Feature Interview: Lamar Morris, Now United

Lamar Morris talks about how he adjusted to his new lifestyle

Lamar Morris remembers his growth as a singer and dancer to be almost second nature; being inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Usher, whose albums he would have on repeat daily. With his progression and desire for more, he signed with the Rhodes agency theatre school attending weekly classes which focused mainly on singing and dancing, working towards an end of year showcase. In school, he excelled in music joining the school choir where he was later chosen to be a part of the Dagenham Songwriters Choir.

I queried about the most crucial thing needed to chase a dream, Lamar answered “Not to sound generic, but you’ve got to believe in yourself and your craft, if you do not believe in yourself, who else will?”. Of course there will be “haters” and “doubters” to discourage but Lamar disputed saying “If you’re going to start a journey ask yourself why do I want to do this? Not can I do this? because why you’re doing it will feed your drive”.

Some years later, Lamar had been cast in a short film, Ruined, and felt his life was about to change considerably. He received a phone call from a representative of XIX Entertainment inviting him to a boot camp to be a part of Simon Fuller’s global project for a pop group, Now United. “After that call I was excited, I felt ready to see what the future had in store for me. Something like this has never happened to me and this could possibly be my big break – Although there was some part of me that was like, this is what I have been working for, let’s not waste it”. With his life in a new light, I asked how he adjusted, “Becoming a public figure and taking on new responsibilities was odd at first but I got into the rhythm of things fairly quickly”. He added “I would say the only difficult thing was to stay fit all the time”. It’s important to stay true to yourself especially being in the public eye, “People do seek validation from others once they get a little taste of fame”. Evidently this is not new, such behavior has been seen from the likes of Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato. “Its easy to forget who you are and lose your head”. Lamar acknowledged the strong foundation that his family and friends had structured to keep him grounded. Moreover, he recognised that life on tour is “worlds away from home, there’s so many factors that go into a tour that you and 13 other people have to remember” bearing in mind there are feelings of anxiety and stress that come along with large scale performances. “Being on tour, you are no longer Lamar singular, you’re now a team – You have to conduct yourself accordingly, should anything go wrong, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link”.

I asked what he does to separate himself from the stigma that all vocalists sound the same. He replied, “When recording for a song, we’re given a template to follow and I try to make that part my own whilst staying true to the part” I asked how he felt about the use of auto-tune, especially now that it has become somewhat of a normality in the music industry. He replied in disgust “I hate it!, back in the day, it was harder to break through because you needed genuine talent, compared to today where anybody can be a “singer” thanks to auto-tune”. Artists like T-Pain used auto-tune to advance his performance which later became his trademark style, “Nowadays, instead of being used to enhance your performance, it is being used to create a false reality”. He highlighted the difficulties of learning to sing from “Knowing your range” to “the three different voices – diaphragm, throat and head voice” to “breath control”. Lamar admitted “Its hurts to know, that there are extremely talented performers in this world but they are overshadowed by people who could never do the same”.

Lamar realises that having a career in your dream line of work is “not the utopia that we all perceive it to be…it is very hard – you’ve got to keep pushing”. His advice to anyone coming up is to “keep setting goals for yourself because there is always work to be done”.

Discussing his future, Lamar wants to be able to go solo saying, “You have to grow, you have to get better as a person and that’s something that should never stop”. And as an artist? “Stagnancy, is not a word I affiliate with, there is always an opportunity to further yourself and your craft”.