Jon Bellion had two things on his mind when he was recording his latest album The Definition, which he released online for free on Tuesday.
“A lot of the album, The Definition was made from two things, Pixar movies and J. Dilla,” the singer, songwriter, producer, rapper and video director told MTV News on Thursday.
Bellion is currently overflowing with creativity, last year he wrote the chorus for Eminem and Rihanna’s number one single, “The Monster” and he also produced Jason Derulo‘s current single “Trumpets,” but it’s on The Definition where he is truly himself, blurring the lines between hip-hop, pop and soul.
Sometimes he’s singing (“Carry Your Throne”), sometimes he’s rapping (“Pre-Occupied”) and sometimes he breaks the boundaries and does both without you even noticing.
The truth is, on The Definition it’s impossible to find the seams in Bellion’s varied creativity, instead Jon soaks up inspiration and spits it back out in one steady stream. It all started with his binge-watching cartoon habits. “I’d watch Pixar movies for like six hours, back-to-back. I’d watch ‘Finding Nemo,’ twice a week, back-to-back-to-back, three times in a row,” he admitted.
Jon was so inspired by the Disney-backed animation house that he chose to animate his self-directed “Luxury” video as well. For him it’s the aesthetics and complex simplicity that films like “Finding Nemo” and “Cars” carry. Bellion admires how the story lines are sophisticated enough to hold the attention of adults and colorful and fun enough to captivate children.
Then there is his other muse, the late hip-hop producer extraordinaire J. Dilla, who Jon references a number of times on the album. “Now imagine if Dilla made a Pixar movie,” he urges. “It would just be the dopest, bounciest, cleanest, airiest, trillest, most-pocketed, bright, but still digestible.”
Bellion knows that the correlation between Disney and Dilla may not make sense to many, but he’s okay with that, he has it all figured out in his head.
“That’s what I want my music to be,” he said. “I want my music to be, you know exactly what I’m talking about, but at the same time it’s so simple, but it’s like how did he present it in this manner that’s so groundbreaking.”
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