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If celebrity stock was a thing, we would buy heavy into the homie Jacob Latimore. The kid is young (he turns 18 on August 10th) and he can sing and act.

The next two years are going to be huge for Jacob. First, the album: Latimore is finishing the project while pushing his latest single “Heartbreak Heard Around the World,” which features T-Pain.

Then there are the movies: Jacob has a supporting role in The Maze Runner film, which is based on a best-selling novel. That movie comes out in September, and word to Hunger Games, it’s going to be big.

We sat down with Jacob recently and chatted about upcoming projects, other artists, and what he’s going to do when he turns 18. Check it out below.

The “Heartbreak Heard Around the World” video was pretty cool.

It was inspired from that movie Jumper. I wanted to be performing the record in different parts of the city. And I wanted it to be sort of animated.

That was your idea?

It was more of a collaborative thing. I think we all just agreed on it at one time. And we had directors come up with scenarios around that.

The song features T-Pain…why T-Pain?

We didn’t even have T-Pain in mind. We had someone like Flo Rida or Ludacris in mind, or even a singer like Ariana Grande in mind. A lot of the people we wanted, they just couldn’t do it at the time. T-Pain just sort of hopped on it himself, really. And when I heard it, I was just like…wow. He added a certain spice to it. I really fell in love with the record.

When T-Pain was really hot you were probably like 10? So how did you experience him growing up?

He definitely had his own identity with the Auto-Tune and his look and the type of records he put out. He always had his own identity and he keeps that now. I definitely look up to him and he’s doing his thing.

What’s your 2014 been like?

I feel myself getting older. I’ll be 18 in a month. A lot of the films I did last year are coming out now — Ride Along, this past January. And I have a new film coming out this September called The Maze Runner, based on the best-selling novel. The timing is really well this year.

You turn 18 next month? Do you have birthday plans?

Party hard. I don’t really party much, so I’m definitely going to have a good time. I’m really not the party type. I more like to have friends over at the house and chill. I’ve never been the super party type. But for the 18th birthday you got to party. And then 21 is going to be even bigger.

What’s the album like?

I want this album to be really honest and to really talk about the things I go through being on the road, growing up, being 18, and just partying. A lot for a young adult.

Sounds like you’re still crafting the album.

Yeah, of course. We’re always constantly having new ideas. Right now, I still feel like I’m in the grind mode, putting out music, building a strong fan base. So when that album does come out, it will be highly anticipated.

How hard is it to make an album?

It’s really not that hard. When you love what you do, you just really fall in love with it. Sometimes you record a lot more songs than the album will even hold. You record like 300 songs and only 12 songs go on the album. It takes time. But if you love what you do, it works out.

Is there ever a time where you want to make edgier music and you get resistance from your team?

Of course. Right now, it’s not really resistance from my team. It’s really that I still want to keep the fans that I have while pleasing another crowd as well. That’s really the art of it, and the mystery of it, right now. We don’t want to hit them too hard with anything. We do want to go there eventually. Because I am growing up and I’m not 13 anymore, and I’m going through more stuff than I was before.

What music makes you want to create?

I’m really liking the hip-hop vibe right now, like Ty Dolla $ign and K Camp and Rae Sremmurd. All those artists, they got a unique style about them. They’re sorta doing this rap-singing thing, which is kinda like a new style — like Young Thug. I’m really into that. I’m also into Bruno Mars, Usher, and Chris Brown.

How is it for you shooting a movie? Are you a naturally gifted actor?

I think so. I impressed a lot of directors. I hadn’t had any real training. I’ve always looked up to great actors, so that may have played a part. I always love watching those natural actors like Bill Cosby, Raven-Symone and Shia LaBeouf— just effortless actors. My first film, Vanishing on 7th Street, I really just kinda went in for it. Just gave it my all at the auditions. Directors started really liking the way I was on stage. I just kept on going on more and more auditions and that’s why I’m in the movies I am now.

 The Maze Runner looks like it’s going to be huge. 

It’s going to be really huge. Once I saw the response from the trailer alone, maybe two days out, it had over half a million views already. And once I’ve seen how many people read the book — and I’ve read the book myself — I see why people are really into this. I’m super pumped for September.

PHOTO CREDIT: Instagram