J.R. Price Gives Us Love Songs and Body Positivity

Rising musical artist J.R. Price, best known for his empowerment anthem “Body Positive,” is now out with a new single featuring his childhood hero, Tom Goss. The duo teamed up for “Dance with Me,” an impassioned love song about the incredible power dance has to bring a couple together before the world breaks them apart.

According to Price, the song chronicles that moment when a couple is fighting, and it does not even make sense for them to stay together a second longer. However, with a simple dance, they realize they cannot part because the attachment is too powerful.

“Dance with Me” is the fourth release from his upcoming album, Daydream, which is scheduled to release on Valentine’s Day. Exploring several childhood and teenage challenges, the album talks about very personal experiences of Price’s life, including family abuse and eating disorders. However, Price does not tell them in a sad way. Daydream is fun ear candy that expresses how, even at his lowest points, he managed to hold on to hope.

Price took some time to chat with OFM about both “Dance with Me” and Daydream, the kind of impact Goss made on his life, and what more needs to be done to stop fat shaming and negativity in the LGBTQ community.Hi, J.R.! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me about your new single, “Dance with Me.” Can you begin by telling us more about the song’s concept and inspiration?
Of course! “Dance with Me” is a love song that I wrote two years ago. I had a completely different producer, and it was not a duet to begin with. I wanted more romance in it. A vintage love song where you listen to it and you hear the people and connection. So, I wanted it to be a duet, and of course, I wanted to use Tom because his brand is loving everybody for their size no matter who you are. I wanted it to be somebody who would appreciate my body, so it would make sense to do a duet together.

I mainly wanted this vintage love song because I do not think there are enough of those if the gay community. There are not enough men singing love duets to each other. I feel like there are new ads, but they are sassy or something else altogether. There are no vintage love songs between two men, so I wanted to create this kind of gay wedding song. And I think we did that. I think it turned out great.

How was it to collaborate with Tom?
He is amazing! My producer, Freddy Freeman, is actually friends with him, and I did not know that at first. When I was throwing names around, I was like, Freddy, I want to do a duet. Wouldn’t it be great if we got like Tom Goss or someone? He was like, Tom? That is not a big deal, I can email him right now. I was like, Freddy, shut up! You do not know Tom. Within six hours, Tom was onboard. He added harmony lines and created more depth to the song than I expected him to. He really collaborated with me and talked. We did not get to meet in person because of COVID, but everything that we did online, he was there for 100 percent. He hooked me up with the publicists and he is helping me advance my career in more ways than just doing the song with me. Tom is a standup guy, and for me who has looked up to him for so long, to have him help me like this is a dream come true.

You have said that Tom is one of your heroes. How has he influenced and impacted your life?
When his song “Bears” came out, I was in high school. Just to see somebody that confident, and not just him, but also the people in his video. To see the bigger men be so confident and sexually proud, and to have everyone look and be attracted to them, it was so moving and powerful. I had not seen that before. I had not seen a skinny guy be into a bigger guy, and I was not aware that could even happen. The fact that these men were so sexy, it empowered me a lot and it made me realize that I was sexy. If I have never seen “Bears,” I would have never done “Body Positive,” which is my debut single where I am dancing in my underwear. I never would have done that if Tom never did what he did. It is crazy to go full circle and end up working with him.

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It is great to see you share so much body positivity on social media. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of fat shaming and negativity in the LGBTQ community when it comes to weight. What needs to be done to change this?
That is so true. I get hate mail from so many people all the time because of what I post. Even on my album cover, I am wearing a crop top, and I believe that people should be comfortable in their body. However, I do think it starts with the way that we see people in the media. I think it is great that outlets like OUT FRONT are featuring people like me, and we have celebrities like Lizzo and Meghan Trainor, but that is not enough. The fact that you can count on your hand how many plus size people are famous, that is not okay. I think it really starts with the media’s representation because that is what people are seeing.

People are going to feel like they need to judge people who are bigger because they don’t see them all the time. They don’t think it is acceptable because it is not acceptable in our society. People need to see more representation of plus size people in a non-comedic way. You look at people like Kevin James and Jack Black, and although they are amazing and inspirational people, at the same time, their size is kind of a joke. People like Chris Farley, it is fat shaming to an extent. Even in School of Rock when Jack Black is like, I’m chubby and I’m sexy, he’s giving this speech, I do not feel like that is body positivity because of the fact that he has to point it out and say, I’m chubby.

I think it starts with representation, which is why I was so empowered to do “Body Positive” and dance in my underwear. It is why I am so empowered to constantly push body positivity to show a love relationship between two people of different sizes. Just constantly thinking about what I can do to be as confident as possible, even though it is really hard. I want people to see that there are people out here who are sexy. Like, I’m sexy, and I am going to prove that. I am not going to hide it because it makes people uncomfortable. Just love yourself, and at the end of the day, all that matters is how you feel. I feel like I am hot as fuck, so I feel like everybody else should too.That is the advice you would offer someone who is having trouble with embracing themselves?
Absolutely. I have struggled. I have had body dysmorphia, I have had eating disorders, and I have been suicidal because of how I look. The only thing that got me through all that was just realizing that the only reason why I felt that way was because society made me feel that way. Not because I actually feel that way. I think people actually do love themselves, they just do not give themselves permission to do it. They don’t think it is okay because they don’t see enough of it. My advice would just be to realize that you are amazing. No matter who you are, love yourself. That is all that matters. The only opinion that matters is the one that you go to bed with.

Circling back to “Dance with Me,” what do you hope listeners take away from it?
I really want people to just live in the present. “Dance with Me” is such an in the moment song, it can go in many ways. I wrote it originally as a breakup song, and then people were telling me they thought of it as a wedding song. I think it is one of those in the moment songs of just expressing how much you feel for somebody. I want it to be used in that way, and I would love to see people dancing to it together. Show that special someone that you care and be happy.

In my head, I think of eight grade dances. It is totally that style. I just want it to be a song that expresses love because I want all my songs to do that. I think that all my songs in some way or another talk about love on a different topic, which is why I am releasing the album on Valentine’s Day. Every song is a love song, whether it’s a heartbreak or a positive. Even if it is a love song to me. “Body Positive” is a love song to myself, and I think for “Dance with Me” specifically, I just want people to express love with each other.

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How has the song been received?
Really good! It is hard right now because everybody is releasing music because we have all been in quarantine. So, it is hard to break through any sort of market, but the people that have listened to it and gotten back to me, they love it. I think people are surprised because “Body Positive” is so different, and I don’t think they were expecting me to be able to sing [laughs]. Nothing against like my fellow bear-lebrities or pop stars in the gay community, but for some reason, there is the stigma that if I do a pop, pop bop, I can’t also sing my face off. People were not expecting me to be able to belt out those high notes at the end! I have been getting a lot of, wow, you can actually sing! Like, well, I do have a degree in vocal performance. I studied theater, vocal performance, dance, and musical theater. It is interesting what people say to you.

Why do you think dance has such an incredible power within itself?
I think anybody who is confident enough to move their body, they are exuding power, and I think people are drawn to others that have that level of confidence. It doesn’t even matter if you are a good dancer or not. Just be confident and get up in front of people and move. People go through journeys when they move their bodies, and you are connected with yourself. The power of dance comes from that connection to your heart because your body is just saying what your heart wants to. It is not about what you look like or being on beat. You feel something inside of you, and you are compelled. It is a power that you cannot even explain. I think dance is beyond any of us. It says what words can’t.

“Dance with Me” is the fourth single from your upcoming album, Daydream, which you said will be released on Valentine’s Day. What details can you share? I read that all the songs are windows into very personal experiences.
It is basically like my diary. I was talking to some people, and they were telling me I should write a book. I was like, I did. It’s my album, Daydream. Maybe you haven’t heard, but it is coming out on Valentine’s Day [laughs]. Every song deals with something I have overcome in my life. I have songs about my family problems, songs about my body image issues, songs about my love life, which has been tremendously terrible. Songs about my own personal doubts about my career.

All over the spectrum, every single song deals with an aspect of my life, and I try to put a positive spin on everything. Every song has that pop gloss on top of it. That ear candy to make it catchy, but if you really read the lyrics, it goes deep. I deal with the abuse from my family, my suicidal tendencies. Of course, I recommend therapy to everyone, but I also think there is something to be said about listening to a good pop song. It can elevate your mood and help you get through rough times.Growing up in such a negative environment, was music your cathartic outlet?
It was my only outlet. I would be hiding in my room dancing to Britney. I had Britney pictures all over my wall, there was no white space. It was all Britney, and I would just sit there and pretend she was my audience. I would perform her songs to her in my room by myself with my Walkman on so nobody could hear. I would learn all choreography and dance because that was the only way I felt like I was me. I could not do that outside of that room. If I were doing it in the living room, I would get yelled at or be told to stop.

I was performing one time on my front porch and my dad got home and flipped out because I was performing Britney. To my family, boys were supposed to be masculine and do cool things and sports. While I get where they are coming from, it was very hard. I had to keep it a secret, and I think that is why my career is taking off so late in my life because I did not have that support system growing up. Music was the only thing that kept me going through my parents’ divorce, through me coming out, through my dad attacking me, through my mother with all her comments about my weight.

The only thing that kept me going was pop music, and that is why I am so appreciative. That is why my sound is so pop fluff because I think there is something way deeper than just fluff. If anything can make you smile through moments like that, it is powerful.

What more do you hope to accomplish with your platform?
I would love to start performing again. I know that COVID is really hard right now, but I want to go to gay circuit parties and be up there with the twinks showing them that fat people can be performers too. There are some great performers out there right now like Big Dipper, but he is a bit more edgy than I am. I want to be more commercial, and I want to make people happy. I have some people who travel in Brazil and stuff and they perform for hundreds of thousands of people.

If I can get the message of body positivity out to all those people, to sing “Body Positive” in front of a huge crowd, that is really the dream. I just want people to hear my music. I don’t really care about the statistics or whatever, I should probably care more because I am getting kind of poor, but for me, I want people to hear my songs because I think the messages are powerful. People in our community go through similar heartbreaks, and they need to hear how to overlook that and get past it. I think my songs do that.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?
I would say Daydream is my main focus right now. Personally, I would like to plug my producer’s album. Freddy Freeman and his album, Golden Heart, is coming out in March. Look him up. He is putting out a pop record of his own, which is cool because he is in the older crowd, but I am very excited to hear it. It is fun, 80s inspired dance music. People will love it.

To stay up-to-date with Price, following him on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, or visit his official website. Daydream will be released on Feb. 14 and is now available for preorder on iTunes.

Photos Courtesy of Lilly Dyer Photography