In an interview with Yahoo Music, Caleb Johnson reveals the struggle he’s had getting his music out to the public. The American Idol 13 winner got the album promised to the winner. But it was recorded and released quickly, with very little promo. It was the fastest turn around of an Idol album ever. Caleb was crowned in May. The album, Testify, came out in August. Eventually, Caleb sunk his own money into producing a video for the song “Gravity.” His team at 19 and his agency helped him promote it. The record label Interscope, wasn’t involved at all. He doesn’t say it out loud, but I think it’s safe to say he and the label have parted ways:
Read More: American Idol Winner Caleb Johnson Debuts “Fighting Gravity” Music Video
“Interscope just didn’t believe in [Testify]. They didn’t promote it. They didn’t support it,” he says. “Honestly, when we released the album, there was no single that was released off the record. There was nothing — I mean, nothing at all. This music video, the single, and the tour were done basically by me and my team at 19 and the agent from CAA…. I did that [music video] on my own, funded that with my own money.”
To be completely, frankly honest with you, they were just hardly ever there for any of the stuff,” he says. “It was kind of a very distant type of thing. I didn’t know it at the time, because everything was happening so fast, but looking back, even from the get-go they just weren’t even there at all.”
“I was very upset, and then I kind of came to terms with it. I was like, ‘You know what? S— happens.’ I kind of sat down and reassessed what was going on. I was like, ‘OK, I really want to do a single, really want to do a video. I think this is a great song’… The lack of the support from the label, it was a disheartening thing. But then it was also like, ‘Well, hey, it’s life.’ This is my first taste of the music business and it’s like, ‘Welcome to the industry!’ It’s a great learning experience, and it’s also like, if you want it bad enough, you’ve got to work just as hard to continue that and believe in it. Just keep pushing it out there. People will come to you and discover you. That’s the amazing thing about the video that’s out now, is that people are just now discovering it and saying, ‘Oh, wow, this is a great song. When’s this record coming out?’ And then they say, ‘Oh, the record is already out!’
Good for him to not sit around and whine. He got himself out there and did stuff on his own. Caleb’s tour of the southeast begins tonight at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Cherokee NC.
Caleb also performed 3 acoustic performances in the Yahoo studio, including “Testify,” “Devils Daughter,” and “Change.” Check out the performances at Yahoo Music.
Check out the interview below: