Jarvis Speaks on Capitol Records Signing, ‘Keeping it R&B’ on Debut Album — Exclusive

Most artists would grow increasingly disillusioned with the music industry after a couple of label stints but Jarvis isn’t easy to break. In the early 2000s, the Atlanta-based singer was part of the So So Def roster, but that deal fizzled. By 2009, Jarvis’ career had been reborn, showing promise with his track Pretty Girl,' which steadily climbed the R&B charts. The young singer had signed to Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace imprint and it seemed he would finally get his time to shine on a national platform. But the deal with DTP never materialized either.

“When I got my first deal, I was really, really young,” he tells TheDrop.fm. “Things were going fast. But then things didn’t go as I’d planned or expected. I was so young -- 15, 16 -- just getting into the game, so I was thinking everything would just be all good.”

Despite things not working out as planned, he kept his head up. “That’s not how it went but at that point in time, I had to do a lot of soul searching and figure out what I really wanted to do and I decided to keep pushing," the crooner continues.

Jarvis persisted until he pushed his way into a brand new record deal with Capitol Records in November. After the positive reception of his recent ‘Heartache’ mixtape, he caught the attention of some key music industry executives and found himself readily signing another dotted line.

"There wasn’t any hesitation because this is a great group of people,” Jarvis explains. “The guy that signed me, Steve-O, is a great guy. I’ve known him for years just being around the business and the Capitol staff overall is just great. They don’t get a whole lot of credit but they’re responsible for a lot of incredible hits so it was a no-brainer.”

'Make a Little Room' was the one song that prodded Capitol executives to make their final decision -- the track had proved its potential as soon as it was added to urban radio playlists. "'Make a Little Room’ was spinning in about 20 markets,” Jarvis says with a smile. “It was getting positive feedback, started in Chattanooga, [Tenn.], made its way around, then landed back in Atlanta. Then word got back to Capitol and the rest is history.”

Now Jarvis is ready to make more history as he adds onto his growing catalog with a debut album, arriving in 2013. Right now, his focus is on maintaining the essence of rhythm and blues. “It’s gonna be incredible,” he exhales. “I would probably say [my album is] about 40 percent done.”

With contributions from writers and producers such as Eric Hudson, Babyface and Rico Love, the youthful singer is already on his way to making his name mean something more to the genre than just "new artist." “It’s really all about creating a sound. We have a lot of different people [working on the album] that really do the R&B thing. We want to keep it classical but also just put a young twist on it while still keeping it R&B. That’s the main focus. We don’t wanna see-saw.”

Watch Jarvis' 'Make a Little Room' Video