Posted by | Cyrena Rose
Breezy talks Fame & Fortune…”I want to be the Steven Spielberg of music videos.”
Virginia-born R&B star CHRIS BROWN sits down with Joe Yogerst, PRESTIGE Hong Kong magazine, for an exclusive interview to talk abouthis upcoming tour, doing some good and crying on set.
Enjoy the visuals from Brown’s photo shoot as well as excerpts of his interview below:
What do you want the world to know about who you are and what you stand for? As a 23-year-old young entertainer, I want the world to see my art and hopefully be inspired by it, promote positivity with what I do now – with painting, with fashion, with directing, with creativity as far as videos and cinema. I want to have people admire that and hopefully have people follow in my footsteps.
All of them (videos) are like mini movies. The music and dance are great, but they also tell a story. Back in the day, what inspired me as a teenager growing up was Fred Astaire, James Brown, Michael Jackson. Not their personal life or what they do when they go home, but the movies they made that took you to a land they made up when you saw them. Gene Kelly, too. A lot of different people. And a crazy, crazy amount of Broadway-like theatre stuff. When you can incorporate that, it intrigues the mind, lets you focus in on another place like when you watch a movie. It takes you somewhere where it’s not real life. That’s what I focus on in all my videos, why they’re like mini movies.
Acting is something else you do well. Was that something you discovered later in life? Acting is just something that comes natural. I used to look in the mirror all the time, make funny faces, trying get my face right. Looking at Jim Carrey, looking at a lot of different movies. The key is that you pick up what you see all the time. That’s kind of where I got my Michael Jackson inspiration, my charisma. I did a couple of acting lessons, but when it comes down to it, I learned more from the actors on set, their energy and timing.
Like your painting, something that seems to be more on the quiet side is your charity work, like St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Best Buddies. I’ve been involved with [those] since I was 15, 16. It’s not about recognition, because that’s not what satisfies me. The satisfaction is people that are getting helped or are benefitting from whatever I donate, whatever I contribute to their lives. I don’t like it to be publicised. If there are cameras around, it’s cool. But I do it from the heart. When I go on TV and do my videos, that’s the artist Chris Brown. But when I go and do [charity work] it’s just me – it’s just Christopher.
How much of small-town Virginia is left in you? Ha! I’m still country. Sometimes when I talk the twang will come out. But I feel humbled by my upbringing. I still live in Virginia. I have a house there. I go back and forth. Most of my family is based out of there. And I always go back to get my aunt’s cooking. That’s a must.
Were you really discovered in a gas station? The gas station thing [laughs]…It’s kind of like when you line everybody up and whisper something and by the time it gets to the end it’s a different story. A guy came to the gas station [in Virginia] where my father worked, who knew a guy who happened to know a guy who worked for the guy who knew a guy who knew a production team.
To read Chris Brown’s interview in its entirety, click here!
- PHOTOGRAPHY / GIULIANO BEKOR
- CREATIVE DIRECTION AND STYLING / PARIS LIBBY
- MAKE-UP / SARAH B HALL
- BARBER / EDDIE INDA
