Ansel Elgort turns singer for new music project

Movie star and DJ Ansel Elgort is adding singer to his resume after teasing fans about his first vocal release.

The Fault in Our Stars actor has already been enjoying success with his side gig as an electronic DJ, performing under the moniker Ansolo, but on Monday (04Jul16), the 22-year-old revealed he is preparing to make new strides in the music industry as a vocalist.

He shared the news with fans on Instagram.com, after posting a video clip of himself performing a stripped down version of pop star Shawn Mendes' track Treat You Better.

"Wanted to make an emotional piano version with some new chords," he wrote in the accompanying caption, before adding, "In other news I'm putting Home Alone up on soundcloud (music streaming site) next week with a official release later this month."

The new songs are expected to be released under Elgort's own name, instead of his dance DJ alter ego, reports MTV.com.

It is not known if the forthcoming tunes were created as part of his recording contract with Island Records, which he signed to in September (15), joining a roster which includes Nick Jonas and Fall Out Boy.

Speaking about the partnership at the time of the news, Elgort explained why he put pen to paper for Island Records.

"I went to a few different labels and was playing everyone my music, and Island was really interested in stuff I didn't think labels would be interested in," he told RollingStone.com.

"I played them some tracks and said, 'These are more poppy. These are more clubby. These are more radio-friendly'. The ones that were more radio-friendly, they were like, 'No, we've heard this before. We want the different ones. We want the special records'.

"I was like, 'Major labels aren't supposed to like these records!' I thought the point of a major label was to just release crap! But Island totally proved that wrong and was like, 'We want the best record that all the kids at the dance music festivals are going to love'."

Ansel released his first album, Unite, in 2014 as Ansolo, and was previously said to be working on a follow-up.