had this.
Speaker 1: I'm about the fuck shit U up ye stance look
Speaker 1: respect respectfully, no, dad, well disrespectful you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But he had it on him. Yeah yeah, Like I
Speaker 1: know he's not a gang member. There's pictures, but I
Speaker 1: feel I feel like there might have been jumped in.
Speaker 1: I feel like I got a couple of chrip hommers. Man,
Speaker 1: they think they think Michael was part of the claiming.
Speaker 1: Now we put my con We put him on like
Speaker 1: but you're twenty three, bro, Yeah, we put him on.
Speaker 1: Um case we have vocal presence, performance style, styling, styling
Speaker 1: hut that. I mean honestly, if I could dress the
Speaker 1: way that Chris dresses, I would, so I would say
Speaker 1: Chris Brown styling. I think, yeah, everything flying, even built
Speaker 1: a house that's a closet next to his house. I
Speaker 1: try not to. I try not to take tank thing
Speaker 1: dealing because I can figure some of those stealing or
Speaker 1: he don't really stick. It's Chris, give it to him.
Speaker 1: But I call it stealing. It's kind of still yeah,
Speaker 1: borrow it and didn't ask for I put it off
Speaker 1: like man, Chris Show, that's the way to do. This
Speaker 1: is crazy. Got a scent on the clothes, and I
Speaker 1: would pick up with the tag still on the man.
Speaker 1: This is crazy. I know you can't wear this no more.
Speaker 1: I ain't watch it. That's crazy. You should let dollars jacket.
Speaker 1: What you're gonna do, I'm not. Don't let you take
Speaker 1: a hold. He gave me. He gave me a yre
Speaker 1: cell jacket, a fir yre cell jacket that has gotten
Speaker 1: a video two. Let's go. I would do the same
Speaker 1: thing to another finger. I was groping up a woman's like,
Speaker 1: like like how Jordan doing together? Okay, all right? Passion
Speaker 1: the heart of the artists. The fine will be out
Speaker 1: there sweating. Well, I mean, I don't know if it's sweating,
Speaker 1: but I feel like, because he's had such a long
Speaker 1: career and has written so much, I would say, smoky,
Speaker 1: smokey Robinson's passion. I don't think smokey sweaty. Don't he
Speaker 1: too fea, He's not gonna sweat. I mean he you know,
Speaker 1: he gonna sing about some gang bang but he ain't
Speaker 1: going man doing that dope, smoking nuts, smoking nuts, smoke
Speaker 1: doing that wrong. That's a thing. I'm not gonna let
Speaker 1: you do that. Kang bang. That's a gang bang king banging.
Speaker 1: He's still out there doing it, cooking was fries them.
Speaker 1: It's all lives smoking me. Sorry that it's come to this.
Speaker 1: This was a respectable thing that I was saying. But
Speaker 1: you know, smokey fashion, no smoke's cold. I can say
Speaker 1: nothing bad. But that's that's an amazing vultry. That's that's
Speaker 1: an amazing, amazing Okay, we really are you really singing? Now?
Speaker 1: See where she went? M you see where she went.
Speaker 1: I heard it. I ain't saying no nick names, no
Speaker 1: name when you was was weird, but you did don't
Speaker 1: say she said he here? Okay that you should definitely
Speaker 1: like record that. Keep that used that. Don't anybody take
Speaker 1: that it takes don't take it. That was great. That
Speaker 1: was great. Okay, enough, blow your head out. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I have to deal with this guy. Man tell her
Speaker 1: Jo laughs all day. So, yes, you heard the intro.
Speaker 1: You know what's coming. You watch the show. Huh huh, Okay,
Speaker 1: she getting to the phone, pull this out because this story. Okay, right,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, gloss of this up. Let me set this
Speaker 1: up before you know what I'm saying. So why you
Speaker 1: said U, I'm gonna telling people what it is. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: go on, yes us all the life down okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know this is where you tell us a
Speaker 1: story Funnier fucked up and the travels of Jordan's Sparks huh,
Speaker 1: the Spark herself, the Sparks huh. You know somebody you
Speaker 1: might have had to knock the spark out of Come on,
Speaker 1: if you know, if you wanted to, they could have
Speaker 1: got it. They could have got it, could have got it.
Speaker 1: You know what. Maybe you're an American idol, so you
Speaker 1: know you have to move a certain one. Chill, you know,
Speaker 1: but people for that. Oh yeah, yeah, we're bringing the
Speaker 1: mask back out. We're bringing the mask back out. Yeah trying.
Speaker 1: Rube still ain't brought my mask, but you know what,
Speaker 1: it's coming at some point. Funnier fucked up, funnier fucked up? Okay,
Speaker 1: are funny and fucked up? The only rule in the
Speaker 1: name of the game. I ain't saying no name. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I ain't saying no names. Okay, Jordan Sparks I just
Speaker 1: gave no ghosts. I ain't saying no names, neither one. Okay,
Speaker 1: so he already knows where I'm going, which is funny. Okay.
Speaker 1: So I had a session with this person, and um,
Speaker 1: I had. I was really excited for this session. I
Speaker 1: had known who this person was. I was a fan
Speaker 1: of one of the songs they put out, and um,
Speaker 1: so I was really looking forward to it. And this
Speaker 1: person comes in and you know, he walks in. I
Speaker 1: first of all, I meet him the day before our session.
Speaker 1: He stopped by one of my sessions. He came in,
Speaker 1: super nice, super cool, um decked out in all different
Speaker 1: types of designer names everywhere. They were all different, lots
Speaker 1: of diamonds and jewelry. And I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: um cool do you He looked right. I was like cool.
Speaker 1: So we chopped it up. We talked for a little while.
Speaker 1: He was really nice. I was. Then I was really
Speaker 1: excited for the session. The next day. Next day comes
Speaker 1: time for the session, he's not there waiting for Like, okay,
Speaker 1: it's la maybe traffic. We live kind of out in
Speaker 1: the cut, So like, all right, give him like twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: It's still not there. Keep going, what is that. Keep
Speaker 1: going and try and wait around. He's still not there.
Speaker 1: So at this point, it's like two hours past start time,
Speaker 1: and he finally walks in the door, and I was like, oh, hi,
Speaker 1: like glad you came, Like how you doing? And I'm
Speaker 1: usually really good at giving people grace, right like the entertainment.
Speaker 1: We're busy, some things can happen, somethings go late, whatever.
Speaker 1: So he comes. Two hours later, this gentleman comes and
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, cool, no worries, let's get this
Speaker 1: song done so we have the music up. Also, he
Speaker 1: walked in with two other people. I had no idea
Speaker 1: who these people were. Now, my space, which you've seen,
Speaker 1: is at my house, yes, and so he brings these
Speaker 1: two people to my house without telling me or letting
Speaker 1: me know or even asking. That was the first thing
Speaker 1: that I caught where I was like, that doesn't really
Speaker 1: sit well with me. So he comes in, he has
Speaker 1: the two people come in, and then we're trying to
Speaker 1: write and I'm trying to do all this stuff, and
Speaker 1: he has one phone here and one phone here, and
Speaker 1: on both phones he's looking at himself and I was like,
Speaker 1: what is happening? And so he's like looking at himself.
Speaker 1: He's talking about all the things that he's doing and
Speaker 1: everything that he's done while he's been in town, and blah,
Speaker 1: bah blah. And he pulls up a performance that he
Speaker 1: did and you know, we all watch it. It was
Speaker 1: it was great, and he was very impressed with himself
Speaker 1: and what he did and nobody can do this, nobody's
Speaker 1: doing it like this. And I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: and so okay, so he's just doing that and that
Speaker 1: was cool cool. He was proud of what he did.
Speaker 1: Got it, watched it. I come out of the booth,
Speaker 1: he's replaying it. He's playing it again, and I was like, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: this is I don't know what to do in this situation,
Speaker 1: because I was just like, we gotta get this session done.
Speaker 1: And so we're writing and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the two gentlemen that he brought with him start inputting,
Speaker 1: trying to write, and I'm confused, like, this is not
Speaker 1: what we discussed. It was supposed to be myself and
Speaker 1: you and the other writer that I had, I think
Speaker 1: at the time. And they started and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't know these people. I don't even know if they weren't.
Speaker 1: I was like, I've never seen these people before. I
Speaker 1: don't know if they're in the industry. And he didn't
Speaker 1: say they were. He didn't really say what they were doing.
Speaker 1: So they start trying to record, and then they start
Speaker 1: trying to write. I'm sorry, they start trying to write.
Speaker 1: And so then I go over to my engineer at
Speaker 1: the time and I look at my phone and I
Speaker 1: see the time, and I'm just like, I have two
Speaker 1: more hours. I just have to just power through these
Speaker 1: last two hours because the session was going to end
Speaker 1: at a certain time. And we keep going and I
Speaker 1: am like, okay, do you want to lay this part down? Like,
Speaker 1: because we were supposed to be doing a song together.
Speaker 1: And I was like, do you want to lay this
Speaker 1: part down? And he goes, well, the way my time
Speaker 1: is set up, I can't go in there right now.
Speaker 1: And I was like, it'll take you two, like two
Speaker 1: seconds to do it, and he says that and I
Speaker 1: go fine, So I go into the booth. I lay
Speaker 1: it down in ten seconds. I come out and he's
Speaker 1: gathering all of his stuff to leave, and I was
Speaker 1: like so and he was like, well, yeah, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of I'm kind of hungry and go get
Speaker 1: some food. And I was like, okay, no problem, thank
Speaker 1: you for coming, see you later. And he left and
Speaker 1: I saged the entire the entire studio. I saged every corner.
Speaker 1: I threw saw over the the door, like the little way,
Speaker 1: and I did the booth too, and I never let
Speaker 1: anybody smoke in there, but I put my stage all
Speaker 1: over the booth. I was like, no, his energy was
Speaker 1: just it was not and I haven't dealt with a
Speaker 1: lot of people like that, Like usually my sessions are
Speaker 1: really cool because it's it's fun. We're supposed to be
Speaker 1: having a good time, you know. He made it all
Speaker 1: about him and himself, and I just was like, we
Speaker 1: will never do this again. Like I'm good. So fast
Speaker 1: forward two weeks we go down to Atlanta and we're
Speaker 1: doing more sessions and Dana is like, hey, so, so
Speaker 1: and so wants to get back in and I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm good. He goes, but who knows it might be
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. I'm like, okay, sure, yeah, he said,
Speaker 1: grace and I was like all right, so, but the
Speaker 1: whole time, in the back of my head, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be some bs like he's gonna pull
Speaker 1: some heats and gonna pull some shit. So we're sitting
Speaker 1: there again. He shows up two hours late, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is just so he finally gets there because we
Speaker 1: were already going to be in the session, so we
Speaker 1: started working anyway. So he shows up, same same thing,
Speaker 1: Hey how are you doing? No, like nothing acknowledging what
Speaker 1: happened before, and so I was like, okay, which I understand. Cool.
Speaker 1: So he comes in. He brings somebody with him again,
Speaker 1: but it's his girlfriend or girl at whoever. So wasn't
Speaker 1: her fault that she's just along for the ride. She
Speaker 1: doesn't know, so I don't whole anything gets her. I'm
Speaker 1: still like this dude, didn't ask. Again, he's just bringing
Speaker 1: people to the session. Like I have closed sessions. My
Speaker 1: sessions aren't just anybody can come like yeah, I just
Speaker 1: I have done those, but for the most part it's closed.
Speaker 1: It's whoever's supposed to be there and myself and the
Speaker 1: engineer and then we're good unless the producer comes. So
Speaker 1: he comes in and he's like doing all this stuff.
Speaker 1: And he goes in and lays down one melody and
Speaker 1: then I'm sitting trying to pick out all the pieces,
Speaker 1: so we lay at the melodies for those who don't
Speaker 1: know somehow, sometimes how I work is I go in,
Speaker 1: I laid on a whole bunch of melody ideas. Then
Speaker 1: I come out and then I pick and the puzzle
Speaker 1: piece and figure out how to make the song sound
Speaker 1: the best way. So I'm doing that. We've got like
Speaker 1: his one take, but I've done like five different takes
Speaker 1: of melodies. So I'm going through them all and I'm
Speaker 1: looking back and I'm like, hey, does this sound good
Speaker 1: to you? And he looks over he's watching the TV,
Speaker 1: not paying attention, and I'm like does this sound good?
Speaker 1: And goes, yeah, yeah, whatever whatever you decide with the hand,
Speaker 1: And I was like the hand. I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: So we finally get it. We finally get I finally
Speaker 1: get the melody takes together. I go sit down. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's write. Are you ready to write? He's like yeah, cool,
Speaker 1: So then we like sit down for maybe two minutes.
Speaker 1: It's literally two minutes. Here he goes I'm hungry, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, well we can order some postma. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, let's order some food and we can we
Speaker 1: can eat when it gets here. And he's like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna go eat with my dad. He's here.
Speaker 1: He just called me and says he wants to have dinner,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna go. And I was like, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: go ahead and do that. You go ahead and do that.
Speaker 1: And I was so mad. I will never work with
Speaker 1: that person again ever, never, ever, ever will I ever?
Speaker 1: Ye didn't finish the song. So I finished the song.
Speaker 1: It's a great it's a great song. I wrote the song,
Speaker 1: I did the melodies together. I don't know, I have
Speaker 1: no idea, and I hope, I hope, yeah, I hope
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen to anybody else. But I can't say
Speaker 1: that it won't just because he is very This person
Speaker 1: is very much into themselves and only themselves. I could
Speaker 1: understand if it was if I was coming into his session. Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to go eat now, Okay, what exactly he
Speaker 1: knocked on my door, not not the other way around.
Speaker 1: So that was that was last year or a little
Speaker 1: bit early last year, and I just was like, I'm good.
Speaker 1: So the lesson here is when people show you who
Speaker 1: they are believe them, and when they show you their colors,
Speaker 1: don't try and repaint those colors because it'll just turn
Speaker 1: to brown. Shit. Don't do it. Don't do it, do
Speaker 1: not do it. Real shit. Yeah you know you mixed
Speaker 1: all the paint colors and it's just turned brown. Yeah. Yeah. No.
Speaker 1: I And I'm I'm you know me, you remember you
Speaker 1: see me. I'm very I'm usually very good with being
Speaker 1: able to give people grace and dealing with stuff. And
Speaker 1: I was pissed off. I was so mad. But the
Speaker 1: song that I wrote was really good together because this
Speaker 1: is what you you've been preparing for, you've been you
Speaker 1: can deal with because some people just get thrown off.
Speaker 1: Now the session is messed up. Now you don't find
Speaker 1: it out we fight? Oh no, no, no, no, you
Speaker 1: know definitely not that. No. I was like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna mess this up for me, I'm going
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to finish it, you know,
Speaker 1: because you're not gonna mess up my I came out
Speaker 1: here for a reason. And now you understand, budgets exactly
Speaker 1: exactly like you wasted my time money okay exactly, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that's my no name story. I wish I could,
Speaker 1: but I won't. I won't do that. I'll let other
Speaker 1: people discover that good one to know who acted an
Speaker 1: ass or you might work with him one day and
Speaker 1: find out yourself. You might mess around to find out.
Speaker 1: I'll bring my people with me, right, George, were so
Speaker 1: she could to tell you at the door? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, you can't do not pass go, do not
Speaker 1: collect two hundred dollars, do not write a melody. Thank you, San,
Speaker 1: You're awesome. Thanks. I love saying with you. Guys. This
Speaker 1: has been great. Yeah, yeah, you're super awesome. You're super fun. Um.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine anybody anywhere would have a bad thing
Speaker 1: to say about you, And I think that that's the
Speaker 1: intangible man, just just you know, being a great person,
Speaker 1: a person that people want to be around, a person
Speaker 1: that people just you know, want to cheer for, want
Speaker 1: to see when you and you have the gifts. So, yes,
Speaker 1: you're cheating, cheating, you're cheating. Shout out to your family.
Speaker 1: Of course, your loved one is in the building. The
Speaker 1: baby's awesome. Um, I just I just think you're we're
Speaker 1: blessed to have you. Thank you. You know, I'm saying
Speaker 1: whatever you need from us. Thank you always. What we're
Speaker 1: gonna do, this song happen, We're gonna do once you
Speaker 1: once you naril down your one six, you figure out
Speaker 1: one you need, you know. But see that's the hard part. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I know we're done, But that's the part. That's the
Speaker 1: hard part is trying to narrow it down but also
Speaker 1: still being creative in the process. Like, we're not going
Speaker 1: to stop doing sessions, So then can I give you
Speaker 1: some advice? Yes? Stop? Okay works for me. I'm tired
Speaker 1: because sixty Yeah, you have twenty albums. I do I
Speaker 1: do that. If you just if you, if we're just
Speaker 1: talking landscape in terms of streaming and content and all
Speaker 1: the day, all of this music must see the light
Speaker 1: of day. I want that. I want that, all of
Speaker 1: it must see the album week. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So album every two weeks, So you're not once a month. Stop,
Speaker 1: you got enough once a month for sure. Dive into
Speaker 1: dive into what this body of work represents, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like me, I always like to. I
Speaker 1: like to I like to build the theme first sure,
Speaker 1: and then put compiled everything that fits into that thing.
Speaker 1: So I get this, I get to narrow down really
Speaker 1: really fast. Great records too, they just don't fit into
Speaker 1: the theme. Yeah, you know what I mean. And then
Speaker 1: and they give us something. Please, it's coming, It's coming.
Speaker 1: I want to I'm I'm excited, but no, what what
Speaker 1: else has been cool is I've in the last like
Speaker 1: six months, I've put out more songs than I have
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years. So I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 1: So I'm very proud of myself. So my fans are
Speaker 1: definitely getting They're getting fed. I guess the phrase they're
Speaker 1: definitely getting fed. People are being fed. Yes, they are
Speaker 1: breaking that, breaking that bread. Okay, I'm turning those seven
Speaker 1: loaves and I'm feeding all the five thousands. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I like when Jesus turned water into into something alcoholic. Man,
Speaker 1: I love him to keep the man. Thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much money. I'm turning sparks. I'm taking day Valentine.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next. That was great for using that.
Speaker 1: R and B Money is a production of the Black
Speaker 1: Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe to and rate our show,
Speaker 1: and you can connect with us on social media at
Speaker 1: Jay Valentine and at the Real Tank. For the extended episode,
Speaker 1: subscribe to YouTube, dot com, forward, slash r, and b
Speaker 1: money