Earlier this month we featured Alicia G’s festive single, ‘You’re My Favorite Holiday’ in our Essential Advent Calendar. Now Alicia G returns to our calendar as she answers some questions about her life, music, and the most wonderful time of the year.
Hi Alicia! Thanks for talking to us! It’s that most wonderful time of the year, the holiday season! What have you got planned for Christmas?
What I have planned for the holidays it just enjoy each and every moment with my family because at the end of the day families is the most important thing!
You’ve got a new festive single out, ‘You’re My Favorite Holiday’. It’s a bit of a departure from your usual dance music style – will we be seeing more pop tunes from you in the future, or is this a holiday special?
This is definitely a Holiday and Special something that I’ve been always wanting to do and it turned out better than I expected. I’m actually going to be switching into the pop country in the new year 2022!
‘You’re My Favorite Holiday’ has a classic holiday song vibe – what’s been your inspiration for it? What are your favourite holiday songs?
This song has a classic Peggy Lee with a modern day Billie Eilish vibe to it.
What inspired me to this song is my grandmother who helped raise me Christmas was her favourite holiday so the Song is in memory of my late grandmother.
Some of my favourite holiday songs are ‘Santa Baby’, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you? What changes have you had to make over the past 2 years, and what will you take with you into your post-pandemic life?
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected me by not being able to put on live shows/performances in person but it has helped me grow my social media. It forced me to find other ways to communicate to my fans. I found the app BIGO Live where I have over 3.06 million followers where I have the most followers in all of North America. On the platform I perform my songs and also DJ along with spreading the word talk of positivity each and everyday!
What I will take with me and to the post pandemic life is I’m so grateful for social media because it allowed me to still have a platform to perform my music and grow the most loyal fan base I could ever of dreamed of! AGArmy that’s what I call on my fans!
If you could speak to your younger self, what advice would you give and why? Similarly, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in the music business? What are the most important things you’ve learned since you first got into music?
Some advice from my younger self would be that I wish I would’ve started participating in being more active in social media because I would’ve had even more followers than I do now.
Some advice I would give to someone starting on music business is make sure you focus on your social media, your social media numbers are so important that is what can set you apart from the rest.
Some of the most important things I have learned since I first got into this industry is having a good trustworthy team surrounding you.
What’s the top 3 songs on your current playlist, and why are they there? Have you discovered any new artists or songs this year that you’ve had on high rotation?
Three songs are on my current playlist ‘I Gotta Feeling’, ‘Beautiful Mistakes’, and ‘Get Ready’.
One of the songs that I have on high rotation is ‘Get Ready’, by Blake Shelton and Pitbull I love this song, because it really blends the genres of pop hip-hop with country so well. That song really help inspire me for the new year of 2022 which I am switching to the country pop genre of music.
And finally, a question we ask everyone we interview – what question do you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever does?
A question I wish I was asked but no one ever does would be… what inspires me to keep going and never stop?
The answer to that question would be the motivation and the power of positivity to never give up and never taking no for an answer! I’ll never give up till I achieve what I want in life, I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s shining bright! Remember the best is yet to come just believe!
Thank you Alicia, have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous new year!
Watch the music video for ‘You’re My Favorite Holiday’ below. Catch up with Alicia G and her music online on her official website, Facebook, and TikTok.
It’s almost like a homecoming whenever Jedward perform in Glasgow. Sure, they’re from Dublin, and still live there, and the vast majority of their work since the start of their career started has been in London; but Glasgow is where it all began, with them first stepping out onto the X Factor stage and John saying, “Glasgow! How you feeling tonight!”
And even though that was a very long time ago – 13 years even – Glasgow certainly took John and Edward to their hearts, and their love was evident last night when they performed at G2 at The Garage, in Sauchiehall Street.
While the set list for the show was much the same as the previous two, there were some distinct Scottish elements, including a rousing all audience rendition of The Proclaimers’ classic, ‘500 Miles’, a snippet of The Bay City Rollers’ hit, ‘Bye Bye Baby’, and a drink of a can of Irn Bru.
Edward drinking Irn Bru – Photo Credit: Lisa Hafey
Many fans had travelled to Glasgow for last night’s show, quite a lot had attended all three, while some went directly from Manchester, due to not having got tickets for London, or choosing to have a break in between. Still others attended London and Glasgow back to back; but regardless of how many concerts or which the fans attended, they were there, reunited, as if the three long years since they’d seen each other, and of course their faves, John and Edward. While the Jedward fandom is largely social-media based, with their fans making firm friendships with other likeminded people from all over the world, there’s no substitute for meeting in person. Having said that, many of the audience shared their view of the show on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, so those who couldn’t make it would still be able to feel part of the community. Much has been said about Jedward, but for those who *get* them, and *love* them, they become like family, and this extends to the fans too. While the fans all know each other, John and Edward know, or at least try to know, each and every one of them. The Jedward fandom is in essence actually a multitude of different, individual fandoms, with each having their own relationship with the twins, that might be slightly different to everyone else’s, but no less valid.
There’s no greater example of this relationship than their meet and greets that happen before each show. These started last night shortly after 4pm, and were still going at nearly 7. Never once did they slow down, or complain about how many people were there, but instead, they remembered personal points about each person, and chatted, while photos were taken. They gave each person their own experience, and made them feel special. After all, they’ve not seen us for 3 years either!
Special mention must go to the two girls who won tickets to last night’s show courtesy of a competition on Jedward’s TikTok account. The pair were so keen to be in the front row that they stood outside for the 3 hours of the meet and greets, just to be at the barricade. That’s Jedication!
Jedward mentioned that there will be further concerts in November. With their fifth album set for release this autumn, there’s certainly a lot of Jedward content on the horizon, and we can’t wait!
The Jedward journey continued last night with an extraordinary sold out show at London’s Camden Assembly.
Singing most of the same set as the Manchester show, they added several more from their latest album ‘Voice Of A Rebel’, including ‘Thirsty’, and ‘Follow My Whispers’.
The show coincided with London’s Pride Parade, and so John and Edward highlighted the event, borrowing a Pride flag from the audience while singing their song, ‘Good Vibes’, which contains the lyric, “pour me a rainbow I need colour again”. They also gave a call out to the LGBTQIA community – adding a letter J (for Jedward) to the end.
Like the previous evening, there were several songs sung a Capella, as well as the acoustic session – ‘Nothing Compares 2U’, ‘Wonderwall’, and ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, and a mashup of three of their songs, ‘Never Better’, ‘What’s Your Number?’, and ‘Girl Like You’.
Just like the Manchester show, a lot of the newer members of the audience have come from discovering Jedward on TikTok, which is clearly a great platform for them. London has always been a major hub for Jedward, and so it should come as no surprise that this show sold out; it was great to see fans new and old mingling and enjoying each other’s company, united in the shared love of John and Edward.
The Jedward Juggernaut moves tonight to Glasgow’s G2 at the Garage. Limited tickets are still available via Ticketweb.
There’s a lot on the minds of Stranger Things fans after the Season 4 finale. But now, fans have the answer to what song Eddie Munson performed during the final episode of the show.
Warning: Stranger Things Season 4 spoilers ahead!
Earlier this month when the Stranger Things teaser trailer was released, fans saw that Eddie would be playing the guitar on top of a trailer in the Upside Down during a lightning storm.
TikTok users began analyzing the clip to see what chords he was playing to see if they could determine what song he would be performing. Some TikTokers theorized that it was Europe’s “The Final Countdown” while some correctly figured out the tune.
Eddie Munson (played by Joseph Quinn) dedicated the song to Chrissy before breaking out into an epic guitar solo. The song turned out to be “Master of Puppets” by Metallica. The song is the title track from the band’s 1986 record.
This season, other artists like KISS, Journey, Talking Heads, The Beach Boys and Kate Bush had their music featured in the hit 80’s-themed Netflix series. Quinn actually used music to get into his character.
“I listened to a lot of heavy metal and that was my… God, it’s impossible to not sound pretentious when you say it, but, yeah, that was my way in,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
Prior to filming, Quinn actually began playing guitar after watching Jack Black in the 2003 cult-classic School of Rock.
“I’ve played since I was 7, and I’ve had huge breaks,” he shared. “I wouldn’t consider myself a brilliant guitarist, but I can play it. That was very lucky because those scripts came out, I think, at some point in the pandemic. I did start practicing pretty furiously.”
Watch the epic scene, below.
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