The Hidden Pasts of Katy Perry and Jadyn Maria

I’ve always found it wonderful how the internet brings so much exposure to musicians these days, and there are so many artists that I never would have heard of, much less heard the music of, if not for a good deal of interweb search-engine hunting. I’m one of those people who like to dig up things on the internet, especially artists that I think are going to be ’something’ in the future and just haven’t had their big spotlight push yet.

Katy Perry

Because of this, I sometimes discover music artists in that stage of their careers when the industry is preening them for the public eye, and nobody is really supposed to know about them yet because they are still developing their ‘image’. What a lot of people don’t know is that many of today’s big pop stars actually had careers long before they became known — people seem to think that pop stars just appear out of nowhere, when the fact is they had been working hard to build their name years before they were discovered by the general public. Even Britney Spears was part of a band before she became a superstar.

It comes as no surprise that with the image-dominated music industry, some music artists try to cover up their past ventures in favor of what they are doing now, sometimes even changing their names to separate themselves from their past. Most of their fans are left having no clue that their favorite singers actually had albums and careers before they entered the spotlight.

When I was 13, I was the host of a 2-hour radio program at KNLE in Austin, Texas — a contemporary Christian radio station that allowed me to play music for teens. I later hosted my own nationally syndicated show called The Top 5, which was heard in over 25 states and countries. I left this in 2008, to focus on YouTube and writing. But one particular artist I remember from my shows was named Katy Hudson, whose song Trust In Me was one of those tracks that the system seemed to be stuck on, playing her song nearly every hour for no reason. See if you can recognize this voice:

Can’t see it? Click here.

If you listen closely, you will notice that she sounds very similar to another artist who shares her first name — Katy Perry. In fact, Katy Hudson, the Christian singer, and Katy Perry, the pop star, are the same, but under different stage names. As one blogger writes, the difference in content and image between the two names is so vast “either [Katy]’s a great actress or a lot of people in the [Christian music] industry looked the other way”.

Stacie Orrico

Because of my radio show, I was once immersed in the Christian music scene. With the strict standards that are imposed upon Christian artists (especially if they want any radio play) Katy Perry either went off the deep end or never really believed what she sang in the first place. This reminds me of the crossover efforts of Stacie Orrico, who I saw in concert in connection with my show. Stacie, once the poster-child for teen Christian music, started her career at 14, even ‘writing’ (with the help of ghostwriters, I assume) bestselling devotional books for teens. As soon as she finished fulfilling her contract, however, she leapt off the Christian music train and into a deal with Virgin Records, making two hits and then disappearing into obscurity. She writes about her secret life behind the scenes:

“…they don’t know you’re going back to your hotel room at night and ordering six desserts from room service because you’re so stressed-out.”

It’s hard to imagine the immense pressure on these artists. If you think being a pop star is hard, try being a pop star who was famous in Christian music during the early 2000’s pop surge. Any mistake could condemn your career (as happened with Nikki Leonti).

If you think the Katy Perry/Katy Hudson/Stacie Orrico career changes are strange, take a look at what is happening with Jadyn Maria. This is an artist I have literally been following since 2002, when she released a duet with Jody McBrayer of Avalon called Nunca Solo (under the name Jadyn Strand), and her subsequent duet with Grits With Or Without You. There were fansites and a whole network of people promoting an album called “Choices” which was supposed to release from Jadyn as a Christian record, and was suddenly canceled when she got an endorsement deal with Natural Essence. (ADDED: People in the Christian music industry might be amused by the lyrics of the title track, in regards to Jadyn’s new image). Word got out that she was working on a new album, which fizzled. Then word got out she was working on a different album, which fizzled as well (meaning she has two full albums of unreleased songs).

Then, yesterday, while doing some Google-ing of old talent (I do this regularly after what happened with Katy Perry) I discovered that not only has Jadyn Maria resurrected her career a third time, but she has recorded an entirely new album featuring the celebrity likes of Flo-Rida, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, Ne-Yo… and Katy Perry. Here’s her first single:

Can’t see it? Click here.

A little to racy for Christian radio, don’t you think? Now I understand the name change from Jadyn Strand to Jadyn Maria. Not that I am innocent of this, either. When I was in Christian radio, I went under the pseudonym Kaleb Krew. This wasn’t because I didn’t want to be associated with my radio career (which I enjoyed immensely). It’s just part of the business to take on a fake name. But in a way, it also helped to separate Kaleb the radio host from Kaleb the fantasy writer — a fact some of my more conservative affiliates might have frowned upon.

Even more curious is the fact that Jadyn Maria, the artist whose career and image has changed to drastically in six years, is good friends with Katy Perry herself. In fact, Jadyn appeared as a bridesmaid in Perry’s “Hot N Cold” music video. How is that for a strange connection of career paths — from Christian music into mainstream popstar-dom? It makes me wonder just how much this crossover of genres was a collaborative effort between the two friends.

Jadyn Maria is definitely an artist to watch, and regardless of her past career changes, she’s got the same talent that’s made a lot of us stick around for nearly seven years for this album. If you like what you hear, I would certainly suggest you check out some of her old stuff. And if she does become something big, I’ll have bragging rights of owning all her old music before anyone knew who she was

(buy Jadyn’s new song from Amazon.com).