The “Angel Baby” hitmaker was influenced by the stage presence of the King of Pop – who died in 2009 aged 50 – to make performing his dream career after watching old footage of the “Bad” superstar.
In conversation with his “The Idol” co-star Rachel Sennott for Interview magazine, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter said: “It was 100 percent Michael Jackson. Growing up in the mid-’90s my parents had VHS concert tapes and my dad had this Michael Jackson one.
“And of course, I loved music since the day I was born. But then it clicked that you could do it for so many people.
“I remember watching this clip of him where he stared off into the distance for three minutes and the audience just got louder and louder, and then he just moves his head to the other side – I went ballistic.
“That was when I was like, ‘Damn, I want to do that.’ When it came to songwriting, that only clicked for me later in life because I always loved singing, but I would just sing covers.”
Listen to a 6-years-old interview here:
