NICK CARTER CD RELEASE  SIGNING

MINI-FEATURE

By: Fridae Mattas

Yesterday, August 9th 2011 on Toronto’s famous Queen Street hundreds of girls shed tears of joy, shook with excitement and screamed really loud, their Teenie dreams were coming true, they had the chance to meet their idol obsession the boybander who brought back the frenzy, the one and only Nick Carter. It was a day full of promotions for Carter, he was making the rounds at the usual media hubs including Much Music to debut the new music video for “Love Can’t Wait”. Those asking who the heck is Nick Carter, read this and then this, I’m sure it will all come back to you. If that isn’t enough Carter information for you then simply go to his website and check that out.

The autograph session with the worlds most notorious pop heartthrob began at 6pm at the HMV on Queen West. To get an autograph from Carter you had to purchase the record to obtain a wristband that guaranteed you a signed copy personally by him in the flesh. I was late, of course thanks to traffic but once I arrived I  saw the never ending line that went down the block and when I left it was still at the same spot because they just kept coming. As I was leaving the insanity, a group of females stopped me to ask why so many people were lined up outside HMV. I told them Nick Carter was signing copies of his new album, the exact minute I said Nick Carter, they let out a loud united shrill scream in my face (Wish I had my ear plugs at that moment) and literally ran to HMV screaming “Thank you! Thank you!”, I don’t even think they heard me say the last bit of my sentence. I wish I had a chance to film some of the madness but I had to hit up another event and that event was cancelled soon after, if only they told me sooner because I wasn’t about to rewind into the jungle.

At the signing they only allowed a certain amount of fans in the store at a time to keep some order and not  overcrowd the store. This made it easier for other patrons to shop amongst the chaos. The fans were lined up on the left side inside the music store along the wall, they cut them off at the stairs only letting a few at a time upstairs to the second level where Carter was signing copies of his new record “I’m Taking Off” just released yesterday here in Canada. Nick’s bodyguard wasn’t far from his side he stood where the fans ended their journey, if they tried to do anything crazy he was there ready for them. None of the fans did anything severely extreme from what I saw except burst into tears right in front of him. I don’t know how he did it, I wouldn’t be able to hold the laughter inside past the tenth girl but I guess after almost twenty years of chicks crying and screaming in your face, you get used to it.

This is not the first solo LP for Carter, his first release was titled “Now Or Never” which debuted at number 17 on the billboard charts and sold over 500,000 copies in the States and about 50,000 in Canada certifying it as a Gold Record.  Carter is no longer with Jive Records the label he’s been signed to since he began his musical career as a Backstreet Boy, now he’s under the giant wings of 604/Universal and from the looks of it he found a label that cares. Major thank you goes to Nick’s Publicist for helping me out because the HMV Securitard was being difficult and she totally made him feel stupid after he tried to deny even her access. I know he treated us the way he did because we were Women and 95% of the people at the HMV were females of all ages with a few males sprinkled here and there, it was evident that we were being stereotyped by this obvious chauvinist.

Minus that minor snafu this was a pretty chill signing, the media area was to the right as you came up the stairs and the five or six fans allowed up to get their copy signed, were to the left. I captured a few decent shots because I was able to migrate around and get different angles, this was better organized than the other signings I’ve covered lately. The only thing blocking my shot clarity was this other photographer with his massive flash and super long lens. Dude, you are inside a well lit room and right in the artists face, there was no need for flash on a pro DSLR period or a large wide zoom lens. My camera, I like to call it the Diva D40, it didn’t have as many issues with the lighting other than the flashes of others causing my shots to blur as always when the flashes go off.

I walked into the store and there were crying girls everywhere, it looked more like a funeral than an autograph signing! I asked a few girls why they were crying and they all said the same thing “I’m so Happy! I just met Nick Carter!!” One girl in particular was repeatedly saying she was so happy as she cried and hiccuped all at the same time, it was hilarious but disturbing at the same time. I think I’ve encountered a fan that did the same thing at another event for someone else, it was like déjà vu. Growing up I never understood why girls would faint, cry and scream? That was and always will be odd to my brain, entertainers are just people too and you worship the ground they walk on but we all breathe and feel just the same. Some of us are just lucky enough to live out what we were meant to do with our talents. No different than a person who is a Doctor, Lawyer, Psychologist, Horticulturalist, Retail worker we all have different talents that make the world go round. This Larry was destined for greatness, although I don’t think he has captured his full potential yet, Carter is growing towards it. You must experiment to find out what works best and not being afraid of trying something new is key to discovery. Thanks again to those that helped me out at Universal Music Canada! To everyone else, if you like pop music the good pop, go buy Nick’s record at HMV and iTunes or wherever music is sold, it wasn’t too bad from what I heard as they played it in the store. You can find the rest of the photos here.

COPYRIGHT © 2011 FRIDAE MATTAS FOR FRIDAETV. All Rights Reserved

www.NickCarter.com

Nick’s Myspace, Twitter, Facebook

www.604records.com

www.UniversalMusic.ca