lovely_4ever
Mar 9th, 2005, 05:37 PM
It's Aaron Carter's time to shine
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
At a time when most boys his age are filling out college applications and deciding who to ask to the junior prom, pop singer Aaron Carter is on tour as he prepares for the release of his first new album in three years later this spring. For the 17-year-old Carter - who plays Plymouth Memorial Hall on Friday - the new record is a major step in a career that began when he was just eight years old.
"The new music is definitely something I'm very involved in. I wrote the music and lyrics for the first single, 'Saturday Night,' off the album of the same name. The song is all about what teenagers like me do which is party and hang out with friends," explained Carter by telephone last week from California. "The new music is really hot. The whole album has a more mature R&B sound than my earlier stuff. I'm taking more creative control, because I want to make sure I know everything that's going on."
A well-publicized dispute with his mother over past earnings may have inspired Carter to take a greater interest in the business side of his career, but it was just one of the stories that has made the Florida native frequent tabloid fodder. Family dramas, his real or imagined romances with teen queens Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, and a December accident that destroyed his Cadillac Escalade but left him unharmed have made Carter's face a fixture at supermarket checkouts.
"Bad press doesn't bother me at all. It's like being the most popular guy in high school. At least everybody's talking about you," says Carter, who has been in the news most recently as a potential witness in his friend Michael Jackson's ongoing child molestation trial. Carter is clear that, if the time comes, he will testify for the defense.
"I will defend Michael to the fullest. It's an honor just to know him and to have worked with him. He's a cool person. What he is going through now is just plain wrong. The parents in the case are just trying to take advantage of Michael. All they see when they look at him is dollar signs.
It's really too bad, because all Michael wants to do is make people happy. He missed out on his own childhood and now he's like a kid in an old person's body."
Still a kid himself, Carter is busy not only with music, but also with a burgeoning acting career. He had a cameo role in the recent feature release "Fat Albert" and has completed production on two upcoming films, "Supercross" and "Popstar," in which he has the starring role. "Acting is completely different from everything else I do. It's a whole new thing and I love it."
Having watched his own older brother, Nick, navigate the sometimes choppy waters of show business as one of "The Backstreet Boys," Carter is aware that fame can be fickle. "I'm very happy to be working so I'll deal with whatever comes my way. I really hope to get greater credibility from this new album. I'm only 17 and the other people who do what I do, like Usher and Justin Timberlake, are older. I just want my chance to shine."
Aaron Carter will be in concert at Plymouth Memorial Hall, 83 Court Street, on March 11, along with opening act Jordan Knight, formerly of "New Kids on the Block." For tickets and information, call 1-866-468-7619, or visit www.plymouthhall.com.
- R. Scott Reedy
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
At a time when most boys his age are filling out college applications and deciding who to ask to the junior prom, pop singer Aaron Carter is on tour as he prepares for the release of his first new album in three years later this spring. For the 17-year-old Carter - who plays Plymouth Memorial Hall on Friday - the new record is a major step in a career that began when he was just eight years old.
"The new music is definitely something I'm very involved in. I wrote the music and lyrics for the first single, 'Saturday Night,' off the album of the same name. The song is all about what teenagers like me do which is party and hang out with friends," explained Carter by telephone last week from California. "The new music is really hot. The whole album has a more mature R&B sound than my earlier stuff. I'm taking more creative control, because I want to make sure I know everything that's going on."
A well-publicized dispute with his mother over past earnings may have inspired Carter to take a greater interest in the business side of his career, but it was just one of the stories that has made the Florida native frequent tabloid fodder. Family dramas, his real or imagined romances with teen queens Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, and a December accident that destroyed his Cadillac Escalade but left him unharmed have made Carter's face a fixture at supermarket checkouts.
"Bad press doesn't bother me at all. It's like being the most popular guy in high school. At least everybody's talking about you," says Carter, who has been in the news most recently as a potential witness in his friend Michael Jackson's ongoing child molestation trial. Carter is clear that, if the time comes, he will testify for the defense.
"I will defend Michael to the fullest. It's an honor just to know him and to have worked with him. He's a cool person. What he is going through now is just plain wrong. The parents in the case are just trying to take advantage of Michael. All they see when they look at him is dollar signs.
It's really too bad, because all Michael wants to do is make people happy. He missed out on his own childhood and now he's like a kid in an old person's body."
Still a kid himself, Carter is busy not only with music, but also with a burgeoning acting career. He had a cameo role in the recent feature release "Fat Albert" and has completed production on two upcoming films, "Supercross" and "Popstar," in which he has the starring role. "Acting is completely different from everything else I do. It's a whole new thing and I love it."
Having watched his own older brother, Nick, navigate the sometimes choppy waters of show business as one of "The Backstreet Boys," Carter is aware that fame can be fickle. "I'm very happy to be working so I'll deal with whatever comes my way. I really hope to get greater credibility from this new album. I'm only 17 and the other people who do what I do, like Usher and Justin Timberlake, are older. I just want my chance to shine."
Aaron Carter will be in concert at Plymouth Memorial Hall, 83 Court Street, on March 11, along with opening act Jordan Knight, formerly of "New Kids on the Block." For tickets and information, call 1-866-468-7619, or visit www.plymouthhall.com.
- R. Scott Reedy