Today's Pick

It may be hard for you to believe that you could ever find room on your Zac Efron and Justin Bieber poster-covered walls for any new heartthrob's headshot. A rising musical sensation named Jackson Harris, however, will give you reason to make room for at least one more photo on your closet door. Harris is a brunette babe with vocal talent, and he's sure to land a slot on your next iTunes playlist as soon as his debut album, "Long Story Short," is available in October. He has just dropped his first video for debut album's title track, which involved riding around the streets of New York City with none other than 30 Rock's Judah Friedlander.
With a private school upbringing on Manhattan's conservative Upper East Side, Harris is the exception to the Gossip Girl rule. Ignoring pressures to follow the pack-go to college, get a degree, get a job and settle down, instead, Harris has chosen to take the road less traveled. To make a 'Long Story Short,' Harris's honest and melodic approach to life represents a pop star unwilling to give in to a sugarcoating of his world and words. Harris says that he decided music was the only career path he wanted to pursue back when he was in middle school.
This epiphany would prove to be the thread that holds together 'Long Story Short.' Produced & written by Harris, Valentine (Push Play), Andy Marvel (Avril Lavigne, Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion) and Jeff Franzel ('N Sync, Taylor Dayne, The Temptations), perhaps nothing describes this feeling better than the instantly catchy lead single, "Long Story Short." Explains Harris "This song was born out of a necessity. I was expected to head out to these Universities and earn these degrees, but I really wanted to do something different with my life. Everyone always asks me what I've been doing, and the song and the album is sort of my answer to that - to make a 'long story short' here's what I've been up to, I've been blazing my own trail, meeting new people, falling in and out of love. The album is really the autobiographical story of my life."
The recording of the anthemic "Long Story Short" defined the direction of the entire album. As Harris tells it, some of his best work comes when he's at his lowest. With his four-song EP under his belt, fans clamoring to his Facebook and Twitter pages and New York and LA showcases scheduled, Harris no longer stresses out when he's at parties. "Now, when people ask me where I went to school, I say UCLA – Under the Corner of Lexington Avenue! By the end of listening to this record, you will know what it took for me to get here. I went to the school of life. I'm really proud of the work I've done and the music I am making. This album is my diploma."