During the midst of the craziness that was SXSW 2023, Brianna and I got the opportunity to sit down with Australian-pop artists Cody Jon. The second Cody walked into the room he was like a ball of sunshine with such amazing energy and vibes, speaking with him was a memorable experience that I am excited to share. Despite being so young he is a very insightful performer and person, so I hope you enjoy reading all about his music, inspirations, future plans and MORE!
This is the first time Jon has been to Texas and he flew here all by himself for SXSW at just 20 years old. He was very busy with two official showcases at Lucille on Rainey street, one in which I actually got to catch. His performance was captivating, despite being in a room full of businessmen (not his usual demographic), that didn’t stop Jon from dancing and pointing all around these men as if they’ve been fans for years. He isn’t just a singer though, Jon is also a very talented dancer, and is ALWAYS incorporating it in his live performances. He was extremely entertaining from his stage presence, dance moves, and amazing music, I could not look away.
“My mom has a dance school, so I’ve grown up… I was about ten when I started dancing. Done a lot of classes, I don’t really do it anymore, just kind of a thing I did when I was younger, but now I include it into my music, which is fun.”
He gives the same energy performing in front of a group of 10 or 10,000 and I have more respect for that! When talking with Jon I KNEW I had to bring up his SXSW performance, and how he’s feeling with more to come that week. For being so young, and in a brand new state/country playing a huge music festival, Jon was more excited than nervous. This was a life changing opportunity for him and he was not letting nerves get in the way.
I got the opportunity to see Cody live at SXSW!
“I feel very comfortable on stage and performing so I wasn’t really nervous for the show, coming over here is a big deal, it is exciting. I was a bit nervous, honestly my tailbone just hurt on the flight because it was so long and I was like ‘damn how am I gonna dance, my tailbone hurts’”
Jon grew up heavily influenced by music, specifically the older stuff. From his grandparents to parents and sister, he was always listening to music before his time. These influences are heavily reflected in his music, through the melody, beats, music videos, Jon’s personal style, he is always referencing an older time, specifically the early 2000s. “I grew up a lot of the time with my grandparents, so I listened to a lot of old school musicals and movies… and my parents played a lot of the 80s and the 90s and my dad was a huge Beatles fan.” This influence has made his music standout, especially on TikTok where I, as many others, originally discovered Jon.
Jon puts 120 % of effort into everything he does, especially when it comes to his music. Which explains why many people, including myself, discovered him through a viral Tiktok about his newest music video. Just from that 15 seconds alone I could tell he was a very passionate and dedicated musician with a bright future ahead. I got the opportunity to ask about this iconic music video for his song, dirty dancing, and there was so much thought and care curated into creating this. The setting takes place in an old DVD store, which similar to America, Cody mentioned how there don’t have much left in Australia either. He found one a few hours away and simply asked the owner to shoot there, and he ended up being able to film the video a few hours before the store opened. This video has a very cool concept and I’m very happy with how much it reflected Jon's identity and hardwork.
“We didn’t have much time to film either, so we shot it in a few hours and edited it into a few days, then it was up the next week… so I was very excited the day it came out so I posted the Tiktok for it go viral and was like ‘Ok, that hectic week was all worth it.”’
There are obviously big plans in store for this big ball of energy and I am so excited to see what he is going to accomplish. Right now Jon is in Los Angeles for a few weeks before going home back to Australia where he will continue to pursue music. He recently released the EP, untied shoes, back in February of 2023 so now he is focusing on producing new music and hopefully an album! Cody, thank you so much for speaking with me and Brianna. We hope you have a safe flight home “bestie”! P.s. I cleaned up my desktop <3
Follow Cody Jon on ALL platforms and check out his newest projects on Spotify!