Singer/actress Victoria Justice grows out of role
Victoria Justice's co-headlining tour with Big Time Rush comes as the singer/actress is an artist in transition.
The Nickelodeon television series that propelled her to popularity with the teen/tween market, “Victorious,” has been canceled after three seasons. At age 20, even Justice knows it's time to leave the Nickelodeon nest.
“I feel like it was time for the show to end,” she said in a late-May phone interview, “That's the point that I was in my life. I had just turned 20 years old in February. So it's like I'm entering a new phase of my life as well. I'm no longer a teenager anymore, so I'm definitely maturing as a person, and I'm ready to explore new opportunities. But my only regret is I wish I had known it was the final episode when we were filming it because I didn't get to give a proper goodbye to my character.”
The cancellation of “Victorious” has probably ended a run with Nickelodeon that began when Justice was 12.
Growing up in Hollywood, Fla., she got interested in doing commercials at age 8 after seeing a children's commercial.
“I'd always loved performing,” Justice said. “My mom, from a very young age, had always introduced me to different types of music, like lots of oldies that she grew up with, and I was always watching different types of movies, like Shirley Temple films and Barbra Streisand films like ‘Funny Girl.' I just had always been surrounded by the arts. I think it's just something that piqued my interest, and when I saw a kid in a commercial about like my age, I just had this epiphany where I thought ‘Oh, maybe that's something I can be good at, that I could try.' ”
Justice's instincts were right. Her first audition landed her a commercial for Ovaltine and her first audition for a modeling job produced the same result.
“I got really lucky in a lot of ways, I guess,” Justice said. “I booked over like 30 commercials, a print campaign for Ralph Lauren and the Gap and Guess. So I don't know, I just started working really consistently.”
Seeing their daughter's early success, Justice's parents moved the family to Los Angeles, where Justice soon came on the radar of Nickelodeon. She auditioned for a role on “Zoey 101,” a series starring Jamie Lynn Spears in the title role of Zoey Brooks.
“They were looking for a new girl to play her new roommate,” Justice said. “I was 12 years old when I auditioned, and then I got called back. And Dan Schneider was in the room, who was the creator of the show — I guess he liked my performance — and they decided to cast me as Lola on ‘Zoey.' I did that for three seasons.”
Schneider obviously liked what he saw of Justice because he immediately began developing “Victorious” as a vehicle for her varied talents.
Casting her as Tori Vega, a student making her way through a top performing arts school, Hollywood Arts High, the show put Justice in a setting where she could both act and sing. She recorded multiple songs for three soundtrack albums for the “Victorious” series, including the show's theme song, “Make It Shine” and the iTunes hit “Freak the Freak Out.”
Signed to Columbia Records, Justice also began writing and recording for her first solo album, which she said is now near completion. A single from that album, “Gold” has just been released to coincide with the tour with Big Time Rush.
Although Justice said she hopes her music will appeal to older fans, her debut album will still be suited to the teen/tween crowd that knows her from “Victorious.”
“My solo music definitely falls under the category of pop, for sure,” she said. “I think it's just slightly more mature, maybe just a little bit edgier, nothing that's going to shock anyone by any means. But some of the songs are really fun and stuff you can dance to, just like good time, like party songs. And then I have a few songs that are a bit more mellow. It's hard to describe because I can't really give too much away about it yet.”
What: Summer Break Tour Who: Big Time Rush and Victoria Justice When: 7 p.m. Tuesday Where: Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, Charlotte, N.C. Tickets: $20-$81 Info: 800-653-8000 or www.livenation.com