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and completing an internship at EMI, he fell into songwriting and proved to be a talented artist. But Jesso always knew he wanted to be a performer. "I was five years old, and my grandmother had a talent show for her community center. She knew I liked to sing, so I ended up doing my little song on the stage," he recalls about his first show ever. "That day, I turned to my mom and told her, 'This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.'" From entertaining a small crowd at the senior community center to a massive crowd at Encore Beach Club in Las Vegas, where he first performed with Kygo, Jesso is living his dream. "Kygo is awesome. He is absolutely the nicest guy." This performance was the first time they met in person. "The whole experience has been amazing. I am a huge Kygo fan, so it's been a dream to collaborate with him." This exciting journey began in early 2017, when Jesso and a couple of friends wrote "Stargazing," which would become Kygo's title track on his new EP. Kygo's new, five-song EP features Jesso, Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding, Sasha Sloan, and U2. "Me and a couple of friends wrote the initial demo, it got sent to Kygo's manager, and he passed it over to him. He put his magic on it, and made it the song that it is today. The process was very quick." The whole process took less than a week. Jesso wrote the demo on a Monday and it was sent to Kygo's team on Monday night. Tuesday, he sent the STEMS, and by Wednesday, Kygo sent his version back. By Friday, it was a confirmed single. "The craziest thing was if I was going to stay on the record," says Jesso. "My manager called me and told me I was supposed to perform with Kygo in Vegas. He told me to wear all white, because it's a pool party," Jesso recalls. On September 22nd, 2017 "Stargazing" was released. Since then, it continues to climb the charts. It's raking up millions of streams daily on Spotify, and the music video has reached over 31.1 million views on YouTube. So, what's makes this song so special? "The thing I love so much about this song is that it's resonating with people on so many levels. I get messages all the time from people and what this song means to them," says Jesso, who enjoys reading about how each person interprets "Stargazing." This song holds a different meaning for everyone, he shares. "It applies to anyone who needs hope. Still have hope that it will be okay." This song is close to Jesso's heart as it's about his relationship with his ex-girlfriend. "It's essentially the idea of maybe we will get back together one day, if it's meant to be. I believe that if I am supposed to be with someone, it will happen. It's a combination of saying to someone I love, I am still here, having hope that the right thing will happen," he explains. Jesso's romantic, uplifting spirit seems to be captivating the world. Additionally, he was nominated for "Song of the Year" at last year's Latin Grammys as a writer on Ricky Martin's No. 1 single, "Vente Pa' Ca" featuring Maluma. "Vente Pa' Ca" is the perfect example of being in the right place, at the right time—stars aligned for Jesso to contribute to this new single while he was in Denmark. "I don't speak Spanish, something that I should learn now," he chuckles. "The song was written in Denmark at a writing camp. It was me and a team called Design Music Group and my buddy Cole Riden. They wanted me to help them write this song. We wrote the lyrics in English. It's a poetic story about love, and when it got translated it got turned into: Come to my pool party," he laughs. The demo was originally intended for a female artist, but when it was sent to Ricky Martin's team, the demo had to be changed to a male voice and Jesso gladly jumped to do the vocals. "Vente Pa' Ca" was a huge success. And this won't be the last time we find Jesso contributing and writing Latin music. "I have done some sessions with my friend Marty James, a writer in "Despacito." I am interested in doing more with Latin music." 2017 has proven to be very good to Jesso, and we expect that things will only continue to get better from here on out. Currently, Jesso is working on his own music, alongside artists like Alli Simpson, Codeko, and Austin Mahone. Though he has a wide range of experience writing pop music, he tells us that he's kind of an R&B soul. "I am cool with working with all the genres. My music will be more soulful-pop, with more of a live feel. I do it all." ML For more on Justin Jesso, visit www.justinjesso.com and follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/officialjesso and Facebook: www.facebook.com/officialjesso "It's essentially the idea of maybe we will get back together one day, if it's meant to be. I believe that if I am supposed to be with someone, it will happen. It's a combination of saying to someone I love, I am still here, having hope that the right thing will happen." WE WANT MORE! Who do you admire? "Currently, Bruno Mars. He's doing it right. If I could work with anyone, it would be him." Any new projects that you are working on? "I am working on my music and hope to have a single in the next couple months. I am really excited for people to hear what I do and what I have to say." What do you do when you are not producing music? "Sleep, or try to sleep. I watch a lot of TV. I love stories. I am always watching some TV show. Excited for Stranger Things. I like to hang out with my dog, Elvis. Normal stuff." Have you given thought to your New Year's resolutions? "I haven't. I think it would probably be to give more back. I am really grateful for all the amazing things that are happening. There are different after-school programs that we want to develop --that's something that I want to do. I think I am going to take more time to do that." Visiting Miami anytime soon? "I do all the holidays in West Palm with my family. But depending on who is available to work, specifically for Latin music, I will visit Miami."