Singer Gemaine may be a newcomer compared to artists like Bryson Tiller and Tory Lanez in the game, but as he says on “Let Me In,” he “ain’t like the other ones.”
The 20-year-old crooner became a viral sensation last year when he shared his singing talents on Vine with a six-second freestyle recorded at Guitar Center. And as the views rapidly grew, Gemaine decided to create not only a full song, “Freaky,” but also to craft an entire EP, Curious, which The Boombox is exclusively premiering.
His endearing, baby-makin’ anthem is no doubt getting some love. Aside from the countless choreography videos made to the tune on YouTube, the full version of “Freaky” has received three million plays on SoundCloud. He was also featured as the New Artist Spotlight on the R&B page over at iTunes for his promising start.
Gemaine, a self-labeled perfectionist, boasts that he doesn’t use Auto-Tune to correct his vocals. Listen to the forget-me-not mid-tempo groove “Break Up” (“We both know we don’t wanna do this, if it’s real save us”) and his ballad “No More,” which finds him detailing his foolish ways over a knocking beat (“Loving you became a tragedy”), to experience his blend of old school and new school R&B. After working on his 10-track EP, the Compton native understands why a project can take quite some time to come to fruition.
“I never understood why it could take a year to make an album, until I started recording. There is so much that goes into it beyond just writing a good song and when you want everything to be the best it takes time,” he tells The Boombox.
He’s just getting started, but Gemaine is still “worried” about what the future may bring. However, the singer is certain he’s in the right place.
“Thousands of songs are released everyday and just knowing that your competing with that kind of noise is intimidating but I believe in God and I believe that I was chosen to do this,” Gemaine shares.
Now that his new EP is available for the masses, Gemaine is also planning to set up a showcase for Vine — the social media site that started it all.