Jesse McCartney talks about his ‘All’s Well’ EP and 2024 tour

Jesse McCartney. Photo Credit: Sam Damashek

Pop singer-songwriter and actor Jesse McCartney chatted about his upcoming “All’s Well” EP, “Faux Fur” single, and headlining “All’s Well” Tour.

‘Faux Fur’ single

On his latest “Faux Fur” single, he said, “We started working on this song and it sounded really great in the studio. Doc Daniel, Solomon Fox and I knew it sounded amazing. Doc Daniel is great at programming drums, and he is a master beatmaker, and he is good in the hip-hop world.”

“The song called for live music, and it sat around for months, so I took it to Morgan Taylor Reid, who produced a lot of songs on my last album, and we put together a live band. All of a sudden, the song sounded much richer,” he said.

“Faux Fur” is available on digital service providers by clicking here.

New ‘All’s Well’ EP and tour

His new EP “All’s Well” will be released on April 5, 2024. One week later, on April 12, his “All’s Well” headlining tour will kick off at Emo’s Austin in Austin, Texas, and it will feature a tour stop at New York’s Webster Hall on April 25.

“We are really excited about this tour,” McCartney said. “The presales are doing incredibly well. We are all looking forward to a big tour. I have some new songs coming out. It is going to be a really fun year.”

Later on this year, he will be celebrating the 20^th anniversary of his hit radio single “Beautiful Soul.”

Song selection process

On the song selection approach for the EP, he said, “To be honest, I was pretty efficient in terms of my songwriting. I wrote about 13 songs, and they were all in different stages of being finished. I want to put something that was lean and mean, and frankly, it was taking me a long time.”

“I’m a perfectionist and I only want to finish things that I think are at a certain standard. These are the four songs that I felt were really strong, so I decided to do an EP for now,” he said.

McCartney continued, “It has been a few years since I had put new music out and since I toured, so I felt like these were the strongest tracks I’ve had. So, we picked these four, and I did a remix on one of them that is coming out in March with Yung Gravy. These were the songs that I felt were best, and it felt like they were cohesive together.”

Favorite song on the album: ‘The Well’

He listed “The Well” as his personal favorite song on the album. “It is slightly darker in tone and lyrically, it goes down the rabbit hole of dealing with anxiety, stress, and particularly COVID, as well as being in a lonely place,” he said.

“Thankfully, I had my beautiful wife, Katie, and my dog Bailey to keep me company. Like every other person, I was dealing with my own level of anxieties during COVID,” he acknowledged.

“The song ‘The Well’ digs deeper,” he admitted. “It’s literally a metaphor, and it’s about being so low that you don’t know where to go or where to turn. Despite having all the success, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“Having somebody in your life that really cares about you and can help you cope with your anxieties and low points is what life is all about. Having that person pull you out of the well is really important. It’s a really good lyrical moment for me, and it has some of my strongest songwriting,” he elaborated.

Webster Hall show in New York

A multi-platinum singer-songwriter, McCartney will be headlining Webster Hall in Manhattan on April 25 as part of his “All’s Well” Tour. “It is going to be a big show, and it’s going to be a fun show,” he said.

In the past, McCartney shared that he enjoyed performing at The Paramount in Huntington on Long Island on several occasions. 

“The Paramount is great,” he exclaimed. “I always forget how much I love that place until I get there. When you are on tour, you wake up and forget where you are every single day. The fans in New York are alive and well.”

“I just love all the venues in New York… they have so much character,” he admitted.

‘Bleeding Love’

He revealed that he will be doing his own version of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” which he wrote. “We will probably be playing that one for sure. It has become a staple in the setlist,” he said.

AI on the future of the music industry

McCartney shared his thoughts on AI on the future of the music business.

“It’s complicated, obviously,” he said. “I feel for songwriters and publishers. I fear that even more money is going to be taken out of the struggling artist’s pocket. I really hope that legislation gets it together in time. It’s complicated, and honestly, it moves so quickly that I have a hard time keeping up with it.”

“I’ve experimented a little with it, where I’ve asked ChatGBT to ‘write songs in the style of Jesse McCartney’ to see what comes out, and it’s definitely not there yet,” he said.

“My hopes are still alive that a living person needs to create art. I definitely know the power of the computer and what it is capable of. I am just holding my breath,” he noted.

“Art should be human. At the end of the day, people want to connect, come to a live show, and see their favorite artist in person, so I think that is still alive,” he added.

Stage of his life

On the title of the current chapter of his life, McCartney said, “All’s Well.” This coincides with the name of his forthcoming EP and tour, so that seems to be a common theme in both his personal and professional life.

“All is well. I am doing well overall. My life is good, my life is full, I have a beautiful home and a beautiful social life. I get to do what I love, which is more than what most people can say,” he explained.

“I feel blessed every day that I get to wake up and write songs for a living, and get to travel the world, and that’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

‘The Masked Singer’

In 2020, McCartney competed on Season 3 of the reality singing competition “The Masked Singer,” where he was dressed as “Turtle.” He was the runner-up winner of that season. “That was a great time,” he recalled about the show, which was televised during the COVID pandemic.

Superpower of choice

If he were to have any superpower, he noted that it would be “to learn to be as happy as my dog Bailey.” “Dogs wake up every day and they are happy to see you,” he said. “We should all live our lives like dogs do. I would love to live as happy and as carefree as dogs do.”

Greatest lesson that being on a soap opera has taught him

McCartney played the role of JR Chandler on “All My Children” from 1998 until 2001.

His acting performances in the ABC daytime drama “All My Children” earned him two Emmy nominations in the “Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series” category in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

“Being on a show like that is really helpful for your memory skills,” he said. “You have to learn so much material so fast. I had a supporting role; some of those actors such as Michael E. Knight, David Canary, and Cady McClain had mounts of material to churn out. It was crazy but it definitely makes you a better actor; it keeps you sharp and it makes you remember things.”

“It is an unbelievable amount of material to learn. On the memory front, a soap opera is a great place to start as an actor. It forces you to concentrate and remember things,” he said.

McCartney praised soap opera fans for being “awesome.” “I still get ‘All My Children’ fans that show up at my concerts, and they tell me that they are sad that ‘All My Children’ came to an end,” he acknowledged.

‘Summerland’

McCartney had great words about working with Shawn Christian in the ’00s TV series “Summerland.” McCartney played the role of Bradin Westerly opposite Shawn Christian who portrayed Johnny Durant.

“Shawn is the best,” he exclaimed. “Two Christmases ago, I actually had a Zoom session with both Shawn and Taylor [Cole] from ‘Summerland,’ and we just had a little catch-up session over wine.”

“We spoke about life, and we talked about where we were at. Shawn is so collected and put together. Shawn is the nicest guy, and he always makes you feel good, and he has the sweetest disposition of anybody I know,” he added.

Success

On his definition of the word success, McCartney said, “Finding balance in my life, and knowing that the things that matter the most are family, friends, and time spent with each other.”

“Success is being able to cherish the moments that you have with friends and family,” he added.

Closing thoughts on the new EP and music

For his fans and listeners, McCartney remarked, “The EP is a new chapter for me and where I am in my life. I really hope people hear the musicianship, the level of craft and writing that I think it has. I hold these songs to a high standard, and I hope people see the maturity and how I’ve grown over the years as a songwriter.”

“I hope that fans and listeners have a good time listening to it. I am going to try to play all of these songs on this tour, and some of the older ones. The ‘All’s Well’ EP is a feel-good record with live instrumentation,” McCartney concluded.

His “All’s Well” EP is available for pre-order on digital service providers by clicking here.

To learn more about pop singer-songwriter and actor Jesse McCartney, check out his official website, and follow him on Instagram.