← Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville
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- [00:14]
A
My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars or behind the scenes staff, have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives providing information on how they evolved into their chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who help them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind the scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantour. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. If you haven't already, take a quick second to tap the follow button. It really helps the show reach more people who love music and entertainment. Thanks for being here. Joining us today is Jonathan Antoine. His voice doesn't just fill Rome, it stops time. You may remember him from Britain's Got Talent where he first captured hearts with a performance that turned a moment into a movement. Since then, he's gone on to build an international career blending classical power where the most emotional storytelling that reaches far beyond many styles of music. What a great story he has to tell us today. Thanks for joining us.
- [01:44]
B
Ah, thank you for having me. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
- [01:47]
A
Oh, it's my pleasure. If you would give us an update on what you're currently doing.
- [01:51]
B
Yeah, well, I'm in my home studio doing this interview. However, many years ago I was on this TV show and now I get to be here for a living promoting my new record, of course, Speaking to you, available March 27th at all your finest readings retailers, which I recorded a lot of it in this very same home studio. Almost all of the vocals were recorded here. That's what I've been up to most recently.
- [02:16]
A
When you look back at your journey from Britain's Got Talent up until today, what moment was it that changed everything for you?
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B
Oh, it's been a succession of moments changing everything. You know, it's every new experience, particularly at the beginning, was earth shattering really. Going on that stage at the very beginning and having people stand up and applaud and give you a standing ovation.
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A
Yeah.
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B
In such, you know, the Hammersmith Apollo. It's full. That changed my perception of myself. It changed my life for sure. It aired on TV and that was a whole other day of, of changing my life.
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A
Yeah.
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B
After the show we started going out on gigs and going to different countries. Being in Spain and sitting out on the, on the Mountains looking out over the sea.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Moments like that, you know, just think, how in the world did I get here? My life has just been full of those moments.
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A
Nice.
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B
Thank my lucky stars.
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A
Every day now you was at a young age, and then all of a sud. Sudden, you're getting global attention. What did success feel like then and now? How has your definition of success evolved from that point?
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B
Good question. I'm always thinking about the meaning of success and what exactly it means to prosper in this life at the very beginning. And I suppose even now, just existing, you know, being able to persist and carry forward.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Some of the biggest successes, in my opinion. I went into the show at a real low point. I really didn't see much of a path ahead for myself.
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A
Okay.
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B
I've sort of serendipitously found this incredible welcoming public audience, which is a bizarre prospect nowadays. My success is that many of those people who discovered me all the way back then, that they're still with me.
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A
Nice.
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B
Some of those people have been with me through the ends of their lives. I've been able to be part of that, part of their story.
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A
Yeah.
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B
That is. That shakes my world, the connection you mentioned.
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A
You had that feeling of discouragement going into the show if you found yourself questioning your music. Should I keep doing this or what should I do? What helped you in pulling yourself through that?
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B
Oh, well, I suppose the show, in a way, pulled me through that peculiarly. At the time, at least.
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A
Okay.
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B
Even now, sometimes, you know, you think maybe I should do something. Well, at least I should expand my palette a little bit.
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A
Yeah.
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B
I. Sorry.
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A
That's okay.
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B
Yeah. Doubting whether I'm fit for this or able to do it. It's still a theme in my life. It's the. The ability to deal with that.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And having incredibly strong support, my family and all the wonderful Fantuan.
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A
Yeah.
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B
I'm so blessed.
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A
Yeah. Family support is everything. Now, do you approach classical and crossover music differently, or is it just one emotional language for you?
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B
I think. I think it's one unified language for me. All of music can sit in this umbrella way again, that communication, the bridge between people. I personally, I'm a lover of extreme heavy metal as well, so it's bridging all of those unspeakable feelings that, to me, is what performing music is about. And for crossover, there are technical aspects where you approach it a little bit differently.
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A
Yeah.
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B
I think the ethos of the thing, the spirit, is very much the same. I just want to perform it the best I can.
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A
Yeah. That's well said. Now, you've mentioned you've had highs and you've had lows.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Now, what's the journey of the highs? And of course, the lows taught you not only about your music, also about yourself.
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B
Well, I mean, I fundamentally, when I look back at the kid who stepped on stage or 14 years ago now, I wonder if I am even particularly similar to him.
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A
Okay.
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B
You know, I feel I've changed so much. I've been afforded the opportunity, you know, to live in this very wishy washy, ethereal world and experience and find myself a lot. It's interesting. Hard to put exactly into words what finding yourself is. Sure, you sort of. You feel it a little bit as you start to gather these little pieces of yourself. The more that I kind of explored the world and saw that people who seem that they could be so different from me are actually basically the same as me.
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A
Yeah.
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B
That for me, has always been a beautiful moment. Again, connecting with people. I'm all about it.
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A
At some point in time, everyone struggles with confidence. Should I do this? Should I not do this? They have all these questions about themselves. But when you gain that confidence because your music is speaking louder than your doubts, how have you used your music to overcome any of those doubts? Then once you gain that confidence, how has it changed the way you approach your music?
- [06:55]
B
Oh, incredible question. Goodness me. Well, to be completely honest, you know, sometimes those fleeting thoughts, I think, even when I go on stage now, I think, oh, am I. Am I going to nail it? Am I going to do it?
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A
Sure.
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B
The music itself, the vibration, the feeling, the being on stage and the seeing people excited and all of that, it becomes a dream. You fall into this. This wonderful sleep, and at the end of the show, you're just. You're awake again. That to me, yeah, that's how I use the music itself. It's. It's like a. It's like a blanket. It's like I wear my capes in my shows. And that is like a second, even larger cape all around me. It feels as though the music and all of this that I've sort of been able to build because of it, it makes me feel, you know, valued. Yeah. Like I have value in this world. And that is huge for my confidence, just being able to affect people and to bring the music to them, bring a little something, a little spark where there may not have been.
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A
Before you mentioned the audience, what do you hope people feel when they hear you sing? Whether they're listening live or through their headphones?
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B
For me I just hope that they feel, you know.
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A
Yeah.
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B
When I put in everything into the music, the song itself, the feelings that I'm feeling, feeling at the time, the. The anxieties of recording or of performing, all of these, this melange of beautiful, intense feelings.
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A
Sure.
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B
If an audience member can pick out just one of those, or any of those threads, any amount, then I am satisfied. That's incredible to me.
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A
I've always said for those who do not perform on stage, they never truly understand the adrenaline that goes through performing live in front of an audience. The audience is like a drug that you do not have to take to get that emotional lift. Once you get that done and you're still feeling that high from performances and people are around you, how do you find yourself coping and staying grounded with all that?
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B
Wow. A lot of the time after a show, I'll do a meet and greet, actually.
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A
Sure.
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B
I'll separate these out a little bit. So, you know, you have the meet and greet, which is like immediately after people are sort of validating you, straight after. And it is just this incredible thing.
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A
Yes.
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B
In a way it grew because, you know, you get this face to face interaction. You see the literal impact you have. But of course, in doing that, you know, that can really boost your ego quite a lot.
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A
Absolutely.
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B
But it's the after that, after all of that, when. When the quiet time comes, when it's. The show is well and truly over, you know, you sort of return to reality.
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A
Yeah.
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B
There's nothing more grounding than that. Having just been on stage, being in your makeup and your hair and a hundred layers of capes and so forth, you know, literally stripping all of that, returning to the blue china shirt. Even the ride home, you feel like you have taken drugs and you're sort of. You're buzzing away and then even in bed at home, you process it slowly and steadily, come back to earth. And usually in the morning after, it's like you've been on a bender. I suppose it really is. You wake up.
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A
Yeah, absolutely.
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B
You're a little bit more down to earth, but it does take a while.
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A
Yeah, I get that.
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B
Especially if you're out on tour, you know, you're like going with the different cities and experiencing this multiple. Yeah, it's otherworldly. I don't think that we have evolved for this yet.
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A
Absolutely.
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B
I think our brains are still trying to catch up with us.
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A
Is there a personal experience that changed the way that you look at your music?
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B
At times there's a meet and greet experience that immediately springs to mind Where a wonderful man. His brother was a big fan. Recently passed away. He came to a meet and greet after a show. He was shaking. You know, all these emotions that I can't even comprehend. I can't even fathom.
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A
Sure.
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B
He turned to the room and got a few people to. To sing to me. They SING Just a little song. And that turn of emotion, all of that in that small space of time. I still, I think about that very, very often. It's.
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A
Yeah. Wow. That's a moment you will never forget. Before you went on bgt, by that time, I'm sure you had done several shows. Of course, there's a huge difference between going on a show of that magnitude and doing some of the smaller shows around the country and then from there getting into the music business. Because after all, it is a business. What surprised you or caught you off guard the most when you stepped into the music business?
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B
Oh, that's a very good question. Many things, I suppose have surprised me. But a lot of it is in the way that it is so expected, almost idiot like things. Things are very. How will I be delicate about this?
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A
Just put it out there,
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B
say what you want to say.
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A
That's right.
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B
For me, the industry part of it has always. I suppose I've been a little bit incompatible with it. The surprising thing to me, really reaching for something.
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A
I'm reaching for something that's okay. Take your time.
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B
I suppose how rigid it was when I got in at the time is how much it's changed. Actually the change over. Over time has been the biggest surprise to me. Thinking about it from when I started, the Internet was playing quite a big role in starting musicians careers, but it was in its infancy, sort of. Yeah. Nowadays your whole career can be online.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And that can be a profitable venture where it was in its infancy at that time. So that change from the tradition additional to the new media has been even for me, who was like at the forefront of it and kind of expecting it, the manner in which it's changed everything has really surprised me. There we go.
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A
Yeah, that all makes sense now. Did you have anybody that gave you pressure on trying to change you? Like this style would be better for you or you need to do this. Not that in essence trying to take you from what your true passion was.
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B
Well, I've had constant pressure really from in all different manners. You know, lose the weight, try something different. I mean, on the show itself, you know, drop the partner, do your own thing.
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A
Yeah, I remember that.
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B
You know, eventually we found our separate ways. They could have Just waited.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Yeah. There's. There's always been pressure for me to try something different and be someone different. I suppose my. My lack of willingness to do that has always been a sticking point for me. I can only take things at my own pace and I can only be myself.
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A
That's right.
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B
There are lots of people who are able to. To change themselves in ways that benefit them. I. I just sort of change myself, period. Occasionally.
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A
I almost didn't bring up drop the partner because it didn't seem directly tied to your journey. The more I think about it, the more it feels like it has. You didn't just get dropped. You both evolved, went separate ways. Now you're both doing well. You took that moment and turned it into something of your own, built your own entity, your own path, and proved to yourself you can do this at the highest level. So when you really take that all in, how does that make feel?
- [14:15]
B
It's wonderful. It is. If I could go back to that stage, I would say the exact same thing. I would say, you know, that we came here as a duo and that's how. How we're going to stay. Yeah, it was right at the time. And then we found our own paths and that's. That's like, you know, I feel a little bit proud of myself. I feel like I've matured a lot as a person and grown. It's very validating. It is.
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A
There's nothing wrong with finding different paths once that is all said and done.
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B
Exactly.
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A
It's evolving as individuals and it's allowing you to evolve into what you wanted to be.
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B
Exactly, exactly. I completely agree.
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A
Now that you're out there, you're touring, going to different cities, different countries. How does that feel when you look at yourself and say, you know, I'm living the dream?
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B
It's when you're sort of arranging a lot of it yourself, a lot of the joy can get lost because, you know, it becomes your job. It is my job, which is absurd. So, you know, you're like, okay, am I going to make it to the next city or is everything in order? Are the hotels there? Am I going to have a bed to sleep in tonight? What's, you know. But then it's, you know, the doing the show, being out there and meeting the people, that is always incredibly gratifying. Yeah, that is the living the dream. And then, you know, you look back, that's the thing. While you're in it, it can be very stressful. But looking back in retrospect, those are such a beautiful Adventurous time where, you know, you're sort of flying by the seat of your pants and really exploding. Experiencing life in a way, and experiencing a life very few people get to.
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A
Absolutely.
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B
I feel this blessing every day and I don't take it for granted.
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A
That's a really good way to look at it. When you first started out, you was kind of pigeonholed into a certain style. When you first started out, have you toyed with other styles and done different things to gradually use some from one or some from another, where you don't really fall into any one category, but it's created your style.
- [16:15]
B
That's exactly. I mean, you've nailed it. That's exactly what I've been trying to do for more or less, at least the past 10 years. From Believe, there were a few more crossovery than classical tracks. And then 2020, my go the Distance album, that had like Disney stuff and more traditional songs. And now the latest has a real sort of eclectic blend. I mean, you've got Radiohead on there, you've got Bang Bang, the sort of Cher originally, but then Nancy Sinatra's very, very famous Kill Bill version. But you've still got Dondon and Vivi Ma. There is a little bit of classical on there to keep some people happy.
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A
Sure.
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B
Just so that they know, you know, I'm not abandoning you, I'm just exploring the space. Hopefully I will have many, many more albums to satisfy the classical purists and the adventurers among us.
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A
Yeah, a lot of artists are always trying to figure it out and find their way. How do I get to this point? How do I do this? They're always hoping for that quick fix, like an America's Got Talent or Britain's Got Talent? It's not a quick fix, but it does give you exposure. What would you tell to these up and coming singers that don't quite fit into the traditional mold, but yet they want to get themselves out there? What would you give them for advice?
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B
Oh, good question. There are so many things that you can do now. There is such a broad array of opportunity out there just waiting for you, but it can feel as though it's being ripped away from you constantly. You know, the attention economy is wild now. I would do everything you can is my most sincere advice. Not in the way of throwing yourself into things that you think are morally reprehensible, but post everything you feel proud of, put it everywhere. Talk to anyone with similar interests. Get as involved in communities as you possibly can. Enter these talent shows if you feel like that's A good path for you, or if you just kind of want to experiment, explore the space. This life is yours to do with as you will. The effort and the fun that you have hopefully will be rewarded.
- [18:16]
A
Let's say someone finds you five years from now, they have just discovered your music. What would you want them to listen to first that you think would define
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B
who you are five years from now? Oh, if I've not released anything five years from now, then it would be this album, Spin it through. But otherwise perhaps some material that I've written. I have a few songs that I am developing and I'd love eventually to display them for people. Who's to say what audience will appreciate and find and love them? But I think that that would be a deeper essence of me to understand than maybe any of the covers.
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A
When it's all said and done, how do you want people to remember you not just as your voice, but as a person.
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B
The. The one word answer here is forever.
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A
Good.
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B
Good. Wouldn't it be. Wouldn't it be nice? We all know the old adage, a man is only truly dead when his name is said for the last time. Time.
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A
Yeah.
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B
How do I want to be remembered? As a. As a good person.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Someone who tried at least their very best to be and to make good. If, you know, if that's my footnote, I will be perfectly happy.
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A
Okay, I've got a few questions called between the Beats. No right or wrong answers. Just a few questions we like to have fun with. What is your favorite song to perform live?
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B
How Great Thou art my mum's favorite as well.
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A
Okay, nice one artist you never get tired of listening to a band called
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B
Arch Spire, an extreme technical death metal band from Canada.
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A
Okay, nice. I'm sure a lot of people would not expect this answer.
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B
Some of the super fans, they'll have heard that name before, but Yeah, I don't think most people would anticipate that.
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A
Yeah, that's great. Now what's a pre show superstition or ritual that you might have?
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B
I don't really have many rituals. Superstition for me, I try and be as chill as I possibly can. That's about it. I try not to talk much. Some people like to have their meet and greets and stuff. If they do them before shows, I like to have them after. That is one. I don't want to wear my voice out before the show. Talking to people. Maybe that's a superstition in a sense.
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A
Sure. I totally understand that. What has music healed in you that nothing else Could.
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B
Ooh. I mean, heartbreak. The teenage fury at the world. So many things music has been able to. I mean, in a sense, it saved my life, really. It healed my broken spirit.
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A
Yeah, I really like that. Who keeps you grounded when everything's running about 100 miles an hour?
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B
Mum, Charlotte, Dad. Every time. Every single time. Mum, sister, and dad, they are my favorite.
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A
Yeah, that's. That's great. There's nothing better than family, isn't there?
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B
Really, really. They've always kept me grounded, always been supportive of everything that I've endeavored to do, which means the world.
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A
Yeah, I think that's great. Is there something that you're still chasing, you feel that you still need to do?
- [21:19]
B
Yeah, I'd love to be in some kind of animated movie, perhaps, you know, like, singing in that.
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A
Nice. Yeah.
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B
I have this goal that I'd like to go into a store and purchase a figure of some character that I've played. You know, I think that'd be really, really cool.
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A
Who would you like to collaborate with? Who's a dream singer you would like to do a duet with?
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B
I was. Was reminded the other day, many years ago, I think in 2014, I was in Finland. I met the lovely Reba McIntyre and I thought, oh, imagine that. Wouldn't that be cool? Michael Buble was also there. Those two. Either of those two, if you're listening, would be so cool.
- [21:55]
A
Yeah, that would be really good. I mean, I really think that would be a great combo. Yeah, that would be very interesting. Great crossover style. While. What would you like to leave our listeners with that they need to know about what you're doing?
- [22:09]
B
Oh, well, I think I got the. The release date and everything at the top of the show, so I am trying my very best to be the most good human that I possibly can be. I'm trying to spread this beautiful message of music and love. I'm available on all your favorite platforms as John Antoine or Jonathan Antoine. I hope that you have a wonderful day, a wonderful life, and that this world blesses you in equal measure the way that it has blessed me.
- [22:36]
A
I think that's great. You're hitting on all cylinders right now. As they would say, new music, everything seems to be playing out the way that you kind of hoped it would go.
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B
I'm living the dream. What can I say? I've said it a million times. I will never take this incredible life for granted. I've even got more singles coming out very soon. The 20th. I've got singles. Goodness me.
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A
Yeah. It doesn't get better than that doesn't.
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B
It doesn't.
- [23:00]
A
If you're able to do what you love to do, you never work a day in your life.
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B
Exactly. You just got to try and make sure you don't turn that thing that you love into too much work.
- [23:10]
A
Yeah, I've seen that happen so many times.
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B
You gotta learn to delegate.
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A
Yeah. They worry about what people think. In reality, all they have to be doing is worrying about themselves and are they happy with the music they are putting out?
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B
You know, enjoying your life, all of this, it's. It's a career. It's a beautiful thing. It's what I love to do. Do.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You know, I have an entire life outside of this as well, which is also incredibly blessed and beautiful. What can I say?
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A
Yeah, that's a great way to look at it, for sure. Well, this has been really good. I've really enjoyed it. I appreciate you taking the time to join us today.
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B
Oh, you too. Thank you. I really appreciate your time as well. The questions were awesome as well. I don't often have to like really stop and think and not speak for a bit in an interview. You know that silence is valuable.
- [23:55]
A
Well, it's been my pleasure. Thanks again. Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed the show. This has been a Tony Mantour production. For more information, contact Media Plateau music dot com.