If you have a thing for 90’s R & B then you need to check out Instagram star Justin Love.
The 22-year old co-wrote H.E.R’s smash hit “Focus” and is releasing his own EP this summer. The New Jersey native sat down with The Knockturnal before his performance at SOBs to discuss meeting H.E.R, how he gained almost 200 thousand followers, and which hip-hop artist career he wants to help revive.
The Knockturnal: You have a great social media following, how did you get that?
Justin Love: Just consistency. I knew what my fans wanted and I kept feeding my fans what they wanted which was a bunch of covers. And surely my following just started growing and my videos would get more and more views. People would repost my videos and then eventually people started making fake pages. I actually got a lot of followers from people making fake pages. They had more followers than I had, they were using my images and videos.
The Knockturnal: So it was a catfish kind of thing?
Justin Love: Yeah it was bad because there were young girls confiding to me saying they were saying things they shouldn’t have to the fake page thinking it was me. And these girls were 13,14,15 years old. So then I had to put a stop to it because one of these girls’ fathers is going to find me and tear me a new one. So I reached out to the page, threatened to call the police and they shut it down. It just wasn’t worth it.
The Knockturnal: So when you met H.E.R, I heard you were walking down the street and she was like, “let’s work!”
Justin Love: Not she, it was her manager. She had attended a Webster Hall show I performed at and someone from her team recognized me from the street and they invited me upstairs to work. I’m a free spirit, I don’t care if I feel like working I’m going to do it. So I go upstairs and she is playing the piano and singing beautifully, so we caught a vibe. It was easy to catch a vibe her. We wrote a few records.
The Knockturnal: Who else inspires you? Who else do you want to work with?
Justin Love: Ty Dolla Sign, I think the soul in that man is real. He is a smoker and a singer, I’m a smoker and a singer. We have similar tones and I just enjoy listening to him I’m a big fan. Um Chris Brown obviously, Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Boyz II Men, I don’t care how old they get. Um, are you ready for this one…
The Knockturnal: Yup….
Justin Love: Ja Rule, I feel like I can bring him back, I can help him.(laughs) But Ja Rule is the shit!
Find Justin at @officialjustinlove on social media and check out his new single “Model Women” below.
