Alex Angelo Talks Austin Mahone Tour, ‘Superstar’ Video + Celebrity Crushes [EXCLUSIVE]

The way Alex Angelo talks about his career, he sounds way wiser than his 13 years.

For one, he emphasizes staying "real," no matter how big his career becomes. Luckily, he's surrounded by a supportive family -- and a great role model you may recognize named Austin Mahone. The Cleveland native hit the road with Austin this spring. The opportunity to open for him has exceeded all of Alex's expectations -- and, he assures us, was well worth the wait.

"Austin's friends have been really cool with me," Alex told us when he visited the PopCrush office while in New York. "Every time that I go out and perform now, they're always going out and watching me. They're really nice. They tweet at me and put videos up."

One aspect of Alex's "realness" is his insistence that he remains in contact with his fans, adorably dubbed "fangelos." As his 32,000 Twitter followers will note, Alex makes it a priority to communicate with as many of his fangelos as he can.

"People like Jake Miller and Austin and many more have just really shown that they really care and love their fans," Alex says. "Taylor Swift is big on that... Those people show that it can be done. Even when you're that big at that level, you can still show love for your fans. I love that and it's motivated me to continue doing that with my fans too."

Alex's fans are just one contributor to his success. Another is the long hours, hard work and personal funds he dedicates to growing his craft. Alex proudly states that he pays for his own equipment and road costs.

Since he first began DJing via an app on his father's iPad, Alex has explored an interest in music. This was further evolved by his gig as a dancer for the Cleveland Cavaliers and later, when his mother, a music teacher, began to give him voice lessons. And despite the challenges of self-funding his career, Alex is waiting for the right moment to link up with a label.

"It's real. It's not handed to you. I don't want it to be handed to me," he says. "The more time I take and the more time that I do it on my own, that time when they're like, 'OK, we want to offer you a deal,' I can have it the way that I want to have it."

Although he first started releasing covers, Alex dropped his 'This Is the Beginning' EP earlier this year. He stays active on his YouTube channel, most recently debuting the lyric video for 'Superstar.'

"'Superstar' is a very sweet song about someone you want to treat [well] and put up on a pedestal, like you would a superstar. Someone like Selena Gomez," Alex says. "She is a superstar. She goes on red carpets ... and it's all about taking a normal girl and just being like 'You're my superstar.' Treating them like the superstar. It doesn't have to be money or anything like that. It's not about that, it's about making her feel like a superstar. That can include the feeling you give off to her."

When we ask if Selena is his celeb crush, Alex laughs and shakes his head no.

"Jennifer Lawrence," he says. "Selena is cool and all, but Jennifer Lawrence is where it's at. She's very real! She's funny too. She is my superstar, absolutely."