Johnny Orlando

Capturing the urgency of teen romance, Johnny Orlando’s soaring 2018 single "What If (I Told You I Like You)" spread through social media like wildfire. But long before the Canadian pop prodigy struck viral gold, he put in the hard miles as a vlogger, getting his first taste of fame in 2011, when his darling cover of Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe” racked up over 100,000 plays in a single month. Faithful reimaginings of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" and Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man" fuelled Orlando's meteoric rise, and the arrival of 2015 debut EP VXIIXI thrust him out of the shadow of giants and onto his own shimmering path. Follow-up singles "Everything" and "The Most" offer a glimpse into the mind of a budding hitmaker, framing the Ontario native's angelic voice within robust, beat-heavy production. With ambitious 2020 EP It's Never Really Over, Orlando synthesized his own blend of guitar pop, EDM hedonism and hip-hop influences—amplifying acoustic grit with booming kicks on "Everybody Wants You" and showcasing his adventurous streak on trap-soaked "Adelaide". If the dizzying milestones he's achieved before breaking the age of 20 are any indication, his reign is only just beginning.