Greyson Chance says he’s “about 80 percent” finished with his debut album, which he’s been working on in Los Angeles with producer Ron Fair and songwriting/production team the Matrix.
“The record sounds like a mix between Snow Patrol and OneRepublic — I think I would go in that ballpark. It’s pop-rock,” the piano-playing, 13-year-old YouTube sensation tells Billboard.com. And, he says, some older influences are at work as well.
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Greyson Chance, Cody Simpson Announce
“For this record, I’ve actually been very influenced by Journey. I want to make music that sounds modern, but I want it to have some old, classical things, too. So I’ve been listening to a lot of Journey and picking out some melodies, some stuff that (Steve) Perry does with his voice. I love ‘Faithfully.’ I love ‘Who’s Crying Now’ and ‘Stone in Love.’ Those are probably my favorites.”
Lyrically, he adds, the album “is all about broken hearts…because I went through heartbreak, and I just started writing about it.” He’s not kissing and telling, though. “You’re not gonna hear about the girl that done me wrong,” Chance says with a laugh. “It was a little fling. It wasn’t too long, but it was definitely a big heartbreak.”
Chance hopes to have the album out this summer, though no firm title or release date have been announced for the set, which he’s recording for Ellen DeGeneres’ eleveneleven imprint in tandem with Maverick/Geffen. Chance is currently on the road with fellow heartthrob Cody Simpson, but he says that “whenever I have a day where I’m not on the road or doing a performance, I’m in the studio. I’m always writing and I’m starting to get into the production side as well. They work me really hard, but I like to be worked.”
And if the screams of his mostly female fans are any indication, that hard work will pay off when the album does come out.
“I talked to my audio guy, and he said just the screams alone were 100 decibels — that’s very high,” Chance says. “So we’ve got the screaming girls, but we like it. I sometimes get a little bit emotional when I see it, honestly. I just think it’s a blessing from God that I’m here and I have all the support that I have — and we’re selling records, so obviously we’re doing something good.”
Chance, who’s also a straight-A student with his online studies, plans to keep touring through the album’s release, but he’s also set his sights on what will happen after that. “I’m gonna write another album,” he says. “If you stop, you lose everything. You’ve got to keep on going.”
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