{"id":214,"date":"2011-07-05T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2011-07-05T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=214"},"modified":"2011-07-06T01:28:19","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T05:28:19","slug":"a-conversation-with-owl-citys-adam-young-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-owl-citys-adam-young-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with Owl City’s Adam Young (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

A conversation with Owl City’s Adam Young, Part 1
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to be a successful recording artist in the post-millennial era, look no further than the seemingly overnight rise to fame of Adam Young for inspiration. While working at Coca-Cola and taking college courses (all the while living with his parents in Owatonna, Minn.), Young experimented with music in the basement and created what the world now knows as Owl City, a platinum-selling act with the massive hit single “Fireflies” as proof of his melody making genius.<\/p>\n

Owl City recently released its Universal Republic followup All Things Bright And Beautiful <\/em>and is currently touring to support the new songs. In this first part of a two-part interview, Young took some time out of his busy schedule to have a conversation with Whole Notes where we talked about his quick rise to fame, his self-described “anti-social ways” and how his Christian faith influences his music:<\/p>\n

Bonham: Did you ever envision you\u2019d be experiencing this level of success so quickly?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Adam Young of Owl City<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Young: Where I am right now is so far out from anything I ever imagined. It\u2019s so far out of my imagination\u2019s reach. The Coca-Cola thing was who I was and what I did two and a half years ago. (Laughs) That was my entire world for what it was worth. Needless to say, never did I think that things would happen and people would start to connect with what I was doing in such a great way. I\u2019m just trying to hang on for dear life and really take in everything in the crazy whirlwind because it\u2019s such a huge blessing and one that I never envisioned myself being a part of in any way.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Is it true that you weren\u2019t a very outgoing person before all of this happened? And if so, has all of the attention and the opportunity to impact the masses changed that?<\/p>\n

Young: That\u2019s absolutely correct and it\u2019s still the same way today. I\u2019m still very introverted, very shy. Ironically, big groups of people are not my favorite thing in the world (laughs), but there\u2019s something about playing shows and there\u2019s this kind of crazy, bizarre moment before we walk out on stage where all the butterflies kind of go away. It\u2019s just me, and the rest of the band, and the music in the room. It just feels like it\u2019s supposed to be that way. Despite my anti-social ways, it really is a perfect match, this whole music thing that I\u2019ve been called to do.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Would you agree that you\u2019ve become somewhat of a poster boy for the new way of doing things in the music business?<\/p>\n

Young: Yeah, absolutely. I think that\u2019s pretty accurate. I think ultimately my story really just is all credit to the Internet and definitely social networking. I was kind of in the right place at the right time, especially when Myspace was really booming and it was a popular place online. But beyond that, I guess this new way of climbing my way to the top was never something I envisioned let alone really wanted. It just kind of happened. I feel like I didn\u2019t really work at it in terms of getting actual music to the consumers. They kind of found me and then I found myself quitting my job at Coca-Cola and it all just fell into place.<\/p>\n

Bonham: As an outspoken Christian, do you feel blessed to have such a large platform in the general market?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Adam Young of Owl City<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Young: Yeah, I do. I do feel that. The mere fact is that my faith is fuel on the fire in terms of my inspiration, in terms of my writing and songwriting and kind of why I get out of bed every morning. If I was to hide that fact, I think it would be a crime, although it\u2019s never been, on the other side of the coin, my ultimate goal to go out and preach to people. As a Christian human being, I hope that I am really, really transparent and really in the right place with my Creator, with my Savior. Beyond that, my prayer is that He would use whatever kind of results from me as an artist creating art and take that art to whatever capacity that He might choose. Beyond that, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any of my business to classify what I do as Christian music or get into that whole argument. That\u2019s missing the point.<\/p>\n

Bonham: But interestingly, you\u2019re now getting a lot of love from the Christian industry and finding your music being played on Christian radio and being invited to play Christian festivals. How have you navigated that process?<\/p>\n

Young: Ultimately, I just kind of try to stay out of it (laughs) in that respect. I try not to let myself get involved with publicly saying, \u201cThis is what this music has to be and this is where it has to go!\u201d I just want to make sure that the music is truly genuine and truly from the heart. Wherever it connects, wherever God chooses to use that, it\u2019s like, all praise to Him. I just try to stay out of the way.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Tell me about your faith story. Were you raised in a Christian home? Did you have a spiritual epiphany or defining moment that brought you to this point?<\/p>\n

Young: My story isn\u2019t too epic. It\u2019s pretty low-key. There was no epiphany. I was raised in a Christian home with two wonderful parents who have been married for 35 years now. Whenever the doors were open at church, we were there, but it didn\u2019t really sink in. It\u2019s the same way it is with a lot of Christians. I kind of went through the motions early on and through high school. I guess after high school, I remember thinking, \u201cWhat now?\u201d And maybe that was the thing that drove me to a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Lord. No car wreck. No crazy thing that I can point to on a certain date, but I just kind of felt God calling me. So many of my friends at the time had fallen away. It was pretty disheartening in that respect. I didn\u2019t really know what I was doing or where I was going. I was working for Coke and I hated my job. I was going to school for nothing and I was really headed toward a dead end. So maybe that\u2019s what really made me truly latch on to the Lord. And that\u2019s what led to me writing music and I remember thinking, \u201cI\u2019ve got to be okay with the Lord if I\u2019m going to do this.\u201d It\u2019s got to be what I\u2019m called to do. <\/em><\/p>\n

Click here for part two of this interview<\/a> with Owl City’s Adam Young where he talks about the new record, dealing with critics and more.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with your friends! A conversation with Owl City’s Adam Young, Part 1 If you want to be a successful recording artist in the post-millennial era, look no further than the seemingly overnight rise to fame of Adam Young for inspiration. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}