by CHRISTINE ABRAHAM Photographer
Austin Mahone’s rise to stardom is cutting-edge, although he discovered his love for music in an old-fashioned way.
At the age of six, he constantly begged his mom to buy him a drum set ever since he walked around a local music store in La Vernia, Texas. Santa delivered the drum set he had been longing for.
Mahone, at the age of 14, began to upload covers of famous artists such as Drake, Justin Bieber, Ne-Yo, and Bruno Mars to his YouTube channel, and an increasing number of followers began to rise.
“I’d either check ‘Billboard’ or iTunes Top 10 for the hottest songs, and I’d record my own versions,” Mahone explains. “That’s how people began to find me online.”
His fans found in him droves. The numbers of followers, subscribers, and comments rose even higher as Mahone began to interact with audiences directly.
“While I was in Chicago for a birthday party, I decided to do a little meet and greet,” he recalls. “I tweeted for everyone to meet at The Bean. I thought there would be ten fans. A thousand showed up, and the cops had to shut it down. That was the moment when everything changed.”
Ever since then, Mahone has really come a long way. He collected 1.7 million Twitter follower, 1.9 Facebook fans, 600k YouTube subscribers, scored more than 99 million views without even having a record label, marketing team, or even a standard industry machinery by 2012.
He had become a huge phenomenon across the US immediately after selling 100k downloads of his popular hit song “11:11”.
Not only can he record fantastic songs, but he does amazingly well on stage too.
He landed on ‘Live! With Kelly & Michael’, ‘Entertainment Tonight’, ‘Access Hollywood’, ‘E! News’, and ‘VH1’, while also appearing in ‘The Wall Street Journal’, and ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. Moreover, Mahone sold out high-profile shows at the Best Buy Theater Times Square, New York; and Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles.
With the release of his fourth debut with Chase Records and Republic Records, things are really about to change for Mahone. His first official single, “Say You’re Just a Friend” featuring rapper Flo Rida, brings something new to the audience with a his new fresh twist. In the video, Mahone shows strength in his vocals and dancing with a big dance floor and flashing lights before Flo Rida drops his fresh beat.
“I want to make upbeat pop that you can party to,” says Mahone. “I’ve always been a huge fan of Flo Rida, and I thought it’d be cool to get him on this track. It’s about being friends with a girl that you like more than just a friend. You can’t tell her though because it might ruin that friendship. It’s something a lot of people can relate to. We had a blast with it though.”
2013 is a big year for Mahone with being chosen as one of Taylor Swift’s opening acts on her Red Tour, and more music also arriving on the way. Everyone is excited, and the star’s “Mahomies” seem to show it.
“I hope everyone can connect with the songs and love them,” he concludes. “I want to make music that people can listen to over and over again and feel good about.”
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