Jacob Whitesides Talks To Patients About Music & What Inspires Him

Recap Written by Seacrest Studios Intern: Jenna Cominsky 

Singer-songwriter Jacob Whitesides visited Seacrest Studios at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to meet patients, answer their questions, and perform some of his original songs.  At just 18-years-old, Jacob is the CEO of his own record label Double U Records.  Jacob spoke candidly about his rise to fame, saying he’s been working hard to make a name for himself in the music industry for several years but credits all of his success to his fans. 

Jacob admits that he was more into sports when he was younger, but it was country breakout star Chris Stapleton’s bluegrass concert that inspired him to get into music and playing guitar.  It was then he began doing live restaurant and patio performances in his home state of Tennessee.  As time went on,

Jacob began posting covers of songs on YouTube.  This step in his career was inspired by Justin Bieber, but not for the reasons you might think! “I was inspired by a little jealousy, actually!” Jacob says.  According to Jacob, his first girlfriend had a serious case of “Bieber Fever” and even had a cardboard cutout of the pop-sensation, which fueled Jacob’s fire to win over his girlfriend’s affections by covering Bieber’s “One Time” and uploading it to YouTube. Jacob gained national recognition after appearing on The X Factor and even though he didn’t make it far in the show he says the experience was “eye opening to see how the industry works, it was really cool.” 

Since then, he’s released two EPs “A Piece of Me” and “Faces on Film” and is looking forward to the release of his debut album later this year.  He says his main focus for his album was to push himself out of his comfort zone musically and try new things. May 18th marked the start of “The Lovesick Tour”, Jacob’s first national tour around the United States and Toronto. Jacob has already put in an immense effort into his career for someone so young, and he says the positive feedback he gets from fans and his love for music are the driving forces to keep that going.  Jacob says artists like John Mayer and Jack Johnson have been the inspiration in developing the style of his sound.  

He also gave us a little peek into his interests aside from music! Jacob says his favorite ride at Disney World is the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster”, but can only handle so much of that 0-60 miles per hour blast off.  He also said his favorite superhero is Captain America and praised the hero’s newest movie: “Captain America: Civil War”. After his Q&A session, Jacob performed an acoustic version of his newest single “Lovesick” and “Let’s Be Birds”.  

He also took the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures with patients before ending his visit.  All of us here at CHOP wish you the best of luck on your tour and album release, Jacob!  We hope to see you again soon!