The Rock ‘exploring’ new career in music
With success in wrestling and acting under his belt, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is now dipping his toes into music more seriously.
Johnson already has some music experience — including making it part of his WWE persona — but he tells Rolling Stone that he is now exploring the idea of digging into the art form more deeply. Johnson and his wife Lauren Hashian are executive producers of the new album “Moana: Voices Across the Ocean.” Johnson co-wrote and performs the song “Your Dad” on the album. The song is dedicated to his three daughters.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Johnson said he dreamed of being a country star when he was a teenager. Some of his musical influences were Sam Cooke, Elvis, George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Paycheck. Johnson addressed what his future in music could look like:
- I’m exploring that now, and I appreciate you asking that. As you roll along in life, I’ve been real fortunate to be part of some really cool projects, and love it. But music has always been such an anchor for me, and very specifically in genres that I love, like country music, traditional country music. And we’re exploring that now.
- I’ve reached this point in my life and in my career where, honestly, Brian, when I wake up in the morning, I swing my legs out of bed, and whatever the thing is that I’m doing, I wanna feel like I’m just running towards it. And the most gratifying things we do are when it’s for us, because we have enough pressure to deliver for so many other entities.
- The things we do, we must do them for ourselves, and then we must feel it in here, behind our ribcage. But they’re also always connected to some sort of commerce. You make films, especially the big four-quadrant movies, you want them to do well. But this song, for me, is just a song to my daughters. Where there’s no pressure of an expectation to deliver something that, ‘Well, how are the sales, and how’s the box office? And how’s the streams?’ It’s just from me to them.
The Rock in Hollywood —
Johnson’s most recent acting project was Disney’s live-action version of “Moana,” which did not perform well at the box office. His biggest musical success has been the song “You’re Welcome” from the original animated version of the film.
After the praise he received for his performance in “The Smashing Machine” last year, Johnson is attempting to balance his usual big-budget franchise roles with more serious acting projects.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.