- I'm so happy,
'cause I like to think that I spot talent
and I have a good eye, and a good ear for things,
and I did. I looked at you and I was like, "There's no way you're not
gonna be huge," and you are. You didn't disappoint.
- Thank you. I was telling
somebody the other day. It was like, no record executive
found me first. It was Ellen DeGeneres,
so-- [cheers and applause]
I love that. - Well--
[cheers and applause] Like I said,
I'm so happy for you. I mean, I'm just happy that I--
like I said, that I'm any part of knowing
you from the beginning. So you signed your first record
deal a year ago. And you're nominated
for three Grammys, and you had the biggest record
of the summer. - And my album
isn't even out yet. - It's amazing!
It's amazing. So when we called you
the first time, you didn't believe us. - No, I didn't. I actually--
I'm very sorry about this-- I hung up on you guys a lot.
[audience laughter] Because I mean,
I'm a sophomore in college. I'm also talking to
the audience, too. I'm--I'm a sophomore in college,
and it's very unrealistic for the "Ellen" show
to call you. So I moved
into my new apartment, and I get a call
from an 818 number. It says "Northern Los Angeles." I'm like, "Los Angeles?
What is this magical place? Hello?"
This is my phone, by the way. "Hello?"
And um, someone, a producer called me, like,
"Hey, it's the 'Ellen' show." I'm like "Heh, cool! Bye." [audience laughter] And then you called, like,
my high school, you called my grammar school,
like everybody. - We were tracking you down.
- You really did. She has, like, trackers that
tracked my whole town down. So you did a good job.
- Thank goodness we did. Thank goodness.
And so, you performed at the American Music Awards
with Meghan Trainor. - Mm-hmm. I can't imagine what
you're about to ask me. - Well, why don't
you talk about that? - Well, um-- - There was a big kiss
at the end of it, and-- [audience catcalls and cheers] - Meghan is my best friend,
and we wanted to, uh, kind of show--
no, I'm serious. - No, I can see where your hand
is--she's a good friend. [audience laughter] - That's where you put hands
when you're friends. - Yeah, when you're
good friends? - Um, anyway, so--
[audience catcalls] I made, um, this record--
"Marvin Gaye" was the first-- - No one's listening to you.
They're looking at that. [audience laughter]
- Whatever! Cool.
Nice. - All right, you made
the record and "Marvin Gaye." - "Marvin Gaye" was the first-- [singing]
Let's Marvin Gaye and get it on That song, you know.
[cheers and applause] And it was the first song
I ever wrote in California, and I always wanted
to make a record, like Marvin Gaye's records,
where you would put them on, like this
magical record player, and everybody would
just want to, you know, like, get down with each other, like, you know,
dance with each other. Not like that,
you dirty-minded people! [audience laughter] And you know, we teased it
in the video too, where it, like, cuts off,
and it's all-- It's a visual aesthetic for what
the song's meaning is about. - I see.
Well, you sold it. It was good, and
people talked about it. So you're going on tour,
which is really exciting, and it's very, very cool. So he's going on tour.
We're going to give away a pair of tickets
to every show on the tour. You can go to our website
to find out how you can win tickets, and your--this is called-- - "Nine Track Mind,"
it's the debut record. - And everybody in the audience,
you're all getting a copy today. [cheers and applause]
