PopWrapped recently sat down with Jacob Young, an actor who is currently on CBS’ Bold and the Beautiful. Young has the distinction of playing three characters on soap operas who were all named after their fathers: Eric “Rick” Forrester, Jr., Lucas “Lucky” Spencer, Jr., and Adam “JR” Chandler, Jr. With almost 2000 episodes of daytime soap operas under his belt and a daytime Emmy nomination, Jacob Young is now standing on the brink of a new music career.
PopWrapped: What inspired you to start singing? How have you continued to have a passion for singing after a very successful career as an actor?
Jacob Young: When I was probably five years old, my dad put a harmonica in my hand. My dad and my grandpa played the harmonica together. That’s kind of where the music journey started — growing up in a rural town on the outskirts of pretty much nowhere. We were the last on the line of electricity, and I remember, when the power went out, that was it. I grew up on a farm and listening to country music. My parents always listened to Waylon Jennings and Hank and George Jones. So I feel like country music is deeply rooted in my soul, and it always has been. I was listening to country when country wasn’t cool. I remember in high school — people think you’re crazy, but I was listening to Dwight Yoakam and Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw when he first came on the scene. There’s not a lot of country music that I don’t know. It’s just always been in me,so a lot of the music that I would write, the lyrics always lean me that way. I finally realized that’s just who I am. I’m a country boy at heart.
PW: Tell us a little bit about your new music and a possible tour kicking off in early 2017.
JY: I have really been working hard on this new music. Originally, we were thinking about an EP. But were so close now to having a complete album, I decided just to finish it out. We will have about 12 songs. It all kind of started on a whim. My wife told me I should stop just playing around the house and share it with the rest of the world. So I called up my buddy, and he listened to some of my songs I had worked on acoustically, and he said, ‘You have to get down here to Nashville’. So I got to work with an all-star group of guys right on music row, and now we’re just about finished. As of January, we plan to start hitting the road, touring and getting into venues and getting my music out to the fans and the world.
PW: You are welcomed into so many living rooms each day through your soap operas. Other than the avenue for your music, how else has acting changed your life?
JY: All the recognition is great. It’s part of the trappings of the fruit that comes to you when you succeed. If you ask me if it’s changed me, it hasn’t changed me. I’m still who I am. Anybody who knows me, like friends I’ve kept — which is a small group of friends — they will tell you the same thing. It’s an amazing job with amazing opportunities, but those things don’t need to change a person. If I just did it for fame, I would have been doing it for the wrong reasons. It was always about telling the story for me. Connecting with human emotion so that maybe someone else might be able to connect with that and feel something and be inspired by something. That’s why I’m an actor; that’s why I still act. Because everyday I say, ‘Can I make something that resonates with people and emotionally connects?’
That’s what Soaps are: a fantasy world that fans can delve into and escape their real lives for a while. It’s an escapism for them, and I’m thrilled that they’ve kept me around as long as they have — 20 years this year coming up. It’s truly been amazing. Also, I will say the great thing about the music is: when you’re hired on a film or TV show, they are in charge. You are somewhat in control of your character artistically, but, ultimately, you still have to answer to somebody. Whereas the music is 100% my own, and, being an individual artist, I only have to answer to myself. Also, writing the songs is my creative outlet. Every artist yearns for that freedom to share your artistic statement. I feel like, with the music, I finally get to do that. Sometimes I wonder why I waited so long, but it might not have been the right time. I feel like now more than ever this is the right time.
Watch an exclusive first at Jacob Young’s new song, “We Danced”!
Follow Jacob on all of his latest acting and singing adventures on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
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