Jon Bellion

The co-writer of Eminem and Rihanna’s “The Monster” has more to offer than this soon-to-be chart topping single, much more.

Ever since Eminem announced he would be releasing a follow-up to his diamond-certified The Marshall Mathers LP, fans have waited anxiously to see whether Slim Shady’s eighth studio album could meet the tremendous expectations necessitated by its title. And with the first being regarded by many as the Detroit rappers best album to date, every vocal intonation, sound choice in the production process, and line written was inevitably bound to be scrutinized under a universe-sized microscope.

With that, we introduce Jon Bellion, a 22-year-old artist and songwriter hailing from Long Island, New York that has just [very] recently been publicly connected and credited with co-writing the fourth single off MMLP2 entitled “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna. The record itself is pop-oriented, upbeat, and possesses great staying power in the mainstream music landscape; it developed serious buzz after RiRi tweeted this back in September (although it was unknown exactly what she meant by it at the time).

“The Monster” has done wonders for Jon’s career already, landing him interviews with many of the most read and well respected music publications of today. And as we, The Source, are one of them, the want to go a step further and delve deeper into Mr. Bellion’s career felt more like a necessity than an option. Like many other songwriters who suddenly “appear” on the scene, much of their history is lost in the hype of the moment. In this case though, a record such as this is just the appetizer to the main course – one that is sure to come in the near future. The full interview can be found on page two, but below we’re providing a slew of music, videos, links, and info. Get to know one of the most promising artists and writers to come.

One of the best things that his label and management, Visionary Music Group does, is shoot, edit, stockpile, and then release (in a timely fashion) a never-ending [constant] stream of content. For much of the music that’s released, a behind-the-scenes video documenting the creation of the record follows (as seen in this example).

Peep some of his other new music after the interview and be on the lookout for his second mixtape later this month titled The Separation. If you live in New York, cop tickets for his upcoming December 19th show at SOB’s here.

– Scott Randell (@DefinedByMvsic)
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Q: Tell us when the writing and creation of “The Monster” first took place. How did such a monumental record such as this first come together?

A: Calvin Rosekrans, a friend of mine over at BMI, hit me up one day and was like, “…Bebe Rexha and this producer Frequency are working together and we want to throw you in the mix. We think it’ll be dope combination.” He was like, “Do you want to do the session for me? I know you’re in New York for the next couple weeks – you should go in with them and just try it out.” I was like alright, word. So I got there and, long story short, I played them my artist stuff and then Bebe was like, “We’re not writing for anybody else, we’re writing for my stuff. You need to work on my project.” I was like alright, let’s do that. And so we ended up writing this record called “The Monster” for her that was like, just like this Shakira/Florence + the Machine type of record. To be honest it was all the way indie. It was this tribal, world dance type of stuff. It was a really weird record. But don’t get me wrong, it was a REALLY good record. So I’d written the hook. Frequency had his buddy Elias come in, who’s a keys player, and he played the chords to the track just freestyling them. And then I just kind of freestyle rapped, “I’m friends with the monster, it’s under my bed…” with a little melody behind it, and everybody in the room was like ‘yo, that’s dope’. So from there, I wrote the hook out and then we wrote the whole song. After it was all said and done, Frequency was like, “Look, this hook is so strong maybe I’ll just take the verses off and keep the hook you wrote and send it to Riggs Morales over at Shady to see what happens with that.”

Q: Did you ever go back in with Bebe and Frequency? When was the first time you received word that somebody was interested in the record?

A: Yea, I did. Four days later I went back in to work with the two of them and Frequency was like, “The president of Atlantic called. Shady wants to take the record off of the market, but Atlantic wants it too. They’re guaranteeing releases for this artist and that artist. What should we do?” We all were collectively like if Eminem takes this sh%t and it goes…; it’s worth the risk. It’s kind of like winning the lottery. Long story short, Shady took it.

November 8, 2013  
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