CBA Young Artist Panel
Teen Talent the Hot Topic in 2000
Industry panel ponders the age factor in music
WHILE TEEN ACTS like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, 'NSync and Jessica
Simpson have taken over the pop market, Christian music has seen its own youth
revolution.
Fifteen-year-old Word artist Rachael Lampa marked the release of her debut
recording, Live for You, with an Aug. 1 performance on "The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno." Fourteen-year-old ForeFront artist Stacie Orrico, who was recruited
when she was only 12, holds the No. 1 spot on Christian radio's "Contemporary
Hits" chart this week with "Don't Look at Me." And Atlantic Christian's new boy
band Plus One, ranging in age from 18 to 23, drew 9,000 fans at a recent
appearance in Florida, and has sold nearly 110,000 copies of The Promise, which
debuted at No. 1 on Soundscan's "Christian Retail" chart.
Does this crop of teen talent represent secular trend-chasing? Do these talented
young messengers really have what it takes to fill the position of Christian artist?
Teen artists, parents and industry leaders discussed these and other questions at
THE CCM UPDATE-sponsored panel at the CBA International Convention
entitled, "Christian Music's Emerging Young Artists: No Trivial Tunes for These
Teens." Following are excerpts from the panel, moderated by CBA's Media
Relations Director Nancy Guthrie.
We are seeing more and more young artists in our industry. Are we just
following a general-market trend? Do these young artists have the faith and
character to face the demands ahead?
Cole: Our group's mission is to bring hope. A lot of albums that have our kind of
sound don't have the same message that we have. God's message is a message of
love, and that's what most people are looking for. I just graduated from high school
last summer, and I've just been singing in church. Basically, that is my experience,
ministry and the church. [Right now], I just feel like I am in the center of His will.
That's a good place to be, and it's exciting.
Rachael, what has been the hardest thing for you, being in the spotlight at
such a young age?
Lampa: Pretty much just getting used to stuff. It's not that hard, though, because I
have such awesome people around me -- my manager, my company, my family and
my friends -- everybody has been helping me prepare. So there's nothing really
scary or hard about it. God's doing it, and God's going to be with me through it,
and it's just another way of living life.
Greg, are Christian labels just jumping on the general-market bandwagon?
Ham: I can't speak for the industry, but I don't feel like we are jumping on the
bandwagon at all. Stacie was signed about two years ago in a development deal
when she was 12. With a 12-year-old, the development process was a little harder,
but we knew there was something unique and special here. I think we put too many
criteria on when God can call someone.
Mitch, what do you consider your job and what have you done to prepare
these young people, not just in the music industry and in their Christian
walk?
Solarek: My initiation into this whole genre of music was not at all planned. It was
a personal issue of having children who were not into listening to what the industry
was putting out -- not that it wasn't good, it just wasn't reaching them. Just as [God]
used my own daughter at six years old to help me understand that there was a
market [to reach], I think that He's called some young people to step up to the
plate and He has prepared them for what He has called them to do.
We can always create great songs -- but no one can, in a one-hour media training
session, develop good character. That starts at home and has to be enforced by
management and by the record label, so our company focuses on their character,
who they are becoming as individuals and who God has called them to be -- that's
my job.
Jenny, some record labels have initiated projects with really young artists
only to be burned. What have Christian labels learned from those
experiences?
Lockwald: We have learned to be very careful to work with parents, managers --
everyone around these children, because they still are children no matter how
mature they are. We've got a lot of crazy people out there. The road life is hard for
adults, and so we can't put kids out there and trust that just one person -- any one
person -- to look after them. We have a greater responsibility in front of us than we
have wanted to accept at times, and as we step forward to bring these young
people with the message that God has given them, we have to take that
responsibility as adults.
Jimmy, how do you think Christian retailers feel about all these young
artists' projects?
Moore: I think if there is one word from the retailers' perspective it is finally. For
so long, we have been told, "Well, this artist sounds kind of like this one in the
mainstream," but the quality has never been there. And that has been proven by the
lack of sales. The success of Plus One has indicated the great potential. Stacie,
Rachael -- they are all going to do very well.
When you present this to some of the members of the Covenant Group,
what kinds of concerns or questions do you get?
Moore: It's funny, some of the people focus so much on the kid's age, but
consumers don't care about that at all. Music is not a respecter of persons when it
comes to age. If it's got a good beat, and they like it, they are going to buy it. That's
the bottom line.
Lockwald: My boss, Mike Schatz, has been saying the same thing Greg said.
Overnight his daughter went from listening to "Heaven's Sake Kids" songs to "Dad,
Can I buy Backstreet Boys?" We've addressed that through starting Red Hill
Records. We've got a 15-year-old named Katie Hudson we are in development
with right now. We've got a young group named Aurora going out on the road.
I interviewed Jaci Velasquez, and she said if she could go back now, she
would have been more involved at school, gone to her prom, her graduation.
I am wondering how you've dealt with these issues? What about college?
Lampa: I was absent from school about a third of this year. I missed 3 weeks
while recording the album, and when I got back, it took me a week to make up the
work. I went to prom this year; I went to all my dances. When I was recording, I
would fly home Friday morning so I could go out with my friends, then they flew me
back the next day. As far as college goes -- I really don't have to think about it yet.
I am taking it a day at a time.
Cole: We definitely get to be kids, but we are not living a normal life at all. You do
have to give up certain things; you have to sacrifice when God calls you to do
something. God calls people for certain reasons. We don't always understand it at
the moment. I think that God is calling us regardless of our age, regardless of our
capabilities.
Orrico: A month before the record comes out, ForeFront let me take a month off,
so I went away to camp in Missouri to be a kid and just hang out. I have the
opportunity right now to impact people's lives, and I can be a normal kid, or I can
go impact people's lives, you know? That gets me excited.
What type of impact do you hope to have on people's lives?
Orrico: I hope to reach non-Christian kids my age with something that they can
relate to. In Christian music, so many times we speak in Christianese that people
don't understand. I want to give them something they can understand. I have been a
Christian my whole life, and I think we can get too comfortable. We have heard it
all. It's all old hat, so we put God in a little box instead of going deeper. I want to
challenge Christian kids to go deeper.
