Coming in 4th place on America’s Got Talent is a major accomplishment. Being invited back to AGT: The Champions means you’ve got something special. Both are true of singer Brian Justin Crum who first made his mark on the show with his version of Radiohead’s Creep.
On the heels of the completion of Champions, Crum is in the early stages of preparing a fall tour that he hopes will shift the narrative about who he is as both a person and an artist. As part of developing that tour, Crum will be playing at Catalina Jazz Club on Thursday night. He’ll be backed by a full band and will be introducing new material.
“I’ll do a couple songs you heard me do 4-5 years ago with Ruby Lewis in We Will Rock You [the Queen musical that played the Ahmanson Theatre],” he says by phone last week. “There’ll be some America’s Got Talent favorites and my new single, Circles, which is a dance song. I will debut a new song that has never been heard before called Bright. It’s like a soulful power ballad.”
Circles was just recently released. I asked Crum if, being known for the covers he’s done on television and released online, makes introducing material he’s written a challenge.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” he reveals. “People know and love me for the covers I’ve done on the show. It’s definitely something I think about when I’m working on an original song. It won’t deter me when I put out original songs. I have the chance to make the narrative about who I am and what I can do. I can do that by sharing.”
His AGT experience definitely expanded his visibility, but Crum feels it came with a price. “I found more and more that the America’s Got Talent experience really put me in a box about what I do and what I should do. I hear, ‘Why aren’t you doing big ballads? That’s what we love.’ While AGT gave me an incredible platform, it pinned me into a power ballad singer. That’s not all I have to offer. It’s been my pleasure and challenge to show the world all I have to offer as an artist and human being.”
Who he is as a human being is much more than a kid who was bullied for being gay – even though the show made that a central narrative of Crum’s story.
“That was a long time ago,” he says of his childhood experiences. “It’s not something I dwell on or live in. It’s something I use as inspiration. I’m more interested in people hearing about my process of growing from it. People, I think, assume that I was kind of plucked from obscurity and hadn’t done anything before. I’m interested in sharing my adult life and all the incredible experiences I’ve had. I begged and pleaded for us to move on and tell the greater story, but they wanted to focus on that. That’s what you got to do if you want to be part of that show.”
When he plays Catalina on Thursday night, Crum will be in a much smaller room than AGT‘s home at The Dolby Theatre. And he can’t wait.
“The artists I’m drawn to and inspired by are those who can play to 50,000 people with all the bells and whistles and those who can be in a room with 50 people, a guitar and a piano. I don’t care if I have fireworks behind me. Sometimes I think that stuff takes away from [the music.] There are people coming in from all over. I think what the audience expects from me is powerful and emotional vocals. They just want to hear me sing and do what I do and hear it live.”
One song that might be on fans’ requests for the setlist is Crum’s recent cover of “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.
Since he spent so much time singing Queen’s music, I asked if her preferred Bohemian Rhapsody or A Star Is Born.
“A Star Is Born,” he says without hesitation. “I didn’t even finish Bohemian Rhapsody. I thought it was Queen goes to Disneyland. The way they told that story: he was gay, he got AIDS, he died. It isn’t our story or the story of queer people. And I didn’t think it was a fair representation of his life. It’s unfortunate when an icon passes away before they get to chose how their story is told.”
Crum knows the story he wants to tell and though it will naturally evolve over the years, music is always the safest place for him to do that.
“I feel the most confident and sure of myself when I’m on stage and performing. It’s the rest of life that gets me in my head and when I feel insecure. Music and the creating and performing of it is where I feel safe.”
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (who wrote Creep) once said that “In order for me personally to stay okay about what I do, I have to see through whatever it is that’s appearing in my head. That’s my instinct anyway, but then the best things are often those that go somewhere you weren’t expecting.” Crum says that perfectly sums up his career so far.
“I think it surprises me every day. And what’s very true of that sentiment is I find I do my best work when I trust my gut and follow my heart. I’ve been so afraid for many years to just do me. And recently I’ve been just doing me. I feel good about just putting it out there. It’s a great to feel good about myself and trust myself. Success and the idea of what it is changes every day. As long as I’m able to support myself making music, I’m going to be happy.”
All photos courtesy of Brian Justin Crum.
