​INTERVIEW: Who Is Jon Bellion? Everything You Need To Know

Photo: Capitol Records

Despite today’s viral landscape, the road to widespread success isn’t always a fast one, but if you work on your craft, it can lead to tremendous achievements. Just ask Jon Bellion, the 25-year-old singer/rapper, who has built a loyal and dedicated following, courtesy of four mixtapes, a writing credit on Eminem and Rihanna's smash “The Monster” and his recently released debut album, The Human Condition.

Bellion took to iHeartRadio HQ in New York City for an exclusive one-on-one interview to talk about the road to releasing his debut LP, the accompanying Pixel-esque album artwork and his dreams of scoring a film.

“You can't fake the funk anymore. In the Internet age, you could spend half a million on a video. That doesn't mean somebody's going to watch it. It's not 'TRL.' It's not FYE at the store. That's not the only way you get music," a candid Bellion explained about the ever-changing industry.

It's that sort of straight forward attitude that might make business executives worry, but this Long Island native has been fully aware of his audience since day one and made it very clear that he wanted to deliver three singles, before finally unleashing The Human Condition back in June.

“You want to gain the public's trust. You want to give them good music, and then when you actually ask them to pay for something they have a reason to instead of just, ‘Why should I? Just cause they're on Capitol.’ You know what I'm saying?” Needless to say, his tactic in not faking the funk worked when The Human Condition debuted at the no. 5 position on the Billboard 200 with 40,000 copies in sales.

Throughout the course of the 14-song collection, which features singles "Guillotine," "All Time Low" and "Maybe IDK," the singer/rapper worked with a few unlikely talents, including Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry and the same choir heard in Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror."

"I was just flattered that they were down to do it, both of them," he said of the collaborations. "That's exciting. I think a lot of artists don't want to admit it, but there's always that fear of, 'I wonder if so-and-so has ever heard my music? I wonder what they think about it?' You know? So for anybody to be willing to collaborate means that they meshed with it, so that's a good feeling."

Photo: Katherine Tyler for iHeartRadio

The Human Condition brings more than just new tunes to listeners. It also comes a very colorful album campaign, which recalls the kind of animation featured in Pixar films. In collaboration with Indonesian artist David Ardinaryas Lojaya, the star took fans into a very specific realm that combined his lyrics with animated scenery.

"Old people, young people can relate no matter what religion, or skin color, or whatever brings people together," he explained of his fascination with Pixar. "I made this entire art campaign that comes along with the album to have four movie posters for every song on the album."

Still, Bellion's star is rising and he hopes that the success of The Human Condition does more than just continue to propel his name onto the scene. "I want [this campaign] to also double as a business proposition to Pixar because I want to score for them. I want to do what Phil Collins did for Tarzan," he added. That's like a dream of mine."

Catch Jon Bellion on his "The Human Condition Tour Part II" until the end of November.