Once upon a time in the 2010s, Austin Mahone was dubbed as the next big thing in music. Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, the now-26-year-old singer kicked off his career by posting his various renditions of popular songs on YouTube back in 2010, including Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" which catapulted his name to stardom. Even so, Austin Mahone and Bieber share uncanny resemblances in musical style, fashion choice, and voice range, thus making the comparison inevitable.
"They see a young kid who sings and dances and.. they're like, 'Oh another Justin Bieber.' Like, you don't even know. You don't know me. You don't know my music. You're just making assumptions," Mahone told ABC News, calling the comparison to Biebs as an "obnoxious" thing to say.
Fast-forward to 2022, and Austin Mahone is almost nowhere to be seen - at least in the music industry. He had a falling out with his label due to poor sales of his album and had to restart his career somewhere else as an independent musician. Here's what went wrong with Austin Mahone's career and what's next for the "former" rising star.
- 8 Austin Mahone's Music
- 7 Why Austin Mahone Gets Compared To Justin Bieber
- 6 Austin Mahone's Only Full Album Was Exclusive To Japanese Market
- 5 Why Austin Mahone's Label Dropped Him
- 4 Was Austin Mahone More Focused On Modeling?
- 3 Austin Mahone Became An Indie Artist
- 2 Austin Mahone Joins OnlyFans
- 1 What's Next For Austin Mahone?
8 Austin Mahone's Music
Austin Mahone did release a few successful singles throughout the years. His debut single, "Say Something," is a gold-certified teen pop hit of its time. In fact, he landed crazy features from some of the top artists, including Flo Rida in "Say You're Just a Friend," Pitbull in "Mmm Yeah" and his remix of Modjo's "Lady," 50 Cent & Abraham Mateo in "Háblame Bajito," and more.
Unfortunately, none of these singles were good enough to build up the anticipation for Mahone's major-label debut album. He mostly released extended plays (EPs) throughout the years at the imprint, and that was worrisome for label executives. His second EP, The Secret, missed the sales mark despite debuting in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 with just 46,000 copies within the first week.
7 Why Austin Mahone Gets Compared To Justin Bieber
Austin Mahone's career kicked off similarly to Justin Bieber's, thus nailing the inevitable comparison. Unfortunately though, this comparison is what had somewhat killed Mahone's career before it even took off, because after all, who needs another Justin Bieber when we already have one?
There have been plenty of other artists who'd been dubbed as the next JB, from Shawn Mendes to Cody Simpson and Greyson Chance, but all of them offered more originality than Mahone's musical approach, despite having Fifth Harmony and Mendes opening for his tour.
6 Austin Mahone's Only Full Album Was Exclusive To Japanese Market
Up to this writing, the only full studio album Austin Mahone ever released was Dirty Work: The Album in 2017, and it was only in the Japanese market through Universal Music Japan. The album features its titular lead single and guest vocals from Juicy J, Pitbull, Bobby Biscayne, 2 Chainz, and Hardwell's production.
It was a departure from family-friendly lyrical content on The Secret, in which he says, "It was definitely a little bit difficult to get to this point, just because I wanted to find my sound and grow as an artist." Other than that, Austin Mahone has released two mixtapes and three EPs.
5 Why Austin Mahone's Label Dropped Him
Following the disappointing sales of The Secret, Avery Lipman, an executive from Austin Mahone's record label Republic Records, revealed how disappointed the label execs were with the high expectation. "The kid can close down any mall in America, but we are struggling to sell a meaningful amount of records," he spoke during a music seminar in New York as noted by Pop Dust, adding, "It sounds good, looks good; goes right in the weeds."
4 Was Austin Mahone More Focused On Modeling?
Despite his music career not taking off in the way he would have liked, Austin Mahone's charismatic look and charming persona seemed to take him places in modeling and photography. In an interview with Paper Magazine, he revealed that he walked for Phillip Plein's fall show thanks to his seriously camera-ready cherubic features.
"I just shot a video a few days ago, started at 7 PM and shot all the way to six in the morning, went straight from the set to the airport and came here to New York," he talked about his busy day routine. "That's the rock star life right there."
3 Austin Mahone Became An Indie Artist
After being dropped by his label, Austin Mahone signed a short-lived label deal with APG, which didn't quite work out, and ventured as a solo artist. He releases his music on his SoundCloud page, with the latest EP, Magic City, being released in 2021. This story, however, does have a good ending, as Mahone regained the possession of his master back in 2020, thanks to involvement from Pitbull. By owning the masters, it allowed Mahone to gain back at least $1 million within the first year and much more to come.
“Pit’s just always looking out, man,” Mahone told Billboard. “I’m just thankful that he believes in me so much to put a million on me. I think he knew it was going to come back very quickly, so it wasn’t a , but I can’t thank him enough — I’ll be thanking him until the day I die, honestly.”
2 Austin Mahone Joins OnlyFans
In 2020, Austin Mahone made a questionable career move when he began heating up on OnlyFans, and it wasn't long before he started getting some bizarre requests. Music Mundial broke the news that the singer auctioned a 10-minute video of him in alone time a year after joining the platform, with the highest number being $9,000.
1 What's Next For Austin Mahone?
So, what's next for the singer? Despite not having the smoothest career, there's no denying that the "11:11" singer definitely has some raw talent that still needs nurturing. His last single, "Why Don't We," was released in 2019, and he's been gearing up for an upcoming album.
