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| The Voice's Jermain Jackman: 'David Cameron is a good guy, but I don't like his policies' | The Voice's Jermain Jackman: 'David Cameron is a good guy, but I don't like his policies' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Is Jermain Jackman the first winner of a TV talent contest more interested in politics than pop? The 19-year-old from Hackney gripped 6.6m viewers on Saturday, when he won the third series of The Voice. Unlike James Arthur or One Direction, though, Jackman mentioned his work with the Labour Party within seconds of addressing the judges. He is a member of the youth party and his ambition – to become, as he put it, "the nation's first singing black prime minister" – is unheard of in light entertainment, usually so removed from party politics that voting is something that happens only on premium-rate phonelines. | Is Jermain Jackman the first winner of a TV talent contest more interested in politics than pop? The 19-year-old from Hackney gripped 6.6m viewers on Saturday, when he won the third series of The Voice. Unlike James Arthur or One Direction, though, Jackman mentioned his work with the Labour Party within seconds of addressing the judges. He is a member of the youth party and his ambition – to become, as he put it, "the nation's first singing black prime minister" – is unheard of in light entertainment, usually so removed from party politics that voting is something that happens only on premium-rate phonelines. |
| Watching the teenage activist capture the nation – with Ed Miliband, Diane Abbott and Stella Creasy all cheering him on via Twitter and Hackney exploding with delight on a weekly basis – well, it was quite a thing. And then he won! And now he refuses to limit his ambitions to the debut album he is recording. Jackman – who was elected to Hackney's Youth Parliament, representing Stoke Newington – wants to make a difference. | Watching the teenage activist capture the nation – with Ed Miliband, Diane Abbott and Stella Creasy all cheering him on via Twitter and Hackney exploding with delight on a weekly basis – well, it was quite a thing. And then he won! And now he refuses to limit his ambitions to the debut album he is recording. Jackman – who was elected to Hackney's Youth Parliament, representing Stoke Newington – wants to make a difference. |
| Can he be for real? I meet him in his publicist's office, where framed photos of clients Paul McCartney and Gary Barlow line the walls. Within moments, Jackman is proudly showing me his phone, with texts from Keith Vaz saying: "You're going to be a great, great star," and missed calls from Ed Miliband trying to set up a lunch date this week. "He wouldn't have known my name before, now he's calling me on my mobile – the leader of the Labour Party!" says Jackman, chuffed to bits. | Can he be for real? I meet him in his publicist's office, where framed photos of clients Paul McCartney and Gary Barlow line the walls. Within moments, Jackman is proudly showing me his phone, with texts from Keith Vaz saying: "You're going to be a great, great star," and missed calls from Ed Miliband trying to set up a lunch date this week. "He wouldn't have known my name before, now he's calling me on my mobile – the leader of the Labour Party!" says Jackman, chuffed to bits. |
| The Tories have been after him too – in the morning he is due to meet Boris Johnson for the second time, to launch a busking initiative in King's Cross. And he has already met David Cameron, at Number 10, when he won a citizenship award three years ago. Clearly, the power brokers know how much they could do with a young black man already schooled in community politics and social justice on their team. | The Tories have been after him too – in the morning he is due to meet Boris Johnson for the second time, to launch a busking initiative in King's Cross. And he has already met David Cameron, at Number 10, when he won a citizenship award three years ago. Clearly, the power brokers know how much they could do with a young black man already schooled in community politics and social justice on their team. |
| "Someone said: 'Jermain, you're too nice to be a politician, you need to have something radical to say that shakes everything up, you're too general.' I said: 'Sometimes that's good!'. You have to side with the public, you have to seem normal." In fact, his greatest desire, as he repeats often, is "to inspire others". | "Someone said: 'Jermain, you're too nice to be a politician, you need to have something radical to say that shakes everything up, you're too general.' I said: 'Sometimes that's good!'. You have to side with the public, you have to seem normal." In fact, his greatest desire, as he repeats often, is "to inspire others". |
| Jackman still lives on the council estate where he grew up, in a fairly deprived part of east London. Gentrification and the Olympics have ploughed money into his area – but not for everyone. Cuts have affected his neighbourhood greatly, but crucially for the middle-of-the-road politicos courting him, Jackman can do bland rhetoric well. | |
| "Everyone's saying to me: 'You're the new face of Hackney.' Hackney got attention for all the wrong reasons after the riots. Now it's getting it for all the right reasons. When people are asked what they think of it, people are gonna say: 'Jermain Jackman.' I want to inspire young people and make them believe that these things are possible. That's why I said I want to be the first black prime minister. Who else aims that high?" | "Everyone's saying to me: 'You're the new face of Hackney.' Hackney got attention for all the wrong reasons after the riots. Now it's getting it for all the right reasons. When people are asked what they think of it, people are gonna say: 'Jermain Jackman.' I want to inspire young people and make them believe that these things are possible. That's why I said I want to be the first black prime minister. Who else aims that high?" |
| But when pushed, he doesn't pretend everything is fine. The borough has just recorded the highest property price leap in the whole of the UK and the impact on its residents has been severe. "The Olympics were just down the road but we didn't feel like we could get involved – the door wasn't open. Now it feels like they never happened. Where's the legacy? Have you seen it?" We talk about the rows of local authority estates that have seen mass evictions to make way for luxury waterfront developments. "Some people call it ethnic cleansing," he says, but then stops short, with a politician's diplomacy. "I just call it mean. Those unaffordable homes – that's the Olympic legacy. I said to the Radio 1 producers, who set up workshops here: 'Don't just come into Hackney for a couple of weeks for good publicity, say you're coming back and just then leave.' But they never came back. Which is why I want to use my success to make things happen for the community myself." | But when pushed, he doesn't pretend everything is fine. The borough has just recorded the highest property price leap in the whole of the UK and the impact on its residents has been severe. "The Olympics were just down the road but we didn't feel like we could get involved – the door wasn't open. Now it feels like they never happened. Where's the legacy? Have you seen it?" We talk about the rows of local authority estates that have seen mass evictions to make way for luxury waterfront developments. "Some people call it ethnic cleansing," he says, but then stops short, with a politician's diplomacy. "I just call it mean. Those unaffordable homes – that's the Olympic legacy. I said to the Radio 1 producers, who set up workshops here: 'Don't just come into Hackney for a couple of weeks for good publicity, say you're coming back and just then leave.' But they never came back. Which is why I want to use my success to make things happen for the community myself." |
| Not everything about the new East London is bad. "There's a Premier Inn in Dalston! Five years ago if you'd told me there was a Premier Inn in Dalston I would have said: 'Shoot yourself, you sound stupid!' It's revitalising." | Not everything about the new East London is bad. "There's a Premier Inn in Dalston! Five years ago if you'd told me there was a Premier Inn in Dalston I would have said: 'Shoot yourself, you sound stupid!' It's revitalising." |
| Jackman was raised in a very close Christian family, his mum a dental nurse, his dad a bus driver, and their granny on hand to tell tales of how hard it was growing up on the family farm in Guyana where there is still no phone. The children were all raised with scrupulous manners. | Jackman was raised in a very close Christian family, his mum a dental nurse, his dad a bus driver, and their granny on hand to tell tales of how hard it was growing up on the family farm in Guyana where there is still no phone. The children were all raised with scrupulous manners. |
| "When my mum comes home we always say: 'Good evening' and ask how her day has been. I was never allowed a sleepover, ever. Richard Branson's son Sam has asked me to do an amazing project with him but it's overseas and my mum worries I'm going to get hurt. I know she's going to have to let go soon and I have had girlfriends, but to this day I have never stayed the night at anyone's house apart from my own family." | "When my mum comes home we always say: 'Good evening' and ask how her day has been. I was never allowed a sleepover, ever. Richard Branson's son Sam has asked me to do an amazing project with him but it's overseas and my mum worries I'm going to get hurt. I know she's going to have to let go soon and I have had girlfriends, but to this day I have never stayed the night at anyone's house apart from my own family." |
| Jackman worked with MPs in 2012 on a project to dissuade young people from getting involved in gang culture. I ask what his tactic was. "Opportunity. Giving something that appeals to them. People who may get into gun and knife crime are on the street, not seeing that they have any worth. I guarantee, if they saw what they were good at, they would be pursuing that and making jobs out of that. But they don't know what they're good at." | Jackman worked with MPs in 2012 on a project to dissuade young people from getting involved in gang culture. I ask what his tactic was. "Opportunity. Giving something that appeals to them. People who may get into gun and knife crime are on the street, not seeing that they have any worth. I guarantee, if they saw what they were good at, they would be pursuing that and making jobs out of that. But they don't know what they're good at." |
| At school, he says, he was the guy who got along with everyone else and the one who teachers would ask to talk to difficult kids. "If there was an incident, I would approach the student and say: 'You need to let go of that knife, you need to throw it away.' There's an [amnesty] knife bin down the road from my school and they would throw them in there." | At school, he says, he was the guy who got along with everyone else and the one who teachers would ask to talk to difficult kids. "If there was an incident, I would approach the student and say: 'You need to let go of that knife, you need to throw it away.' There's an [amnesty] knife bin down the road from my school and they would throw them in there." |
| No doubt his brief spell in community politics has rubbed off – Jackman is a smooth operator. "When I met David Cameron, he was talking so eloquently about how to inspire young people that I was inspired. I said: 'This is a great guy. I don't like his policies, but I like his personality.' I know how to separate policies from personality. I don't agree with Boris's policies, but he is a funny guy. If it's for young people in music, I will support it." | No doubt his brief spell in community politics has rubbed off – Jackman is a smooth operator. "When I met David Cameron, he was talking so eloquently about how to inspire young people that I was inspired. I said: 'This is a great guy. I don't like his policies, but I like his personality.' I know how to separate policies from personality. I don't agree with Boris's policies, but he is a funny guy. If it's for young people in music, I will support it." |
| Jackman is so encouraging about Johnson and Cameron, his own plans to open a free school and his conviction that you make your own opportunities in life that I find myself asking if he's sure he's not, you know, a secret Tory. "Nooo! I'm a leftie – leftie for life!" he laughs, humming the Beyonce lyric "to the left, to the left". | Jackman is so encouraging about Johnson and Cameron, his own plans to open a free school and his conviction that you make your own opportunities in life that I find myself asking if he's sure he's not, you know, a secret Tory. "Nooo! I'm a leftie – leftie for life!" he laughs, humming the Beyonce lyric "to the left, to the left". |
| But is he not in thrall, somewhat, to their charm? "What I noticed about Boris is that he purposely combs his hair like that – to look 'normal' – you can see the comblines in his hair. I don't know what he's trying to say about normal people because we do groom ourselves. I was like: 'Boris, what are you trying to say? Nobody looks like that.' [And] David Cameron's trying to cover up his bald patch by doing a combover and it isn't working. Prime Minister, just embrace your age. Hopefully I can go into politics and bring some youthful energy to the commons." | But is he not in thrall, somewhat, to their charm? "What I noticed about Boris is that he purposely combs his hair like that – to look 'normal' – you can see the comblines in his hair. I don't know what he's trying to say about normal people because we do groom ourselves. I was like: 'Boris, what are you trying to say? Nobody looks like that.' [And] David Cameron's trying to cover up his bald patch by doing a combover and it isn't working. Prime Minister, just embrace your age. Hopefully I can go into politics and bring some youthful energy to the commons." |
| For now, though, Jackman's priority is on recording his album. But as the show is glorified karaoke, one wonders what is his own musical style going to be? He can't entirely answer. He wants the record to be called Genesis. I point out he wants to make sure people don't think it's by Phil Collins. He looks blank. "I only know Phil Collins from the Disney Channel movies." It's a sentiment his fans will echo – tweenage girls who voted him the first black male winner of a UK TV talent show and Cheryl Cole, who tweeted Jemain asking him to call her. So, will he? "Why does everyone ask me that question?! She wasn't talking to me in that tweet, she was talking to Will.i.am! How can I call her when I don't have her number?" He thinks about this. "Cheryl needs to call me." | For now, though, Jackman's priority is on recording his album. But as the show is glorified karaoke, one wonders what is his own musical style going to be? He can't entirely answer. He wants the record to be called Genesis. I point out he wants to make sure people don't think it's by Phil Collins. He looks blank. "I only know Phil Collins from the Disney Channel movies." It's a sentiment his fans will echo – tweenage girls who voted him the first black male winner of a UK TV talent show and Cheryl Cole, who tweeted Jemain asking him to call her. So, will he? "Why does everyone ask me that question?! She wasn't talking to me in that tweet, she was talking to Will.i.am! How can I call her when I don't have her number?" He thinks about this. "Cheryl needs to call me." |
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