The first time that I heard about Jonathan Young was 3 years ago when he and Caleb Hyles made a dual collaboration on each other channels, within Caleb's channel it was Wolf in Sheep's Clothes by Set It Off and with Jonathan's channel a metal version of Bell's of Notre Dame which it hooked me up on his channel also on the spot after listening to it; my first reaction was "it was incredible, catchy, fast, chilly towards the instrumental arrangements and his vocals were mind-blowing"
For over a year, I probably watched his videos on a weekly basis when he released them, still do but I am not going far in the future, on 2017 I had the chance to see him and Caleb Hyles for the first time live on Metro-Con albeit not on the concert they played but on the Disney Sing-A-Long and I was extremely impress because they were two of the musicians I admire albeit nerves didn't let me say hello and take a proper photo, or even buy the merchandise.
Over the curse of 2017 and 2018 as one of my goals was to follow the evolution of my favorite producers and content creators, and Jonathan been one of them; I took a methodical approach to find as more information as possible as well the interests, some of his older videos where filmed at his high school where he was a member of the chorus, he had an interest in metal since the early beginning and also he seemed to enjoy old Disney and Fox movies.
Over the curse of four years, he crafted his image towards his rich baritone which it encompass his tassitura but also his public persona, as he crafted his voice towards the villainous side in which he developed content related to Anastasia such as In the Dark of the Night or Scar's Be Prepared from the Lion King, which the viewers could see and hear his tone on full range.
Apart from his Disney covers, he also made covers towards anime such as my Hero Academia - The Day - which is one of the most incredible arrangement's because he transformed it into a new song keeping a faithful adaption to the original source, which people who have understanding on music adaptation, production and theory we can see that Jonathan Young has great array of knowledge towards content creation and music production.
On 2018 I had the privilege to see Jonathan Young, Caleb Hyles and RichaadEB on concert at MetroCon 2018 and it was one of the most amazing experience, the sound production was amazing and they sound exactly as if we were in one of their videos.
But, the experience of the concert made me ask me a new question towards branding positioning, especially when you as a content creator you are your own brand, how you as a cover artist could make the transition to show your originals to your audience? We have Boyce Avenue as a prime example but yet Boyce Avenue seems to have issues dissociating from the image they crafted which itself could apply towards artist as Jonathan himself, even if he create his own music.
Back when Youtube was starting and when I was as freelance journalist around Tampa, roaming around shows and listening to the first musicians I did cover I wondered the same questions and from a perspective that involves switching styles or positioning your own products, maybe the best route is to find a sound that is pleasant to the ears, that people can identify as mainstream but at the same time that relies on your signature, same as lyrical content that is extremely meaningful to the public.
That could be the start to dissociate yourself from the cover label and keep striving as an indie artist, as one of the precepts that people enjoy finding in indie artist is the soul and essence of the artist, which it can really sell. I honestly want to see more about Jonathan Young, more original songs and what trajectory he will take beyond the nerdom.
