Joe Jonas, Ciara & Audrey Morrissey – I Can Do That

By starrymag | May 19, 2015

Q) Can you talk about what your favorite skill that you got to perform was?

Joe: I mean this show through me into situations I really never thought I would do. I was able to learn quite a bit of stuff. And for me personally, I’ve always had – I’ve worked on some aerial stuff that was kind of blowing and painful. That was probably one of my favorites.

Q) What your favorite stunt to watch performed?

Audrey: I guess, to be honest, I think stuff – the truth is all of them are great because what I really enjoyed most about the show was seeing all the talent — the players — really extend themselves and really work hard beyond, really, my expectations and I think theirs. I think they were really surprised with how challenging all the performances were to learn and how much they got into it and were excited about it and took on the challenge. And basically conquered it every single time, even when they were really fish out of water, when they really thought, “There is no way I can do this.” And they did. And that was really a very just a rewarding and exhilarating part, like everybody bonded deeply because of it.

Q) Joe, can you talk about why you decided to do this show?

Joe: The reason I decided to do this show I think it was probably the fact that when I sat with Audrey and we kind of talked the concepts, it was something that I never heard anyone has really done. It was bringing all of my favorite shows together. You have little pieces of The Voice; you have America’s Got Talent. And the cast is really fun and new friends of mine. And being thrown into situations that you wouldn’t do unless there was a camera in the audience and saying all right, I have a week to learn this stuff and conquer them. I really enjoyed the challenge.

Q) Joe, of all of the new skills that you’ve learned during the process of filming this show, are any of them things that you can use for future performances or in your career that you were excited about?

Joe: Yes, it’s funny. A lot of the musicians on the show, we’ve been talking about how we’re going to incorporate things we’ve learned into live concerts or award shows; things like that. Some, I would say, magic stuff that I learned on the show I think visually would be really exciting to put into a performance.

Q) Audrey, whatever you were working with the celebrities to do this, was there any time you were worried that you were asking them to do too much that was out of their comfort zone?

Audrey: I think Joe will remember something he and Nicole [Scherzinger] did which was very very physical. They were roller skating on roller skates and doing crazy positions and moves. And yes. There was a time where I thought, “Well, we’ve really reached the edge here and this is either going to be incredible or I’m being irresponsible; I don’t know.” But – I guess I shouldn’t be saying that. But yes, to answer your question, yes. I think what’s exciting about this show is we took the write-ups a line, and then made sure we were inside the line. But yes, I mean it was inspiring to see what they were able to achieve. I think some of the aerial stuff – I mean these guys got beaten up; I mean bruised and battered. And what was crazy is they wanted to go beyond. I mean they’re all so competitive and they’re all pros and they all want to excel. And you would sort of lay out, the routine; “Here’s what you have to do.” And then they would come to you and say, “Well how do we better this? How can we make it even more spectacular?” And even surprised some of the trainers. “Like really? You want to take that on? Like that takes years to learn.” And they’re like, “Try me, let’s try, let’s swing for the fences.” So it was great.

Q) Ciara, in doing this show, did you find yourself outside of your comfort zone very often, and would you – or are any of the new skills that you learned, are you going to use them in the future?

Ciara: There were definitely quite a few moments that pretty much I think in a sense every moment was kind of outside of my comfort. There was some things that were like, of course, the idea of doing them were familiar because it’s a part of performing. But my thing is with this show what I really wanted to do was I wanted to do things that I felt would be challenging. And they all are challenging as they come on the stage but there are some things where it’s like it’s like – it’s really its way more closer to what I do as a performer. And I want to challenge myself. And I think that’s what made it so much more exciting in the process because you really – I really did walk away from this experience feeling like I grew. Like I walked away like I don’t want to say a whole new person but there was definitely a whole new layer added to me to how I kind of look at things now and how I approach things because it really is a mental thing when you think about it. In my world as a performer, we don’t really have to express beyond our music. And we do interviews here and there and our songs kind of speak for us. But in this case, we’re very vulnerable. Like you get to see us mess up and try to kind of figure something out, and you get to see how we really are just like everyone else because we do get challenged. And we do get to like look – you see our flaws in the process. And so for me, I really took away a very – some of the very – a very cool personal – a feeling personally. It was kind of like I really felt like I grew from everything that we did. , I definitely can say that I was very super inspired. I just – leaving this show, it really does – we have pretty – I have to say first we’re very blessed. But I have to say a big thanks to the whole NBC Team because we’re all so very spoiled in the sense with all the production and stuff that was happening. To me I was like, “You walked away with,” – I’ve always been a big dreamer, but my dreams were even bigger after leaving this show because you’re like, “Okay.” Well now you really get to see a whole level of production that you don’t see every day in all of our performances doing our shows here and there around the world. And it’s just such a high level of production too that you do walk away as a performer like, “Okay, I want to be swinging from this part of the stage to this and this.” Like it definitely makes my brain turn a lot for sure. But honestly it was the coolest experience. I’m truly so glad that I pushed myself and I actually got to be a part of it. Because I do believe as an artist, it also allowed me to grow; as an entertainer, it allowed me to grow. And I walked away like, “Wow, I do now know I can do.” I’ve always believed in myself but you’re like – you do know like you can pretty much do almost anything. Like at least that’s how you feel leaving the show.

Q) I was wondering if you could talk about what Marlon Wayans brings to the table as the host.

Audrey: Oh, we are so happy and lucky to have Marlon as our host. We wanted this show to have a freshness kind of as a humor, a (comedic) sort of late night spontaneous feel to the show and brining that feel into Prime Time. And we really wanted somebody with a strong comedy muscle. And we got it in Marlon. I mean so much of the show beyond everything we’ve just discussed about how rigorous and challenging all the performances are, but there’s also a lot of heart and there’s also a lot of fun. And it is really great to see your fellow players cheer you on, support you, also be a little jealous because everybody is trying to win. And there are very silly, they often can find themselves in some silly situation because some of the acts are very, very fun. Joe, Ciara, they’ve been in some really funny ones. Jeff Dye, a comedian, did a routine and he was in like a lucre bodysuit which made him slightly uncomfortable on stage. And anyway, those moments or Alan shirtless (sic) all the time. Marlon was great to be quick witted and bring the humor. So he’s been fantastic. He also would pop up during the training — the training session — which was also something that was incredible to have from the host.

Q) Joe, I wanted to see if you had seen the Blue Man Group before. I know it’s a bit of a big success in Chicago and wondered if you had seen it before? I saw a little clip of you doing something with that.

Joe: I’ve never seen the Blue Man Group actually. From an early age, I’ve wanted to go to their show in New York and then a couple of times in Vegas. I’ve never really had the opportunity to go. I had an idea of what they do and kind of thought it was a little bit more – I would say, no offense to them, but I thought they were kind of like in a way like a clown group or something. Like a lot of people I think assume they are; they play instruments and it’s a little bit wacky. I had no idea how complicated what they do is. I mean going to the show I was blown away. The stuff that they have going on it was like mind-blowing. And I was working with them for a week. It was definitely not enough time. They don’t put people on their show until six months to a year. But somehow they really posted (sic) a ringer and somehow pulled off a fun show, but it was a really huge I think respect thing for me for them where you realize how much they do and how hard these guys work. And it’s a performance piece that they’ve been doing for 20/30 years and they’ve perfected in their own way. So it was a very cool thing for them to allow us to work with them. And they’ve never don’t this before where they’ve had outside people become Blue Man for a week. So it was kind of a very honoring situation as well.

Q) You guys have a bunch of guest stars come on the show to show you what they can do. And are there any like guest stars in particular that you guys are really, really excited to have on the show?

Audrey: Well I think Ciara and Joe didn’t know what was coming. I mean that’s kind of what’s really great about this show; they have no idea. So every week, after they’ve just spent a week training with the act they picked this week and they have to perform, as soon as that performance is over there are three brand new acts coming. So I don’t know actually. Maybe you guys did have hopes of what you had hoped would be on the show.

Ciara: No, actually we didn’t. It was like so funny because we would all talk amongst each other. And say, “Do you think you know what’s happening?” Like or sometimes we would try to find ways to like maybe see if we could kind of walk down the hallway and see a hint of something. There will be funny moments like that but we really didn’t know what to expect. And I can say for myself that as much as I was kind of hoping to know in advance, it was a really cool fun part like that brings out of the inner-kid in you where you’re like you don’t want to know what’s going to come out in front of you because you really do want to be – you really do want to have that genuine excitement and that – it kind of puts you on edge. Because the truth is you could end up with something that you really want to do and you could be lucky that way. And then you could also end up with something that you’re like, “Oh really, ah. I wish I would have run up those stairs a little earlier. It’s just all genuine excitement of not knowing what to expect. And it really, really – I think it has just made it so much more fun that way. And I think for you watching the show, you’ll also enjoy that way. But truthfully, we really didn’t know what was going to come out behind the stage every week. And that’s really what made it that much – that’s really what makes it so much fun or made it that much fun.

Q) So there’s kind of like an element of surprise there that’s really good for you guys?

Audrey: What’s really interesting is that they are doing new acts every week that the players didn’t know. And we did take great pains to keep it a secret. But when the first act comes out and there’s a real strategy involved because the players need to decide, “Should I go for this act or should I hold back and take my chances to see what the next two are?” So let’s say, for some reason didn’t get the first act, then they were going to do one of the next two. And if they didn’t get the first two, the third one was there — period. No way to get out of it.

Q) Joe and Ciara, what’s it like working with each other and like some of your other costars?

Ciara: Oh it’s so much fun. The cool thing is that none of us had – I can say for myself I think maybe a few people on the cast actually didn’t’ work with each other on other stuff, but for me I never work with anyone that I work with during the season. And it really was fun. It was also like a cool discovery of what we all – like it’s kind of like you get to learn. I think when you get to meet people that you know their work but you don’t really get to know them, but then when you get together you have such a great time. And you get to see what cool people they are. Like Joe and I, we like joke about it, but we really are friends beyond the show. And I think that’s so amazing about experiences like this is that, you get to grow within your own world of what you do but you also get to meet really amazing people that could inspire you, that you also become support for one another in what you do in different fields. And honestly, it’s like experiences like this, I really took it all the way in and for every aspect of what it was beyond my personal part of just my challenges as an entertainer. But really, the friendships that I was able to build were really awesome and I really – it also added to the experience and make it that much cooler as well.

Q) Was there anything on the show that you did that you thought would be easy that turned out to be harder than it was? And was there something you thought would be harder that turned out to be easier than you thought?

Joe: I think there wasn’t really anything that we were approached with that was easy. Even if it was say something that was singing or dancing, it was different than what we’ve known. And I don’t want to speak for you Ciara, but I think for us, it’s something that we kind of would be able to figure out, or you go, “Okay, I can do this in a week.” And then you’re like by Day 2, you’re like your body is falling apart; you’re freaking and you’re like, “Can we actually do this?” So it was definitely a learning curve.

Ciara: Absolutely. I can agree with Joe. Yes, I agree with him 100%. Every week it really was challenging. Even the things that you think like you picked something that maybe it seemed like it could be like – because everything looks fun. I think that’s the one thing I can tell you. Something – actually let me not say that because there’s some things that it looks fun but you can tell it actually looks as hard as it really is. But I got to learn in the process is like everything really is super – no matter how fun it looks, it still is super challenging. And again, because we’re all still stepping into territories that aren’t familiar that we don’t do every day. For example, some things – because I can’t give it all away, but there was one thing that I – one of my performances that I did that it looks like so much fun, but my legs really felt like I couldn’t even – it was like I couldn’t even – I was holding onto the wall to move through my house when I leave from work. Or like when I had to get in my car to drive home, it was like I had to take like baby steps like, but the actual things that I was doing was so much fun and so cute. But it’s very painful. It was still very – it was like – it could have looked easy but really, everything is really challenging in its own way.

Audrey: You know what? I’m so happy to hear that because we tried really hard to make everything not super easy for any of them.

Q) When can your fans expect new music from both of you?

Ciara: Well, I can just say right now, my current song, I Bet, is out. And thank God it’s going along very well. And actually Joe joined me on the remix of that song, which I just mine as well take the moment to say that it’s on the Deluxe Version of my album titled Jackie. But that’s out now. Definitely for me, there will be a new song coming soon as well. And I can just say get ready to dance; dance, dance, dance away. Before Joe speaks, I just want to say I got to hear some of his music and it’s really amazing. Joe, I don’t know if you want to tell them about your music.

Joe: Yes, well becoming friends on the show, we obviously she asked me to be a part of her song so I’m thrilled to be a part of it and I love that song and I was fan of the song already. And we were just kind of seeing it backstage and then it turned into a remix of the song. And I love that and also I love all of her new music. So it’s really awesome; it’s on repeat. And my stuff? I’m just really writing/recording right now. And I have kind of been in and out of the studio and taking my time, so hopefully you’ll hear something soon from me.

Q) Joe, just a Camp Rock question. In your opinion, are Mitchie and Shane going to get together in real life?

Joe: That was a first. I think somewhere – yes. In some universe, in some Disney universe, they’re together.

Q) The six celebrity contestants, who do you think has the best chance of becoming the ultimate entertainer?

Ciara: Oh, that was funny. I think that we all – I can speak from my point of view. I’m sure Joe would concur. I think that everyone honestly – that everyone is really able to show how there is so many layers to a performer. And I think that is a beauty of a show like this. As it is challenging to all of us, it gives you the opportunity to show your range. Even for the guys that, like for example, with Jeff, he’s a comedian, but you get to see the range that he can go in as an entertainer. And I think everyone is honestly the ultimate performer; everyone is an ultimate performer on this show. That’s what I personally think.

Joe: I agree. Yes, I totally agree. I would be stealing her answer. She said it perfectly.

Q) Was there ever a point where after taking on a challenge you thought to yourself, “What have I gotten myself into?” And if there was, can you elaborate a little bit on the task?

Joe: Yes, I think that happens every week. I don’t think there was ever a challenge that I kind of toasted with. There was some that were actually like dangerous and scary, some that were kind of like – you were like, “Okay, if I do something wrong this could be embarrassing.” But that was part of the fun of the show was just being thrown into it and doing it.

Ciara: Absolutely. I actually agree with Joe. I could definitely say that there were moments too because, again, where you may have had to do something that you were like, “Oh, why didn’t I run up the stairs a little earlier.” And then when you’re doing good, you’re like, you also get to say – not only like, “Okay, well what am I getting myself into,” but then you also discover like, “Hey, this actually turned out really cool.” There’s moments like that as well.

Q) Can you guys talk about your strategy behind selecting the challenges you took on throughout the season?

Ciara: I can say, for me, I just really, really wanted to do things outside of what people I think would expect for me. Or myself, think that I just really would like to just really close to my work. I was just like I don’t want to do that because I don’t think it’s fair. I can definitely say that that’s how I kind of chose my challenges.

Joe: I would agree. I mean I think there was probably situations that both of us have gone into where we had last minute performances whether its award shows or you hop up on stage and perform and you kind of have to be ready in general. And just as an artist, be – I think great artists are able to just get up there and sing and dance and perform on the dot for people. And we’ve had to do that for a long time in our careers. So I think doing this for the show, even if it was just a week that was definitely helpful walking into it.

Q) Do you guys have favorite parts about being on a show like this one?

Ciara: I just really like as an entertainer, I like just being able to dive in other worlds that allow people to also to see what you really are capable of as a performer. Because shows like this, they really give you – to me it’s like one of the coolest platforms that do that. You’re really able to show – like sometimes again, as an artist, people don’t really get to know you beyond your song and your video and interviews here and there. We’re pretty straightforward when it comes to the artist/entertainer/singer/dancer part of it all. So what I love about shows like this – and also it allows people to see you as a person because outside of the actual challenges there are a lot of funny moments. And people get to see how you don’t take yourself so serious that I think they expect us as singers to always be like one way. They see you always so high-powered doing high-powered performances on stage all the time that people could probably see you in one light. And shows like this allow people to get to see you like, honestly, at some of the rawest moments and realist moments that you could have. And that’s why I personally – that’s what I personally took from my experience and really loved about doing the show.

Joe: And similar for me too. I think doing the show – behind the camera was always really fun with us. We all actually I think there’s some shows that I know it can be a job for people every day showing up for us. We were hanging out backstage, we were hanging out in dressing rooms, we were talking and we became all close. And sitting on those couches was like the funniest few hours of our day being able to just whether it was teasing each other or like catching up, even with a live audience, having fun with them too, it was really exciting.

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*