[ad_1]
Nicholas George Xavier Blum, who was born and raised in Brick and is known as NGXB, has 1.2 million followers on TikTok and over 31 million likes on his videos, where he shows off his musical prowess and comedic timing. He took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to The Ocean Star about living in Brick, his goals and content.
Mr. Blum told The Ocean Star, “One of the great things about living in Brick is that I’m in the center of New Jersey, close to being able to perform in Atlantic City or Philadelphia area and north to NYC.”
According to Mr. Blum, in 2023 he traveled around the U.S. to performances in Illinois, Houston, Las Vegas, Louisiana and more. Currently his operations manager is working on some exciting travel opportunities for 2024.
Mr. Blum attended Lanes Mill Elementary School, Brick Memorial High School and the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 2020.
Over the past two years, he has performed over 300 gigs each year, which includes private events and public performances.
“The first two years, my life was working mostly in the local scene, including many great restaurants from North to South Jersey, some in Staten Island, NYC and Philadelphia. I appreciate and love all of them and actually gained a following at many of them,” said Mr. Blum.
GOALS
Mr. Blum told The Ocean Star that, “2024 is going to be nuts. My most highlighted opportunity so far was last October 2023, performing for the 10th anniversary celebration of the Nobu Tower at Caesars Palace on the Vegas Strip, and having strings and drums back me up. That was nuts, and I’m looking to make the opportunity of having strings and drums back me up happen again on the east coast.”
Mr. Blum said that his goal is to make himself a household name.
“I was born to be an entertainer. Life is already a struggle for many, and we all need those moments to take our mind off of the stuff that weighs us down,” said Mr. Blum.
Another goal of Mr. Blum is to perform with Adele or other high-profile celebrities.
“I graduated in May 2020, when the world was in a different place, and used the next 12 months to create and write many of my 200 arrangements, as well as make content. In 2021, I started performing full time and thankfully, it’s gotten better every year,” said Mr. Blum.
MUSICAL BEGINNINGS
Mr. Blum told The Ocean Star that growing up, his dad was his piano teacher.
His father received a degree in classical piano from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 1988, and was his piano teacher from the age of four until he was 15. After 15, Mr. Blum began to take lessons from a local pianist named Billy Lawlor, who helped him fix his technique and introduced him to the world of jazz.
“In 2020, I received a degree in jazz from The University of the Arts. But my entire life, I grew up listening to rock and pop music. My house would bounce from Chopin, Franz List, George Gerwin, Queen, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Billy Joel, Bruno Mars, just to name a few,” said Mr. Blum.
When it comes to content, Mr. Blum said that he was originally inspired by his friend Sean Millea, who goes by @seanmillea, and is a comedian in New York.
“In early 2021, he started making viral content, and that inspired me to start making content of my own … and here we are three years later with 1.4 million followers,” said Mr. Blum.
CONTENT
Mr. Blum described his content as a mix of being able to show off his talent musically to its full extent, and at the same time making content that people will enjoy and laugh at.
“It’s a balance of serious content, and not so serious content. During the height of the pandemic [and even now], I have people messaging me stating how stressful their day was, they were in a bad mood etc., and my silly social media posts help them get through the rough times they were having. That makes my day when I can make someone laugh for a moment,” said Mr. Blum.
Mr. Blum said, “My favorite TikToks are generally comedy based, which can be the most obscure things that happen in a video, but they just make me laugh so hard, which inspires me when I make comedic content.”
According to Mr. Blum, the first post that blew up, was when he was wearing a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine sunglasses, playing the theme to the television show and then shouted an expletive.
“My brother slid down the stairs as this was happening. It went viral with 30 million plus views on TikTok alone,” said Mr. Blum.
Another one that Mr. Blum discussed was the theme to “Cocomelon,” a kids show.
“I had a plushie of the main character tied to a string, and my brother yanked him across my house, as I was playing and screaming. In nearly all of my videos, I always try to make sure a lot of random things happen, while showing off how much range my personality has,” he said.
Mr. Blum would like to thank everyone that has supported him to date and attend his shows and follow him on social media.
“It has truly made it an amazing experience so far. I play for many types of events, all around the country and world. You can email me at ngxb@thengxb.com, and you can follow me on all forms of social media @NGXB or @TheNGXB,” said Mr. Blum.
Check out our other Brick Township stories, updated daily. And remember to pick up a copy of The Ocean Star—on newsstands Friday or online in our e-Edition.
Subscribe today! If you’re not already an annual subscriber to The Ocean Star, get your subscription today! For just $38 per year, you will receive local mail delivery weekly, with pages and pages of local news and online access to our e-edition on Starnewsgroup.com.
[ad_2]
Source_link