Jordan Pruitt

Rising Teen Artist Jordan Pruitt Talks About Her Debut Album, No Ordinary Girl, on Hollywood Records

By Jonathan Widran

Jordan Pruitt

The one cultural phenomenon that both parents and kids looking for the next big thing that’s hip and cool can agree on, Radio Disney is the place where musical dreams come true and a powerful source of young teen music in America. Hollywood Records, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, has filled its roster these past few years with some of the most exciting artists in the teen pop genre. The label’s latest budding star, who is currently receiving airplay at Radio Disney and on pop radio, is 15-year-old singer/songwriter Jordan Pruitt. Pruitt is the most recent addition to a growing Disney-bred lineup that includes Raven Symone, Hilary Duff, The Cheetah Girls, Aly & AJ, plus Corbin Bleu and Vanessa Hudgens from High School Musical.

This past year, well in advance of the February 6 release of Pruitt’s debut album No Ordinary Girl, the label created a highly effective awareness campaign around the talented, wise beyond her years artist. Pruitt was on the road for much of 2006 as a featured performer on the Radio Disney Incubator tour, a special guest opening act (singing 3-4 songs) on The Cheetah Girls’ The Party’s Just Begun Tour, and the opening act for the 40- city High School Musical: The Concert tour which ran throughout December and January. She also performed with Aly & AJ at the Disney co-sponsored 2006 Youth Marketing Conference.

Though the official first single release from No Ordinary Girl is “Miss Popularity,” three other songs on the album were heard extensively throughout the past year thanks, to some cross-marketing via the Disney Channel original movies, Read It And Weep (which featured “Outside Looking In”) and Jump In! (“Jump To The Rhythm”). In addition, the film Air Buddies featured Pruitt’s buoyant cover of Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” Also impressive was the huge online success of “Outside Looking In,” which garnered over a million plays on Pruitt’s MySpace page.

A co-writer of nearly every track on her album with hit producer Keith Thomas (Nick Lachey, Amy Grant, Jessica Simpson) and Robin Scoffield, Pruitt’s experiences as a regular teen experiencing real life highs and lows shine through the energetic grooves, shimmering ballads and high-gloss production.

“Keith had known and worked with Robin for a long time and he brought her into the sessions the first day we started writing material for the album,” says Pruitt. “We connected right away, and the three of us together made a good team. We wrote every song together in the same room. Sometimes they began with my ideas, or from a melody Keith or Robin came up with, but in general, the idea was to write about stuff that I had gone through or was going through. I think everyone my age can relate to these songs in some way, shape or form. Keith asked me before I started what kind of message I wanted to convey, and I just said I wanted to be a great role model and project a positive message to not only my peers but to everyone. The first song we wrote, the one that turned out to be the title track, says a lot about my values as a person and a teenage girl growing up in America.”

Born in Loganville, Georgia in 1991, Pruitt began singing at age four at the family church, where her dad was a worship and song leader. “I feel like I’ve been singing in front of people my whole life,” she says. “The first song I got up and sang was ‘Jesus Loves Me.’ Believe it or not, I was kind of shy when I was little, but that’s changed. I still get butterflies before I go onstage sometimes, but for the most part, the stage is home for me.” Gaining more confidence, she sang before audiences ranging from a few thousand to the tens of thousands, at well-known venues in her home state such as Centennial Olympic Park, Stone Mountain, Six Flags Over Georgia and The Fox Theatre.

Pruitt showed an amazing talent for songwriting from an early age and her dad helped her make her first rough demo - a handful of worship songs, sung straight from the heart - when she was in fifth grade. Her aunt and uncle, who had been asking her for the recording for the longest time, gave it to their friends from church, who happened to know Keith Thomas’ nephew. When Thomas heard it, he saw loads of potential (“he says he loved the way I popped my voice,” Pruitt recalls) and asked her to come to Nashville for an audition at his studio in Franklin, TN. He signed her to his production company, Levosia Entertainment, and then brought in Scoffield to begin a relentless agenda of songwriting and recording. “It was all so new to me, working from 12 noon to 12 midnight, but it was also so much fun,” says Pruitt, whose family moved along with her to Nashville.

Thomas subsequently shopped the project to a few labels. Hollywood Records offered the best deal, and soon the singer found herself auditioning for The Disney Channel, singing “Outside Looking In.” A day later, Disney executives called and said they wanted to put the song in their original Disney Channel film Read It And Weep. “A few weeks later,” she says, “I was doing my first music video. How cool is that?”

Over the past year, Pruitt has had some wild experiences being the object of fan affection, with kids her own age running after her as she boards the tour bus just for a touch, a smile or an autograph. The attention is surreal, but she reminds herself when she looks out from the stage that everyone singing along is a real person with real feelings. Her faith in God, her family (including a little brother) and manager/producer Thomas are there every step of the way, to keep things real as her star ascends.

“I’m just taking things day by day now, focusing on what’s important and surrounding myself with this amazing team of people who make sure I’ve got a good head on my shoulders no matter what happens,” Pruitt says. “I think the key to finding longevity in the music business for me involves keeping my morals and values, writing songs that touch people and have meaning, and connecting with the fans who make it possible in a personal way. I know it’s bold to say, but I think I’m a pretty classy girl, so I’m never going to show my tummy to sell records.”

“My parents have done a wonderful job raising me,” she adds, “and with everything I do, I want to honor them and of course, God. I also want to keep making music with Keith, who is such an amazing and talented person. He’s the most genuine person I know, and comes up with the sickest melodies! I think we’ll be making records forever.”