Fans may know Jeremy Shada as Reggie from Julie and the Phantoms, but he’s making a major name for himself in the music industry! The singer, 24, says it was “amazing” to have released his debut solo album, Vintage, on Friday, October 1.
“I feel like over these past few months I have evolved so much as an artist,” Jeremy tells J-14 exclusively following his album release. “The music before Vintage was just me testing out the musical waters. In my mind, Vintage has quite a bit more depth. Lyrically, and the overall storyline from the first track of the album to the last song, everything was methodically structured. I feel like Vintage in its entirety sounds more confident and, truthfully, I felt more confident creating this body of work.”
All of the songs on Vintage are something special, but “Pretty Little Lies” — which includes Jeremy’s favorite lyric: “It’s like I’m an actor in a really bad movie and you’re a singer who can’t survive without autotune” — is a stand-out track.
“My inspiration behind this song stemmed from the craziness of Hollywood relationships,” he shares. “At times, people put up this facade of having this ‘perfect’ relationship and yet are so miserable. Even though something might look beautiful on the outside, behind closed doors there might be deeper rooted issues and the relationship will soon crash and burn.”
When it came to making the music video, the artist wanted “a funny way to interpret the song.”
“Literally, everything was hysterical. We shot the music video in the living room of our aunt and uncle’s house,” Jeremy recalls. “There is one specific shot of the ‘bass player’ where you can see the reflection of the living room! Also, our family operates with a bit of an open-door policy so we had audience members [around] the entire time! Just seeing their reactions and getting to make them laugh with my performance was definitely a highlight.”
While the fan-favorite series Julie and the Phantoms hasn’t been renewed for a second season just yet, Jeremy hopes to see more “of the backstory behind Reggie’s character” if the show continues.
“We really don’t know a lot about him,” the actor explains. “I feel like we learn quite a bit about the other leads that I feel as though Reggie’s past life might have a neat story to tell.”
And if the opportunity arose, he’d “absolutely” love to write music for his character.
“We do know he likes country music from certain references in season 1 but I really think he’s a rocker boy at heart,” Jeremy gushes. “If I were writing a Reggie song, I feel it would be very much a The Band Camino vibe.”
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