CNN
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When Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson are your aunt and uncle – and your mom is Rebbie Jackson and your other uncles are the rest of the members of the Jackson 5 – getting into the music industry could feel like a double-edged sword.
So why do it?
“I actually have asked myself that before, but it wasn’t really because of (the) level of artists that I have had in my family. It was more so just, music is tough,” musician Austin Brown said in a recent conversation with CNN. “It is just tough, tough, tough, tough. But for me, there wasn’t any other way. It makes me feel good about expressing myself.”
Brown is an independent artist who along with his band BLVK CVSTLE recently released “The Festival” album.
For years he has been leaning in to his art, which he said “allows me to get my emotions out.”
As a child he remembers being taken by hearing Stevie Wonder’s classic 1985 hit “Overjoyed,” which came out the year he was born. His mom’s hit “Centipede” was also a favorite, but more so he said he’s learned from her example.
“My mom went through a lot in the music industry,” he said. “She went through just a lot of things, mentally and spiritually, just how tough it could be,” Brown said. “And my mom always kept a good, balanced head on her shoulders.”
Witnessing his father Nathaniel Brown work hard as a business owner also had an effect, as his son said “I saw that example every day.”
“You know, I didn’t grow up the way people might’ve thought I did,” the younger Brown said, laughing. “And so when they get around me and they’re like ‘Yo, you went through the same stuff I went through,’ I’m like, ‘It’s no difference, bro.’”
He’s had to deal with all the challenges that any other up-and-coming artist has to face. It’s been years of songwriting, gigging and getting his music out there.
Brown recently headlined a residency at singer Anderson.Paak’s restaurant in Los Angeles and has been riding the wave of releasing new tunes and continuing to write new music.
But ask him what brings him joy besides music, and he quickly answers that it’s playing a board game with his 95-year-old grandmother, Katherine Jackson.
“I’m blessed that she’s still here and I get to have those moments with her,” he said. “Especially when it’s me, her, and my mom playing. I cherish those moments big time.”
Family is everything to him, and recently the world has been buzzing about a forthcoming Michael Jackson biopic in which Brown’s cousin Jaafar Jackson is portraying their legendary King of Pop uncle.
Brown had praise for the performance.
“I saw a screen testing of it and it was emotional how great he was,” he said. “He’s gonna blow people’s minds.”
“The Festival” is currently available for streaming.
