Victoria artist on Launch pad
JP Maurice competes for national recognition against other hopefuls in TV talent show
Vancouver-based singersongwriter JP Maurice will appear on tonight’s episode of music contest The Launch with an edge over the majority of his fellow contestants, each competing for the weekly prize of having their celebrity-stamped songs played on radio across Canada.
The Victoria native has been down similar roads, netting $75,000 for second place during 2015’s Peak Performance Project contest and $10,000 for fourth place in 2012.
But as one of 30 performers chosen to appear during The Launch’s six-episode run, Maurice will perform in front of television cameras before a celebrity judging panel and national audience — a career first for the Vic High grad.
“I was really nervous,” Maurice, 33, said of his days on the Toronto set. “I had a concern going in, because it was TV, that the situation would be exploited in some way, or I would be made to do something I didn’t want to do. But I left feeling totally supported.”
Maurice shot his episode of The Launch, which airs tonight at 9 on CTV, in September. Unlike popular singing competitions The Voice and American Idol, The Launch was designed to focus on five random contestants in each episode. The show is built around the process of writing a hit song, not the battle between contestants, Maurice said. But make no mistake, there was an incentive to win.
The results have been under wraps since shooting completed, with only Maurice’s family and closest friends in on the secret (to learn his fate, each had to sign a confidentiality agreement, he said). The waiting has been stressful for Maurice, who was asked by the show’s producers to keep his upcoming album, Boys, out of stores until the show runs its course.
“I’ve been in a holding pattern, wanting to time everything right. I’ll see how things shake out in the next month or two, and then I’ll have a better idea.”
The Launch, which premièred on Jan. 10, is drawing viewers with a starry roster of guest mentors including Shania Twain, OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, Sugarland frontwoman Jennifer Nettles, Alessia Cara, Fergie of Black Eyed Peas, Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe, Culture Club singer Boy George and show co-creator Scott Borchetta, who discovered Taylor Swift.
Maurice’s experience working alongside Tedder (nominated for a Grammy for his work with Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and Maroon 5) gave the former frontman for Victoria rockers Maurice a first-hand look at the songwriting process at its highest level.
It was an experience he’d be happy to relive, he said. “Ryan said some really complimentary things about my songwriting, and Scott did as well. It was great validation.”
Maurice, who lately has been touring and recording as a member of Vancouver’s Bend Sinister, could be the most experienced of any participant on The Launch.
Throughout his 15-year career, he has overcome several hurdles, tops being a promising but failed U.S. recording contract with producer David Foster. During his time at the helm of Maurice, the singer and songwriter weathered an up-and-down storm that began in 2006, when Foster walked the four Victoria twentysomethings into Warner Bros. Records in Los Angeles and personally endorsed them, and finished in 2010, when the label rejected the record and left the band in limbo.
“He has such an abundance of talent in every way,” Foster, a Victoria native, told the Times Colonist at the time.
“He’s handsome as hell, he’s charismatic, he writes good, he plays good and he sings his ass off. You tell me if that’s not a winning combination.”
Maurice hopes Foster’s prediction eventually materializes with The Launch. Should he beat the four contestants who appear alongside him tonight, Maurice will see his song released to radio stations across Canada shortly after the episode airs, with a full promotional push from CTV online and in print.
“It’s about managing expectations,” Maurice said. “With the Foster stuff, it felt like all these things were going to happen, but nothing did. This will be a good thing for me moving forward, to build off.”
Maurice was happy to learn that the show’s producers wanted him to present an authentic side of himself, not one simply made for TV. He’s a bit gun-shy from his previous major-label experience, but would love to earn the trust of producers and have Borchetta follow through with what was presented as a possibility at the outset of the contest — a contract with the same Big Machine imprint for which Taylor Swift records.
The experience whizzed by for Maurice, who would love another shot to work with the show’s team. “Whenever you’re doing something exciting and there’s adrenalin involved, it’s harder to stay in the moment,” he said.