Johann going viral on YouTube

Social media is not just a means of sourcing information or communicating. These days, it can also, pretty much, be used to launch a career. So many artists have turned their being Internet sensations into flourishing careers — and one of the latest is R&B artist Johann Mendoza.

Expect him to be a household name soon with the rate at which his videos are going viral on YouTube. He currently has about 15 videos that have garnered over two million views to date, and counting.

Johann — who was born in Baguio City but raised in Belgium (he speaks fluent English, Tagalog, Ilocano and understands a little bit of Dutch and French) — is in his early 30s and used to be part of different bands like Brown Flava, K 24/7 and Voices of 5 before going solo last year. He began posting videos of himself performing cover songs in September 2014.

“I’ll never forget the day we posted my first cover on YouTube: that was Sept. 11, 2014. It was I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston. Since my YouTube Channel only had 50 subscribers then, it didn’t immediately catch people’s attention,” recalls Johann.

Then one day, his marketing manager suggested uploading the video on his Facebook fan page (which had 900 followers at the time). What happened next was completely unexpected.

“To our surprise, it went viral in less than an hour, was shared by bloggers, and by other people we didn’t even know. In no time, the number of my followers, likers and subscribers surged,” says Johann. “We also noticed that my followers and subscribers came from a lot of different countries. We knew because apart from the statistics shown by YouTube and Facebook, I would speak and connect with them personally and that’s how I found out.”

Johann’s father raised him on a diet of classical music. He would also often play Michael Jackson songs that Johann would dance to. But he didn’t know he could sing until he was 19 years old. But of all the musical genres, it was R&B that Johann latched on to. The funny thing was that he did not choose R&B. “I believe it chose me,” he laughs. “Again, it was innate. I sound like it and I even physically look like it. I am a soul singer. You give me a song to sing, it will inevitably sound R&B when I interpret it.”

His musical influences include Michael Jackson, Dru Hill, Jodeci and Tupac. When he started singing professionally, these were the artists who influenced him into creating his own style of singing. 

The entry of social media and its being as a platform for bringing music to the attention of people changed his life, says Johann. Because of social media, aspiring and promising artists like him get a chance to make themselves heard. “It could change the lives of aspiring people/artists like me. In addition to tri-media, the Internet/social media has become a venue and a platform for artists like me to be seen. One just can be true and original because of its accessibility.”

A few days ago, Johann headlined a concert titled My Way, My Time at the Music Museum. The concert also launched his first single titled, Parang Langit, composed by Teddy Katigbak.

Johann is optimistic about his future in music. “I believe that I bring a different flavor of R&B that the Philippines has not yet seen or heard. I represent a side of R&B that puts expression, emotion and soul first before anything else,” he says.

“My legacy as a singer is to become an inspiration to other aspiring and talented artists like myself to show the world what they have. And if fame and money somehow come with it, I will take it as a bonus.”