After 18 months' worth of blood, tears and sweat, Malcom Moon was ready to present his pride and joy to the world.

Moon released his first music video July 1 on YouTube to more than 100 views in the first 24 hours.

But it was not without a few setbacks. While at Trinity College in Connecticut, Moon created an EP, also known as “extended play” which is a CD with more than just a single, for his senior music project called “Jumping Trains” with 10 original songs. However, because of “varying circumstances” the EP never came to fruition.

“I was devastated when my music never came out. I thought I was a failure,” 23-year-old Moon said. “I had worked so hard on those songs. And now, no one was going to hear them. I had no audio or video files from the project. I had nothing and was back at square one.”

After that, the Flowery Branch resident felt unmotivated to do anything with music until his roommate and friend Francis Russo suggested putting up a video of one of the songs, which he offered to film.

“Suspended” was chosen to become Moon’s first music video.

 “The day I posted it (on YouTube), I was too afraid to check social media,” Moon said.

But he did and was blown away by the support.

“I was excited to get over 100 in just three hours, but I never thought that the video would get over 400 views and counting,” Moon said. “That’s still insane to me. I’m just speechless.”

His inspiration for the track came from an unreleased song with the same name by the sister group Aly & AJ in 2013.

“I remember hearing the snippet and being frustrated that it never came out,” Moon said. “Like I wanted to know what the rest of the song sounded like. So I remember I came up with the chorus and melody immediately.”

Moon and friend Nicole Muto-Graves recorded the song in April. Then the trio of friends filmed the video in Moon’s and Russo’s apartment over two days in early May. The scenes were shot in black and white in Moon’s room, Russo’s room and their living room.

“(The black and white) gave it a timeless sort of vibe and sets the tone that there’s some discord happening between the two characters,” Moon said.

Moon developed the concepts and a few of the shots, but the rest stemmed from Russo’s talents. Russo, who edited and filmed the video, described the process as a labor of friendship.

“It was very exciting working with Malcom,” Russo said, adding he has never had to work closely with a client before. “It posed dilemmas with certain shots and different opinions.”

Moon agreed.

“I had so many ideas for specific shots, but we had so many factors against us like a single camera and cameraman,” Moon said. “Francis would be like, ‘No, Malcom. That’s not going to work. It doesn’t look good.’”

But the collaboration “really paid off,” during the editing process, especially since the duo are self-titled “freaks for details,” Russo said.

“Malcom was a good person to bounce ideas off of ... I just wanted to make a great-looking video to match the talent of Malcom and Nicole. I think we achieved that,” Russo said.

And Moon was pleased with the results.

“Luckily, my friends are amazing and worked for free,” Moon said. “Well, I ordered a couple pizzas to have on set while we were filming. Other than that, they were so amazing and generous with their time.”

On the day of the video release, Moon said he received texts from his friends with encouraging words and support.

“It’s been amazing (since the release),” Moon said. “I still can’t believe it actually happened.”

As of Aug. 3, the video had been viewed 424 times.

Moon, who always knew he wanted to be a singer, is pursuing his music career in New York City.