Exclusive Interview with Lovey James

 

Today I talked to former American Idol contestant, Lovey James. Lovey is currently spending time in the studio working on more original content.

Read my interview with her below!

Can you tell us a little about being on American Idol. What was that experience like?

“I was on last season’s American Idol. It was great, it was everything I’d ever imagined and more. I met some amazing people. Some of the contestants are still some of my best friends today. I think working with the coaches was so amazing. It gave me the opportunity to put my talent in someone else’s hands and let them give me advice. They told things I don’t think I really would’ve picked up and realized on my own. Even the professional coaches were really great with their opinion and telling me what I need to improve on! It was great. It was fantastic!”

What did you learn from the show? How did it change you and your career?

“I think when I did the show it made me realize how much I really wanted to be a singer. If this is my career for the rest of my life, you know, this is what it’s going to be like. It’s always good to have a career you love doing.

Singing is a passion so it really just made me realize that this is what I want to do forever. I’d never seen anything on camera so that was a good experience. It was another learning skill, and it was great!”

Which musicians influence you? Who would you love to work with? 

“I am really inspired by a lot of young female singers. I have so much respect for their work ethic. I’ve only seen just a tiny bit of the music industry so far, but, it’s difficult. It’s extremely hard to just not have it stand out. It’s a lot of pressure because automatically all eyes are on you. So day one of being famous and being a celebrity you have to be a good role model.

Some of my role models are Ariana Grande, Fifth Harmony, Jessie J, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor. I just really like a lot of the female artists.

I honestly think social media is a huge thing right now. It’s really easy for boy artists to get big just because you know, most fans are girls and you know they’re attracted to the boys. I have a lot of respect for female artists who just keep on pushing through it and keep chasing their dreams.”

What inspired you to write songs that encourage kids to be themselves? Is there a back story to it?

“I was in public school from kindergarten all the way up to my freshman year. Freshman year is when I really decided I want my singing to be a career instead of a passion.

My parents and I decided homeschooling would be the best option for me. I left public school and I started noticing a lot of my friend’s weren’t very supportive of the path that I’d chosen.  I did experience a bit of bullying even from some of my closest friends.

Getting into the music industry, one thing you really want to do is to be able to connect with people with your music. I wanted to share a message that was really relatable because so many teens go through it on a day-to-day basis. I just wanted to let fans know and young teens know that being you is the way to go!

People are going to love you for being you! It’s not worth it to try and be someone else. That was really the main message from my song “Who You Are”. Who you are is beautiful! Who you are is great, and that’s all that you ever need to be.”

You come from a big family; do any of your siblings love music as much as you do?

“There are six kids in my family! Believe it or not I am the only one who sings. [Laughs]. My little brother sings a bit here and there. But none of them have really gotten into the music industry. Who knows, maybe my little brother will take after me! He’s pretty into basketball, not really sure about that one!

My younger sister is into acting, so we’re all kind of on our path and our own journey. We’re all so supportive of each other though. I’m out here in LA right now, recording and doing interviews and meetings. My littlest sister is in LA too. She’s doing a dance scholarship! She’s out here doing a convention. We make it work.

My parents are making everything work and multitasking!”

You’ve co-written with a few people so far, is there anyone in particular you’d love to co-write a single with, in the future?

“Songwriting is something I really have got into lately. I’m actually working on writing an album that will be released this fall, which I’m super excited about!

Songwriting has never been something I’d think I’d get into, because I struggled with it in the beginning. Now that I’m older and I’ve been through a lot more experiences, I write better.

I think I’d work with anyone and everyone! I have a big, big heart for Taylor Swift, though! I know she writes all her songs and it would really be cool to do a song-writing session with her!”

Are you going to her concert that’s coming up in Los Angeles in about a month?

“I really, really want to, but I’m not going to be able to be in town! “

She has four shows in L.A!

“I know! I really want to go! But hopefully I’ll be able to make it work!”

You just did a cover of Wiz Khalifa’s ft Charlie Puth “See you Again” with Daniel Seavey. How was that? Can you tell us a bit about that?

“Daniel and I were both on Idol and that’s how we met. I’m from Portland and he’s from Washington, but we just got super close with each other. After the show ended, we both decided, “Hey! It would be really cool if we did something together!” We decided to do a cover which is actually being released today!

Since we’re both singers, and not really rappers, we decided to do Charlie Puth’s version of the song which has no rap. It’s a beautiful song, and it was really great working with Daniel in the studio. We’ve both only ever seen each perform live on Idol. Being in the studio together was completely different! We were able to bounce ideas off of each other!

We both came up with super cool harmonies. It was great! We worked on the song for probably six hours in the studio, since we really wanted to make it perfect for both the song and the video. Both are released today!

 

How would you describe your music style? 

“I like to sing pop music. Growing up I was a competitive dancer for seven years. When I got into the music industry I really wanted to be able to sing songs that were in the genre of pop dance. I wanted to incorporate pop dance within my songs and my live shows. A lot of my songs are inspirational, but I do like pop, dance music that’s still young and fun. I think that’s it really [laughs]!”

What are you a “nerd” about? 

“I’m a major shopper! I really get nerdy over makeup and clothes and hair products and anything like that! [Laughs]. I love to shop. he thing I’ve been obsessing over is this new store that I just discovered called tobi.com. It’s amazing and I just bought a bunch of new clothes from there! I’m definitely a shopaholic!”

Do you have any tours coming up?

“I have a lot of local stuff coming up! I was in Portland so I was doing some shows at different restaurants and different charity events. Daniel and I have both talked about doing a concert together so that would be super fun! I’m sure we’d both do it in our hometown. I’m going to have people stay tuned for that!”

 

Follow Lovey James on Twitter: @TheLoveyJames

Check out her website! http://www.loveyjames.com/