Kazemi is Malibu Poppin’ with Colette Carr

MALIBU IS POPPIN’

19 year-old Colette Carr simply started out her career by jumping on stage rapping at “The Game” concert. In modern-day terms “NBD.”

“Back It Up” pulled out of Colette’s early sessions with Electro-pop duo The Cataracs made it to #1 on MTV unintentionally and people were starting to see what she was really about.

Later on her quirky aura caught the eyes of A&R men at NCredible Records, Cherry Tree Records and Interscope.

Today she is teaming up for her debut Cherry Tree Records release with producers like Frankmusik, Space Cowboy and  Pharrell.

SHOW ME WHAT YA WORKIN’ WITH COLETTE?!

Alex Kazemi: Hey Colette, how are you doing today?

Colette Carr: Hi! I’m good, how are you!? I’m actually at Far East Movement’s video shoot for “Rocketeer,” gonna be crazy!

Kazemi: I’m good! That’s exciting! So I know you got started jumping on stage at “The Game” concert.. Tell me a little bit about that story; what possessed you to do that?

Colette: My sister’s friend was hanging out with the bouncer in San Diego and he told her about their secret show in L.A. So, she drove down from San Diego to try and get in even though we weren’t allowed. I don’t know, somehow we ended up in the right line and she was like, “Dude come on, they’re giving out a bunch of wristbands.” I gave in and we snuck past a few people and got to the front! While we were waiting for the show to start the host dude was like, “…Can anyone here rap?” So, I jumped on stage and started free styling and I simply just fell in love with the feeling of being on stage and everyone in the crowd loved the performance. It made me feel way too good to not want to pursue it as a career. Haha, funny story! The host dude is now my best friend Stroy Moyd.

Kazemi: Weird! How did you go from jumping on stage at a concert to being signed at Cherry Tree records and the whole Nick Cannon. “NCredible” deal?

Colette: I made “Back It Up” and made a video for it and honestly it was an experimental thing; I didn’t really care about what anyone thought of it. It was for me and I didn’t expect anyone to like it and then one day it went number one on MTV. A lot of people were drawn to it and the director, Richie Mac, knows Ray Brown and he just wanted to hook us up and have a meeting. When Ray saw the video he got so excited that he showed it to Nick, who is his business partner at NCredible, and he literally was like, “…Let’s sign her right now.” So we got together, the vibe was just amazing. He really understood who I was and I was just able to be myself and do my songs. It was really dope! Nick showed my videos to Jimmy Iovine and he was like, “Let’s go, let’s do this.” So we did and I signed with Interscope with Shawn Holiday and Martin Kierszanbeaum. It’s weird, me jumping on stage kinda signifies a leap into this whole different life . When I say I’m gonna do something, I work my ass off and I do it, I just went full throttle! It’s literally been a year and I haven’t stopped making music for one day.

Kazemi: Your drive is impressive! Was it a liberating/cool feeling the first time you got to say “Cherry Cherry Boom Boom” on a track?

Colette: Are you gonna hate me if I say that I’ve never heard any other song where someone says that?!

Kazemi: Oh my god, those four words have been chanted in some great pop songs!

Colette: Well, I’ve never heard a song with it until I did mine! I’m totally happy about that though because I do more of a aggressive “CHERRY CHERRY BOOM BOOM,” rather than the typical soft, “Cherry Cherry Boom Boom.” [Laughs]

Kazemi: [Laughs] Have you been working with Martin on this record?

Colette: I have; I’ve worked with him on a couple of great tracks, they’re so dope! I can’t wait for everyone to hear them; it’s just a bunch of epicness.

Kazemi: So what other song writers/producers have you been working with? I know of Frankmusik, Space Cowboy and Pharrell. That is pretty dope!

Colette: Hmmm! Damon Elliott. Lately I’ve been doing a lot with him, which is totally amazing because he is just as weird as I am and he plays tennis. [Laughs] Nick Cannon! I’m not going to list everyone; you already know all my secrets!

Kazemi: I do! [Laughs] Did you directly work with Far East Movement on “G6 Re-flip?

Colette: Yes, they were there when I did it, they’re amazing!

Kazemi: So, are you working with The Cataracs?

Colette: I did work with Nile and we made a bunch of songs, but that was in the beginning of my career. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve grown so much as an artist since then but it was really nice working with him. He is extremely talented.

Kazemi: When it comes to song writing, is your youth factor a muse? I guess nineteen is like fresh out of high school. Will the songs reflect on your high school years, like a  Malibu house party feel? Ha-ha.

Colette: Well, I actually didn’t go to high-school, I was home schooled! So, you might be getting the idea of a teenage party girl from my lyrics but they’re actually about the nineteen year old home school girl who played tennis all her life. The music is definitely fun and some of it is a little bit vulnerable. You don’t know how ecstatic I am to show everyone!

Kazemi: I also noticed in the mix tape, “SEX SELLS STAY TOONED!” that you mention a lot of pop culture references like TMZ, Biebs, Perez Hilton. When you were younger were you a zombie when it came to watching MTV?

Colette: The weirdest thing about that is I never watched MTV or had time for it! I was a tennis player, so all I did was play tennis and watch tennis matches. So like I said, when I do something I do it full throttle. I treated tennis like how I treat my music today. I just recently watched TMZ for the first time of my life and I checked out PerezHilton.com, which was hilarious! I find it all pretty awesome; I’m kind of just getting familiar with all this stuff and all of the music blogs. I’m getting in touch with technology a bit late although, my best friend growing up was completely infatuated with all of it, so I was definitely around it but not first-hand.

Kazemi: Well, the “Bieber Interlude” was hilarious! Do you have a crush on him?

Colette: I know right!? Hmm, I don’t know!

Kazemi: [Laughs] What do you think makes a good pop song? I think your genre falls into a weird like electro/pop rap category but it is cool.

Colette: Would you consider my sound pop?

Kazemi: I don’t know; it confuses me!

Colette: Yeah. Honestly, I haven’t found a way to describe it yet. You should help me out! It’s like electro, hip-hop and pop all as one. They all did a back drop on a tent! Especially the stuff I did with Space, it’s super different.

Kazemi: It really is! What music did you listen to growing up? We’re kind of the same age, so did you ever listen to Britney, Aqua, S-Club 7, you know that cheesy pop? Or were you more into Missy Elliott, Alliyah, Tupac?

Colette: I listen to everything! I do not discriminate. I listened to Britney a lot, she is the shit! I listened to girl groups like Dream and Destiny’s Child. I listened to the pop stuff but I still jammed to Dre, Wutang, Eminem and all the crazy rap guys. I listened to foreign stuff too like Greek and Turkish music and just different influences, literally everything! I think all these sounds that influence me will help me understand my horizons a little bit. Maybe this is why I can’t classify my music as one thing, I pull from every genre. Ugh! I hate that word, “genre.”

Kazemi: It all makes sense now! So, another confusion: Is “Back It Up” a hype track or a single?

Colette: Ahh! I don’t really know the technical sides but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the first single; it hasn’t been officially dropped though.

Kazemi: Who produced it?

Colette: Nile from the Cataracs.

Kazemi: Oh, back when you were developing your sound and stuff?

Colette: Yup! It was the first song I ever recorded along with “Bitch Like Me.” Those songs are really, really special to me. I’ve grown a lot and I’ve learned a lot and I’ve worked with so many other amazing people. I kind of just feel like I’ve graduated.

Kazemi: I just wanted to say: White Girl rap isn’t owned by anyone; it’s a style of music. Like, who gives a fuck if Ke$ha and Uffie  are doing it too, it’s about the style and how you bring it to the table, and I personally think you sound fresh.

Colette: Thank you! That’s the truth right there.

Download her free mix-tape Sex Sells Stay Tooned right here!

Source: Alex Kazemi