For most high school seniors, spring means prom which means graduation which means moving on to the next stage of their lives. Austin Mahone is, literally, already on the next stage. The rising 18-year-old pop star is readying for a new summer tour, kicking off July 25 in his hometown of San Antonio and wrapping up Sept. 9 in Cleveland. “It’s almost sold out,” he says. That his new EP, The Secret, is just out this week will probably help sales, too. “I was not popular in high school, I definitely had problems,” says Mahone, “So I left after freshman year and was homeschooled at my grandmother’s house.” Ten million Facebook fans and 6 million Twitter followers later, his days of unpopularity are a distant memory. “What I’m doing now is so much better,” he says. “I have no interest in prom.”
