Last updated on February 1, 2016
Barbara Harmon
Royce Lovett performed at Volunteer State Community College on Nov. 4 for the ACE Showcase event.
Lovett opened with an original song that he had written about hip hop.
When his song had finished, he told the audience some things that were going on with him.
“I’ve been on the road since Sept. 11, and I’m tired and excited,” said Lovett, “and extremely happy to be here with you guys.”
He had been hearing positive feedback about his album “Write it on the Wall” that had come out in Oct., he said.
“Yesterday I got some news that it did number 10 on the Billboard Chart for gospel,” said Lovett.
Lovett also sang “Writing on the Wall,” which made 93 on the Billboard Chart in Oct., he said.
“If you like this song, and you want to hear it on the radio, please call your radio and tell them to play it,” said Lovett. “I would really appreciate that.”
“A lot of my musical career, because my music is different, you’re told it’s not going to get radio play, but it actually did and it got on the Billboard Chart,” said Lovett. “And I’m really excited about that.”
He said that “Writing on the Wall” is about what is happening in the world today with pointless killings and how he feels that what everyone needs is love.
After the song ended Lovett reintroduced himself and said, “I like writing music or playing a rap, and I grew up listening to hip hop and soul music, so I guess that is how this thing happened.”
When the show was over Lovett signed autographs and took pictures with the students.
Maggie Lewis, a former Vol State student and now owner of Elevated Talent Group, said she met Royce in Jacksonville, Fla., at a conference he showcased.
“I just talked to him and wanted to represent him, so that’s how that happened,” said Lewis.
She said she does his corporate and college bookings, and she has been representing him since March.
“Royce is finishing up his “Write it On the Wall” tour, and then I’m just hoping to get his name and his music out there to just help him share his story,” said Lewis.
Lovett said that he started writing in 2003, after he found Christ.
“I was like, yo God what should I do with my life, and then I felt like it was music,” said Lovett.
“So that’s when I started being serious about being purposeful about something,” said Lovett.
He said when he was growing up he was always in a choir, his mom sang at church, and he had also been in a dance group, but was a lot more interested in sports.
“Things kind of changed after I really fell in love with music, and I just kind of found out who I was after that,” said Lovett.
Lovett feels like his songs are mostly about love, because he believes everything relates back to love, he said.
“Once you find out what love is, then you find out what you love to do and your purpose,” said Lovett.
“Then, after you find your purpose, you find your security,” he said.
Lovett enjoys having the opportunity to perform at colleges, because if the students really like him then they take his music back to wherever they are from, he said.
“Today was a little different, because the atmosphere was a little more relaxed; in the sense that everyone is doing something,” said Lovett.
“But when I perform at colleges with my band, it gets loud and sweaty jumping around.
“I throw water on people; you stage dive and stuff,” said Lovett.
He said he also loves it because it’s his age group, and they are all thinking about the same things.
“All you think about in college is love, purpose, and security,” said Lovett.
As far as his accomplishments go, Lovett would like to “take over the world,” he said.
More seriously: “I hope to do this for the rest of my life, see everything to be seen in the world, pay my bills on time, and inspire people—that’s it,” said Lovett.
“I encourage everyone to continue to learn who they are and who other people are.
“I’m still learning,” said Lovett. “I think that’s what makes you good at whatever you do, if you keep learning.”
Lovett had something else to add.
He said the first five people that take a picture of this, post it with #VSCCroycelovett and tag him in it, will get a free necklace.
Tabitha Sherrell, Coordinator of Student Activities for Student Life and Diversity Initiatives, said Lovett had performed at a national conference (APCA) in March that Dr. Kenny E. Yarbrough, Th.D., CDP, Director of Student Life and Diversity Initiatives, and Gabrielle Stanton, a Vol State student, had attended, and they both really enjoyed his performance.
“When Gabrielle came back, she went to the Student Government Association (SGA),” said Sherrell.
“Every year after we come back from APCA we do a showcase at the SGA meeting to show everybody the stuff that we saw and what we thought was good, and then they vote on what they liked.
“SGA voted Royce as one of their top performers that they wanted to see on campus,” said Sherrell.
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