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Greyson Chance reveals what he loves, what he wants

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After breaking out on YouTube with his acoustic piano rendition of Lady Gaga‘s ‘Paparazzi,’ Greyson Chance is taking another cue from the pop phenom: Like Gaga does with @ladygaga, he is the only person who knows the password to his verified Twitter account.

So if you hear back from @greysonchance, you really are hearing back from @greysonchance.

‘I know what it’s like on the other side when you like someone and they don’t follow you back, and sometimes they’ll follow you back’ the 13-year-old said Wednesday in L.A. at What Teens Want, a brand-partnership conference focusing on, well, teens and what they want — in music, movies, video games, Web content and more.

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‘I try to stay connected with them [fans] and make them feel like they’re at home.’

The live-tweet of the panel discussion, which also featured Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter (who found Greyson on YouTube) and Jennifer Frommer of Interscope Records (the Lady’s label) — revealed lots of Tiger Beat-type tidbit: Greyson loves jalapeno chips (that’d be a cool brand partner, he said), wears ‘lucky bracelets’ and adores his iPod.

‘My iPod broke, and I was devastated,’ he said. ‘That was the day my heart just fell.’

Not so much when it comes to the iPhone, however: ‘I had to go with the business phone,’ he confessed, revealing he rocks a BlackBerry.

Manager Carter got into music early, he said, growing up with Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff — as ‘the little kid schlepping their records around.’ (One of those guys is better known these days as Willow Smith‘s dad, by the way, for you teens in the audience.)

He explained why this new young talent isn’t exactly the next Justin Bieber: ‘People say he’s the next Bieber, but no, he’s different, because he has incredible songwriting ability. He’s here for the long run.’

‘Kids know what’s real and what’s not,’ said Greyson, who learned piano at 8 years old by putting masking tape on the keys and realized along the way that he had a ‘good shower voice.’ ‘It’s about authenticity in the music.’

But seriously, what does a teen like Greyson really want?

‘I want fans to be able to listen to my song when they’re feeling their lowest low and feel uplifted,’ he said.

Check out his debut single, ‘Waiting Outside the Lines,’ and let us know if you think his wish might come true. He premiered the tune Tuesday on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’

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— Christie D’Zurilla

Related dispatches from the Ministry of Gossip:

Who’s going to be on ‘Ellen’s Somewhat Special Special’? Funny you should ask ...

Ellen DeGeneres to launch new record label, signs Lady Gaga prodigy

‘Paparazzi’ prodigy Greyson Michael Chance booked by ‘Ellen’

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