Industry Insights: The Backwards Pop Star

MAGCON, otherwise known for its live thirst-trapping, was responsible for a number of extremely popular male internet personalities. As their audiences grew, many of the MAGCON boys turned to singing. However, as of 2024, only one is widely established within the music industry. Why did Shawn Mendes’ career take off where others’ failed? 

Written by Angelina Liu

Photo courtesy of Bryan Steffy

After internet personality Aaron Carpenter posted that he would be at the Galleria Mall in Dallas and hundreds of fans showed up to meet him, entrepreneur Bart Bordelon hatched the idea for MAGCON — short for “meet and greet convention” — in 2013. The annual festival toured malls and hotels in America to allow fans to interact with their favorite influencers, many of whom had massive followings on short-form video platform Vine at the time. MAGCON shows consisted of members lip-syncing and dancing on stage in cringey coordination to pop songs in a display of ripped torsos, straight white teeth, and attractive faces. The shows were essentially live performances of thirst traps, complete with masses of young women entranced by egotistical dance and song. 

After the shows, hundreds of girls lined up to meet the members, including the likes of Jack Johnson, Jack Gilinksy, Cameron Dallas, and Shawn Mendes. Fans hyperventilated at the opportunity to be noticed by their Man Crush Mondays, gladly leaping into their outstretched arms. Now relics of the time, several blurry early generation smartphone videos showed girls asking the boys to pick them up and swing them around or weeping into the chests of the young men. The behaviors are cringeworthy in hindsight, but it's clear that the fans would have done everything short of selling their left kidney to be in the presence of the MAGCON boys.

It was the kind of fame people could get addicted to having. It’s almost impossible to have one’s cake and eat it too, though, at least in terms of internet fame: The festival’s end in 2017 coincided with Vine's death. To maintain relevance, the boys of MAGCON attempted to migrate to YouTube or translate their fame to long-term careers in the entertainment industry, with some proving to be more successful than others. Cameron Dallas, Jack&Jack (comprised of the aforementioned Johnson and Gilinsky), and Shawn Mendes were no exceptions, with all of them turning to the music industry for potential longevity. Although it may seem like these four men were cut from the same cloth and, therefore, should all be relatively unsuccessful in their musical pursuits, key differences in each of the careers have landed them in their current positions. 

In June 2013, Johnson and Gilinsky began posting content on Vine as a duo. With their follower count rising practically exponentially, the attractive pair rebranded as Jack&Jack and posted various comedy content, including six-second covers of famous songs. Their talent and charm allowed them to amass over 5 million loyal followers on Vine. Capitalizing on their growing fame, Jack&Jack joined the MAGCON tour to reach an even wider audience of teenage girls.

Jack&Jack recorded and released their first single, “Distance,” in a makeshift studio in collaboration with brothers Turner and Travis Eakins in 2013. Throughout their musical career, the duo made an effort to stay independent, refusing to sign with record companies in fear of exploitation. This plan worked for them, as singles such as “Doing it Right,” “Tides,” and “Like That” surged in popularity as frenzied young women supported their musical endeavors. The duo’s songs sounded very similar to other hits released during this period, with a snappy beat, rapping or distorted vocals, and lyrics of unrequited love. With 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube, the pair seemed unstoppable and was able to work with the famed producer Timbaland and mega brands such as Verizon and Disney. 

However, in many minds, the duo stood out for their affiliation with MAGCON rather than the music they released. Jack&Jack had a loyal fan base following them from their Vine era, but they failed to resonate with people outside of that niche. The duo decided to separate themselves from their origin, establish themselves as musicians, and reach a mainstream audience. This meant going back on their previous beliefs and signing with a major record label. Their contract with Island Records allowed them to release their debut album and successfully tour North America and Europe in 2019. After the tour, Island Records met with Jack&Jack and asked them to split up to focus on solo endeavors before getting back together again, much like the Jonas Brothers. In an interview with Zach Sang in 2022, the artists explained that their manager did not allow them to announce this news to their fans. They both had wanted to release solo music while also pursuing Jack&Jack, but management wasn’t interested in that route. Twenty-two years old and fresh in the industry, the pair trusted their management to do what was in their best interest. 

Shortly after this conversation, Jack Johnson felt he was getting pushed out of the deal, while Jack Gilinsky was given more attention on his solo career. Jack&Jack’s audience perceived Gilinsky as the more “traditionally” attractive member of the duo, the physical basis of both boys’ careers. Even so, they both found that their popularity was quickly diminishing, especially because of the death of the platform where they got their start. With changing leadership at Island Records and their careers hanging in the balance, they decided to cut ties and leave as independent artists in late 2019. 

The duo’s moment in the limelight had come to a close. Despite having the initial talent and platform to do so, they failed to utilize their clout to permanently establish themselves in the music industry. The support behind their music proved to be a fleeting trend, much like Anastasia Beverly Hills DIPBROW pomade and checkered vans. Joining hundreds of displaced creators, Jack&Jack became a bygone of the Vine era. It was only in 2024, over a decade after their original fame, that they were able to return to music, all while attempting to shed their previous MAGCON origins in the process.

Another example of a less-than-ideal post-MAGCON relationship with the music industry is one of Vine’s most promising stars, Cameron Dallas. By 2014, Dallas had accumulated 8.1 million followers on Vine and over 20 million followers on Instagram, putting him in the top 1% of content creators on the platforms. This surge in popularity led to him starring in the 2016 Netflix reality series “Chasing Cameron Dallas,” which depicted Dallas’ and other MAGCON members’ road to fame.

Dallas sought a way to establish himself in the industry as a permanent figure and legitimize his career by pursuing a music career. A surefire way of achieving this would be to release a catchy, trendy song that would reach and resonate with a wide audience. In 2015, the internet personality independently released “She Bad,” which hit No. 9 on the Billboard/Twitter Top Tracks chart. The song's success led Dallas to sign a record deal with Columbia Records, where he released his debut single, “Why Haven’t I Met You?” in 2018. Dallas was on the road to becoming a legit celebrity. However, the song failed to chart on Billboard and reach the mainstream, along with the rest of his later released discography.

The reason behind this failure began long before the song was ever released: Ultimately, in order to maintain deserved longevity in the music industry, singers need a balanced blend of talent and trustworthiness. Dallas had neither. In 2015, Dallas was charged with felony vandalism for attempting to paint his room for a video. Three years later, he would be arrested again for felony second-degree assault, and the court sentenced him to six months of unsupervised probation and 20 hours of community service. He continuously lashed out at fans and management, believing he could ride on the highs of his surface-level social media career to supersede his delinquent behavior. He didn’t care much about his long-term career or the frightening place it was headed. His management and fans slowly but surely left him, leaving him unable to salvage his career by releasing new music. At his worst, the same fans who spent hundreds of dollars to see him prayed on his downfall and relentlessly ‘clowned’ him on the Internet. They recognized him for who he was: a forgotten influencer with a pretty face and a severe lack of talent, desperately clinging onto whatever shreds of dignity and fame he had left.

The biggest success story when it comes to members of the MAGCON tour is, far and away, Shawn Mendes. Armed with a guitar and his now-famous vocals, the star began posting covers of songs on YouTube and Vine in the early 2010s. His cover of Justin Bieber’s “As Long as You Love Me” garnered a massive amount of positive attention, and he eventually caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gertler, who brought him into Island Records in January 2014. 

Mendes released “Life of the Party” in June of 2014 and became the youngest artist to have their debut hit the top 25 of the US Billboard Hot 100. a strong fan base early on. His good looks and clear musical talent made him very likable early on. What differentiates him from the likes of Dallas and Jack&Jack is the timelessness of his music and lyrics. Mendes’ discography resonates emotionally with various audiences, regardless of age or gender. His songs are catchy and exude emotional maturity with the ability to describe a teenage crush or a marriage. On the other hand, Internet personalities with unsuccessful musical pursuits fail to stand the test of time because their music often reflects microtrends that are as unstable as their careers. They utilize specific sounds that, in hindsight, can be dated back to a specific era. Mendes cemented his place as a well-known musician instead of a social media star with his catchy, broken-hearted single “Stitches” from his chart-topping debut album Handwritten. The young artist opened for Taylor Swift in North America during her 1989 World Tour, and Time Magazine listed him as one of the “30 Most Influential Teens of 2015.” These achievements legitimized Mendes’s career in the music industry, allowing him to remove himself from his Vine fame and gain a following from his work, not just his looks. Oftentimes, when referencing MAGCON contemporarily, Mendes is the only widely recognized personality. 

Vine and MAGCON allowed many male influencers to gain exposure and find careers outside social media. The modern version of Vine — TikTok — propels current influencers to do the same. Although Mendes, Dallas, and Jack&Jack started from relatively the same points, their attractiveness did not carry them to where they are today. Mendes possesses raw talent and the ability to create music that relates to a wide variety of people, not just the audience he began with. Both Dallas and Jack&Jack, at least at the inception of the latters’ careers, lacked, along with other reasons, the ability to endure through the rapid change of trends, which ultimately made their musical careers fall short. Social media is only a vehicle to transport upstarts to long-lasting careers. For many individuals who got their start on social media, the goal is to have the general public remember your career for what it is rather than where you got your start. Although MAGCON was an amazing jumping-off point for many budding stars to be able to make connections within the industry and build fanbases, it is only through talent and timelessness that those same stars truly fly.