Post by Joel Carter Foster on Jul 27, 2012 14:54:43 GMT -5
“ Alright.. check…” Joel said, looking into the camera before he gave a small and then laughed. “ Get my good side, get my good side” he teased, starting to turn so that his butt was facing the camera. “ I’m just playin’” he said, licking his lips before he sat back down in the chair they’d positioned for him. He had been in Colorado for about eight hours now and he was gearing up for a performance. Actually he should be in rehearsal right now, but Justin seemed to think it would be a good idea if he did an interview, clear the air on a few things. He had a lot going on right, there was a lot that people might have questions about. One being, why the hell was he in Colorado when he had already done that leg of his tour. ‘ Joel Foster’ the interviewer said with a smile as he sat down, reaching forward to shake Joel’s hand. “ Hey man, what’s good” Joel said easily, licking his lips as he leaned forward to shake the guys hand and then sat back into his seat. ‘ When is the last time you slept in your own bed it seems like even when you’re home you aren’t home’. Joel laughed and gave a small nod, “ Yeah it’s kind of weird to refer to the states as home now, but uh.. yeah gotta keep busy, gotta keep moving,” he said, pushing the sleeves of his flannel shirt up to his elbows. ‘ Alright so we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, let’s just dive right into it how does that sound?” he asked and Joel rested his elbows on his knees, throwing his hands up as though to gesture that this guy was running the show. ‘ So the unattainable Joel Foster has gone and gotten..attained. Engaged. That’s amazing, congratulations. To be honest a lot of people are shocked about it. Not only are you young but it’s someone that isn’t in your line of work,” he said and Joel widened his eyebrows before taking in a deep breath and sighing. “ You guys just don’t know that I intend on going to med school, no um.. haha. She’s great. Um.. She makes me want to be better, do better. So.” he said, giving a small laugh as he shrugged his shoulder.
“ Head over heels?” the interviewer asked with a small smile and Joel gave him a ‘no shit’ look but just grinned following it. “ Absolutely. She’s… We are young. I realize that. But what part of my life is normal? I mean… I said I wanted to sell out Madison Square Garden for my professional life. People said that was ambitious, that I had determination. Um.. I’m making a big decision for my private life and people want to try and say that it’s too soon or too much or that I’m not thinking clearly… why? Why is it ambitious in my professional life to go big and go hard.. but in my private life, I’m seen as naïve? That makes no sense. It makes no sense to me to let someone slip through my fingers because I’m “too young”. I know what I want. I know what makes me happy. I sort of um… run a tight ship. In both my professional and my personal life. I don’t have time for people that don’t support me. I’ve calmly sent a lot of people out of meetings and um.. I mean bridges get burned in private life. It’s just the way of life. She makes me happy, and anyone that is on my side and on my team, they can see that. ‘ So how is this going to effect your music?” the interviewer asked and Joel took a second, chewing on the inside of his lip before he shook his head.
“ I’m growing up. That’s going to show itself no matter what I do. I guess uh.. my songs will be gear more towards one woman than the potential for many. I mean.. it’s hard. Logan sort of… prepared for the transition being the hardest part. It’s easier to start off already being seen as an adult, as a… sex symbol. It’s harder coming out with stuff like ‘Baby’ and then trying to make people see me as an adult. And thankfully I’ve had time to sort of cope with that, understand it, plan how to take each step with my career and make sure it’s the right move to be taken seriously. I think.. from any other producers standpoint and anyone else that would have sort of tried to mold my career, they honestly would’ve said.. look. You’re fifteen. Let’s work on your image, not release anything yet, introduce you as an adult. But I think the great thing about working with Logan is he knew I wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and quite honestly he wasn’t going to tell me no. You want to give it your all? That’s all he asks for. The rest is stuff that can be figured out. He isn’t there to stand in your way or tell you how to market yourself to bring in the most money. He’s very aware that.. the most successful artists at his label are the ones who come to him, this is what I want… how can you help me make that happen. He’s a lot more than a producer. A lot of people at the label trust him with personal issues they’ve got going on and not just professional ones and there’s a reason for that. There’s a reason that I wanted to work with Logan Renner and Logan Renner only. And it’s the same reason that Blake left their original record label together to follow him. He’s inspirational.” he said before licking his lips. “ And a lot of people call you the mini Renner of the label” the interviewer added and Joel laughed quietly giving a small nod. “ Yeah that’s something I’m pretty proud of. Logan and I have a very.. I don’t want to say different relationship than he has with other artists but I definitely think he looked down on me as sort of a .. protégé. I’m lucky enough that at the label I’ve got Logan and Ryan.. Shane. These are guys that I go to for such.. Shane has some of the best vocal talent that we have at the label. Hands down. He can do an acoustic that rivals any touch ups I’ve ever heard in my entire life. So I really sort of.. man, it’s nice to have someone in a different music genre that I can go to. Man, what do you think this song could add to it. How would you sing this verse. What key do you think this might be best in. Ryan is one of the most soulful singers I’ve ever heard. I’m not talkin’ Aretha Franklin here. He’s got this new album coming out that is going to literally knock people on their ass with how honest it is, how gut wrenching. And he’s the man that I look up to most in my life. He’s helped me through every big hurdle I’ve had in my life, and I know he’ll be there until my journey is over. And then there’s Logan.. honest to God I just kind of feel like a sponge when I’m around him. People make fun of us because we don’t even realize that we mimic eachothers mannerisms. I’ve got… so much I can learn from him. And I want to. Badly.” he said before reaching his hand up and tracing his hand back and forth over his hair.
“ So you’ve got your friends in the business as we all know I mean you’ve got Natalia, Braison, Chace, Dani, Ryan, Shane, Logan , Blake, Lance, Jake.. and then you’ve got this whole other life it seems where there’s people that can just help keep you grounded, is it hard trying to find a balance for both of the types of friendships?” he asked, probably expecting Joel to say that no it was easy, he made it work. “ Yes, it’s very difficult” he said, nodding as he watched the interviewer. “ Um..” he said before puffing out his cheeks and sighing. “ It’s… easier when your friends have the same lifestyle as you, and that goes for anyone. I mean.. Natalia, Logan,Blake.. just for a few examples they can.. completely relate to the stress that I might feel after things like um.. well just for example, the first time I got ambushed at a public appearance and I was… scared out of my mind. Each of them had really good advice and way to sort of help me pull through it and understand that it’s a part of my life now. That’s not really something I can go to my friends who’ve never experienced something like that before. And just recently, it’s hard having your name be in tabloids and having shit not be true. And friends that aren’t in the business might sympathize and think yeah that sucks but I.. I don’t know, they support you and I’m not saying their friendship isn’t appreciated, it’s just.. it’s not something they themselves have experienced personally. If someone came up to me and asked me advice on …. Shark hunting, I’d be the worst person in the world to ask for advice on that on. I haven’t experienced it. I mean I might tell you to go ask Ryan O’Neil.. but yeah, and then.. There’s people like Faith Drake. She isn’t … she doesn’t live her life with her name in the headlines but I’ve sort of incorporated part of my world into hers. I don’t think she sees flying across country just for a weekend as a big deal anymore. Plus she’s close with Dani Cooper and Natalia Richmond. Um.. I’ve got friends back in New York that are still in school. I guess I’d say the friend that I have the most that I can just.. completely kick back with, without ever really bringing up any type of the fame is probably Tyler. It’s a little bit different to walk into someones home and be like ‘ man that outfit you wore at the MTV awards was sick’ and uh Tyler walking into my place being like ‘ we’re getting pizza, right?’.” he said with a slight laugh. “ The friendships are just different. Neither is better or worse just…different. And you’re right. I am engaged to someone who doesn’t live in the spotlight. Well, she didn’t. And I’m grateful that I’ve got friends like Tyler to sort of show her that she is a part of my life I take seriously too,” he said with a small nod of his head.
‘ So someone like your friend Tyler would never call you up and be like, what is this business with Maria saying you got her pregnant’ he asked and Joel gave a small laugh, “ No I mean he would. It’d probably be more along the lines of ‘ hey man good thing you can afford a kid’. But that’s just because he knows it’s bullshit.” he said, licking the corner of his lips. ‘ Logan Renner recently said in an interview that you would be pressing charges,’ the interviewer said, looking up at Joel who himself was giving a small nod. “ Yeah I.. this girl clearly has something going on and for her sake, and that of her childs, I hope it gets figured out. But that being said, I’m not going to let someone slander me and try and cause possible repercussions for my career. It wasn’t enough to sit there and lie and say that we were involved in a physical relationship but then she also turned around and tried to insult my manhood. I can’t even… At the end of the day its just someone that I feel sorry for. But I also know that I owe it to myself and my fans to stand up for whats right, to defend who I’ve tried to be and what I’ve built my career up to this point. Sometimes when things start slipping from your grasp you need to hit rock bottom before you can really start climbing back up. I do plan on filing charges against her, and that’s about as much as I can say about it. Lawyers are already involved so what I can and can’t say regarding the subject is sort of.. limited. But I will say to my fans.. and to anyone that has been effected by it that, I’m truly sorry for any disappointment that anyone may have felt. It’s a hard thing feeling like you’ve been deceived. What she did is considered bullying and I don’t stand for that in any way shape or form. And I’m trying to.. create a positive spin with it. I want to show my fans that you’re capable of standing up for yourself and doing what’s right without changing who you are, and lowering yourself to someone elses’ limitations. There’s no reason for me to attack her character or question why she did the things she did. That being said.. I do have a song coming out that I’ve been working on. It sort of levels the playing field and just reiterates everything I’m saying now.” he said as he looked into the eyes of the interviewer. “ Sort of this generations ‘ Billie Jean’?” he asked and Joel laughed, giving a small nod. “ Precisely.. It’s funny. Cause people say my fans are crazy. That’s … they’re passionate. And uh they love me, which is flattering. And there was this comedian that recently said that he couldn’t believe this girl would say this stuff because he was like ‘ I would rather piss off Al Qaeda than Joel Foster fans’. I found that pretty amusing” he said with a laugh as he shook his head. “ And this isn’t the first time you’ve been compared to Michael Jackson” he said and Joel rolled his eyes, “ Oh my god,” he said, shaking his head. “ You don’t think that’s true?” the interviewer asked with a slightly surprised look.
“ No, absolutely not. I am not a king of music in any sense of the word. I’m a kid trying to do what I’m passionate about, and for some reason people are responding really well to it and are appreciating it, so I owe it everything I’ve got to give them something to be proud of”[/i] he said before adjusting the way he was sitting. “ So it’s not about the fame and lights?” he asked and Joel made a slight face. “ Of course it is.” he said with blunt honesty. “ I hate it when people say that stuff doesn’t matter. There’s a HUGE difference between people that sit here and say “ I wish I could just play smaller venues” and people that say “ If I woke up tomorrow and this was all taken away, I would still play small venues”. I love the screaming. I love when I can stop singing a song and an entire stadium sings along to the song for me. I love people taking my pictures. Interviews. I love.. being able to be in this position. It’s given me everything I could possibly ask for. So it’s taken some of my privacy. Fuck it, I don’t care. I’m able to make a difference. There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with the fans screaming. There’s a lot of performers out there that once they step off the stage they’re extremely introverted and they only become something worth keeping your eyes on when they hit the stage. I’m very much a what you see is what you get person. I work hard. I play hard. It doesn’t matter if I’m putting on a performance in Madison Square Garden or for Lily Collins and Kenzie Renner in the makeshift stage at the Renner’s house. You’re getting everything I’ve got. And the fame and the lights… I was able to hop on a plane and come to Colorado just because I wanted to help. How many kids at my age can say that’s a realistic thing for them? It’s.. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world,” he said flatly, giving a small shrug of his shoulder.
‘ Speaking of Colorado… we are here in Colorado, and yet your leg of the tour here is over why don’t you tell us a little bit about that, it’s a little something that hit close to home that brought you here after the school shooting your friends and family experienced back in New York, correct?”. Joel brought his hand up to the side of his jaw and scratched the side of his jaw. “ What happened in New York is um…we’re still recovering. We didn’t do the benefit and suddenly everyone was healed. That’s just not the way it works.” he said, about to continue before the interviewer stopped him, “ And not to mention your former roommate and your bosses younger brother, star of Wizards of Waverly Place, Lance Renner lost his sight due to that shooting” he added and Joel clenched his jaw tightly. Tough subject t to touch on. Logan didn’t really talk about it, so Joel felt it was sort of taboo- ironic. “ The Renner’s have faced a lot. And I know for a fact that they count their blessings that things didn’t end differently. But there’s so many people effected by this. It extends outside of the Taboo family. It’s the family of New York. It rocked an entire state. And then… this shooting in Colorado just sort of opened my eyes. We’re all family. We need to support each other,” he said, licking the corner of his lips. ‘So you’re here to do a benefit performance for the shooting victims from the movie theater in which Batman was playing?’ and Joel gave a slight nod. “ It’s not really just a performance. We’re doing a couple , it’s um.. we’re doing a closed performance just for the victims, victims families. I’m not asking them for a damn dime. That’s just a closed performance. Then we’re going to do one where anyone who wants to come in and donate certainly can. And this time around I’m not just asking for monetary donations. It can be.. anything. If you want to donate money, that’s amazing, but if you want to come in and donate services like uh.. just volunteering to help them out at home for a little bit. Home cooked meals. Assistance with lodging with some of the out of town families that are coming in.. I want this to sort of reflect what I feel. We’re a family. Families don’t always donate money to each other, they give their time, their resources. And I think it’s important to show that we can accept more than just money. So I’ll be.. doing a performance for that and um, also doing a contribution to the hospital to cover the hospital bills. I think the most touching thing I’ve seen someone donate is uh there’s this little girl and brother sibling pair that is doing a lemonade stand and wants to give their profits to the families, and is actually supplying lemonade as the refreshments during my performance. So I kind of wanted to give them a treat too, so uh they’ll be going to Disney World.” he said with a slight laugh. “ It’s just time to make a change, for people to reach out and help with what they can.” he said before biting the edge of his lip.
‘ You seem like for such a huge music star you’ve really got your head grounded,’ he started off and the first thing that flashed into Joels mind was David, but he kept his face blank, keeping his eyes locked on the interviewer without saying anything. ‘ Which is why it’s insane to me that.. have you heard this new rumor about you being involved in Satanism?” he said as though the idea of it was ridiculous, which it was. “ What?” Joel said, trying to choke back laughter. “ Are you kidding me?” he asked, licking his lips before he looked over his shoulder towards his entourage. “ What have you heard about that?” he asked one of the girls who was glued to her blackberry, and quite honestly Joel was smiling out of amusement. Some of the things that magazines said to sell covers. ‘Apparently people have looked through your rise to fame and some of the symbolism in your songs and music videos and are saying that you are a Satanist’ she said, rolling her eyes. “ You didn’t mention it to me at the cult meeting?” Joel asked sarcastically before she offered a small smile and Joel shook his head, laughing as he looked at the interviewer. “ That is the..” he said, laughing again. “ No. I can’t believe I actually have to clear this up. No. I am not a Satanist” he said, scratching the back of his head. “ What did I do that was seen as Satanic?” he asked, looking back at his tour manager as she lowered her blackberry. ‘ In one of your music videos your hands do a triangle shape.. you were doing the peace sign, apparently that’s some satanic symbol. And there’s a pyramid. And then Drake is in one of your videos, people already think he is a part of the illuminati. And your rise to fame was so quick that people think you made a deal with the devil,” she said , sliding her blackberry into her back pocket. “ The only way I made a deal with the devil is if Logan Renner is the devil. That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard” he said, looking over at the interviewer, who was on his phone and clearly mentally checking out for this part of interviewer, which was good, it wasn’t like it needed to be included.
“ Okay, so that rumor is clearly not true. How about the fact Logan hinted towards his company expanding in his last interview, then Collin Reynolds confirmed the fact that Taboo was going to being, or already has begun, a movie production company. Do you intend on starring in any of your bosses movies as lead role since you seem to pride yourself on being Taboo’s goldenboy?” he asked and Joel gave a small laugh, looking back over at his tour manager who had given a small nod. He wasn’t aware that Collin had put up the trailer for Footloose yet. “ Renner is a man that sits on so many bombs and then when the time is right decides to just through them out for shits and giggles I think to watch people squirm,” he said, giving a slight shake of his head. “ But one thing I have certainly learned from Renner is to never completely rule anything out. I doubt he thought he would ever be running a company this successful, or to be in that position of it. So I guess.. right now music is my main focus but I’m an artist. I’m not going to rule anything out, I might find that I want new ways to express myself. That’s how artists work, we’re very expressive.” he said, giving a small nod. He hadn’t ever thought about acting, and he wasn’t really sure he would ever be good at it. His place was more on a stage than on a set, but things could always change. Things might be different, right? The only time he would ever really try it is if Logan thought he could handle it. He held a lot of trust in the way the Renner viewed him and his capabilities. Not to mention the fact that Collin had already said to him that he needed to come up with a song that was capable of being used for a ‘short film’ type music video. Maybe that was his unofficial audition to see if he could act well enough for Renner to try and put him in a movie. ‘ Speaking of ‘films’ and this is a loose transition, your Boyfriend video just dropped. How exciting is that to officially give off a new image?” he asked and Joel smiled as he nodded. “ Pretty exciting right, have you seen it?” he asked and the interviewer gave a small nod, “ Yeah my daughters are certainly under your spell so I get the updates pretty quickly. It’s a good video,” he said. Joel bit the edge of his lip, “ I already got a phone call from my mom saying that I looked too chummy with my co-star” he said before he gave a slight laugh with a shake of his head. “ So after this is wrapped up what’s in store for the rest of your tour?” the interviewer asked and Joel shrugged one of his shoulders slightly, puffing out his cheeks.
“Honestly I just have a few shows left, so I know that a lot of people will be happy to have their loved ones that have been on tour with me back home. “ he said, thinking of how Faith would be excited to have Justin with her in New York for the time being. “ So it will probably just be a lot of working in the studio, interviews, putting on some performances for local shows, maybe some award shows coming up. Warped Tour is done in like.. a week. So I plan on going to Shane’s last show so I can see that. I want to visit Ryan on his tour. I want to spend some quality time with my sister, maybe spend a little bit more time at home with my parents. Get to know Tori’s family a little bit better since we’ll all be one big family soon,” he said, trying to think of everything that he could possibly want to do. “Are you two close with eachothers families already? Everyone knows that the O’Neil and the Foster families are incredibly close. How about your family and the family of your fiancée?” he asked and Joel gave a small nod. ‘ Um.. yeah I mean, the connection between the O’Neil family and the Foster family goes far beyond the relationship that Ryan and Madeline share, but I absolutely hope that our families will reach that point. But to me that’s not entirely a top priority. I want to get to know her family, because of her. In regards to that, she’ll always be my top priority. My relationship with her is more important to me than anything else.” he said, tapping his fingers against the armrest of the chair. “ So is there any indication of when you two might be walking down the aisle?” the interviewer asked, and honestly Joel hadn’t put too much thought into it. “ Um..” he said, scratching the side of his jaw as he tried to scrape together and answer really quickly. “ Honestly it isn’t something we’ve really discussed beyond the idea that it needs to be … obviously I’m seventeen. So I’d like for it to be when I’m eighteen, and I think it’s important to wait for her to graduate highschool.” he said, but then he just smiled offering a nervous laugh. “ I mean I would marry her today if I thought I could get away with it. But I figure I owe her some sense of normalcy since I’m sort of asking her to come on board to be a part of my world,” he said. He really did want to treat her like a princess. How many girls would have stuck through his hospital stay like she had, sitting there with him. He had wanted to be so mad at her, not giving her his name. A lot of people could have blamed her for being the reason that he ran off the bus and went into a coma. And part of him had blamed her too, until he had time to sit back and think about it. Until he went to her school and things changed. It was hard to be mad at someone that beautiful, inside and out. “ Big wedding, small wedding?”he asked as he looked up, “Or are you going to be one of the celebrity couples that hides the date of their wedding?” he asked.
“ Ah man I would never hide it. It’s going to be the greatest day of my life. I think that um… nah I mean the guest list might be small, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be a small wedding. I’ve got … when you’re asking Ryan O’Neil to be your best man.. when you’ve got .. Logan, Lance, Jake, Shane , Chace, Tyler as your groomsmen,.. it’s uh.. it’s not a small wedding.” he said with a small chuckle. ‘ So you’ve thought about who you want up there with you?” he said and Joel made a slight face, “ Absolutely, it’s going to be the most amazing day of my life. And I’m just beyond excited to start this new journey in my life. I want to start a family. I want to be a young dad, I don’t want to be thirty when I start having kids. I want all the things that everyone else wants.. and I’ve found the person that I want to share it all with. So naturally I’m excited to get it all started.” he said, clapping his hands together excitedly. Well that was that. He was mentally done with this interview and to be fair he had given this guy a hell of a lot already. “ Are we good?” he said while he was standing up. ‘ Yeah that’s actually really great, thank you’ he said standing up to shake Joels’ hand. ‘ Good luck at your show tonight man’ he said and Joel smiled genuinely. “ Ah thanks” he said , turning away from the chair and heading back up to his room. As he made his way onto the elevator he took his phone out of his back pocket to call Tyler. He had sent him a new camera and he wanted to see if it had gotten to him yet or not. Considering that Tyler was one of his closest friends he wanted to encourage his passion, which aside from soccer, music and .. well, the girls he dated, it seemed to be filmmaking. “ Wadddup bitch?” he said with a quick laugh as Tyler answered the phone. “ Did you get anything in the mail today?” he asked and then smiled slowly to himself. “ Yeah yeah no problem. Where you at?” he asked and gave a small nod. “ Don’t answer that, I know.” he said, giving a small laugh. Just friends. Blake and Logan were just friends. Claire and Shane were just friends. Ryan and Madeline. Jake and Dani. Tale as old as time. “ Alright well.. I’m doing this show tonight in Colorado. When I get home do you want to hang?” he asked, rubbing his hand over his eyes tiredly. “ Alright cool. I’m getting on a red eye tomorrow so I’ll call you when I’m in town. Maybe when I get in um… you and Mikayla can come hang out with Tori and I” he said, biting the edge of his lip. “ Awesome, set in stone. I’ll give you a call later man. Alright, peace” he said, hanging up as he stepped off the elevator, hoping to get just a half hour nap, anything, before his performance tonight.
“ Head over heels?” the interviewer asked with a small smile and Joel gave him a ‘no shit’ look but just grinned following it. “ Absolutely. She’s… We are young. I realize that. But what part of my life is normal? I mean… I said I wanted to sell out Madison Square Garden for my professional life. People said that was ambitious, that I had determination. Um.. I’m making a big decision for my private life and people want to try and say that it’s too soon or too much or that I’m not thinking clearly… why? Why is it ambitious in my professional life to go big and go hard.. but in my private life, I’m seen as naïve? That makes no sense. It makes no sense to me to let someone slip through my fingers because I’m “too young”. I know what I want. I know what makes me happy. I sort of um… run a tight ship. In both my professional and my personal life. I don’t have time for people that don’t support me. I’ve calmly sent a lot of people out of meetings and um.. I mean bridges get burned in private life. It’s just the way of life. She makes me happy, and anyone that is on my side and on my team, they can see that. ‘ So how is this going to effect your music?” the interviewer asked and Joel took a second, chewing on the inside of his lip before he shook his head.
“ I’m growing up. That’s going to show itself no matter what I do. I guess uh.. my songs will be gear more towards one woman than the potential for many. I mean.. it’s hard. Logan sort of… prepared for the transition being the hardest part. It’s easier to start off already being seen as an adult, as a… sex symbol. It’s harder coming out with stuff like ‘Baby’ and then trying to make people see me as an adult. And thankfully I’ve had time to sort of cope with that, understand it, plan how to take each step with my career and make sure it’s the right move to be taken seriously. I think.. from any other producers standpoint and anyone else that would have sort of tried to mold my career, they honestly would’ve said.. look. You’re fifteen. Let’s work on your image, not release anything yet, introduce you as an adult. But I think the great thing about working with Logan is he knew I wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and quite honestly he wasn’t going to tell me no. You want to give it your all? That’s all he asks for. The rest is stuff that can be figured out. He isn’t there to stand in your way or tell you how to market yourself to bring in the most money. He’s very aware that.. the most successful artists at his label are the ones who come to him, this is what I want… how can you help me make that happen. He’s a lot more than a producer. A lot of people at the label trust him with personal issues they’ve got going on and not just professional ones and there’s a reason for that. There’s a reason that I wanted to work with Logan Renner and Logan Renner only. And it’s the same reason that Blake left their original record label together to follow him. He’s inspirational.” he said before licking his lips. “ And a lot of people call you the mini Renner of the label” the interviewer added and Joel laughed quietly giving a small nod. “ Yeah that’s something I’m pretty proud of. Logan and I have a very.. I don’t want to say different relationship than he has with other artists but I definitely think he looked down on me as sort of a .. protégé. I’m lucky enough that at the label I’ve got Logan and Ryan.. Shane. These are guys that I go to for such.. Shane has some of the best vocal talent that we have at the label. Hands down. He can do an acoustic that rivals any touch ups I’ve ever heard in my entire life. So I really sort of.. man, it’s nice to have someone in a different music genre that I can go to. Man, what do you think this song could add to it. How would you sing this verse. What key do you think this might be best in. Ryan is one of the most soulful singers I’ve ever heard. I’m not talkin’ Aretha Franklin here. He’s got this new album coming out that is going to literally knock people on their ass with how honest it is, how gut wrenching. And he’s the man that I look up to most in my life. He’s helped me through every big hurdle I’ve had in my life, and I know he’ll be there until my journey is over. And then there’s Logan.. honest to God I just kind of feel like a sponge when I’m around him. People make fun of us because we don’t even realize that we mimic eachothers mannerisms. I’ve got… so much I can learn from him. And I want to. Badly.” he said before reaching his hand up and tracing his hand back and forth over his hair.
“ So you’ve got your friends in the business as we all know I mean you’ve got Natalia, Braison, Chace, Dani, Ryan, Shane, Logan , Blake, Lance, Jake.. and then you’ve got this whole other life it seems where there’s people that can just help keep you grounded, is it hard trying to find a balance for both of the types of friendships?” he asked, probably expecting Joel to say that no it was easy, he made it work. “ Yes, it’s very difficult” he said, nodding as he watched the interviewer. “ Um..” he said before puffing out his cheeks and sighing. “ It’s… easier when your friends have the same lifestyle as you, and that goes for anyone. I mean.. Natalia, Logan,Blake.. just for a few examples they can.. completely relate to the stress that I might feel after things like um.. well just for example, the first time I got ambushed at a public appearance and I was… scared out of my mind. Each of them had really good advice and way to sort of help me pull through it and understand that it’s a part of my life now. That’s not really something I can go to my friends who’ve never experienced something like that before. And just recently, it’s hard having your name be in tabloids and having shit not be true. And friends that aren’t in the business might sympathize and think yeah that sucks but I.. I don’t know, they support you and I’m not saying their friendship isn’t appreciated, it’s just.. it’s not something they themselves have experienced personally. If someone came up to me and asked me advice on …. Shark hunting, I’d be the worst person in the world to ask for advice on that on. I haven’t experienced it. I mean I might tell you to go ask Ryan O’Neil.. but yeah, and then.. There’s people like Faith Drake. She isn’t … she doesn’t live her life with her name in the headlines but I’ve sort of incorporated part of my world into hers. I don’t think she sees flying across country just for a weekend as a big deal anymore. Plus she’s close with Dani Cooper and Natalia Richmond. Um.. I’ve got friends back in New York that are still in school. I guess I’d say the friend that I have the most that I can just.. completely kick back with, without ever really bringing up any type of the fame is probably Tyler. It’s a little bit different to walk into someones home and be like ‘ man that outfit you wore at the MTV awards was sick’ and uh Tyler walking into my place being like ‘ we’re getting pizza, right?’.” he said with a slight laugh. “ The friendships are just different. Neither is better or worse just…different. And you’re right. I am engaged to someone who doesn’t live in the spotlight. Well, she didn’t. And I’m grateful that I’ve got friends like Tyler to sort of show her that she is a part of my life I take seriously too,” he said with a small nod of his head.
‘ So someone like your friend Tyler would never call you up and be like, what is this business with Maria saying you got her pregnant’ he asked and Joel gave a small laugh, “ No I mean he would. It’d probably be more along the lines of ‘ hey man good thing you can afford a kid’. But that’s just because he knows it’s bullshit.” he said, licking the corner of his lips. ‘ Logan Renner recently said in an interview that you would be pressing charges,’ the interviewer said, looking up at Joel who himself was giving a small nod. “ Yeah I.. this girl clearly has something going on and for her sake, and that of her childs, I hope it gets figured out. But that being said, I’m not going to let someone slander me and try and cause possible repercussions for my career. It wasn’t enough to sit there and lie and say that we were involved in a physical relationship but then she also turned around and tried to insult my manhood. I can’t even… At the end of the day its just someone that I feel sorry for. But I also know that I owe it to myself and my fans to stand up for whats right, to defend who I’ve tried to be and what I’ve built my career up to this point. Sometimes when things start slipping from your grasp you need to hit rock bottom before you can really start climbing back up. I do plan on filing charges against her, and that’s about as much as I can say about it. Lawyers are already involved so what I can and can’t say regarding the subject is sort of.. limited. But I will say to my fans.. and to anyone that has been effected by it that, I’m truly sorry for any disappointment that anyone may have felt. It’s a hard thing feeling like you’ve been deceived. What she did is considered bullying and I don’t stand for that in any way shape or form. And I’m trying to.. create a positive spin with it. I want to show my fans that you’re capable of standing up for yourself and doing what’s right without changing who you are, and lowering yourself to someone elses’ limitations. There’s no reason for me to attack her character or question why she did the things she did. That being said.. I do have a song coming out that I’ve been working on. It sort of levels the playing field and just reiterates everything I’m saying now.” he said as he looked into the eyes of the interviewer. “ Sort of this generations ‘ Billie Jean’?” he asked and Joel laughed, giving a small nod. “ Precisely.. It’s funny. Cause people say my fans are crazy. That’s … they’re passionate. And uh they love me, which is flattering. And there was this comedian that recently said that he couldn’t believe this girl would say this stuff because he was like ‘ I would rather piss off Al Qaeda than Joel Foster fans’. I found that pretty amusing” he said with a laugh as he shook his head. “ And this isn’t the first time you’ve been compared to Michael Jackson” he said and Joel rolled his eyes, “ Oh my god,” he said, shaking his head. “ You don’t think that’s true?” the interviewer asked with a slightly surprised look.
“ No, absolutely not. I am not a king of music in any sense of the word. I’m a kid trying to do what I’m passionate about, and for some reason people are responding really well to it and are appreciating it, so I owe it everything I’ve got to give them something to be proud of”[/i] he said before adjusting the way he was sitting. “ So it’s not about the fame and lights?” he asked and Joel made a slight face. “ Of course it is.” he said with blunt honesty. “ I hate it when people say that stuff doesn’t matter. There’s a HUGE difference between people that sit here and say “ I wish I could just play smaller venues” and people that say “ If I woke up tomorrow and this was all taken away, I would still play small venues”. I love the screaming. I love when I can stop singing a song and an entire stadium sings along to the song for me. I love people taking my pictures. Interviews. I love.. being able to be in this position. It’s given me everything I could possibly ask for. So it’s taken some of my privacy. Fuck it, I don’t care. I’m able to make a difference. There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with the fans screaming. There’s a lot of performers out there that once they step off the stage they’re extremely introverted and they only become something worth keeping your eyes on when they hit the stage. I’m very much a what you see is what you get person. I work hard. I play hard. It doesn’t matter if I’m putting on a performance in Madison Square Garden or for Lily Collins and Kenzie Renner in the makeshift stage at the Renner’s house. You’re getting everything I’ve got. And the fame and the lights… I was able to hop on a plane and come to Colorado just because I wanted to help. How many kids at my age can say that’s a realistic thing for them? It’s.. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world,” he said flatly, giving a small shrug of his shoulder.
‘ Speaking of Colorado… we are here in Colorado, and yet your leg of the tour here is over why don’t you tell us a little bit about that, it’s a little something that hit close to home that brought you here after the school shooting your friends and family experienced back in New York, correct?”. Joel brought his hand up to the side of his jaw and scratched the side of his jaw. “ What happened in New York is um…we’re still recovering. We didn’t do the benefit and suddenly everyone was healed. That’s just not the way it works.” he said, about to continue before the interviewer stopped him, “ And not to mention your former roommate and your bosses younger brother, star of Wizards of Waverly Place, Lance Renner lost his sight due to that shooting” he added and Joel clenched his jaw tightly. Tough subject t to touch on. Logan didn’t really talk about it, so Joel felt it was sort of taboo- ironic. “ The Renner’s have faced a lot. And I know for a fact that they count their blessings that things didn’t end differently. But there’s so many people effected by this. It extends outside of the Taboo family. It’s the family of New York. It rocked an entire state. And then… this shooting in Colorado just sort of opened my eyes. We’re all family. We need to support each other,” he said, licking the corner of his lips. ‘So you’re here to do a benefit performance for the shooting victims from the movie theater in which Batman was playing?’ and Joel gave a slight nod. “ It’s not really just a performance. We’re doing a couple , it’s um.. we’re doing a closed performance just for the victims, victims families. I’m not asking them for a damn dime. That’s just a closed performance. Then we’re going to do one where anyone who wants to come in and donate certainly can. And this time around I’m not just asking for monetary donations. It can be.. anything. If you want to donate money, that’s amazing, but if you want to come in and donate services like uh.. just volunteering to help them out at home for a little bit. Home cooked meals. Assistance with lodging with some of the out of town families that are coming in.. I want this to sort of reflect what I feel. We’re a family. Families don’t always donate money to each other, they give their time, their resources. And I think it’s important to show that we can accept more than just money. So I’ll be.. doing a performance for that and um, also doing a contribution to the hospital to cover the hospital bills. I think the most touching thing I’ve seen someone donate is uh there’s this little girl and brother sibling pair that is doing a lemonade stand and wants to give their profits to the families, and is actually supplying lemonade as the refreshments during my performance. So I kind of wanted to give them a treat too, so uh they’ll be going to Disney World.” he said with a slight laugh. “ It’s just time to make a change, for people to reach out and help with what they can.” he said before biting the edge of his lip.
‘ You seem like for such a huge music star you’ve really got your head grounded,’ he started off and the first thing that flashed into Joels mind was David, but he kept his face blank, keeping his eyes locked on the interviewer without saying anything. ‘ Which is why it’s insane to me that.. have you heard this new rumor about you being involved in Satanism?” he said as though the idea of it was ridiculous, which it was. “ What?” Joel said, trying to choke back laughter. “ Are you kidding me?” he asked, licking his lips before he looked over his shoulder towards his entourage. “ What have you heard about that?” he asked one of the girls who was glued to her blackberry, and quite honestly Joel was smiling out of amusement. Some of the things that magazines said to sell covers. ‘Apparently people have looked through your rise to fame and some of the symbolism in your songs and music videos and are saying that you are a Satanist’ she said, rolling her eyes. “ You didn’t mention it to me at the cult meeting?” Joel asked sarcastically before she offered a small smile and Joel shook his head, laughing as he looked at the interviewer. “ That is the..” he said, laughing again. “ No. I can’t believe I actually have to clear this up. No. I am not a Satanist” he said, scratching the back of his head. “ What did I do that was seen as Satanic?” he asked, looking back at his tour manager as she lowered her blackberry. ‘ In one of your music videos your hands do a triangle shape.. you were doing the peace sign, apparently that’s some satanic symbol. And there’s a pyramid. And then Drake is in one of your videos, people already think he is a part of the illuminati. And your rise to fame was so quick that people think you made a deal with the devil,” she said , sliding her blackberry into her back pocket. “ The only way I made a deal with the devil is if Logan Renner is the devil. That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard” he said, looking over at the interviewer, who was on his phone and clearly mentally checking out for this part of interviewer, which was good, it wasn’t like it needed to be included.
“ Okay, so that rumor is clearly not true. How about the fact Logan hinted towards his company expanding in his last interview, then Collin Reynolds confirmed the fact that Taboo was going to being, or already has begun, a movie production company. Do you intend on starring in any of your bosses movies as lead role since you seem to pride yourself on being Taboo’s goldenboy?” he asked and Joel gave a small laugh, looking back over at his tour manager who had given a small nod. He wasn’t aware that Collin had put up the trailer for Footloose yet. “ Renner is a man that sits on so many bombs and then when the time is right decides to just through them out for shits and giggles I think to watch people squirm,” he said, giving a slight shake of his head. “ But one thing I have certainly learned from Renner is to never completely rule anything out. I doubt he thought he would ever be running a company this successful, or to be in that position of it. So I guess.. right now music is my main focus but I’m an artist. I’m not going to rule anything out, I might find that I want new ways to express myself. That’s how artists work, we’re very expressive.” he said, giving a small nod. He hadn’t ever thought about acting, and he wasn’t really sure he would ever be good at it. His place was more on a stage than on a set, but things could always change. Things might be different, right? The only time he would ever really try it is if Logan thought he could handle it. He held a lot of trust in the way the Renner viewed him and his capabilities. Not to mention the fact that Collin had already said to him that he needed to come up with a song that was capable of being used for a ‘short film’ type music video. Maybe that was his unofficial audition to see if he could act well enough for Renner to try and put him in a movie. ‘ Speaking of ‘films’ and this is a loose transition, your Boyfriend video just dropped. How exciting is that to officially give off a new image?” he asked and Joel smiled as he nodded. “ Pretty exciting right, have you seen it?” he asked and the interviewer gave a small nod, “ Yeah my daughters are certainly under your spell so I get the updates pretty quickly. It’s a good video,” he said. Joel bit the edge of his lip, “ I already got a phone call from my mom saying that I looked too chummy with my co-star” he said before he gave a slight laugh with a shake of his head. “ So after this is wrapped up what’s in store for the rest of your tour?” the interviewer asked and Joel shrugged one of his shoulders slightly, puffing out his cheeks.
“Honestly I just have a few shows left, so I know that a lot of people will be happy to have their loved ones that have been on tour with me back home. “ he said, thinking of how Faith would be excited to have Justin with her in New York for the time being. “ So it will probably just be a lot of working in the studio, interviews, putting on some performances for local shows, maybe some award shows coming up. Warped Tour is done in like.. a week. So I plan on going to Shane’s last show so I can see that. I want to visit Ryan on his tour. I want to spend some quality time with my sister, maybe spend a little bit more time at home with my parents. Get to know Tori’s family a little bit better since we’ll all be one big family soon,” he said, trying to think of everything that he could possibly want to do. “Are you two close with eachothers families already? Everyone knows that the O’Neil and the Foster families are incredibly close. How about your family and the family of your fiancée?” he asked and Joel gave a small nod. ‘ Um.. yeah I mean, the connection between the O’Neil family and the Foster family goes far beyond the relationship that Ryan and Madeline share, but I absolutely hope that our families will reach that point. But to me that’s not entirely a top priority. I want to get to know her family, because of her. In regards to that, she’ll always be my top priority. My relationship with her is more important to me than anything else.” he said, tapping his fingers against the armrest of the chair. “ So is there any indication of when you two might be walking down the aisle?” the interviewer asked, and honestly Joel hadn’t put too much thought into it. “ Um..” he said, scratching the side of his jaw as he tried to scrape together and answer really quickly. “ Honestly it isn’t something we’ve really discussed beyond the idea that it needs to be … obviously I’m seventeen. So I’d like for it to be when I’m eighteen, and I think it’s important to wait for her to graduate highschool.” he said, but then he just smiled offering a nervous laugh. “ I mean I would marry her today if I thought I could get away with it. But I figure I owe her some sense of normalcy since I’m sort of asking her to come on board to be a part of my world,” he said. He really did want to treat her like a princess. How many girls would have stuck through his hospital stay like she had, sitting there with him. He had wanted to be so mad at her, not giving her his name. A lot of people could have blamed her for being the reason that he ran off the bus and went into a coma. And part of him had blamed her too, until he had time to sit back and think about it. Until he went to her school and things changed. It was hard to be mad at someone that beautiful, inside and out. “ Big wedding, small wedding?”he asked as he looked up, “Or are you going to be one of the celebrity couples that hides the date of their wedding?” he asked.
“ Ah man I would never hide it. It’s going to be the greatest day of my life. I think that um… nah I mean the guest list might be small, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be a small wedding. I’ve got … when you’re asking Ryan O’Neil to be your best man.. when you’ve got .. Logan, Lance, Jake, Shane , Chace, Tyler as your groomsmen,.. it’s uh.. it’s not a small wedding.” he said with a small chuckle. ‘ So you’ve thought about who you want up there with you?” he said and Joel made a slight face, “ Absolutely, it’s going to be the most amazing day of my life. And I’m just beyond excited to start this new journey in my life. I want to start a family. I want to be a young dad, I don’t want to be thirty when I start having kids. I want all the things that everyone else wants.. and I’ve found the person that I want to share it all with. So naturally I’m excited to get it all started.” he said, clapping his hands together excitedly. Well that was that. He was mentally done with this interview and to be fair he had given this guy a hell of a lot already. “ Are we good?” he said while he was standing up. ‘ Yeah that’s actually really great, thank you’ he said standing up to shake Joels’ hand. ‘ Good luck at your show tonight man’ he said and Joel smiled genuinely. “ Ah thanks” he said , turning away from the chair and heading back up to his room. As he made his way onto the elevator he took his phone out of his back pocket to call Tyler. He had sent him a new camera and he wanted to see if it had gotten to him yet or not. Considering that Tyler was one of his closest friends he wanted to encourage his passion, which aside from soccer, music and .. well, the girls he dated, it seemed to be filmmaking. “ Wadddup bitch?” he said with a quick laugh as Tyler answered the phone. “ Did you get anything in the mail today?” he asked and then smiled slowly to himself. “ Yeah yeah no problem. Where you at?” he asked and gave a small nod. “ Don’t answer that, I know.” he said, giving a small laugh. Just friends. Blake and Logan were just friends. Claire and Shane were just friends. Ryan and Madeline. Jake and Dani. Tale as old as time. “ Alright well.. I’m doing this show tonight in Colorado. When I get home do you want to hang?” he asked, rubbing his hand over his eyes tiredly. “ Alright cool. I’m getting on a red eye tomorrow so I’ll call you when I’m in town. Maybe when I get in um… you and Mikayla can come hang out with Tori and I” he said, biting the edge of his lip. “ Awesome, set in stone. I’ll give you a call later man. Alright, peace” he said, hanging up as he stepped off the elevator, hoping to get just a half hour nap, anything, before his performance tonight.
