McCarrick sings on; releases music video

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

Last year, 17-year-old Joey McCarrick stood in the audition room for NBC’s “The Voice.” With 10 other contestants there, he sang his song, feeling more at ease than he thought possible. He delivered an emotionally charged performance, earning him a golden ticket to advance to the next round in Los Angeles.

The auditions came just weeks after his older sister, Destiny, and her boyfriend, Mike “Slim” Stevens, were in a tragic motorcycle accident.

“I could feel her in the room,” McCarrick recalled.

After another interview, McCarrick was told he made the Top 25 contestants in Florida, and started arranging to take time off school to attend the next segment of auditions. But fate took a turn when he received an email from the show telling him that they were taking a new format to the show and that this time, it was not going to happen for him.

“They had a new thing in place where they gave out 40 random tickets to people,” McCarrick said. “So my ticket went to a random person who played on the streets.”

But, as fate would have it, not going to Los Angeles allowed McCarrick to attend the National Catholic Youth Conference, where he performed in a talent show.

“Everyone else did a cover of a Christian song,” McCarrick said. “Mine was an original.”

His original performance earned him fourth place in the show, but more than that, got him recognized by an independent, international record and video company called Heart Beat Records. Based in Donnellson, Iowa, Heart Beat Records concentrates on releases for and from the Catholic market.

From then until now, McCarrick has been working closely with the recording label as a signed artist, sending original music and working to improve. This summer, he traveled to the studio, just outside Chicago, to record three of his songs, which the label plans to release throughout the year.

“It’s kind of a twist of fate,” said McCarrick's mother, Kerry, who is co-owner of McCharacters Music Café and Sports Bar. “Because 'The Voice' didn’t happen, something better came along.”

One of those songs, “#YOLO,” was filmed as a music video, which was released Tuesday, Aug. 28, on YouTube. The song is representative of something Joey’s generation says, or types, often. #YOLO, for those who are not in the social media lingo, world directly translates to "hash tag, you only live once."

The song is about a guy not being ready to give away his heart to someone, but there is a girl he is interested in and he thinks, “What’s the worst that can happen?” With help from the label, McCarrick was able to change the hook of the song to make it more of a story and related to a school theme.

The video was filmed at Matanzas High School and features local students as well as students from McCarrick's school, St. Joseph’s Academy.

“The kids have always been told to use their God-given gifts and (McCarrick) is constantly out there and utilizing it,” Kerry McCarrick said.

For Joey McCarrick, it doesn’t stop here. He has already filmed a second music video at Marineland Park and Washington Oaks State Park, to be released around Christmas. Just beginning his senior year, he has hopes to attend Berkley School of Music, in Boston.

In addition to music, McCarrick holds a 4.0 GPA, is a member of National Honor Society, member of the National Youth Leadership Council, was asked to attend the Presidential Inaugural Conference in January and is nominated as the Collegiate Success student 2012. He is the captain of his varsity soccer team, leader of the music ministry, and currently performs 6-9 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, at McCharacters.

“He is an inspiration and great role model for children and teens everywhere,” Kerry McCarrick said.