Interview with Triple Charm

Hello! It is Adam. Welcome back to Bringing it Backwards, a podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we hung out with Amalia, Rayna and Gabby of Triple Charm over Zoom video. Amalia, Rea and Gabby are all sisters. With Amalia being the oldest, her two younger sisters kinda looked up to her and followed her path and passion for music. Amalia started off on piano and dance and voice lessons, and it wasn't long before Rena and Gabby also started doing voice lessons as well. All three girls were always in dance. That really sets 'em apart from a lot of other artists. 2 (2m 9s): They are all fantastic, not only singers but dancers as well. They're all born and raised in Orlando, Florida, but they talk about winning this contest in Long Beach. It's like a world contest for arts and music. They all individually entered into different events in the contest for dancing and singing, and they did a couple as a group and the two they did as a group made it on all the way to the finals and they won one of the finals, but took home a bunch of other awards throughout the the contest. So we talk about that. We talk about their social media presence, how they're able to gain such a massive following on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube in such a very short time. 2 (2m 55s): They tell us about writing songs with Heather Miley, who we've had a chance to interview. She has a project called Missy, so you can check out her interview with Heather there. But they wrote a few songs together. The girls talked to us about putting out their first music videos and all about writing and releasing their brand new song. Don't Need a Reason. You can watch the interview with Triple Charm on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It'd be awesome if you subscribe to our channel, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Bringing Back Pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, it would be amazing if you follow us there as well and hook us up with a five star review. 3 (3m 37s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 2 (3m 43s): We're bringing it backwards with Triple Charm. Hi, now I can, How are you? Perfect. 4 (3m 49s): Good. How are you? 2 (3m 50s): Doing well. I appreciate you all doing this. Thank you. Of 4 (3m 53s): Course. Thank you for having us. 2 (3m 55s): Awesome. I'm super excited. I just listened to your new song. It's amazing. Thank 4 (3m 60s): You so much. 2 (4m 2s): Yeah, for sure. Cool. Well I'm Adam and this is a podcast about the three of you and your journey in this wild music industry and the new song that you're putting out. 4 (4m 12s): Awesome. We're excited. We're excited to be here. 2 (4m 14s): Cool. So three sisters obviously. Yes, 4 (4m 19s): Three sisters. 2 (4m 21s): Yeah, go ahead. I was gonna say, usually we talk about where you're born and raised, but since you're all born and raised in the same exact spot, that'll make it easy. 4 (4m 28s): Definitely. Orlando, Florida, Orlando, Florida's, where we're from, Born and raised, still here. Yeah, we all three grew up dancing together, so we all started around the age of two. So that was our first kinda introduction into performing and that was where we first fell in love with music. Really was. Yeah. Dancing, obviously listening to a bunch of listening to music. Yeah, Dancing around the house. 2 (4m 54s): Who fell in love with at first though? Was it somebody in the other two jumped on board or how did that work? 4 (4m 59s): I'd say Amalia was the pioneer of the group. She's the oldest and she was singing, she started professional theater around, I was around seven I think when I started. That was when I first started singing a while for I, So I've been singing for a hot minute and then sure, It's been a while. And then, And then, yeah, we would always listen to her in the car on the way to vocal lessons, singing her warmups, the geeky games, all of them. And so it was kind of at the time annoying for me and Gabby wanted, wanted to listen to the radio, but okay. Eventually, I don't know, something clicked and we wanted to try it and then once we did, we all were singing and dancing, so we figured why not to together do it together. 4 (5m 42s): So yeah, now we'll all be in the car doing some gigs. Our parents have to, It's our parents 2 (5m 48s): Harmonizing with each other. 4 (5m 50s): Yes, always in the 2 (5m 51s): Car. So did you look up to your older sister? Is that kind of part of it too? 4 (5m 56s): Yeah, I think so. A big inspiration. She's very hardworking. So sweet. Yeah, like from a young age she was chasing her dreams. She, yeah, so definitely she's a big inspiration. Probably our biggest inspiration for like So sweet. Love this podcast. So Can't things to, 2 (6m 16s): What about you? What about you Gabby? You had two older sisters to look up to 4 (6m 20s): Kinda 2 (6m 21s): Fall in line with, you know, your other two sisters were doing something so it's like, oh well I wanna get involved as 4 (6m 26s): Well. Yes, absolutely. As re said, yep, she started it re followed along and I was like, You know what, I'm gonna give this a try and maybe, maybe if it turns out then we'll see how this goes. But yeah, it was 2 (6m 41s): Just that first. Did you and Amal start anything prior to to Gabby just because of the age difference? Like were you guys or were you all doing something together or were, were you Amal, did you do something and then everyone couldn't fell in mind after that? 4 (6m 57s): So I was the first one that kind of started, I did it for a few years. I would do vocal competitions, different things like that. And then in 29 or 2018 was when the girls started singing and they did it together. So they both started at the same time with my vocal coach. And we originally started singing actually for a competition called the World Championships of Performing Arts, cuz Amalia wanted to go and it's like a singing, dancing, acting competition for all the performing arts. It's like the Olympics for performing arts. A bunch of countries come and compete. So we ended up, 2 (7m 31s): Where does this take place? Yeah, yeah, tell me about this. Okay, so this is where Florida in California 4 (7m 35s): Long Beach. 2 (7m 36s): It's in Oh it's in, Okay so it's in California. It's 4 (7m 39s): California, yeah. And so Molly wanted, 2 (7m 41s): This is a big thing like, so the people from all over the world come and they 4 (7m 45s): You 2 (7m 45s): 60 countries, are you in like 60 countries? Are you in a specific category or is it like a free fall for everybody? 4 (7m 52s): So there's like a bunch of different categories that did solo singing, saying individually, I did like piano arrangements. Then we danced together, danced individually, did acting. So we just, we did probably over like 50 different things while we were, but then we ended up making it to the finals, which is like the very select few for as a trio for junior dance group and junior singing trio. So, and then that I think, I don't know if that has ever had ever happened before because we were in both, usually it was just one. But since we were competing for singing and dancing, that was really cool. 4 (8m 33s): And then we ended up winning Junior Dance, the World and yeah, so it was, it was very cool. Amazing experience 2 (8m 41s): For sure. Yeah. So you, you all go and you're doing your individual category or things and the group, so there's kind of all over the place, not all over the place. There was, there was an opportunity for for Gabby to go and and be a finalist in one thing without the two of you, so to speak. Exactly. Okay. Okay. So then stronger together. Yeah. So you're all together and then you make it to the finals in two categories and then you end up winning one of one or both? Yeah, 4 (9m 7s): We ended up winning junior dance group of the world. I don't think they could give us both of the titles, but it was really cool because we had to get really far to make it for both. We bunch different like levels of the competition. 2 (9m 20s): So what did the competition look like? You just go against different countries until you get to a certain level and then like do you have to do different routines or especially in the voice part or singing or you doing different songs? 4 (9m 33s): Yeah, I think like between the three of us, we probably had 30 different outfits. One for each song we had. Yeah. Yeah. We each did like five solo singings singing songs and then like for each, they were each one minute cut of, and then it was broken down by age group then by obviously the category and then like genre that you were singing. So we each did, I would say five, did a little bit of each genre and then, yeah. So it was a lot, a lot, a lot of preparation. But during that time was when we really fell in love with performing together. We like transformed our downstairs living room into a performance space and we like moved our couch into the dining room and put up mirrors. 4 (10m 16s): Yeah. So we were very dedicated for a few months there. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. 2 (10m 21s): You must have supportive parents that take you all the way to California for a competition. 4 (10m 25s): Yes, very. They're the best. Our number one supporters, both of them. 2 (10m 30s): So when you decide a, I wanna, I guess let's, let's back up for a second here because Amal, it sounds like you had some stuff going on prior to the, the things starting with what you had piano lessons, you were talking about playing piano. Did, did anyone else have piano lessons or was it just you? All 4 (10m 45s): Three of us. I ended up learning the piano, but Malia started out. Yeah. Yeah. I started out, our vocal coach was classically trained pianist, so we did it with her. And then another thing that we started doing with her is a lot of music theory for songwriting and things like that. So that's been amazing to learn. Yeah. So yeah. Okay, so 2 (11m 4s): That's, so that started, it started there and then once everyone was all taking the same lessons from the same teacher it sounds like. Yep. And then you, you go to this competition, win the competition and at that point it's like we should start a group together. Cuz you weren't a group yet, right? 4 (11m 20s): Yeah, So as we were doing the competition, we decided we wanted to perform together as a trio as well in it. We were like, might as well. And so that's when we decided we wanted to form the group and then for it they had an original song category. So that was when we wrote our first song. Was initially for the competition 2 (11m 41s): While you were there in California or were you, had you already prepped all this? 4 (11m 45s): We had already had it prepped, but yeah, so we decided we wanted to do an original song entry and then a few months before we had worked with a songwriter Heather Miley all the way in California. She took a chance on us. Yeah, she's written with Selena Gomez. 2 (11m 59s): Well it sounds like you already knew that you wanted to have a group together then if you were writing a song and submitting it that way. When, when did you decide like, oh this is really cool, the three of us should form triple charm? 4 (12m 11s): Yeah, it was, it was all like the competition, that whole, it was leading up to back time was all like combined into one. So the girls started singing a few months before then I was invited to the competition, then our mom said if Amalia goes then the girls have to go. So that was when the girls decided to go and then we decided we should do it together, might as well we're already there. What's a few 15 more entries into the competition? You know? So that's when we formed the group. Then we were like, might as well have an original song that would be fun. And then we fell in love with it. Now we're triple charm. Yeah, that's the 2 (12m 51s): Wow Malia, that's, that says a lot about you. I will say cuz I, I would think that an older sister might be like, Oh I don't want my kid sisters hanging out with me or like being in a group with me. Like tell me about that. 4 (13m 4s): Yeah, so I spent a lot of time doing it individually. I mean I was started when I was seven doing theater. So I worked with a lot of adults growing up. I was like doing online school, went to theater, worked there for a while. But yeah, it's just a lot of fun with your sisters. I don't know how else to say it. We have a blast and we are able, the great thing is that we're able to do it anytime we just go to right each other's room and we're like, Hey, you wanna work on this? Like you wanna write a song right now? You're like, Yeah, let's do it. So it's great. It's always so much fun. 2 (13m 39s): That's so cool. So with that first song that you, that you guys wrote together, was that an idea you had? Or how, how do you even go about going, okay, I wanna write a song and then getting Heather involved and having her jump on board? 4 (13m 51s): Yeah, so we reached out to her through an email and then once she's decided she wanted to work with us, we were super excited. We just, we sent her some ideas cuz we kind of had an idea of what we wanted the song to be about. Yeah. And so we sent her some lyrics and then she helped us really like bring it all together. Formulated. Absolutely. So we had sent her before, like we hadn't even really formed the group yet. We didn't have videos of us singing together as a trio yet. And so we sent her individual stuff and she, she really took a chance on us and yeah, she was super helpful. That was our first ever experience. So it was great. Yeah. I think we actually had like a, 2 (14m 30s): Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. 4 (14m 31s): Yeah, we had like Google Doc, like a three page Google doc sheet of like what we want the song about and like some lyrics and then the inspiration artists that we wanna kind of make it sound like, you know. And so it was, it was funny. It wasn't like we actually got on Zoom and like wrote it with her, but it was definitely, it was a good first step. Now we obviously like do zoom sessions and writing sessions and stuff, but that was the first introduction into songwriting. 2 (15m 0s): Sure, of course. Especially you didn't know if this was gonna be something you guys would pursue really aside from the competition, right? 4 (15m 7s): Yeah, exactly. 2 (15m 9s): And then you win this competition and it's like, okay, that validated this whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. So, 4 (15m 16s): But I remember vividly on the way leaving the competition, we were on the way to the airport and that's when me and Gabby had decided, cuz we were still doing school like in person, I think Amalia was doing, Doing online school. Online school. And that's when we decided I think we need to switch to virtual school and start doing this like full-time Time. Yeah. Focus on it. So I'll never forget that. No. Yeah. Right on our way home from California for that. Wow, that's so 2 (15m 42s): Crazy. Somalia, you were already out of, or you were doing online school because you wanted to pursue this as a passion and already like this is already your dream. 4 (15m 52s): Yeah, so I had okay. Gone for a while doing online school, then back to in person doing a little theater here and there. And then I started a few months before the competition to prepare because I was like, I need a lot of time because I was also doing piano and stuff like that on top of the trio and everything. And also I am the one that usually comes up with choreography. So for our performances as triple charm, I was coming up with the performance, obviously the dancing, everything like that, the block. 2 (16m 25s): Right, right. 4 (16m 26s): So I was like, I think I need some time to work on this. So that's what I decided to do online school. And then six months later you dropped. Yeah. Yeah. 2 (16m 37s): That's so quick. That's crazy. And with, so you originally, you were the one that got invited to this contest and how did, how did that happen? Did you submit for it or? So 4 (16m 48s): When I was, I think I was six was when I first went to this competition, my vocal 2 (16m 54s): Coach. Oh, so you had already been before? 4 (16m 55s): Yes, I had been once before like I guess that was probably nine years before. So there's a big gap in time. But I had gone with my vocal coach the first time and so yeah, she kind works with them in is has some students that go every year. And so yeah, I had gone before but then this time I was like, Oh I really wanna go back. This would be so fun. So she invited me to come back because this was gonna be her last year. She was like, I wanna end it with bang. She had like over 20 students go. So, and then me and Gabby had never sang before. I mean Oh yeah, in the shower maybe. But never done any vocal lessons or anything with her. But our mom said if a Molly goes then we're going too. 4 (17m 37s): And me and Gabby were excited and our vocal coach, she was okay. So, yeah. Yeah, she was a little nervous at first. She was like, I dunno if I could do this. This is a big undertaking. Yeah. Yep. But the girls worked really hard and it worked out. 2 (17m 51s): Yeah. Were you, were you nervous going into this? I mean Amalia had already done this before, but what about the two of you? Had you going into a competition like this? Like were you scared or nervous at all? Especially not having as much experience, I guess prior? Absolutely. 4 (18m 8s): Yeah. I would say I had a little less nerve than I think someone would going into it because we grew up on stage dance competitions since like the beginning of Oh, 2 (18m 21s): Okay. 4 (18m 22s): But so 2 (18m 22s): You're all involved in dance pretty heavily prior to even this beginning? Okay. Yeah. 4 (18m 27s): Our first time performing as a trio before our triple charm was a thing was when Gabby was only two, I was five Reno or I was six, Reno was five. Yep. And we did a dance to, we are family from Alvin in the Chipmunks. 2 (18m 43s): Oh wow. And we 4 (18m 44s): Pulled Gabby out on this tiny little pink wagon. It was the most adorable thing. But that was actually the first time we ever performed together as a trio. Yeah. So we were no stranger to being on stage. It was just now we're gonna be singing. Yeah. But it was, I always wanted to sing, I think. Cuz when Amma first started singing and she went to vocal lessons with this vocal coach, I was supposed to sing for her as well because I had wanted to do lessons, but I didn't, I got too scared. So I think it was like the perfect timing. There was a lot leading up to, Yeah, then I, then I found my, my time. It was, it all worked out. But I had wanted to sing for a long time. I was just too shy. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I remember back way back when, like you were like, what? 4 (19m 28s): Like six, when she started singing, she didn't wanna go to a few classes. She kind of wanted to take a break off singing and I filled in her classes that her dad paid for already. And I was so shy. I was like, yeah, that only lasted for about three lessons. And then I went back, I was like, okay, I'm ready to go back. 2 (19m 44s): Yeah. So 4 (19m 46s): Laurel of the story, we were all, you were ready? Yeah. I think you were ready. Yeah. 2 (19m 53s): So you, you, you said you guys grew up in Orlando. Are you from Orlando, right? Correct, Yes. Okay. So were, there's a lot of, I mean, Disney and all that is right around there. Was that something that you aspired for to you know, maybe perform one day at Disney World or were, you know, do something at Universal Studios? Cuz I know there's that culture all right around that too. 4 (20m 13s): Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people that I did theater with, that was a major thing for them working at Disney. Yeah. That, that would still be so fun. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Right now we're just writing the music cuz we don't have that many songs out. So we wanna get more out that we can perform live and then once we have like a full set, we would love to perform everyone that's, that's we can, 2 (20m 37s): But going. But even prior to the, the group forming that wasn't like, that was just something that was around, it wasn't something that you were like, okay this is cool that Disney's here. We should try to get into like, I don't know, there's a different paths obviously. So I just curious if that was one of the ones you guys were thinking of going down or not at all. 4 (20m 55s): Yes. Yeah, we get like, I feel like a lot of people from Orlando get that question. Like, do you go to Disney? I think I've probably been like total of four times that I've lived in my whole life. So 2 (21m 5s): There 4 (21m 6s): You go. It's more for people that come 2 (21m 8s): Down, come there. Yeah. Yeah. I grew up in San Diego so we had a Disneyland like an hour away and we went quite a bit. But it was the same thing like, well it's there so I can just kind of go whenever I want. But, And then you end up not going. Yeah, exactly. Wow. Okay. I'm curious then. So obvi, you guys have a huge following online and how did that start? Would that start when you started putting the music out or was that something that came from Dan the dancing that turned into what you're doing now? Or like how did you build that aspect of this whole thing? 4 (21m 44s): Yeah, so we started our Instagram as we were preparing for the competition, but we didn't really get into it until 2020, right around Covid. Okay. Well I'll say before then we had, we wanted to grow our following for our music. So that's why we started social media so that we could reach a bigger audience. Yeah. And so it stemmed from the, the music side wanting to reach bigger audience for it. And 2 (22m 11s): Then what about even on YouTube? That's the same thing. 4 (22m 14s): Yeah. Cause we really wanted, we really wanted the audience for music videos. Cause that's such a major part of, for us, like the visual and audio. Like when it all comes together, that's like, Yes. Perfect. Sure. And so we wanted 2 (22m 28s): Wow, okay. Sorry, go ahead. 4 (22m 29s): Really, really for the music was essentially when we first decided to start and then in 2020 was, yeah, obviously Covid had happened and we had a lot of time on our hands cuz we were all already doing online school. So we're like, maybe we should do this. And so we just dedicated quite a bit of time. I mean a lot of time since we started, we did I think like two to three Instagram reels a day consistently for like a year. And now we still post at least once a day on Instagram. We've been very consistent with it, which I think has contributed a lot to our growth and it's been amazing. 4 (23m 11s): And then YouTube all of a sudden and like the past year has skyrocketed. Yeah. Yeah. When they came out with shorts, that was the perfect thing for us. We started creating shortboard videos, hopped on and yeah. That really helped us grow on there like crazy. And so on our social media, we kind of think of it as a variety show. So we do dancing, we do a little bit of comedy singing obviously. So we try to mix it up and Yeah. 2 (23m 40s): Yeah, I was watching a lot of the, I mean they're not all just the same thing, right? I mean you do dancing videos and then you had some, you know, kind of like, I don't know if there were challenge videos, but there's something that wasn't Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And different, just different things. So I didn't know if maybe it started out with, with that, with YouTube or something. But it sounds like this is all kind of grown really rapidly. I mean within the past few years to think about like having over a million subscribers on YouTube and a million followers on Instagram, like that surpasses so many people. Yeah, it's, That's so cool. 4 (24m 14s): Just so grateful for the social media Yes. Aspect of our growth in our followers and stuff because we literally probably wouldn't be here without it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's crazy to think about. It's really cool. It's, it's a little hard to wrap your head around sometimes. Like imagining 1 million people is kind of hard to fathom, but it's amazing. And yeah, so it was all started, it all happened very fast for us. It was mainly 2 (24m 42s): Wow. Were were you seeing like Yeah. Like thousands upon, you must have been seeing thousands upon thousands of people following you, like daily. 4 (24m 48s): Yeah, I think on YouTube this last month we grew 500,000 subscribers in one month. Yeah. That's the power of YouTube. Sure. 2 (24m 58s): Oh my gosh. 4 (24m 60s): It was crazy. 2 (25m 1s): That's unreal. 4 (25m 4s): So it's just been crazy to watch it all happen. Yep. Yeah. So great. And then whenever we go out, cuz like literally to the grocery store when I, I go out, we'll get recognized. Yeah. And that's also crazy. That's so much fun. For a while we were just at home we didn't really go like, especially like during the pandemic. Yeah. You didn't go out then going out and seeing people recognize this in public was a whole Yeah. That's so much fun. It's 2 (25m 30s): Cool. What was the fir, when was the first time that happened? Were you like shocked or were you like, like that's, that must've been wild. Like somebody coming in like, Hey I know you from YouTube or whatever. Instagram, 4 (25m 39s): I'll never forget with you. I was on my way, was on my way to a friend's birthday party at Disney Springs. We were taking her to Disney Springs and they were with me. Yep. And I was rushing because I was late. But then, yes, someone came up to us and she asked for a picture and we were kind of like, I was confused. I thought it was a friend that was trying to talk to Rena and get her attention. So I didn't really look back at first. And then I turned around and she was like, I love your videos. Can we get a picture? I was like, oh my gosh. Yeah. So that was our first time. Yeah. Getting recognized. We've had a lot of, at least me, I've had like crazy experiences getting noticed cuz I went to a movie theater with my friend and her family and I got noticed by like this 30 year old man that I wouldn't expect like that I wouldn't expect to know me. 4 (26m 23s): So I was a little confused of why, how he like knew, knew me and he was like, Are you that girl from Triple Charm? And I was like, yeah. Like, I dunno what to say here. But Yeah. Very interesting. Cause I think we'd be a little more recognizable together. You know, the redhead, brunette blonde, that kind, it kind of makes sense. But we, we have been recognized individually on our own, which has been also kind of crazy. Yeah. And it's crazy to see the demographic is very wide. It's a wide range. Wide range. Yeah. 2 (26m 53s): Which is great. Right. Yeah. 4 (26m 55s): That's awesome. That's, it's 2 (26m 56s): Amazing. I know, I was just thinking like having a million follower like on YouTube or Instagram, whatever, like that's more than probably a good chunk of like countries on this planet have more like world are following you than they actually have humans living on their, in their country. Yeah. 4 (27m 14s): Crazy. That is crazy to think 2 (27m 15s): About. Yeah. Wild. Okay, so once you get, you win the contest, first off, do you get like a trophy? What, What is the prize that comes with it? 4 (27m 24s): Yeah. Yes. It's kind of crazy. We hung up all our trophies on this wall that we had in our old house and it filled up the whole wall. It was like, it was stuff from our, each individual awards and stuff. And then we got this big star as the The finalists. Yeah. The big one was for the finals, but then we did get like quite a few others from individual. 2 (27m 47s): Oh wow. So that wasn't the only one you brought home? 4 (27m 52s): We had quite a few actually. Yeah, it was, it was fun. They did, the way they judged the competition was like based on a score. And then in each category there was silver, gold, or bronze. Bronze, silver, gold, Silver, gold. Sure. So in each category you could win I guess a plaque each, in each category. So there was a lot of categories and a lot 2 (28m 15s): Of plaque. You guys are coming home with like a backpack full of stuff and there's other people in your, you know, troop from your same teacher that are just like so bummed out. That's cool. That, okay. Well, moving forward from the contest, you start the group, you put out the first song and then from there tell me what goes on. Just keep releasing music, keep writing new songs or Yep. 4 (28m 41s): Yeah, our first official kind of like step up or the next step into where we are today when social media, like Instagram, No reals, no nothing. It was just Instagram and we were posting pictures. We used to go on like Joe Joi was following and stuff and like, like their post go in like and comment. So they'd come back and see us and be like, Oh, maybe I'll follow them. You know? Yeah. On like the girls that followed. Yeah. 2 (29m 7s): Yeah. 4 (29m 8s): That's influencers. I've heard 2 (29m 9s): This before, like other influencers have talked about this, like how smart that is. 4 (29m 15s): Yes. Yeah. It was our, it was our strategy for a while. I mean we would each, we called it Operation Rally up because this was before our next release of our next song Rally Up, which we wrote with Heather. Okay. And so we would each spend an hour a day going in on Instagram and liking and commenting on people's posts. Yeah. For like a solid two months, maybe three months. Yeah. It's crazy to think about though, how many followers we've grown from. Yeah. Like since then it would've taken us probably years more than our whole lives. Yeah. 2 (29m 47s): Oh yeah. 4 (29m 47s): To get to that. Cause we, I think when we started that we got up to 7,000 followers. And so for that, for us that was huge. We're, Oh yeah, gosh, this is insane. Like, I didn't even think this would be possible. And so that was when we released our next Next song Rally Up and then that was when Reels came onto Instagram and we were like, we need to capitalize on this. Cause TikTok is huge. I mean Oh yeah. We would blow up like crazy. We were like, we need to do this for reals because obviously they're gonna be looking for people like Charlie Deme, the next Addison Ray. So we were like, we need to hop on this. So the day it came out in the US we started posting Yeah. 4 (30m 28s): Right away. Oh 2 (30m 30s): Cause yeah. Cause everyone else was focused on TikTok so you're like, Hey, I'm gonna just jump out on the, And I feel like that was, Shorts is the same thing. Not a whole lot of people use that to the extent that they should. Wow. Okay. That's brilliant. And then you just start doing reels, reels, reels real, and then you start falling into their algorithm and it just goes wild from there. Wow. 4 (30m 50s): Yep. Then it just kept growing. And then we released our song Rally Up. That one was a really fun one. We filmed a music video for that in California with NAA Bramos. It was on this insane set. I think they filmed Iron Man There or something crazy. Oh 2 (31m 6s): Wow. 4 (31m 7s): It was so much fun. That was our first time doing a video with dancers, which we loved. Yeah. Yep. And so that was the next song. Then obviously we kept focusing on social media. Then our third song Sway Sway, which was more like K-Pop inspired. We'd actually written that while before we released it. So we had to rerecord it. Yeah. We didn't have to, but we wanted to rerecord it cause we sounded so different. Yeah. 2 (31m 35s): Oh, Oh, interesting. 4 (31m 36s): Yeah. Cause we, I think that one was one we wrote in 2019 the same time we wrote Rally Up. Yeah. Rally Up Two were together, Rally Up and Sway. We wrote at the same time. So maybe that was 2020. And then it didn't come out until 2021. We were like, we gotta rerecorded. 2 (31m 52s): Yeah. So yeah, cuz you think about that. I mean, you girls are getting older. I mean, once you, when you're in that kind of this age group where when you could, your voice will change quite a bit. It didn't matter of a few years. 4 (32m 5s): Exactly. So that one we were like, we gotta re-record it. It turned out really good that one was in, We definitely wanted to take the vocals up a notch with that one. So we were very inspired by Bang Bang Jessie J. And that one we also wrote with Heather. So Okay. Those three songs we did with her, which were a lot of fun. And then for that one we decided to take more of the K-pop route and filmed a performance video. So we did that here. It was a family production. Wow. Our dad, our dad filmed, I came up with the choreography, our mom styled our outfits. Yes. Rena edited. How's the editor? Yep. You 2 (32m 42s): Edited. 4 (32m 43s): Wow. I still am. We're actually, So we did that performance video and then over the summer we released summer again. Yes. That was latest single. And that was super fun. We did the video for that ourselves too. Yep. And then our upcoming single we're releasing September 16th and we did the video for that too. Yeah. Performance videos. I, I'm in like an editor streak as of right now. Yes. Yeah, 2 (33m 9s): It's, that's a great skill to have, especially with the, what you do. I mean as far as like online content and everything else. Exactly. 4 (33m 16s): Yeah. 2 (33m 16s): That's cool. When, so when Covid hit, it happened, you already had a few songs under your bell or written at least it sounds like. Yes. Okay. Exactly. Did that kind of pull the window outta the sales or did it do the opposite? Because now you have all this time to sit, sit and kind of pursue the online, you know, game as far as far as like the commenting and let you know all those moves that you guys made. 4 (33m 40s): Yeah, I think it definitely helped push us to work on songwriting more. That was when we had started working with our vocal coach on music theory, which had helped tremendously with our songwriting. Cause before then we really didn't know much. I played the piano but I didn't, more of a vocal I was doing. Yeah. And so taking music theory was definitely a major help. And then I also took a class online, Berkeley School of Music. Oh 2 (34m 9s): I did. 4 (34m 9s): Wow. I did a music production class over the summer and I also, I did a songwriting. So one for like lyrics over the summer as well, which was, that was really cool. And through 2 (34m 19s): Berkeley as well. 4 (34m 20s): Yeah. 2 (34m 21s): Oh my. Wow. You're all smart too. 4 (34m 26s): Yeah, those are very fun. That was a fun process. That was my first introduction into music production, which I wanna keep working on. I haven't in a while. But that was a really fun process and definitely helped grow our songwriting abilities because yeah, I mean now you have to know like all elements of the whole songwriting process, the whole creation process. So that's definitely been helpful for future sessions. Yeah. Like with these, our last song summer again and then the one that we're releasing in September, this Friday when we're, we were very much involved and processed a lot more than we were because Yeah. 4 (35m 7s): We had a lot more knowledge. And so those, we had written with Andre Sari, he is a Latin Grammy winner, he's a producer. And so we did those sessions over Zoom. We had, we had a little bit of an inspiration, kind of the vibe we wanted. So for the summer song we knew we wanted a little nineties vibe. We knew we wanted it to be about summer. Yeah. Cause we had written a few things on our own all about summer. Yeah. And then when we got on the session, we were like, this is what it's gotta be about. And then he came up with like a little, a little track and we were like, Oh this is perfect. This goes like right summer. And we wanted to, we wanted to release one before this upcoming single don't need a reason. 4 (35m 48s): And so it, it moved really quickly because the summer was already coming and going. So that was like a very quick process. Like two weeks. Yeah. We had recorded, I think we wrote it in one session. We just, it was super fast. Few hours. Yeah. Wow. We had all the lyrics and then it was, that song was a lot of fun because the visuals kind of went hand in hand with the lyrics. And I, I love when that happens. So like as we were writing the lyrics, you could just picture the video already. Yes. Which is always, 2 (36m 18s): Oh yeah. Your mind probably works that like that way where it comes to visualizing, how is it gonna look and sound same time. Exactly. 4 (36m 25s): Absolutely. Yeah. That's a major element for us is incorporating the visual and dance obviously is a huge part of what we do. So with everything we write, we really want it to be danceable. Cause that's like I, I would say that's one of the main things that sets us apart in a way, is our ability to dance. So that's something we always wanna make sure is there in the forefront for people to see. And then also like spreading a positive message. That's been our goal since day one. Yeah, absolutely. So in everything we do, we just want it to be positive. Yeah. And happy and, and put a smile on people's faces. 2 (36m 58s): Yeah. You could feel that definitely from the records that you've released. And then you're talking about dancing and that's the whole kind of concept of the new one, right? I mean that's a hook. 4 (37m 6s): Exactly. So it's in honor of Hispanic heritage month. Cause we're 50% Puerto Rican, so we wanted to get in touch with our Latin roots. I love that. And yeah, we would spend days at our wells house listening to Latin music Yeah. And watching tele Bellas. Yeah. So we, she was a big inspiration for this song. Yep. And yeah, so it's about the power of dance because that's a big connection we have. Like it's a huge part of Hispanic culture and obviously huge part of our lives. Yeah. So it was the perfect like connection point. Something we could relate to from every aspect of life. So dance is what it needs to be about. 2 (37m 42s): So did, did you take the video to like another level like of dance? Like, I mean when it comes to the choreography you did, you have to spend more time thinking like, okay this really has to 4 (37m 51s): Be 2 (37m 52s): Done really well. Since it's all about not like, not having a reason to dance. It's 4 (37m 56s): All about, 2 (37m 57s): So 4 (37m 57s): Dance has to be kind of good, you know? Yeah, yeah. I Right. 2 (38m 1s): I had a, You probably have to look at a, take it a little bit higher maybe to the next level sort of. 4 (38m 7s): Yep. For sure. It's another performance video, so it's gonna be dancing the whole time. Yep. And Malia, she's good, but she is a little bit of a procrastinator. So she called me out. She was able to get it done like efficiently. Yeah. I think she works best under pressure. I do. Yeah. That is one thing about me. Like if I have more time, I, it takes me longer. I need a short window where I just gotta crank it out. And that's usually when I work best. But that's not necessarily great for the girls cuz then they have to learn it really fast. Yeah. Yeah. 2 (38m 38s): But 4 (38m 38s): It worked out 2 (38m 39s): Like, alright, last minute I got it all figured out. All right, here you go. Minute. 4 (38m 44s): So the good thing is they pick up choreography very fast, which I credit to dance that like competition classes, that helped tremendously. So it was good they were able to pick it up fast, which was key because we didn't have much time. Yeah. 2 (39m 0s): But probably helps that you're all sisters too. I mean, you kind, not only you around each other all the time and live with each other, but you probably are able to pick up on cues. Yeah. That other people wouldn't be able to just because you, you all, you know, grew up together and live together. 4 (39m 15s): Yeah, exactly. And also able to be like completely honest with each other without like hurting each other's feelings. Sure. You know, you love each other, but just like say the truth. I trust you to tell me the truth you I like. Exactly. Do you like it? Do you know? You know, like you don't wanna step around someone toes someone's 2 (39m 31s): Yeah. You don't have to like beat around the bush. You just directly, you know what, I don't love that. Or Yeah. Cause exactly. Well we're, you know Yeah. Unconditional love anyway, so deal with it that Okay. That's awesome. Well I love the new song. I can't wait to see the video when that comes out. And do you have other songs that you have finished and ready to go? Or mainly just gonna push this one and see where it goes from there? 4 (39m 54s): Yeah, we're gonna, we're focused on this one at the moment, but definitely wanna keep writing. Yeah. We haven't done any like official sessions since this song, but we definitely have. We have some ideas. We have some ideas. We wanna release another one in November. Hopefully. Hopefully. Yeah. So we're towards quick turnaround time. That's something about us. We, we work pretty fast so November's coming up already very soon. Yeah. But we do wanna get a song out by then. And our goal is kind of to take it single by single and we wanna release a song every two months is our goal. And right now we're kind of exploring with our sound, the genre like yeah obviously pop music is our lane, but kind of going off into little sub genres, seeing where we like, where we relate to most, what we like most. 4 (40m 47s): And then also what our audience really gravitates towards. Cause that's a major part. So yeah, we're excited for this one cuz this is very different than anything we've ever released. So we're very curious to see the audience's reaction. 2 (40m 59s): Yeah. Yeah. That's such being so young. You all are so business savvy too. It's like you know exactly how to do it. Like, okay, we gotta get, we gotta do this on Instagram and then we gotta go do this and this and then like, Yeah. It's, it's just so cool to see how your, your minds are working as far as like pushing this product and stuff. It's really cool. Like it really is. Thank you. Well awesome. Thank you so much for doing this today. I appreciate your time. Of course. Thank 4 (41m 26s): You so much. So much for having, for having 2 (41m 27s): Us. Yeah. Yeah. I do have one more question. I wanna get an answer from the three of you cuz it'd be interesting to hear the difference in responses. But do you have any advice for aspiring artists? 4 (41m 38s): Mmm, that's such a good question. That's a good question. I would say the biggest thing is don't be afraid. Yeah. I feel like I was a little bit timid and afraid of failure I guess. So you can't, you just gotta go for it. Go for it. Do what you love. If you love it, then that's all that matters. So yeah. Yeah. I would say don't be afraid to take risks and do what you love no matter what anyone else says. Yeah. Yes. Love it. That's, that was really good. That was great. I'll give a little more like specific less, less messaging advice. If you're able to find a way to bring content creation into what you're doing, it's major help. 4 (42m 23s): Absolutely. So many people are growing, especially artists now, all over social media. So now's the time to really jump on it. Find somewhere that you kind of fit like in your pocket, in your niche and just go after it. Be consistent and just go after it. Use social media to your advantage. Yes, absolutely. Oh for sure. And on the topic of social media, like engage with your audience, like comment to them that really does help. Like from experience, we definitely know that helps. And lastly, have fun. Like yes, if you're doing what you love, you should just have fun.