Elvis — in a way — was responsible for Son.person meeting Justin Bieber, who was his idol at the time.
Son was around eight years old when he and his mom met Bieber backstage before the singer’s performance at FedExForum.
“I gave him an Elvis Presley clock,” Son says. “The one where Elvis’s legs move back and forth. My mom handed it to him and he started laughing and smiling and we took our photos. I was scared to death. All I said was I was wanted to do what he did one day.”
Son (a.k.a. Whitt Sabin) is now a 17-year-old singer-songwriter following in Bieber’s footsteps as well as the footsteps of many of his other heroes, including Tyler, the Creator. Son released his ninth single, Loved U More May 13th with a video to follow soon.
Son began making videos when he was a baby. “There’s videos you can see on YouTube. Me in diapers just singing songs.”
And, he says, “My mom has a video of me in Wiggles pajamas and I’m doing Fireflies by Owl City over and over again.”
When he was about six, Son began studying at the House of Talent in Germantown. While his fellow classmates were tap dancing or doing theater music, Son was performing songs by Bieber and Bruno Mars. “That’s all I wanted to do. That age was around the time I discovered who Justin Bieber was. I loved his entire everything. I love the whole frontman appeal, like Bruno Mars and the older ones like Michael Jackson. Just being that guy up front and being able to entertain people. Making people happy is such a cool thing.”
Son began taking guitar lessons at age 7 when he went to study at the School of Rock Memphis. “I didn’t hate it,” he says, “but I wanted to be the guy up there shouting out loud. I just wanted to be up front, I guess.” So, shortly after the guitar lessons, Son began concentrating on singing and working on performance, and he credits the School of Rock Memphis for helping hone his skills.
Son used to just “stand still on stage and not move one bit. The change I’ve seen in 10 years has just been insane.”
On his cover version of Wild Flower by the Cult, Son says, “I was just standing there. I’m standing still the whole time. The guitar solo ends and I do one tiny jump. It’s so funny. “I would always try to move a little more every show, but I was very reserved, I guess.”
He decided to step up his game when his School of Rock Memphis house band went on a tour performing with School of Rock house bands from around the country. “That house band was like a light switch. That was the changing point for me. I just started moving around more. I started entertaining the crowd and speaking out loud. I used the entire stage to my advantage. I never stood still.”
Moves suddenly appeared. “It was like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m going to moonwalk like Michael Jackson.’ I would just go up and move. If it felt good, it felt good.” And he’d do his own thing. “I started making songs my own.”
He also credits School of Rock Memphis for his range of musical tastes. “I would not have such a diverse music background if it wasn’t for them. I started off in Green Day. We did hits by Pink Floyd and Rage Against the Machine and even Muddy Waters. From blues to rock to jazz and pop music.”
Son developed “a deep love for hip-hop. I never used to love it. I guess it grew on me because of the feel. I like Justin Bieber and I like what I heard on the radio. The top 40 stuff. But I wasn’t really open to listening and branching out yet. But School of Rock pushed me to do that. And it really helped.”
Son began listening to performers, including the Beastie Boys, Tupac Shakur, and Grandmaster Flash. “The ’80s were so cool to me. The style and the esthetic of those eras were just so neat.”
Son’s clothing style also changed. “I started caring more about the stuff I was wearing. Someone who really pushed me was my grandma. She started taking me to Urban Outfitters. The whole street cult, Mean Streets wear. I started off with the red jeans and flannels to the vintage T’s. I would see stuff with (Notorious) B.I.G. or Tupac on it. The Nikes and Jordans and stuff like that. I think I’ve got 25 pairs of shoes. And I’m not the biggest sneaker head.”
Three years ago he got a pair of white Lebrons from Footlocker. “I always wear basketball shoes, but wear them as streetwear. And everyone called me out for them. These huge ass shoes on my feet. I love them. It was so cool. I love the ‘out there’ look. Things that make people look at you.”
Around the time he got the Lebrons, Son began asking himself, “What am I going to do with music? I was 13 and I started to really get into Tyler, the Creator, the first guy in hip-hop I idolized. He did such a cool fusion of pop and hip-hop and jazz music.”
Son saw Tyler perform at the 2018 Beale Street Music Festival. He thought, “This is the greatest experience of my life.” And when he heard Tyler was going to perform at a festival in Los Angeles, his mom got tickets and they went to California. “This dude has his own brand of clothing. Him and his team. The way he brands himself and having his own festival was insane to me.”
Son thought, “I want to do this.”
The day before the show, Son and his mom saw Tyler walk into his GOLF store, which sells a range of Tyler’s branded clothing and accessories. Later, at lunch, his mom pointed out “this tall guy in an alligator suit.” It was Tyler. “And so I walk up to him. I tapped his shoulder and I was like, ‘Are you Tyler?’ And he was, ‘Yeah.’”
Son told Tyler, “The reason I’m so passionate about music and the reason I want to pursue this dream is because of what you do.”
Tyler laughed and began to leave with his friends. Son asked him, “Can I get a picture with you?” Tyler said no. “He doesn’t like photos,” Son says. Then Tyler says, “But I’ll shake your hand.”
Suddenly someone ran up behind him and snapped a quick photo with the singer. That was when Tyler says to Son, “You got one second.” He told him the photo had to be taken “super quick.” So, Son snapped a quick selfie. And then he said to Tyler, “You need to watch for me. I’m going to be in the very front. Don’t miss me.”
Son and his mom got to the festival at 9 a.m. the next day. Son immediately ran to the stage where Tyler was going to perform and stood in front of the stage for the next 11 hours.
What happened next still astonishes Son, who says this part of the show is on YouTube. Tyler tells the audience, “The craziest thing is like in this crowd right now, is somebody that makes beats or like rap or sing or just got ideas. And in four to five years he’s gonna scare me and be my competition. And I know that person. I shook your fucking hand. You’re somewhere in here, motherfucker.”
“When he says that line, he’s looking down. And from my perspective — we were on the railing — we looked at each other. It was like a moment of BAM. It was like chills.”
Son, who is convinced Tyler was talking about him, thought, “OK. That’s it. In four to five years, I’ve got to do this. That’s the point in my life I have to be an artist. I have to make this happen. I’ve got to get to a point where I can meet him again and ask him if I was the person he was talking about that day. This November will be four years from that date.”
He began working with School of Rock Memphis general manager Landon Moore on putting out a record. The music for his first one, Girl Like You, was written by Moore. “I told him the type of song I wanted to make and he wrote the instrumental for it.”
Son describes it as a “love song ballad.” “I based it off of the Notorious B.I.G. remix by Elijah Who, My Favorite Ladies.
In the Notorious B.I.G.’s song, he would try to the find the “perfect lady,” Son says. “There was always something that would keep her from being his perfect lady. So, I said, ‘I’m going to write this from a teenage perspective.’” The video shows Son sitting at the head of a long table with women seated around it. He recounts his past lovers.
“I like to make small stories out of my music. For every song that I write I really like to get some depth with it. And I like to visualize that. Especially in my newer works. I started releasing more short form videos as opposed to a single, long video.”
He describes his latest single, Loved U More, as “a message of honesty and torn emotion mixed with colorful sampling and roaring guitar loops.”
An ever-changing series of photos, statements, show dates, and videos appears on his Instagram page. “It feels like right now, especially with my goals and aspirations with music, I understand I have to give it my all. It feels like 100 percent of the time revolves around music. If it’s not me, it’s me helping someone else with their music.”
As for the big picture, Son speaks with confidence. “Elvis was two generations ago. Justin Timberlake was this last generation. When you think of the next generation of Memphis music, that’s Son.person.”
To hear Loved U More, click here: notorietymusicgroup.com/sonperson-links
Son.person will perform at 7 p.m. on May 27th at Mushroom Fest at Shelby Forest. Tickets for the four-day-event are $20 each day or a four-day-pass for $50.
