- 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]