CAB reveals Jesse McCartney as fall concert headliner
By Josie Blatt ’21, Contributing Writer
On Sept. 4, Hamilton’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) made their much-anticipated announcement of the headliner for the fall concert. The fangirls in hundreds of Hamilton students emerged as they learned that their first celebrity crush, Jesse McCartney, would be coming to the Hill on Oct. 6.
Ashley Huntington ’20 said, “I literally screamed when I heard that Jesse was coming to campus. He was my favorite star in fourth grade. If a Disney Channel episode had him in it, you knew it would be a great episode.”
In case you missed his appearances on early 2000s Disney Channel shows, here is what you need to know about Jesse McCartney.
Jesse McCartney has had a robust career in singing, acting and being a heartthrob. He released his first hit single “Beautiful Soul” and eponymous album in 2004. The single quickly became a worldwide tween anthem, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Two years later, McCartney released his second album, Right Where You Want Me. His single of the same name reached number 33 on Billboard’s Hot 100. For his work on his exemplary first two albums, McCartney received the highly contested 2006 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Male Singer.
Continuing his run at pop stardom, McCartney’s third album, Departure, released in 2008. “Leavin’,” the album’s lead single, reached number 10, making it his highest-charting single. McCartney’s fourth and most recent studio album, In Technicolor, was released in 2014.
McCartney has also had a solid career in acting. From 1998–2001, he could be seen playing Adam Chandler Jr. on the ABC soap opera All My Children. He received two daytime Emmy nominations for this role. McCartney made his movie debut in 2008 as the title role in Keith alongside Elisabeth Harnois. McCartney can also be heard as the voice of Theodore in all of the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. Moreover, you may recall McCartney’s iconic guest star appearances on Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
While McCartney has not released any new music since 2014, his acting career remains strong. He can currently be heard as the voice of Robin in the TV series Young Justice. He has also guest starred on several TV shows including Fear the Walking Dead and Major Crimes. When he is not acting, McCartney can be found touring college campuses across the country. He writes on his website, “I’ve been touring colleges the past few years because that’s where my best and most loyal fans are these days.”
While many loyal fans are on Hamilton’s campus, some students had no idea who he was. Emily Midgley ’21 said, “I lived under a rock as a child, so unfortunately I had never heard of Jesse McCartney. I’m looking forward to seeing what I missed out on.”
The Spectator got the chance to talk to CAB Concert Coordinator Joey Dixon ’18 and Concerts Apprentice Josh Rothstein ’19 about the process of selecting McCartney.
Rothstein was first inspired to suggest McCartney as a headliner last year: “I went to see Jesse McCartney at Bucknell last year when I was visiting a friend, and he killed it, so immediately I was interested in bringing him here. We work with a middle agency, Pretty Polly Productions, to contact artists. I mentioned to someone at Pretty Polly that it would be really fun to get Jesse McCartney to come for the fall concert, and he thought it was the funniest thing. He was like, ‘I haven’t heard that name in so long.’”
Dixon explained, “to select the list of artists, we input our own artists that we want to inquire about, then we ask Pretty Polly for their suggestions. In July, Josh and I selected 10 artists who we thought represented a good diversity of artists in terms of genre. Then we created a poll for the Hamilton community.” Jesse was the overwhelming winner.
Rothstein has seen a positive reaction to the announcement on campus: “I think people are excited. One thing I liked about Jesse is that, for a lot of people at this school, he was the soundtrack of our childhood.” Despite misconceptions that CAB concert coordinators only select artists who they personally like, Dixon and Rothstein want to assure the Hamilton community that the selection process is democratic. Rothstein said, “Please take the surveys that we put out. That’s the best way to get what you want. Also, email us to let us know what you want.”
Dixon and Rothstein are excited about the openers for the concert, EZI and SHAED. Dixon commented, “Both of the openers are exceptional this year. EZI is a solo act, and she’s a rising star in the NYC pop scene. The other is a female-led alternative electronic pop funk group, SHAED. They were by far the best openers suggested to us.”
Dixon and Rothstein also gave The Spectator an exclusive announcement about Jesse McCartney’s visit. CAB will be selling 250 tickets for a meet and greet with McCartney. Tickets for the meet and greet, which will be $40 extra, can be purchased along with concert tickets in the Sadove Conference Room on Wednesday, Sept. 20 from 9–11 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 24 from 2–4 p.m.
