Shaun Canon On “Super Pop” and Upcoming Tour

_{By Zach Collier}

Shaun Canon has been making music for quite a while as a singer/songwriter. A Spanish Fork native and BYU grad, Canon has strong ties to the Utah Valley area. Now he’s making music in Salt Lake City. Combining his love for superheroes, pop music, and The Police frontman Sting, Canon has crafted some sugar sweet, toe-tapping pop music with a twist. Provo Music Magazine got to talk to him about his new album, SuperPop, and the viral success of one of his music videos.

Let’s get started with a few questions about your breakthrough single, “My Turn.” Its video “Super Hero Soccer” received over 40 Million Views online. The Ronnie street Stunts YouTube channel received 1,340,253 views and the copy of the video on your official Facebook page got over 750,000 views. However, most of the views came from a body builder’s Facebook page. His name is Valentin Bosioc, and his upload of the video reached 13,084,396 people alone. Other accounts like Football Galaxy, Think Edition, and Man’s Den uploaded the video as well and received a significant number of views. How did this happen? Were you in talks with these pages, working out deals to distribute the video? Did the video get freebooted? If so, how do you feel about it?

The video got Freebooted.  It wasn’t the way I preferred it to happen, but I’m glad people saw my video and liked it enough to share it with their friends.  It still helped promote my song, “My Turn” to a large audience of people.     

How did it feel to have Stan Lee, the father of Marvel comics, share your video?

Awesome! Amazingly incredible! I geeked out for weeks after I saw that.  

I totally would too. [Laughs] You call your music Nerd Pop. How did you come up with that descriptor? 

It just fits me. I’d been toying around with Superhero Pop, Fantasy Pop, etc., and I realized the root of all of those is Nerd Pop. I’m a nerd who likes making pop for people like me. 

So your new album, SuperPop, is superhero themed. Definitely nerd-centric. How did you get the idea for the album? Was it difficult to write a whole album around that? What sources did you draw inspiration from?

I could write songs for superheroes all day long. It’s the easiest topic to write about.  There are so many comic books and cartoons that inspire a song, and it’s one of my dream goals to write music for one of the major epic superhero films that will be released in theaters over the next few years. 

What about the concept of a superhero appeals to you? How do you think that concept inspires people, and why do people like them so much?

It’s the ultimate escape. Anytime you start to feel stressed out about something that’s outside of your control, you look for that escape that will help you relax and take your mind off of it. What better escape is there than superheroes who can solve problems with their superpowers? If Bruce Wayne were president, imagine all of the corruption he would put an end to in politics. If Superman were policing the world, imagine how many wars would cease and how much crime would diminish. If enemies knew that Hulk fought for the good side, no one would ever dare start a war.

There’s also the element of the “real-life superhero” who is an ordinary man or woman who makes a major sacrifice for others. Fire fighters, military soldiers, parents, and other heroes of our day – there are so many brave men and women who sacrifice daily for the benefit of others, and they remind me of the superheroes I read about in the comics.  There’s no greater source of inspiration for a song than the true stories of real-life heroes.  

Where was SuperPop recorded? What artists did you collaborate with on the project? Who produced the album?

SuperPop was recorded at a few locations: Rock Canyon Studios, Gateway Mastering Studios, and a home studio owned by producer Nathan Hemple.  Nathan produced the album, and I collaborated with Grammy-Nominated Rap Artist, Chief Wakil, on my song, “My Turn.”  

You’re planning an extensive tour in support of this album. Where will you be performing? What challenges accompany an extensive world tour?

Details on this tour are still to come. We have been in talks with major companies and a few other countries, but we haven’t locked it all in yet. For now, it’s all just speculation, but we have a lot of great promising possibilities. I’ve already toured Europe and the USA a few times over, so I’m sure at the very least we’ll be visiting all of those same cities again. There are a lot of challenges that we face when booking a tour: it’s tough finding the right booking agents for each country or region, and it’s often difficult to make sure we sell those shows out. The marketing team has a big job ahead of them! It’s also possible that we will open for a few major acts in the beginning to get things started.  

Final question. If you could be any super hero, who would you be and why?

Gambit is my favorite superhero. However, if I were any superhero, I would probably be Superman or Shazam. I’ve always wanted to fly and who wouldn’t want to be as invincible as those guys are?  

Make sure to like Shaun Canon on Facebook. You can listen to his album SuperPop on Spotify. See him at Gezzo Hall on March 18th with Missy Lynn and Scott Winn of Scott & Brendo. Tickets are available here. Watch the viral video for “My Turn” below.