Jordan McCoy performing on Diddy's tour
Three years after area residents tuned in to watch American Juniors to cheer on local vocal finalist Jordan McCoy, McCoy is releasing her first CD.
“It takes a long time to do it, to do it right and get everything done,” McCoy said of recording her first album. “When you think about it, I’m 14 – almost 15 – and in the big picture, that’s soon.”
During the American Juniors show, McCoy made it to the final episode, with more than 8.2 million votes cast following the show. After her moment of fame on national television, McCoy got down to work to achieve her dream of becoming a music star. She and her family put together a management team and signed with P. Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy Worldwide.
Then the real work began.
“We’ve heard so many demos it’s crazy,” McCoy said of her work in finding songs to perform on her CD. “It’s cool that I’ve gotten to work with a lot of big producers and hear a lot of original music, though.”
According to Deanna McCoy, after she and Jordan would hear a song for the first time and approve of it, the management team would have to approve the song before going to Diddy.
“After going through all those people, if Diddy didn’t like it, it wasn’t going to be recorded,” Deanna McCoy said. “We’ve been very careful about song selection. ... There have been more than one time when we got back with the songwriter and asked them to change something. Bottom line, no touchy-feely stuff that’s not appropriate for a young girl.”
“I think all the songs are age appropriate,” Jordan McCoy said. “Younger kids can listen to them, but they’re about things teen and young adults can relate to. ... Diddy is very protective. There were times when I thought it was OK to do a song, but Diddy would say, ‘No, you can’t do that either.’ He’s like a big brother, always watching out for me.”
“They are very careful,” Deanna McCoy added. “They want to be sure she has a good sound. It’s almost like Kelly Clarkson pop rock with an edge to it.”
Jordan McCoy said there will be about 10 to 12 songs on the album, but she recorded about 23 songs.
“There’s a lot of songs to choose from,” McCoy said. “It’ll be hard to narrow them down. Some of them we’ll probably put in as soundtracks.”
Deanna McCoy said any other leftover recordings can be released into the European market by Bad Boy Worldwide. She said she has been told the tastes and fads in Europe are different and new artists release a variety of music in the other markets.
Besides a lot of time in the recording studio, Jordan McCoy said she has spent a tremendous amount of time traveling from New York to Los Angeles, Chicago and Nashville, Tenn. She has been able to work with award-winning record producers such as Marty Frederickson, Steve Diamond and Matthew Girard. Frederickson has worked with bands such as Aerosmith, Diamond with Brittany Spears and Girard with Hillary Duff.
McCoy’s first single, “My Next X Boyfriend,” will be featured on Radio Disney between Aug. 12 and 25. Local fans will be able to hear the song on Music Choice channel 940. The single will be released to national radio in September, when McCoy expects to begin touring with Diddy.
“Diddy’s album is coming out in September, and we’ll be on tour with him as one of the opening acts,” Deanna McCoy said. Jordan McCoy added the tour is expected to hit 33 cities in three months.
