While many know Garrain Jones today as the transformational CEO of Artist Power and his powerful videos that garner millions of views on social media, a number of those people may also recognize him as “Steph” Jones, his stage name (and actual middle name) from when he was a musical artist in Hollywood in the early 2000s.
As an artist signed to Def Jam with a popular underground hit and writing for some of the biggest names in music, Jones was secretly struggling under the surface from the dark sides of the industry that many artists are not willing to confront publicly.
When Steph Jones exited the entertainment industry (and reclaimed his given name) following struggles that were unbeknownst to many at the time, Garrain underwent his own personal transformation journey that paved the way to his life today as the founder and CEO of successful multi-million dollar companies, a renowned global thought leader and a devoted husband and father.
Now Garrain is sharing aspects of his experiences in entertainment and the trials and tribulations that led to a rebirth of his entire life.
In leaving the entertainment industry, did you feel more free to truly tap into your own creativity and become more authentic to the content that you wanted to create?
Garrain: In leaving the entertainment industry, I wasn’t actually thinking about that because I was so lost and broken. I needed some type of pause. I needed a way to regroup my mind. I needed to learn why I didn’t have any money in my pocket, why I was homeless, living in my car, why I pretended to be somebody that I wasn’t, all of these major struggles I was experiencing. But I was surrounded by a bunch of people going through similar problems in the entertainment industry too so it just seemed like it was normal. But I knew that there was a different way to live life; I just didn’t know how. I went on a journey to discover how my life got to where it was.
After leaving, every mistake I made turned into a growth opportunity. Every book I read turned into a growth opportunity. Every new friend that I met while on that journey led me to a different part of my journey, which led to a growth opportunity. And I started doing the opposite of everything that I would normally do in areas of my life where I wasn’t happy. This is what sent me on the trajectory that I’m on right now.
What catapulted me into the life that I’m in right now was being at the lowest point of my life while I was in entertainment. I was $250,000 in debt, an ex-convict, living in my car for more than two years and not knowing where to turn and I’m at a gas station with my last $2, and a “homeless guy” asked me for money. I said, “You have more money than me.” And he said, “Change your mindset, change your life.”
That was a seed that turned into an entire forest because I started doing the opposite of everything I would normally do in areas of my life where I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy with my health, with who I hung out with, with my own attitude, I wasn’t happy with who I was dating at the time, and I just trained myself to do the opposite. Now my life is a direct inverse from where it was. I was someone pretending to be something that I was not while I was dying on the inside. Now I am someone who is living at my fullest and truest expression while breathing life back into humanity and teaching other people how to do the same thing. It’s a different form of music.
Did you receive any criticism from other artists in the industry when you decided to leave?
Garrain: So many people called me crazy, but also no one knew my situation. Who tells people that you are $250,000 in debt while you are also on MTV or BET? There are actually so many people in the entertainment industry that are struggling in secret like that. That’s why there are all of these mental health crises that entertainers go through.
They don’t even know who to tell because they don’t know who to trust. The have all of these tabloids and blogs as well as social media channels that smear public figures in the industry, so understandably they have nowhere to turn. they got all these people and media outlets and blogs that just smear people and they have no idea what’s going on on the inside. Then society wonders why artists commit suicide, suffer drug addiction, etc. It’s because we collectively missed all of the signs along the way. You have to maintain a certain image because that brings in money, that feeds your kids, and it secures your future.
But these are real conversations that people are afraid to talk about. You look on Netflix and you see all these people coming out with stories. Even with professional athletes, the critics always say things like, ‘Shut up and play basketball. You’re so lucky you earn millions of dollars.’ But actually those critics have no idea. Multimillionaires struggle with the same things mentally that a lot of other people struggle with. People talked about me, but they had no idea of my story because I was afraid to talk. I was afraid to tell people.
I can say from experience that half the entertainment industry is going through something crazy mentally right now, but when the public notices what should be signs of needing help, it instead becomes a press story about how this person looks too fat, too skinny, too crazy, etc. It’s never, “Is this person okay? Let me check with them. Let me pray for them. Let me send good energy to them and their family.” As a culture we have become very angry, disgruntled humans. And all of this negativity that we spew out is a direct reflection of the negativity that we feel inside. And it took me to leave the box of entertainment to be able to see what I was in that I allowed to drown my soul.
Did you see a lot of other artists struggling with similar identity crises when you were in the industry?
Garrain: Absolutely. Picture a boat that is sinking and you all know that you’re going to die and everybody’s hanging off the ledge, but everybody’s going to die so it’s more socially accepted because you’re all going to the same place. That’s what it felt like to me. Look at your favorite artist, then look at them five years later and you can see the change. It’s this thing that people just tend to ignore. And I was just like, ‘This makes no sense to me. All these people aren’t crazy. There’s something that’s driving them crazy.’ Also, many people in the industry don’t know a lot about emotional intelligence and leadership. They have great talent and skill, but they don’t pick the right people to be around them. A lot of people have a bunch of yes people around them instead of people that can hold them accountable.
It’s also hard to hold somebody accountable where they’re the face of the whole brand. So it’s a complicated problem. Artists need to give people permission to hold them accountable so that they can be level-headed. I believe every artist should have some type of spiritual guide, somebody that teaches them how to be physically inclined and some type of personal growth coach to be able to handle and navigate all of the pressure, all of the things that come with money and influence.
I know this because I am that for high-profile artists right now and what I’m supporting them with and through, I’ve experienced so I can speak their language so they feel safe enough to tell me the real stuff that they haven’t shared with anybody.
What do you think about the state of the entertainment industry right now and the direction that the culture is going in?
Garrain: I will say this, I believe Nikola Tesla had it right when he said, ‘If you want to know the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.’ The greatest way to influence someone is by changing their state. The fastest way to change someone’s state is through energy, frequency, and vibration. One of the number one easiest ways to infuse energy and frequency and vibration to alter someone’s state is through music. There is low vibration and there’s high vibrational music. I will put it to you this way, those that are in power have control over the music that is played on every radio station all over the world. Those who control the music, control the people because music controls the energy, frequency and vibration.
The majority of the music that is popular right now is low frequency music that mutes out people’s senses. We are high vibrational, multidimensional beings, and the majority of people that are listening to popular music don’t even realize, because you can’t see the picture while you’re in the frame, how much their senses are being numbed from their high vibrational state. We were not meant to be low vibrational beings, and though we have the range of low and high vibration inside of us, we’re meant to be high vibrational beings. But right now, the state of music is not going in a direction that is conducive for the elevation of the human spirit.
