The Art of an Authentic Comeback - Jon Bellion - #1024

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
New album, but you're not touring right now.

**Jon Bellion** (0:02)
No. Why? Right into it. The touring thing is, it's been a bit of a, I toured for a really long time before I walked away from artistry for about six or seven years.
I've given this spiel a couple of times, but it's just like kind of figured out how the ins and outs worked of it, understood what the toll on my life was as opposed to what I was getting paid for what I was bringing in, and the business just didn't make sense of it. So I've walked away from that a long time ago, and then was able to this time around, just kind of like really do inventory on what's important to me and what I want to do. And we were able to do Forest Hill Stadium, just two nights back to back, sold out in a couple of hours. And because the deal was right and I understand the business more, I can just drive home in my minivan and collect my money and be paid more than I've ever done for touring combined in two nights.

**Chris Williamson** (0:53)
Two nights made you more than entire tours previously?

**Jon Bellion** (0:56)
Yeah, yeah. Because I don't regret any of it, but it definitely put in perspective, oh, this is how they're killing you, this is how they're getting you on the backside. So yeah, yeah. So we ended up doing just two nights. 26,000 people showed up. It's crazy. Crazy. After six or seven years of being away, it was like moving, super emotional.

**Chris Williamson** (1:15)
After such a long hiatus, were you surprised by the positive response to the album and the shows?

**Jon Bellion** (1:22)
Yeah, I think you build up like Dre with Detox or like, you build up this thing and then the expectation becomes so high that you'll never be able to whatever. So I think I was fortunate enough to just like disappear and go away and write for other people for a super long time. I think that the pressure was off because I think the fans after a while were just like, I actually just don't think he'll ever put out music again. So then when I was like, I'm putting out music, they didn't have time for there to be this unrealistic expectation of like Step Brothers 2 It didn't have to be Dumb and Dumber 2 It just was. And on top of that, I just like became a completely different person in seven years. Like you're tapping in with the sound was different. My approach was different. Everything was different. So I think people were like fascinated and interested and it ended up being a blessing. It was a bigger debut, top six in the country, top 10 in the world. And I'm not even like fakily like, oh, it's been a shock of a blessing. And this time around, you don't get to do things twice. I almost feel like I'm like Scrooge or something. Like I woke up on Christmas again and I'm like, I get to do this over. So looking out at a stadium, sold out two nights in a row, and I've never done that six years ago. And somehow it got bigger by the time I came back.
I wasn't even in my own self. I was like watching the movie being like, this is crazy.

**Chris Williamson** (2:37)
How'd that feel? You're so familiar with playing, performing live stuff.

**Jon Bellion** (2:40)
Yeah.

**Chris Williamson** (2:41)
And then you do it, and it's the same. It's the shit that you've done hundreds of times before. And it's different at the same time. I'm interested in what that...

**Jon Bellion** (2:51)
I had one of my guys who's played with me since we were in college, my buddy George, he's one of my closest friends, and he was on keys behind me. And we both after the show just like held each other. Like just like, you know, at this point, it's like I'm on such borrowed time. I really feel that way. Like it's like you don't get to walk away and then end up being like nailing a few number ones to like pay for your life. And then accept the fact that the artistry is never coming back. And then the labels like, you know what, he's worth more to us giving him what he wants than him just never putting it out. Because I don't think he's bluffing anymore. Like he will not put out.

**Chris Williamson** (3:23)
So you played a game of chicken.

**Jon Bellion** (3:25)
A six year game of chicken. And then had to go to therapy and really settled it in my heart. That's like, this is okay. If this guy's playing on my life, I'm never going to do this and I will serve other people forever in their vision. Like that's fine. And I get a lot out of that. And I learned a lot about serving people for a long time, other artists, for sure. Like it definitely gave me a tool belt and my vocal ability grew and stuff. But playing that show, looking out, man, run a clip if you want, a YouTube clip to it. It's just, it was nuts. It was nuts. I've played festivals and stuff, but I've never solo sold out back to back 13,000 people in a night. It's just crazy. It's crazy. With zero help from the machine or whatever. It's crazy.