BU’s laundry room king Jonny Glenn is set to begin his reign

‘The sky is no limit’

You’ve seen him in laundry rooms around campus, and now he’s upgrading to the big stage. Finance junior Jonny Glenn is making moves in the music world, having already released his own music video and performed around Boston University’s campus. So what we want to know now is: who is the man behind the music and where does he plan to go?

Where are you from?

I’m from Charleston, South Carolina. It’s just me and my mom. Whenever I was sick I would stop singing, and that’s how my mom knew something was wrong. I’ve always had my mouth open singing something. I haven’t spoken to my dad in 16 years; I’m 20. I’ve always known I wanted to get out of Charleston, since I was young; I wanted to see more. So I used soccer as a way to do that, and I got myself to one of the best cities in the county. It’s really good for music here. Plus there’s a lot of kids.

How did you get into music?

I’ve played piano since I was four through 13, and then I played drums going into high school. I picked up guitar probably when I was 17 or later. I started writing my own stuff around 18. I wish I had started earlier, though it’s never too late. When I got to BU, I was like wow I really need to do something; music has always been my love.

What can you tell me about your music?

I’m trying to make songs that are catchy and people can sing along to. I have other songs that I’ve written, but the one coming out [in my music video] is the first one of me as a solo artist. I have 10 songs completely done, and five that are kind of halfway written. It’s kind of weird – I can write a song in 20-30 minutes if I’m sitting there, but if I get distracted and don’t finish it right away it can take me weeks because I’m not in the right mindset as when I first wrote the song, and it takes a while to get back into that mindset.

What artists have inspired your music?

Eddie Vedder, James Bay – I love his voice, and Ed Sheeran. Mainly Ed because of the way he used the guitar as the backbone to his songs, he doesn’t need any other instruments.

What was your first song?

The first song I wrote was coming here called “Aaron.” Eddie Vedder wrote a song called “Jeremy,” and it was about a kid who fell victim to himself, so this was really crazy for me because I felt a personal connection to Eddie Vedder, because in my high school on my birthday sophomore year, a student lit himself on fire and ran into our courtyard and a lot of people saw him. His name was Aaron, and it had a huge impact on me and the entire school. We all came close that day and every day going into the future. I felt a connectedness to Eddie Vedder. It was humbling to write a song about the guy [Aaron] because the lyrics are pretty impactful, similar to Pearl Jam’s song “Jeremy.” Eddie also grew up without a father, similar to me, which solidified the connection I felt even more (which is weird because I’ve never met the guy).

Which of your songs is your favorite?

My favorite song that I’ve written is “Smilin.'” I just finished this one, but I think it’s the catchiest so far. It just makes me feel good. I’ve always been a really smiley kid. That one [song], I dunno, I’m a thinker, I overthink everything. I really think, and I just notice a lot of insincerity in people, like when people just say hi to you and that’s it, just permanent acquaintances. That’s one criticism. Another one is people being unfaithful, having someone that they’re supposed to love but it’s the biggest pile of shit. Meanwhile I’m just over here smilin’ doing my thing, commenting on their ingenuity through my smile.

Where would you like to go with your music?

I love music more than anything else on this planet, and am pursuing it, and am trying to build a following. [I’m] trying to capture BU first, and then branch out afterwards. So to start, I am posting videos every Monday in various laundry lounges around campus, [which I call] #laundryloungemondays. I write a bunch of originals, but nowadays with the social media we have available to us, it’s a good idea to try to do something funky to catch people’s eyes, and what better to do than something weird like that [laundry lounge Mondays]. I grew up watching Ellen with my mom, and I read recently that she has a music label. One of my biggest goals would to get her, or someone of her caliber, but I really like her, to see some of the videos. I think social media is a great player to help me expose myself. I came up with the laundry lounge with my team that is supporting me.

What has your journey been like over the past few years?

When I got to BU, soccer was the “main focus.” I was on the team injured for a year, and I got surgery this past summer, and that’s when soccer and I officially split ways. I started a band last year while I was hurt. I think everything happens for a reason, but I really think that this happened for a reason. Last year in the fall [2014] I went to Berklee School of Music and put up posters saying that I needed people to play in a band with. I got a bunch of feedback, and we formed a band called Spoonface. We promoted the page last spring [2015] pretty heavily, and it got around 1,200 followers. It’s going pretty well from starting from scratch, but one of the kids dropped out of Berklee and one of the other guys, at BU, was doing premed and he just kind of faded because I felt that it just wasn’t his main focus. I was sad because it was over because there were only three of us left. I had to do stuff over the summer, and I just wrote by myself. I didn’t start promoting myself until around the beginning of the semester. From June until now there’s been nothing public. I’ve always been writing , and the band hasn’t been in the forefront of social media but that doesn’t mean my thoughts aren’t there. I played a bunch of shows in Charleston, but it’s harder to get shows in Boston. I’m just doing my own style now, just acoustic guitar and me.

Has BU helped you in any way?

Last semester at BU my friend told me about BU Music Business Club. They had an event for artists that they manage. They split the club into marketing, events and artist management teams. One artist management team goes with an artist, so there are currently three artists in the club. The other two teams support the club and the artist by helping with their marketing and planning events, like the coffee shop show this semester. I just got lucky that I was gonna have a lot of people that were gonna help me do this. I have nine people supporting me. So now we’ve just started doing this. We started a couple weeks ago, since changing to Jonny Glenn, and the following is at 1,586. The whole point of this is to build a following so I can go up to someone with influence in the music industry and show them the commitment and my hard work. But it’s really because I love it, that’s what it comes down to. We were thinking of something interesting that would attract attention, and that we could spread around BU quickly that people would be able to relate to, and that people would be like wow thats kind of cool  (laundry lounge Mondays).

How has the feedback been on your music?

It [laundry lounge Mondays] is fun, and people think it’s fun, and the feedback I’ve gotten so far is that it’s a pretty cool idea.The other night I was playing one of my songs, and by the third chorus people were clapping and singing. It was a really cool feeling for people to be singing something I created.

Has anyone recognized you based off your work?

Yes, people have recognized me. I was in the laundry room this past week and this girl said, “I was wondering when I would be running into you,” which was kind of weird. I had never seen her in my life.

What was your inspiration for your music video?

“Royally Loved,” which was released on the 28th (Monday, March 28), is about being with someone, and for some reason there’s this voice in your head constantly questioning whether it’s right or not. Clearly if it was, you wouldn’t have that thought popping into your head.

What’s your next move going to be?

Now I’m gonna be playing in the T, making surprise appearances that I can’t disclose yet, or else it wouldn’t be a surprise. Someone asked me the other day why I’m doing this, because it’s so hard, it’s a really tough path. I don’t know if this is egocentric at all, but I feel like I would be failing myself and potentially others that I could influence if I didn’t try to do what I love and share it with other people.

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