music Home > Musician Reviews

Mario may be more closely watched than Wall Street right now, and for good reason. Everybody wants a piece of him since his debut single, "Just a Friend 2002," entered radio and video rotation back in May. The 15-year-old appeared on Total Request Live the following month. Teen People is holding a contest for a lucky winner to spend the evening with him in Times Square this fall. And he recently turned down an offer to join the Scream 2 Tour, which would have taken him across the country with IMX, B2K, and Bow Wow.

Instead, Mario is concentrating on promoting his album, the self-titled J Records debut that sold more than 91,000 copies its first week of release and entered Billboard's Top 200 album chart at No. 9 for the week beginning Aug. 5. That same week, "Just a Friend 2002," a bouncing boy-wants-girl bubblegum treat that borrows its chorus from Biz Markie's butt-funky 1989 rap of the same name, rose to No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles and is still climbing.

So if you want to talk with this young man, be prepared to venture into the inner sanctum of a closely handled budding pop presence. First you'll call and e-mail three J Records PR contacts numerous times before getting a response. When they finally get back to you, they'll inquire about your publication's market (which, in this case, happens to be the singer's hometown) and circulation. Then a time and date is agreed upon when Mario will call you.

On the morning of the appointed day, someone from J Records will ring to remind you that you will be speaking with Mario later. You will get another call making sure you will be at your phone 15 minutes before Mario calls. And when the phone finally rings for the agreed-upon and twice-reminded-about interview, a young woman informs you that she is going to connect you with Mario in mere moments. And then somebody else comes on the line and asks you to please hold for Mario. And then you're greeted by exactly what you'd expect a teenager with a top-10 album and top-5 single to do: scream and shout.

"Baltimore!" Mario exclaims. "Hey, Baltimore, you want to know what I been doing? Promoting, signing autographs, meeting people, telling people that the album's about to drop, radio shows, traveling, the whole nine."

Then he shifts gears. The voice drops, as much as the voice of a teenage boy with a velvety smooth falsetto can drop. "I want to give everybody in Baltimore--East Baltimore, West Baltimore--love," he says. "I've got much love for the 410. Tell 'em I ain't forgot about them."

That's a promise Mario Barrett has already kept. The "Just a Friend 2002" video, complete with a Biz Markie cameo, was shot in Baltimore's streets and at the Senator Theatre in April. Mario is always sure to mention Charm City in interviews. And though he moved to Teaneck, N.J., about a year ago, his family still lives here and he still calls Baltimore home.

He relocated to work on his album, 11 tracks that are equal parts smooth jam and New Edition-esque teen pop. Producer Troy Patterson discovered Mario at a Baltimore City school talent show ("We're trying not to let too much out about where I'm from," Mario says to explain his reluctance to name the school. "Just say 'Baltimore.'") and arranged for the youngster to audition for J Records honcho Clive Davis, a pop magic man with a proven track record for spotting talent. Upon hearing Mario, Davis put his gears in motion.

For his debut album, the young singer was teamed with songwriters and producers who know how to craft R&B- and pop-chart toppers--Warryn Campbell (Dru Hill, Sisqó, Monifa); Harvey Mason Jr. (who has worked with Mya and Tyrese); Gerald Isaac (Mary J Blige); and another Davis discovery who's made a few waves in the past year--Alicia Keys.

Going from high school into the studio with that caliber of music muscle would be nerve-racking for any tenderfoot, but Mario took it in stride. "It wasn't intimidating at all," he says. "Warryn opened his arms to me and he taught me a lot of stuff about singing. Being in the studio with him was very easy, it's just about being creative."

Keys, a recently anointed R&B soul prodigy herself, offered Mario more practical advice in addition to writing two songs for him. "Alicia is a very sweet person, and she showed me a lot of love," he says. "We went into the studio, lit some incense, you know, chilled for a minute, and came up with two hot joints. She was just trying to help me out, telling me how everything was going to be crazy and that there was going to be a lot of stress with that, but to have fun doing it at the same time. You know, this is my job now."

That is what is most impressive about Mario: how quickly yet naturally he has acclimated to working it as a music professional. And J Records has shown its faith by putting its mighty marketing machine behind his album. In the end, though, it is Mario who has to sell it. That shouldn't be too difficult with the materials he has, from the tailor-made pop of "Just a Friend 2002" and the for-the-young-ladies ditty "Braid My Hair" to the crackling jams "C'Mon" and "Holla Back" and the soulful "Put Me On." And so far he has been making opportune but not overblown public appearances. He's doing a heavy radio promotional tour and appeared earlier this month on The Early Show and Live with Regis and Kelly. And he's scheduled to perform Aug. 24 with BBMak at the seventh annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day festival at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York. But it has to be a new kind of responsibility for a young person who just finished his sophomore year of high school.

"I figure everything is going to be cool," Mario says about living in the spotlight. "I don't know how everybody is going to react to the album. But I'm trying to be very realistic about everything. Take it as it comes."

When the talk turns to the video, he once again sounds like the kicking-it kid he is, just having a blast doing things he has never done before. Family and friends came out for the shoot. Plus, he got to meet and hang out with Biz Markie, a treat for a kid of any age.

"Biz is off the chain," Mario says. "Biz is crazy. His attitude is off the hook. It was actually his birthday on the video shoot. So we got him a cake and celebrated him a little something. It was like that. Show him a lot of love. You know how we do it."

E-mail Bret McCabe