Chris Brown. Man of the moment. Billboard Hottest 100 smasher. Hip hop and pop purveyor.
Chris Brown. Man of the moment. Billboard Hottest 100 smasher. Hip hop and pop purveyor. Michael Jackson admirer. Having collaborated with T-Pain, Timbaland, Polow Da Don, Bow Wow, Diplo, Benny Benassi and Jean Baptiste, Brown has become a worldwide name – shooting to superstardom back in 2005 with the release of his debut self titled album. Since then, he’s supported Beyonce Knowles on her The Beyonce Experience Tour, released Exclusive which sold almost two million copies in the US and Graffiti and has appeared on The O.C. 100% chats to the man himself about eye-openers in the music industry, influences and his upcoming F.A.M.E Tour.
“Fuck All My Enemies” was initially the acronym behind Chris Brown’s fourth studio album F.A.M.E to be released this coming Friday. But, instead, Brown opted for the mature choice – “Fans Are My Everything.” First single Yeah 3x released late last year topped the singles charts in New Zealand and reached the top ten in the U.K, Ireland and on our home soil. Our home soil is where Brown will begin the worldwide F.A.M.E Tour in April alongside home-grown talent Jessica Mauboy, DJ Havana Brown and Sydney dance ensemble Justice Crew. It will be Brown’s third trip to Australia and one which he’s very much hyped up about. “Australia is incredible,” he says.
“I feel that with all the success from my musical career, Australia has been the key market that has really been supportive of all my records and really took ownership of the Chris Brown Team Breezy [Brown’s supporters/fan group]. I always appreciate Australia and I’m going to every state, it’s incredible and I just love to be a part of whatever Australia has to offer me. Whenever I go there, it’s always fun and I love everybody.”
Australia isn’t the only country on the cards, F.A.M.E will be going global. “I’m hoping to go worldwide,” he says. “I’m hoping the success of this album really showcases my talent and showcases my ability to portray or paint a picture of my art musically and just be able to inspire the world. With my tours I’m hoping to go to London, Europe, Asia, just have fun and even come back to the states but Australia is where I’m going to kick it off and we’re going to have fun.”
Featuring a variety of guests including Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, Brown collaborated with producers and writers Benny Benassi, Diplo of Major Lazer fame and Kevin McCall amongst others on F.A.M.E. “I feel the best thing about collaborating with other musicians would have to be the ability to feed off their energy,” Brown says. “A lot of people have different vibes and chemistry, the way they approach music and the way they paint their own picture. Being able to work with some of the greatest like Timbaland, Polow Da Don, Diplo, Benny Benassi, Jean Baptiste; it’s incredible to be able to feed off their energy and find out where their thought process is with music and the way they’re skilled at writing as well as producing. I feed off their energy and the comradery, all in all it’s incredible.”
Brown also collaborated with music video director Colin Tilley on the street grooving pop party video clip for hit single Yeah 3x. “The Yeah 3x video was one of my concepts but Colin Tilley has a magic way of bringing my concepts to life,” he says. “He depicted the video exactly how I dreamt it so it was incredible to be able to work on the set. We had a lot of fun, a lot of energy, a lot of guys dancing, a lot of women out there. So it was just fun to be able to go out there and have fun, smile and actually do a positive video and really focus on the dancing. I had some of the greats on there like Poppin Pete, a couple of the break-dancers and a lot of guys who are doing the martial arts mixed dancing calling ‘tricking’. It was a lot of fun and exciting to be able to be on the set.”
Brown is well known for his dancing and positivity, often compared to Michael Jackson – the very man he looks up to. “The comparisons to Michael Jackson are always flattering and I’m always humbled by that,” he says. “My biggest inspiration is Michael Jackson and being able to see his success, be able to inspire the world as well as his talent and musical ability, his eye for detail – automatically inspires me to try to be better and try to be great. He was great, so I always want to make him proud and not let him down with my music and inspiration to dance.” But Michael Jackson isn’t Brown’s only source of inspiration. Back in the day, Brown was a big fan of soul music and naturally, soul and the sounds of yesteryear have influenced his work. “I always was engulfed in music from a young age and my father used to listen to so many different types of music from Phil Collins to Elton John to The Beatles to Michael Jackson, The Jacksons, even to Naughty By Nature and Tupac,” he says. “My dad had that sense of creativity when it came to music so I got the best of both worlds. When I do different songs I don’t gear into doing hip hop or R&B, I just try to make music and some days I might be feeling like being on some hip hop stuff, the next day I might just want to be R&B soul or then alternative or in the club techno feel good. It’s different and l just think that whatever mood I’m in, I have that freedom and that blessing to be able to change it up.”
Brown has changed it up over the last few years. His single I Can Transform Ya from 2009 album Graffiti was all about wanting to cross genres as an artist – moving away from the urban into new, experimental territory. “With my music, I never felt that I had to stick with one genre,” Brown says. “I think that people get labelled in a certain type of music because they only ever put out that certain type of music. I know that I’m early in my years as an artist as I’m only 21, so when I came out I did the R&B stuff because that’s what my demographic was as I was a young black kid.” Brown goes on to say that experimenting with different genres of music has always been a part of him. “As I got older and I progressed, all that other music was in me and I was just writing down the songs and trying to have fun and just trying to be better than just what they expected me to be. I wanted to always write different songs and music and I personally like other styles of music so I didn’t want to be confined to just R&B and hip hop. Being able to write different songs, feel-good songs – is a part of me and who I am. As my fan-base grows and knows more of me as an artist, they’ll get to be enlightened and see my talents and ability as an artist and as a writer and as a guy who started from nothing and had fun with it.”
Signed to Jive because “they had the best success with younger artists in the pop market,” according to Brown himself, it’s been a flexible and fun journey. “It’s always been a great relationship, we bump heads but not everyone is going to agree with what decisions are made and what goes here and what the marketing plans are going to be for that,” he says. “But all in all, Barry Weiss, Mark Pitts, all these great guys, everybody’s got to see my talent and understand that – not to say I don’t make a bad call – but that every video I’ve done has been my treatment, my concept… I executive produce my whole album along with my manager and when we do albums, we just go in and make music and it’s not a label decision.”
Since signing to Jive back in 2004, Brown says he’s learnt a lot about the music industry – both good and bad. “The biggest eye-opener is that you always have to be cautious,” he reveals. “A lot of times, I have too much of a big heart and too much of an open mind and so I speak as I feel at all times. Sometimes that is a bad thing and a good thing as people always know I’ll be straight up but it can hurt people’s feelings. The industry is shady, it has its ups and downs – you love it, the passion, the music, your fans and you get to do something you love so you can’t complain about that. There are the downfalls, but you need to focus on the positive and focus on what your goals are as an artist and as an entertainer and as a family man who wants to take care of their family and just be able to build your brand to feed your generations to come and that’s what I’m about – just bringing the love and the family.”
Brown will be bringing the love down under oh so soon, but he won’t reveal many specific details about the show. “All the time I try to do stuff that nobody has ever seen on stage or maybe they’ve seen but couldn’t attempt so I just want to bring a lot of energy and excitement to Australia and to all the fans and let them get a great show,” he concludes.
Chris Brown [US] plays Saturday April 23 at Rod Laver Arena.
