By Christina Garibaldi
Cody Simpson
Photo: MTV News
If you don't know who Cody Simpson is yet, you will soon find out. The 14-year-old Australian teenage heartthrob recently released his second EP, Coast to Coast, which is currently #12 on the Billboard 200 chart, and is hard at work gearing up for his debut album, which is set to hit stores next year.
Simpson, who credits Justin Timberlake and Jack Johnson as his musical inspirations, was living his life as a normal teenager until he was discovered on YouTube back in 2009.
"I grew up in a very relaxed lifestyle." Simpson told MTV News. "Music was something that I've been involved in since I was 7 or 8 years old, when I started playing guitar. I listened to a lot of country music. I went into a school talent show with my friend and we did a Jason Mraz cover of "I'm Yours," and we posted it online. It was my first performance on a stage and I put it up, and then I was like excited when I hit 200 views and then I put another video and it went up to 2,000, to 20,000, to 200,000 to 20 million."
If his story sounds a little bit familiar, that's because teen sensation Justin Bieber was discovered the same way. Now, if you're a young male singing star, there will automatically be some comparisons to Bieber, but Simpson assures us, these two are very different.
"Well, we both grew up in very different lifestyles. I mean, he was in Canada playing hockey and listening to R&B music," Simpson said. "I grew up on the beach down in Australia listening to totally different styles of music."
Simpson, who recently signed with Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, is a big fan of the teen star and insists there is no animosity between the two.
"I'm a big fan of Justin's. We support each other a lot. He was talking to me yesterday about the songs he liked off my EP." Simpson said. "People feel like its competition, but it's really like friendly and family. It's definitely not something that should be seen as a rivalry."
And that seems to be true. Bieber recently tweeted, "shoutout to @ddlovato @codysimpson @mindlessbhavior 4 all their albums coming out this week. our generation is doing it big. #sharethewealth." Simpson seemed to appreciate the love from Bieber, because he replied with, "@justinbieber mate I appreciate the shoutout. heard you liked Good As It Gets. thanks for that. #CoastToCoast."
So could we possibly see a collaboration between the two? "We haven't got plans set in stone yet to do that," Simpson said "But I'm sure something will happen in the future. You'll have to wait till 2012. Next year, it's not that long."
What do you think of Cody Simpson? Let us know in the comments below!
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