Child's Play

I found that article. It did have the same title... I'm thinking of emailing it into Total Film for a laugh...

Here it is...

Child’s Play

The music industry is experiencing a take over bid from the world’s most 

promising young actors, coming straight from children’s TV to the charts.

Formidable forces of the music industry, Justin Timberlake, Xtina and Britney 

came into the public eye from the womb of the Mickey Mouse Club. They may 

have dealt with fame differently, but there’s no denying they are popular public 

figures. Maybe this is why children’s TV stars have popped up all over the charts 

in recent years. 

Most recently, Disney Channel’s Miley Cyrus is still sitting pretty in the album 

chart this week. 11 weeks after it’s release. Following her cleverly named 

albums, ‘Hannah Montana’ and ‘Hannah Montana 2’, ‘Breakout’ is her first album 

for which she has distanced herself from her onscreen alias. Not only is Miley 

releasing her own music off the back of her Disney Channel success, but she’s 

taking the mainstream by storm. ‘See You Again’ reached dizzying heights of 11 

in the singles chart. Impressive for a 15 year-old. 

The Jonas Brothers, however, started off in music, moving on to Disney. The 

brothers started at just 18, 16 and 13 years old, releasing their debut a year later. 

Following the release of ‘It’s About Time’ and their second, self-titled album, they 

appeared in Hannah Montana. Given that their fan base was already young girls, 

the appearance elevated their status and they continued to appear in Disney 

Channel programmes. The band played with Miley on her ‘07 ‘Best of Both 

Worlds’ tour, which was turned into the first Disney 3-D film. Following their 

appearance in Disney’s latest movie ‘Camp Rock’, they’ve signed up for a string 

of future appearances including a series, ‘J.O.N.A.S’ and their own Disney 3-D 

movie.

This rising trend in the connection between music and young actors may be due 

to a lack of music for younger audiences. Original fans of McFly and Busted 

would now be in their late teens, where fans of reunited bands like Take That 

would be in their mid-to-late twenties. This leaves a gap for these new artists. 

And what better way to appeal to kids than coming straight from their favourite 

shows. 

The proof that younger children are playing a part in popular culture is the 

colossal success of High School Musical. The first film appeared on the Disney 

Channel as an ‘Original Movie’. Many of these movies preceded HSM, some 

even featuring HSM stars, such as Halloweentown starring Lucas Grabeel, so no 

one involved was prepared for the immediate furore. Nor was the public watching 

that original showing. The films’ fan base is mainly below the age of 13, being 

the main age that the Disney enterprise caters for. 

Stars of the HSM phenomenon have cashed in on the phase. Vanessa Hudgens, 

who plays Gabriella, released her debut album ‘V’ shortly after the first broadcast 

of High School Musical. A month after its release, it hit number 24 in the US 

Billboard 200. Ashley Tisdale, AKA Sharpay Evans, was already an established 

Disney actress, and released ’Headstrong’ in February 2007. The album went to 

number 5 in the Billboard 200.  

Corbin Bleu, who plays Chad Danforth in the film, went on to be in the Disney 

Channel movie ‘Jump In!’ which felt the success of HSM, having it’s own Disney 

Store range. He released his debut album ‘Another Side’ soon after, which 

included a single taken from ‘Jump In!’. His second album will be released next 

year. Lucas Grabeel has been less successful but has still been spotted riding 

the solo bandwagon by releasing ‘You Got It’ and ‘Trash Talkin’’.

Disney Channel have also provided this trend with the Aly & AJ (Alyson played 

the lead role in ‘Phil of the Future’), Hilary Duff (who began her career in ‘Lizzie 

Maguire’) and Selena Gomez. Selena is in Disney’s ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’, 

had a role in Spy Kids and appeared in Jonas Brothers’ ‘Burning Up’ video. She 

will release an album next year. 

It’s not only Disney that has contributed singers. Drake Bell (who starred in 

Drake and Josh), Miranda Cosgrove (who starred alongside Drake before 

appearing in School Of Rock) and The Naked Brothers Band (who have their 

own, self-titled, documentary show) all sprung from Nickelodeon.