EX-TEEN POP STAR WILL GROW ON YOU
By MAXINE SHEN
May 20, 2008 -- THERE'S a fine line between being a boy and being a man.
Unfortunately, few male teen pop stars manage to make it across that line with their careers intact.
For every Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin and Justin Timberlake - who were actually teenagers when they got their record deals - there are an equal number of guys like Nick Carter and Joey McIntyre.
As adults, these artists never quite reached the success they had when they were still bringing home report cards to Mommy.
After years of putting out the kind of pop records that screaming, underage female fans love - both in the boy band Dream Street (when he was 15) and as a solo artist - Jesse McCartney is making his first foray out of the teen pop ghetto.
The 21-year-old is venturing into Man Land with his third album, "Departure" (out today).
Laden with an urban flavor and plenty of R&B grooves, the record is "unlike anything that fans have heard before from me," says McCartney.
When making the album, "there was a point where I said, 'I have to pull the trigger, go full out and make a statement, let people know that more than anything what I'm trying to convey is growth.' "
McCartney concedes that "there is shock value" to his new sound and image, especially when talking about the lead single, "Leavin' " (download it now at nypost.com), which is "technically about having a girl leave her man and come with me."
"When people see the visuals to the video and hear the music, they're kind of like, 'How did this happen?' " McCartney says.
It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, though.
"I feel like I've been trying to make a record like this for a while, but didn't have it in me at the time," he says.
With things like the end of a long-term relationship - he dated singer/actress Katie Cassidy for three years - under his belt and the responsibility of buying his first home in Los Angeles, McCartney felt like he was finally ready to display his burgeoning mature side, even though he's practically still a spring chicken.
"At a young age, I guess it's easy for people to think, 'Well, what does he know?' " McCartney says. "Yeah, I'm 21 in age, but I've been around the world, and it's certainly opened my eyes to how people work and how they are.
"A lot of those fans that were around when I was 15 or 16, they're all my age now. I think they're ready for me to scratch a little bit deeper below the surface. I'm pretty confident that they'll jump onboard with me - it's going to take a second to adjust, but as long as I'm comfortable and honest about it, they'll get it."
