NKD Mag - Issue #99 (September 2019)

by Catherine Powell

TRAVIS MILLS

SEPT. 2019 04 AVENUE BEAT

on their debut EP + their life-long friendships

20 JOSIE DUNNE

on breaking out in country music + the early days of his career

24 TWIN XL

on living many different lives + his new show, ghosted

28 NICOLLE GALYON

on finding success in the u.s. + her upcoming stripped down tour

06 JOSEPH DAVID-JONES

on her upcoming EP, late teens early twenties + touring

10 KASSI ASHTON

on finding their groove in the studio + their tour with the maine

14 THE REGRETTES

on finding success as a writer + her new label

on following his passions + his role on arrow

on controlling every aspect of her artistry + her fall tour plans

32 ADAM DOLEAC

on their sophomore album + not fitting into a genre

34 TRAVIS MILLS 44 ASTRID S

48 RAMONA YOUNG

on working with drew barrymore + her role on legends of tomorrow

CATHERINE POWELL

publisher, editor, photographer, designer, writer

SAMANTHA BAMBINO

ELIZABETH FORREST

VANESSA SALLES

OLEVA BERARD

IAN HAYS

LEXI SHANNON

writer

writer

NICOLE MOOREFIELD

OLIVIA SINGH

writer writer

ANNIE CONDODINA writer

writer

writer

writer

writer

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avenue beat Words by SAMANTHA BAMBINO Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Location: THE RUSSELL

LONGTIME FRIENDS SAMI Bearden, Savana Santos and Sam Backoff, better known as the trio Avenue Beat, flawlessly describe themselves in their first single - they’re a “freakin’ delight.”

Hailing from Quincy, Illinois, the 21-year-olds are on the brink of taking both the country and pop industries by storm with their self-titled, debut EP, released in July and co-produced by Savana. Boasting clever lyrics, catchy hooks and a girl-power-sass drawn from powerhouses like Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert and Ariana Grande, the four-track creation is a relatable nod to the everyday struggles of figuring out life, money and, of course, men.

Though 2019 marks the girls’ inaugural dive into the world of releasing original music, their bond is far from new. Sam and Savana, who have been inseparable since they were babies, met Sami when they were 14 while participating in a musical theater camp. The pair was posting covers on YouTube at the time, and Sami commented on one, telling Sam and Savana to hit her up if they ever needed a piano player.

“But she actually did not know how to play the piano at all,” Sam says with a laugh. “She was just trying to be our friend.”

Luckily, Sam and Savana were more than welcoming to the fellow aspiring artist. The next several years saw the group performing three-hour gigs at bars and churches throughout Quincy.

Though a few originals were occasionally sprinkled into the setlist, they catered to the taste of their older audiences...and Sami.

“A lot of Queen and a lot of the Eagles,” she says. “Honestly on my behalf because I was super into that at the time.”

In addition to forming a small local following, it was during this period that the name Avenue Beat was born.

“We were about to do a local talent competition and we needed a name at the last minute. And so, we just did an online band name generator,” Sami says.

“We Googled that, clicked it a couple times, saw ‘Avenue Beat’ and were like, ‘Yeah, good enough!’ We’ve had it ever since.”

Avenue Beat’s career launched forward in the girls’ senior year of high school, when they were invited to sing at a late night show at The Dog House Saloon & Grill in Nashville, Tennessee.

With the consent of their parents, the girls hopped in a minivan and set out for the venue. This spur of the moment decision allowed them to make lasting connections with high-profile management, and ultimately change the trajectory of their lives forever.

Directly after graduation, the girls became permanent Nashville residents, and, for three years straight, set to work honing their sound. Now, with one EP finally under its belt, Avenue Beat is looking back with a sense of awe on how far it has come.

“We’ve been writing songs together and hanging out since we were 14. So, to have music out in the world is really weird but really cool. This is a quarter of our lives that we’ve been working toward this,” Sami says. “This is buck wild, which makes it really scary but also kind of amazing and satisfying.”

After writing nonstop for multiple years, Avenue Beat naturally penned more songs than could fit on an EP. According to Sami, the ones chosen for Avenue Beat are a great representation of the band’s “mantra.”

“We wanted to lead with these four because we felt like they were the best introduction to us, our personalities and our friendship with each other,” Sami says. “A lot of it is centered around who we are and things that we believe in.”

This is certainly the case for “Delight,” which instructs listeners to love themselves even if they have some “haters,” whether that’s a friend or significant other.

So far, Avenue Beat is connecting with people on a deep level. The girls receive daily Instagram messages, with fans stating how Avenue Beat’s music improved their mood or helped them through a rough day.

“I never thought we’d be able to create something that has such an impact on someone else,” Sam says. “It’s the best feeling ever.”

As Avenue Beat revels in the early success of the EP, with a number of radio station appearances scheduled for the remainder of 2019, its members are already looking toward the future.

“I think a short-term goal for us would be to have the audience sing our songs back to us,” Sam says. “It looks like the coolest thing ever, and that’s something that we always wanted to experience for ourselves.”

As for a long-term goal, Avenue Beat is keeping it simple.

“I don’t know. Just taking over the world, I guess,” Sami says. “Casual.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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joseph david-jones Words by IAN HAYS Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Grooming by MELISSA WALSH Styling by ALEJANDRA HARNSIH

Persistence is key when accomplishing your dream. Stakes are often high, especially when trying to make it in Hollywood. But everyone must start somewhere and lead with hope that the work they put in pays off with finally landing that audition.

Joseph David-Jones knows all about that. Breaking out as Clay, Maddie’s (Lennon Stella) love interest on the hit series, Nashville, Joseph has settled into his own as Connor Hawke on The CW’s, Arrow. The Kentucky native is now actively in the DC Universe and he couldn’t be happier about the art he’s getting to make.

Growing up in Kentucky, Joseph lived out the suburban childhood.

The neighborhood kids would rove around playing games, riding bikes around town, or just spending days indoors playing video games.

“A kid would get a trampoline and suddenly they would become the most popular kid in the neighborhood,” he jokes.

Even in those early days, before the acting bug bit, Joseph still found himself in front of the camera.

“My older brother would take our home video camera and write these

insanely, ridiculous short stories and then make us film them.” He laughs, “We would go around the neighborhood and my brother would pull out this giant VHS camera with us play fighting in peoples’ yards.”

While he participated and humored his brother, at the time, Joseph had little interest being in front of the camera. He was also engrained in the world of sports.

Track? Football? Baseball? Joseph played it. But, he’s quick to admit that none of them stuck. A love of music did blossom, though. This led to him taking music classes and learning guitar and piano. All through high school he was in one choir or another. But with this new-found passion came uncharted territory.

“Everybody in my family was really good at sports… and I was really good at singing,” he says.

It was through music and dancing that Joseph felt accepted. His older siblings garnered respect through their sports accomplishments; Joseph didn’t have that.

But with music, he found what he was good at and found that same

respect. He found a way to make a name for himself. Then came college.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I went to college. I was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. So, I took a career aptitude test. It told me I was best suited to be a mechanical engineer,” he says.

There was a part of Joseph that accepted that fate. He enjoyed building things and other aspects of the job. Music was still a hobby and the arts hadn’t taken full control yet.

But even though music was still a side hustle, it is what led Joseph to acting. Literally. Searching for representation and gigs for his college band was how Joseph signed to an agency. As he likes to put it, once he got bit, he never looked back.

“Acting grabs ahold of you. It doesn’t let go. Its why people stick around in this crazy industry. I knew there was nothing else that I wanted to do,” he says.

Joseph made the choice to postpone school and take a year off to try out acting in L.A. In that first year, he landed several commerNKDMAG.COM

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cials small roles in straight to DVD movies. And that was all the encouragement he needed to officially end his academic pursuits and focus on acting full time.

Postponing school to try acting was a hard sell for his parents. He got into college on a scholarship.

But he had the option of deferring the scholarship for a year. With that option available, his parents gave their blessing for him to try acting for one year. If it didn’t work, he had to go back to school. Joseph knew he didn’t want to be an engineering student. He wanted to act; he had to make this count. Luckily, that first year was fruitful and his new path as an actor was set.

Thinking back to his earliest auditions, Joseph can’t help but laugh and cringe. He had taken some classes in Kentucky and in L.A. But they were all beginner levels and he didn’t know what to expect in auditions.

“I would be looking at the camera during the audition, like, I don’t even know. I can’t describe to you how bad I was on the first couple of auditions I had,” he laughs, “Luckily, people could tell I was one hundred percent green and just happy to be there. They helped me out with what to do and what not to do.”

It was this support system that kept up the encouragement to keep up with acting. The raw talent was there and recognized. But Joseph is the first to admit he was lacking in formal training and knowing the business. In the face of this brave new world he kept at it.

With formal training under his belt, Joseph found himself landing more and more auditions. This led to a stint on Nashville and his current work on Arrow. A subur08

ban Kentucky boy is now a main character in the DC Universe. A young man pre-destined for office life broke the mold and now fights alongside superheroes, actively participating in the global phenomenon of comics brought to the screen.

“When you’re there, it feels like you’re going to work; you’re going to your job like anybody else would. Its only outside of working that the gravity of it truly hits you.

You bump into people who watch the show and you realize it really is global. It’s when fans of the show reach out to you, message you, that it really hits you. It’s humbling.” He chuckles, “And at the same time really exciting.”

This is the motivator for Joseph.

When he has a character, the first he does is try to connect with them on some level, to personalize them.

Joseph says on the upcoming season of Arrow, we see the writers taking even more time to really cater the characters to the actors, utilizing story arcs, to bring the most out of the characters and overarching plot.

The engagement and time spent between the actors and writers allows the writers to see how stories from the actors’ lives can positively impact the characters and the direction the story is going. This relationship translates to more honest storytelling and the chances of fans’ seeing themselves in the characters.

“A lot of the upcoming season hits on personal levels. I can’t give away any spoilers, but in my case, its my experiences and little obstacles I’ve had to overcome,” he teases.

Luckily, finding strength when the odds are stacked against you is nothing new to Joseph David-Jones.

We can only hope it will be the same for Connor Hawke. NKD

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kassi ashton Words by OLEVA BERARD Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

IT’S THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST and rising country star Kassi Ashton has a busy schedule ahead of her. In the midst of serving as Maid of Honor in her older sister’s wedding, which includes preparing all of the flower arrangements, she’s also preparing to head out on the road opening for Maren Morris on a handful of dates on her GIRL: The World Tour.

As we speak on the phone, she’s just getting back from the fabric store where she has selected the material that she will use to make her own outfits that she will perform in this fall. Kassi makes all of her own outfits for significant moments in her career, including costumes for her music videos, live performances, as well as award show appearances. She’s been doing it since she was a kid when her mom taught her how to use a Singer sewing machine back at home in California, Missouri.

Never quite fitting in, she was constantly searching for outlets that would give her a place to belong. While she still enjoyed riding dirt bikes and shooting muzzleloaders competitively, her dedication to her unique interests made her an easy target for bullies but she never let that hold her back from what she loved. “The mean kids wore blue jeans and cowboy boots I wanted to be the opposite of that. I was kind of a loner in that way,” says Kassi. “I think that fed me more and was kind of a motivation instead of a hindrance.” Her love for fashion and creativity expanded into other areas of her life, finding a love for poetry in middle school before adding guitar to the mix a few years later.

While her interests made her stand out amongst other kids at school, the skills and confidence she gained serve her well for her chosen career.

“It just became such a price-

less skill to be able to design and bring whatever is in my head to life for a music video or an award show or whatever it may be,” says Kassi. Though she finds passion for all of her creative endeavors, her one true love was always going to be music.

Growing up to the albums of Tammy Wynette, Aretha Franklin, and Fleetwood Mac, she had a deep appreciation for women who blazed their own paths. She continued to pull inspiration from Chris Stapleton and Adele as she began to explore the natural soul in her own vocals. After high school, she moved to Nashville for college and began working to create her own blend of traditional and contemporary country. She found supportive friends and professors who taught her how to co-write encouraged her to write music that would suit the soulful registers present in her voice. The result being a bluesy country NKDMAG.COM

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with an attitude that instantly stands out.

Graduating with a degree from Belmont University and a publishing deal from Universal Music Group, Kassi had laid the groundwork to kick off her career as a country artist. Just last year, she released her debut single “California, Missouri”, a track that shares a not-so-romantic view of her hometown and successfully stirred conversations amongst the people she grew up with.

After a reading some unfriendly Facebook comments about the song, she was inspired to begin writing her latest single “Field Party”, in which she responds to people back home who felt slighted by her debut. Kassi was perturbed, “Do they not think that I still go back home and drink beer with my dad and drive around on the farm?”

She let the comments inspire her to craft an infectious party track that pays tribute to something she enjoys when she returns home for a visit. With a feel-good groove and a dance instruction for a bridge, the track is both a party anthem and a definitive confirmation that Kassi Ashton didn’t leave her roots behind.

She recently shared the music video which brings the song to life and honestly depicts the field party that Kassi was envisioning. At the heart of the video, she wanted a focus on people coming together for a good time. “I wanted 12

a lot of different people from different backgrounds, different styles to come and celebrate together,” says Kassi.

While she currently only has a handful of singles out in the world, she plans to head back into the studio by the end of the year to write and record new music.

She initially avoided the traditional route of breaking into country radio first, but Kassi has impressively already made a name for herself. The instantly recognizable edge of her artistry garnered her enough attention to earn her a spot performing at CMA Fest. She also managed to attract the attention of one of the most talked about country artists of the year, Maren Morris, and earn an opening slot on her ground-breaking GIRL: The World Tour. The string of dates are actually Kassi’s first time heading out on the road to perform and she plans to be in control of as many details of her performance as possible, all the way down to the microphone stand.

Her enthusiasm to be involved with every area of her artistry is a signifier of her strong work ethic. Behind the ear-catching soul of her voice, there is the dedication of a true artist to craft something new and interesting. She is fearlessly authentic and ready to share a fresh perspective on the country genre. Kassi Ashton is undeniably a breaking star that any country fan will want to keep an eye on. NKD

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THE REGRETTES Words by ANNIE CONDODINA Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

A DIARY OF YOUNG LOVE shouted out over a 15- track album, the latest release from the young fourpiece power-pop band The Regrettes encompasses all the passion, rage, and confusion that you’ve ever felt in the ups and downs of a relationship.

The Regrettes have been storming the music scene for some time, but their sophomore album How Do You Love?, released August 9, fully establishes them as the versatile, unapologetic powerhouse they always had the potential to be. The band is currently comprised of guitarist Genessa Gariano, bassist Brooke Dickson, drummer Drew Thomsen, and frontwoman Lydia Night, who wrote most of the lyrics on the album.

Lydia rounds out the band as their youngest member, only 18. But last is certainly not least – she’s no stranger to the music industry. In 2013, her pop-rock duo Pretty Little Demons became the youngest performers to perform at South by Southwest. She was 12.

“I’ve always been a young musician. I mean, I’ve never been older than my age and I’ve been doing it for so long. So, I’m really used to ignoring people’s comments about it because I know it doesn’t matter, and I’m set up to expect people to doubt me because of it,” Lydia says.

The bottom line is, she doesn’t really care. What bothers her is when people think that she and her bandmates are new to the music industry and have no idea what they’re talking about. Sure, they’re newer as a band, but Lydia has been touring since she was 11, and she’s been playing in bands for over 10 years.

It’s safe to say that Lydia has experienced more by age 18 than some will experience in a lifetime. On top of tours, an EP, and two albums under 16

their belt, The Regrettes also played a show in Japan in August following the release of the album. “It was insane, it was so incredible, but the jetlag is something I have not dealt with to this extent,” she laughs.

Though How Do You Love? was released in early August, the album had been in the works for close to two years. Songs were even being written on tour for their debut full-length album Feel Your Feelings, Fool!, a January 2017 release. She’s overwhelmed in the best way now that it’s finally released into the world for all to hear.

“It’s a multitude of feelings, for sure.

Overall an incredible feeling, but also, it’s scary, it’s a big deal. It’s a lot of vulnerability being released onto people.

But it’s a relief to have it out and I’m really, really, really proud of it,” she says.

The evolution of the band in that time span saw another EP release in early 2018, Attention Seeker, and even a few changes in band members. In four years, The Regrettes have seen three bass players and three drummers, the most recent addition being bassist Brooke Dickson in November 2018.

So, between writing music over the course of two years and changing band members, how have they kept The Regrettes’ sound cohesive? “I don’t even really know,” Lydia honestly admits. “It just kind of happened that way.”

She can point to a lot of personal growth between their albums, though.

“My lyrics have changed. I’ll always have that same style that I write in but I definitely experimented more. I took on more of this character and experimented more with writing styles. It was so fun, I’m glad we got to capture that.”

It’s hard to identify the genre of The

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Regrettes. Every label seems like it fails to encompass what is so great about their music – how they pull so much together to create their own unique sound. Trying to put that in a box seems wrong. Most will describe The Regrettes as feminist punk, but Lydia wholeheartedly disagrees. She hesitates over and over again – it’s rock with pop influences, but it’s certainly not pop-rock as a genre. They’re not a classic punk band, they’re not just rock…so what are they?

“I think that we have a very punk attitude about things, so if you want to call us a punk band, like, cool, do it. But I don’t think that our music is what you consider punk music.

I think with this album it definitely takes more of a power-pop indie-rock mix of things. It’s all over the place genre-wise but I think overall power-pop is the best way I can describe it,” Lydia says.

Their summer single “I Dare You” has elements of all of those blended together and caused a wave of media attention surrounding their similarity to The Strokes. According to Lydia, they were certainly an influence on How Do You Love? as a whole. “Huge influence on this album. Julian Casablancas is like, the melody god. I think that he writes the best melodies and overall as an artist he’s a total genius.

He’s super inspiring to me,” she says.

There’s something to be said for that kind of sound coming from women, though. The gendered element is exactly why Lydia thought it would be cool to pull from.

“I feel like that’s a great example of how to describe this album and what our band is evolving into. It’s like female Strokes-y style. That type of music is what we’re going for right now.

And I think that it’s something that’s not really being done. It happened

really naturally but at the same time it’s cool because that’s something that I would want to listen to—a female version. Well, not an exact version but melodies like that, infectious chord progressions,” she says.

In 2018, Lydia began dating actor and musician Dylan Minnette, who stars in the Netflix original show 13 Reasons Why and plays in Los Angeles-based rock band Wallows. They’re open about their relationship on social media, commenting on each other’s pictures and posting Instagram stories supporting the current projects of one another. But Lydia makes it clear that the majority of the album is not about Dylan.

“A lot of people think it is, and we have been dating long enough for it to be. But the story that I tell on the album is one of realizing someone’s toxic for you and empowering yourself enough to get out of it. Definitely not about Dylan,” she laughs.

“But there are a couple songs, like the two happiest songs on the album are written about Dylan and those were written near the end of the process,” she says. “I use my relationship with him to write about feeling like you’re in a really great place with someone, which I couldn’t do with my other relationships. I wanted that to be a part of the story.”

There’s no perfect formula for how to write a song, according to Lydia.

For “Go Love You”, the band decided to just sit in a room and try to write a song from scratch. They set themselves up in the studio as if they were playing live and started writing and recording everything to see what happened. For a while, there were no lyrics. Lydia had the melody in her head, but was stuck on the words.

“And then all of a sudden, I remembered what I wanted to write

about. It happened like five to ten minutes to write all the lyrics. It took me like 20 to get there and then it all started spilling,” she recalls.

In a time when image is considered everything, Lydia’s Instagram is refreshing – no perfectly curated feed, just normal candids of her with her boyfriend, a selfie of her smiling with The Regrettes’ album, a picture of her bandmate out at a restaurant.

She doesn’t take herself too seriously (her bio reads “professional spaghetti player”) and never fails to post a story about something she’s passionate about. Recently, it was all about the burning of the Amazon.

“I try and keep it, for lack of a better word, very, very real on there and share things that I care about. And all the shit that’s going on in the world, instead of just reposting pictures of the Amazon and being like Boo-hoo, this is horrible, which obviously it is, I think posting solutions for people is way more important. Direct links to donations, direct guidance to how you can actually make a difference instead of just sharing. People aren’t patient enough to go find that on their own,” she says. “I try and focus on actions we can take rather than only spreading the word.”

That unfiltered authenticity she keeps helps fans feel more closely connected to the band as a whole. “I think seeing a side of me and seeing that personal stuff in my life helps a lot to understand where certain things or songs come from. To a certain extent, I mean. It’s impossible for anyone to know unless I specifically go through and tell people what specific songs are about or what certain intentions are with writing. But I think that at least helps people feel closer, which in turn can help people feel more connected to our music.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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josie dunne Words by ELIZABETH FORREST Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

SINGER-SONGWRITER JOSIE Dunne lives every day according to the advice her parents gave her from an early age: “Do whatever you want to do and do it the most you can.” Josie spent her weekends while growing up playing shows at bars and birthday parties in Chicago, volunteering to play anywhere they would take her. Eventually, that ambition led to her traveling down to Nashville to take meetings with industry professionals and to join group writing sessions. “They set me up with these people that I definitely had no business being in the room with,” Josie laughs, “It was like my favorite songwriters and I was still learning how to write songs.” Josie wasn’t intimidated; she took the sessions in stride and soon signed with Atlantic Records.

Josie is a pop and soul artist, but her musical role model is Tyler, the Creator. She loves his new album IGOR and, more specifically, his branding around all that he does.

“The videos, the songs, the writing, the production: when the artist touches everything, I think that makes a really big difference,” Josie says, “and that’s what I try to do, too.”

Josie’s most recent single, “Ooh La La”, follows a similar road. Josie wrote a large portion of the song alone in a hotel room without any instruments to accompany her.

She began by mumbling a melody

to herself and the chorus came to her quickly. “I just wanted it to be a song you turn up really loud in your car,” Josie remembers, “I feel like that’s the goal with most of my songs, just make people smile and dance and bob their heads.”

She also wanted the song to have a retro, old school feel: to do that, she came up with the idea to add an old Nintendo video game-type sound to start the song.

Josie loves the process of planning for a music video, so much so that sometimes she knows what she wants a video to look like before the song is even fully written. Needless to say, Josie had a huge hand in the making of the video for “Ooh La La’”. She collaborated with Bree Fish, who works with Josie on all of her photos and videos, to get the video’s treatment locked in while on a tight time crunch. They only had two days to decide on the concept; Bree suggested a hospital setting and Josie came up with the idea to have the video focus on memory extraction. “It was fun because for most of the other videos I’ve done, it was kind of like ‘here’s my idea’ and then Bree brought it to life, but with this one, it felt like we were really working on it together,” Josie says. The video was a completely collaborative effort.

Josie has been touring since mid-July and will be on the road until late September, where she will

have the final show in her hometown of Chicago. Her first Chicago date sold out in just a few minutes, so they added a second headlining show to the lineup. Josie is beyond excited, but there’s also a little bit of fear. “When I have someone in the crowd I need to impress, even if it’s my parents, sometimes I get nervous,” Josie admits, “I want them to see the best show that I can do.”

She finished a different tour earlier this year, so she hopes it effectively “zapped” the fear from her.

While on stage, Josie plays the trumpet; she has to warm up her trumpet skills before the show, “which is fun, but not for anyone in the room next to me or that I’m in,” Josie says. Once she warms up on the instrument, they play “Dancing Queen” backstage and all high five as fast as they can to get hyped and prepared for a fun, high-energy show.

Meeting fans while on tour has been a surreal experience. Josie had a real rockstar moment when she met a fan that began crying as soon as they met. “It was so cute. It was so sweet, but I think I’m such a boob, I’m like a normal human being,” Josie laughs. “It’s not like I’m Taylor Swift, so I was so flattered.”

Josie tries her best to respond to every single message she receives on social media, so when she meets her fans that are active online, it’s like finally putting a face to a name.

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Since releasing her EP To Be The Little Fish last year, Josie feels like she’s settled into what she wants to say artistically. “I think the last EP was me really figuring it out and the songs were that process of me figuring things out,” Josie says. Although there isn’t a release date yet, Josie’s next EP, Late Teens Early Twenties, will clearly showcase her growth.

In Josie’s own words, “I know who I am, I know what I want to say and I know how to say it.”

Late Teens Early Twenties is about growing up, first love and heartbreak. “Your late teens and early twenties are a huge period of growth for anybody, so I wanted it to feel super nostalgic and warm, something you would listen to when you just graduated high school and you’re going to college and you’ve got your last summer with your friends,” Josie explains.

Josie wrote all of the songs for the EP while she herself was in her late teens and early twenties. “I think experiences that have actually happened are always better than making up a situation in your head.

With real stories, you can get details that are hard to make up,” she says.

The EP really aims to capture the feeling of freedom and excitement that Josie felt during the time of transition from childhood to adulthood.

At 22-years-old, Josie knows she’s not too far from her late teens and early twenties. Although the songs will be easy for others to relate to, she also knows that she hasn’t quite had the same experience as other people her age. “I always think back to ‘what would 11-year-old me think of what I’m doing right now,’ and it’s so cool,” Josie says, “It’s such a dream come true.” NKD 22

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twin xl Words by ELIZABETH FORREST Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

Alt-pop trio band, Twin XL, is the result of a chance encounter at a Los Angeles house party in 2017. Lead singer Cameron Walker-Wright and brothers Stephen and John Gomez (who play bass and guitar, respectively) often bumped into each other in the ten years prior to the band’s forming.

When the three of them reunited at the party, they finally agreed to follow through with their plans and try a day in the studio together. “It was kind of an instant connection,” Cameron remembers, “It was a big happy accident and we just kind of clicked.” In fact, it went so well that one of the first songs they wrote together actually ended up making it onto their debut EP. Cameron played with The Ready Set and Stephen and John both played with The Summer Set (“we were both in set bands,” Cameron laughs about the similar names,) so none of them were new to the writing scene. As a band, their sound is largely influenced

by Foster the People, early music from the Gorillaz and The 1975, and they wrote the majority of their songs from scratch. “The cool thing with this process versus writing for other artists is there’s not really the pressure that we have to finish a song in a day,” Cameron explains, though sometimes a song will come together in as little as three hours.

Because they have the ability to take

as much time as they need while writing, they’re able to give their work extra attention and make sure that they’re really happy with everything they work on together.

Twin XL released their debut EP How to Talk to Strangers earlier this year. Cameron, John and Stephen wrote and produced the entire body of work themselves.

Although they’re open to working and writing with others, since the band began as a studio project, they hadn’t gone into the writing session with plans to go out and tour.

“We have so many friends who are incredible songwriters and producers and stuff, so we’re not shutting that door,” Cameron promises, “but we know that if there’s the three of us in the room we can make something great, just the three of us, which is cool to know.”

Twin XL is joining The Main on their The Mirror tour beginning on October 21st in San Antonio. While on tour, they’ll visit New York City, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland and wrap in Phoenix on November 30th. This isn’t the first time the two bands have worked together; John and Stephen have known The Maine’s band members for years, Twin XL opened for The Maine’s album release show in Los Angeles and both bands played the 8123 Festival. “They [The Maine] are just great, great people,” Cameron says. “Ever since we announced

our band and started playing shows, if there’s any opportunity to put us on a show or support us in anyway, they’ve been really cool. We’re fortunate that they asked us to do the tour and it’s going to be awesome.”

Cameron is most excited for the shows at the House of Blues. “I think that size show is the perfect size because it still feels like a pretty big crowd and with the production of the stage, everything sounds really great,” Cameron says, “I definitely think getting up close and personal and getting people singing is always the best.” But even with such a responsive crowd and many years of performing experience, Cameron claims that he still experiences stage fright. To combat it, in the last few moments before starting the show, Cameron takes a shot of tequila, does a few jumping jacks and tries his best to touch his toes. “I feel like you have to get your adrenaline going before you go on stage, otherwise you feel like you’re constantly trying to catch up with yourself,” he reasons.

Twin XL’s latest single, “Good,” has surpassed 1.3 million U.S. streams and reached #27 on Billboard’s Alternative Radio Chart.

The song came together in just a few hours and “kind of wrote itself.”

John began the songwriting process with a whistle hook, and then he and Stephen came up with a fun, fast drum groove to add to that.

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Before long, Cameron joined in and they wrote the lyrics. It wasn’t an easy session, though; the three of them were all hungover from the night before, but didn’t want to admit it to each other and ruin their time in the studio. They kept up the ruse the whole time. “I guess looking back at it, we were trying to make each other feel better by writing about all the things that you think make you feel good, but ultimately end up making you feel kind of bad,” Cameron laughs.

The video concept for “Good” was John’s initial idea. He and their director Jade Ehlers, who directs all of Twin XL’s music videos, collaborated on the concept and took influence from Wes Anderson-style films, Pulp Fiction and Las Vegas.

“We’re all big film fans, so all of our videos draw influences from some of our favorite films,” Cameron says, and they all have very classic vibes.

To film the “Good” video, the band all drove out to the desert, where it was over a hundred degrees. Most of the video takes place in and on top of a blue convertible; Cameron sits on the hood for a portion of the video, but it was so hot that the metal actually began to burn him through his suit pants while filming. “The first take we did was just me trying to hover above this car and getting burned, and so we stopped and I had to shove a t-shirt into the back of my pants so I could sit,” Cameron remembers.

Even after all that, Cameron thinks it was worth it and he’s very proud of the video. Most of all, he hopes that burning himself for the perfect shot proves his dedication to the song, the video and, ultimately, the fans. NKD 26

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nicolle galyon Words by NICOLE MOOREFIELD Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

THOUGH SHE WAS RAISED A Kansan, Nicolle Galyon was born in Winner, South Dakota. As she later discovered, her name means “victory.” It’s no coincidence, then, that fate has been integral to her songwriting success. “I truly believe in the power of a name,” she remarks.

The first stroke of luck came when Nicolle was 3. The woman running Nicolle’s daycare also taught piano, and Nicolle was immediately enthralled. “I would sit on the floor every day after school and watch her give these older kids piano lessons,” she remembers.

Growing up, Nicolle avidly pursued music. A proud country music superfan, “my mom and I stood in every autograph line in the Midwest,” she reveals.

In 2002, Nicolle moved to Nashville, studying music business at Belmont University. “I wanted to be behind-the-scenes,” she explains, and never considered making music herself until she discovered songwriting.

Within her first semester, Nicolle was meeting other songwriters through teaching piano. “I got to sit in on so many guitar pulls,” she recalls. Watching musicians grab guitars off living-room walls to play their own songs made songwriting feel more accessible. By the end of freshman year, Nicolle was a self-described “closeted songwriter” — she loved writing but was

still uncomfortable performing publicly.

The turning point was Belmont’s inaugural songwriters’ showcase.

Nicolle entered her songs for feedback, unaware that she would be selected to sing before her talented peers and a Music Row songwriter.

“From there, the cat was out of the bag,” she recalls, though she remained firmly in the writing camp.

Nicolle graduated from Belmont in 2006 and signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell in 2007. “When you’re in college, you think that’s the finish line,” Nicolle shares, “but, really, it’s the starting point.” Years passed without anyone cutting her songs. “I was writing 5 songs a week, hundreds of songs a year, had not made a penny outside of my writer’s draw as a songwriter,” she reveals. New co-writers regularly assumed a young woman who played piano and sang must be an artist, so Nicolle finally conceded and assembled a band. “I wanted to be a vehicle to get my songs out there,” she explains.

Plan A, working for a label, had failed, and “I was already on Plan B trying to be a songwriter,” she recalls. Just as Nicolle settled on Plan C, becoming an artist, The Voice called. “‘This is the scariest thing that you’ve ever done,” she remembers thinking, “but what do you have to lose?’” She tried out and made the show.

“I say that The Voice was like the butterfly effect in my career,” Nicolle explains. Though not directly related to songwriting, everything locked into place for Nicolle after her time on the show. Not only did she start getting cut, she also met Miranda Lambert, who changed the trajectory of her career in 2013.

After a decade in Nashville, “I had never had a single on the radio,” Nicolle recalls. Mere weeks after her daughter, Charlie, was born, Nicolle got a call to write with Miranda. Driving to the session, she felt especially unprepared. “‘Just be open to whatever happens,’” Nicolle remembers telling herself.

Pressed for time, “Miranda was screaming down the hall [as] I was in a bathroom pumping,” Nicolle retells. “She said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, just don’t quit pumping.

It’s working. The song is writing itself.’” That song, “Automatic,” won Song of the Year at the 2015 ACM Awards.

“I always hold onto the fact that I felt really ill-equipped when I walked in that day,” Nicolle shares.

As a planner, the uncertainty of what a room will hold can be anxiety-inducing, but that memory reminds Nicolle that every session is full of possibility.

When fate next intervened, it brought an unforeseen collaboration. Nicolle was meeting new co-writers Emily Weisband and NKDMAG.COM

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Amy Wadge and trying to squeeze in her second session of the day, so when Emily walked in, sobbing, songwriting prospects seemed bleak — until an unexpected gem emerged from her pain: “loving you had consequences.” They wrote “Consequences” in an hour.

It seemed like little more than a therapeutic exercise until Amy played a piano-and-vocal worktape for frequent collaborator Ed Sheeran, who loved it. He recommended that they give the song to Camila Cabello, who had yet to announce her split from Fifth Harmony. “We didn’t even know by name who she was,” Nicolle admits, but they trusted Ed’s judgment. “The fact that [the song] made its way truly all the way around the world to get cut is such a cool success story for a session that happened in Nashville,” Nicolle remarks.

Unquestionably the biggest song of Nicolle’s career came in 2017.

Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” was written on an ordinary workday; the vocals were recorded by co-writer Jordan Reynolds in Shay Mooney’s absence. After sitting on the demo for a year, everyone found themselves returning to it regularly. The duo released the finished song in 2018 “and it just exceeded all of our expectations,” Nicolle shares, winning Song of the Year at the 2018 ACM Awards and propelling Dan + Shay to their first Grammy win. Nicolle watched them perform the song in Chicago and the crowd response blew her away. “I’ve never seen anything like it at a country show,” she shares. “You couldn’t even hear Dan and Shay because [the fans were] screaming every line.”

Nearly two decades after that songwriters’ showcase, Nicolle still 30

prefers the view from the audience. “I don’t crave performance moments. I lose a lot of sleep over something like having to perform at the Opry,” she reveals, though she immediately agreed when asked. “It was the meaning behind everything that the Opry stood for that made me brave enough to do it,” she shares. But there’s something to be said for the view from the stage. From the Opry piano, Nicolle could finally see all she had achieved.

Her chief accomplishment was conceived last October. Seth England, a partner at Big Loud Records, invited Nicolle to watch emerging artist Madison Kozak perform. “We’re all a little jaded here,” she admits, seeing new talent every day, but Madison had something special. After the show, Nicolle introduced herself, joking, “‘I just started a record label in my car on the way over here, if you want to talk.’” That wisecrack sparked an idea. With Seth’s encouragement, Nicolle created a co-venture with Big Loud — Songs & Daughters, the first female-focused label on Music Row, aims to empower women by giving them a space to tell their stories.

“I’m a songwriter first, always,” Nicolle remarks, but “more than that, I feel like my calling in life is to be a storyteller.” Now, she will pass the baton to the next generation of songwriters. “What’s keeping me up at night right now is thinking of any and every way that I can help this company be successful so that we can create more opportunities for other girls like me,” Nicolle reveals. “It’s going to be a long, long journey and a lot of hard work, but I’m excited.” NKD

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adam doleac Words by VANESSA SALLES Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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IF ADAM DOLEAC ISN’T already on your radar, it’s time to change that. The country crooner, who gravitated towards music during his childhood, is stamping his mark on the music scene with repeat-worthy tracks and stellar performances.

“I’ve always been a big lover of music,” he says. “I had a drum set by the time I was 2-years-old and I just know that I would be a music lover regardless of whether or not I ended up writing or singing it.” Though music was always a part of his life, it wasn’t until his college years that Adam decided to pursue it. “I grew up playing lots of sports and ended up with a baseball scholarship; at the time, that’s what I thought I was going to be focusing on in college.

Little did I know, that was the time where my music was really going to take off.”

Having taught himself how to play the guitar, Adam started taking his artistry to the next level and quickly found his love for songwriting. With a little nudge from his friends, the singer started putting on shows around town and building a fan base. “Believe it or not, I was terrified to sing in front of people,” he laughs. “My friends were very encouraging and would actually book the shows for me so that I had no choice but to show up and sing. At the first show I played, there was about 300400 people that showed up and it was a lot of fun. Even-

tually, I recorded 5-6 songs and had a CD release party in my hometown. It held 1,000 people and we ended up capping at 1,200. That’s when I realized that this thing, whatever it was, was getting bigger. I started putting my music online and taking trips to Nashville to write some songs. After about two years of going back and forth, I made the move to Nashville.

The rest is pretty much history.”

Landing a publishing deal shortly after his move, Adam has racked up some impressive accomplishments as a songwriter. Earning cuts from Darius Rucker, Kane Brown and Hootie & the Blowfish, the singer has cemented himself as one to watch. “It’s been amazing to have success in the writing world,” Adam says. “I try to stay authentic in my writing sessions and just focus on writing a good song that tells a story; I never think about whether or not the song’s going to someone else because I’m usually just writing for/ about myself.”

With his latest single, ‘Famous’, hitting ten million streams on Spotify, fans have taken it upon themselves to take the song all the way to the top. “The reaction’s been incredible,” Adam says.

“The song is just continuing to grow and it’s actually our first No. 1 single on Sirius XM. People know the words everywhere we go and it’s just made for such a humbling ex-

perience. It’s really the kind of song and reaction that you hope for.”

Another major milestone?

Performing at the Grand Ole Opry. “That was definitely an ‘I made it’ moment for me,” he gushes. “I’ve played on stages in front of thousands of people at festivals but the Opry is just a different kind of nerves. You become so aware of all the people that have played there before you and have stood where you’re standing and it’s just so incredibly special and hard to really describe it. I’ve played there three times now and I have a feeling that the butterflies will never go away for me.”

Of course, as Adam’s career grows, so does the audience.

“I’ve performed for intimate crowds and I’ve performed for major festival crowds,” he notes. “All performances are special in their own way but nothing beats those intimate performances where it’s just you and the fans. The ones in that crowd are the ones that really know the ins and outs of your music. No matter how big my shows get, I think I’ll always find a way to bring it back to an intimate audience.”

As for what’s up next, the singer’s got new music ready to go. “There are a few things in the works and I’m sure there’ll either be an EP or an album coming out next year,” he assures. “I have a lot of new music ready to go and I’m excited to share it soon.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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TRAVIS MILLS Words by OLIVIA SINGH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Grooming by EMILY DAWN Styling by AUDREY BRIANNE

TRAVIS MILLS BROKE INTO the entertainment industry as a musician when he was a teenager.

Now, at 30-years-old, he’s gotten farther than he ever imagined as a music producer, radio show host, actor, podcast host, clothing line creator, and co-host of MTV’s new reality series called Ghosted: Love Gone Missing.

“I honestly think it’s my ADHD. I cannot sit still,” Travis says of his drive to pursue various different projects all the time. “If I’m not doing a million things, I literally will get depressed. I’ve always been like that. I’ve kind of always had a million hobbies. I’ve always been infatuated with a ton of different things.”

“And the thing about me is, I can get excited about something very quickly,” he adds. “And I can get over something just as fast. I love learning new skills and acquiring new skills.”

Travis grew up in Riverside, California and became interested in music after his grandfather gave him a guitar. In high school, he was part of a pop-punk band and at 17 years old, he got a MacBook and discovered a program on it called GarageBand, which allowed him to experiment with music making. From there, he started freestyling on songs, and eventually posted the tracks online under the moniker T. Mills. As he gained a following on MySpace (long before the days of being discovered on sites like YouTube or SoundCloud), Travis got signed to Uprising Records and later, Columbia Records.

For six or seven years, Travis had a “grueling” schedule comprised of touring nine months a 36

year. He performed as part of the now-defunct Vans Warped Tour (a music festival that primarily showcased punk artists), did plenty of radio interviews, and appeared on MTV shows like Cribs and Ridiculousness.

Between 2009 and 2016, he released one album and several EPs. Tracks like “Young & Stupid,” “Don’t Need Much,” and “She’s Got A…” were the epitome Travis’ musical style, which was a mix of rap, hip-hop, pop, and electronica.

“What I’ve learned most through being in the music industry, especially through my early 20s, is I didn’t know who I was and that led to me doing certain things that I look back on now, like, ‘Why would you do that?’ and that was just because I wanted to be successful so bad,” Travis says. “I didn’t have the self-awareness that I do now. I had a lot of insecurities that I would cover up through my music.”

“I’m grateful that I went through all that, because a lot of people don’t get a second chance at a career,” he continues. “They start with some success and they either become the biggest thing in the world, or they fuck it up and four years later, they’re back to working in their hometown.”

“I went through the ups and downs all through my 20s and now I’m at a place where if I don’t want to do something, I’m not going to do it,” Travis says. “If something makes me uncomfortable, I have no problem telling somebody.”

In retrospect, Travis recognizes that he spent several years prioritizing the demands of other people over his own desires.

“I think I was always trying to please everybody,” he says. “I wanted to make my record label happy, I wanted to make my fans happy, I wanted to make my manager happy. But I completely abandoned my sense of self. I look back on that time now, like as fun as it was, I was definitely the most miserable and in the darkest place that I’ve ever been.”

Travis considers 2016 and 2017 particularly rough years, with the latter being “the worst year of my life.”

At the time, he put his music career on the backburner so he could give all energy to a TV show that he created and hoped he could sell to a network.

“I put all my eggs in that basket, I pitched the show for eight months and couldn’t sell it,” Travis recalls. “I was the most broke I’ve ever been in the last 10 years of my life, literally running out of money, and selling my shoes to go buy dinner.”

“It was a year of intense depression and turmoil and it just felt like I couldn’t get out of it,” Travis says, explaining that one of his closest friends passed away.

Travis turned to therapy to cope with the tumultuous events that he experienced, in addition to changing up circle of friends.

“That changed a lot of my perspective on life too, because I began hanging out with people who respected themselves, who treated themselves with dignity, and who have real goals – and I got to watch other people accomplish these amazing things,” he says. “That just gave me hope and kind of re-instilled the fact that you can do this.”

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“I feel like oftentimes, people are their own biggest enemy,” he continues. “It’s really easy to get in your own way. It’s so easy. And sometimes, seeing other people be able to do things, it kind of reinvigorates that hustle or that dream that you had before you had anything.”

In 2018, Travis landed his own show for Apple Music’ Beats 1. He previously hosted a segment for Beats 1 called Requests, in which listeners got to select songs that were played. With his new show, Travis had “nothing to lose” and was determined to make it as authentic as possible.

“I just wanted to make sure if I was going to do this thing again, that I had no regrets looking back,” he says. “If I’m going to do this again, I’m going to do it in a way that I’m going to be proud of.”

Since launching, Travis has sat down with stars like Nick Jonas, Tyga, Charlie Puth, Bella Thorne, and Oliva Holt for in-depth conversations about their careers.

Travis, who’s “proud” and “extremely passionate” of his Apple show, said that he was hesitant to do it because for a long time, he believed that he needed to stick to music in order to be seen as a legitimate artist.

“I wanted to be validated as an artist so bad,” he says. “And I thought nobody took me seriously as an artist.”

“But really, the whole reason why I started making music was because I love this and I was a fan of it,” Travis says. “And once I changed my perspective, I looked at it like, ‘I have an opportunity to give new kids who are in my same exact position, a platform, and a

chance to come on and showcase their art.’”

In addition to his Apple show, he also has a podcast called ADHD with Travis Mills. Since the first episode was released in late November 2018, Travis has featured guests like YouTuber David Dobrik, Riverdale star and girlfriend Madelaine Petsch, comedian Chris D’Elia, and singer Yungblud.

“Nowadays, you don’t need to be just an actor and someone doesn’t just need to be musician,” Travis says. “I think we live in a time where you can kind of blaze your own path. And a podcast was something that I literally fell in love with in 2016 and they changed my life.”

Travis spent years limited by the demands of others, so creating his own show that enabled him to have “unfiltered conversations” without time limits or rules about cursing was appealing.

Amid recording podcast episodes, Travis had to put it on hold and travel across the US to film Ghosted.

The show, which premieres on MTV on September 10, is hosted

by Travis and The Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay. The reality TV series explores ghosting, a term that refers to a person abruptly ending communication with someone without an explanation. Ghosted will show the hosts meeting with people who were ghosted by family members, partners, and friends, then tracking down the people who mysteriously cut off the relationships to better understand what happened.

“I feel like people have done this for a really long time,” Travis

says. “I think the only difference is that now you can actually see the people who have ghosted you and almost keep tabs on what they’re doing with their lives, and that just makes it even worse because you can look at a picture of somebody who hasn’t called you in two years and they look like they’re having the time of their life.”

Travis said that one of the things that fascinated him about Ghosted was the fact that it’s not specific to romantic relationships.

“This is a show about family members. This is a show about best friends. This is a show about children and parents,” he says. “It touches on every scenario, every situation. And so for that, I was happy that we’re not just helping scorned lovers.”

Travis admits that he was initially skeptical about the legitimacy of Ghosted and convinced that shows like Catfish were “fake.”

But during the filming of his first episode, he realized that it wasn’t a joke at all.

“Obviously, it happens,” he says.

“People really want to come here to get answers. It was just a whole different set of responsibilities, because now I need to make sure that one, I protect this person.

And two, they called us for a reason. We have a job to do. So it is definitely real. I stand corrected.”

“It’s unbelievable what lengths people will go to, to avoid having a conversation,” Travis adds. “And I feel like that is the one constant with every case that we take on.

It’s a societal issue. People just don’t want to have conversations.

They don’t want to have any type of conflict. It’s definitely a communication issue. And it’s definitely NKDMAG.COM

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an epidemic. I’ve been ghosted.

I’ve ghosted people before. I’d say 99% of my friends and family have had that happen.”

Travis says that he brings a variety of skills to Ghosted, from being “good at finding shit online” to being able to empathize with others and understand their perspectives.

“I have been all around the world, I have met all different kinds of people, I’ve interacted with all different kinds of people – so I think I have a way with just with talking to people,” he says.

He also doesn’t hesitate to ask the guests brutally honest questions.

“They’re there for answers and they’re there for closure,” Travis says. “Babying them or stepping around the truth isn’t going to help anybody.”

Travis also praises Rachel, who has a law degree, for her investigative skills and ability to feel for others.

“She’s like a whole beast by herself and I’m so lucky to have her on the show with me because she’s been incredible and we get along so well,” he says. “One of the best things is having somebody on the road shooting with me where there’s a genuine connection. We’re not faking this shit for TV. When the show cuts, we hang out together. We text, we call each other. It’s genuine.”

This fall, Travis will also star on a new show for Funny Or Die and Eko Video called The Coop.

Travis discovered his love for acting in 2015, after auditioning for a series called Flaked and getting a role. Since then, he’s appeared on Alone Together and 42

Good Girls.

The Coop is unlike anything Travis has done before. It’s a comedy about a Big Brother-esque series, in which a housemate is murdered. Similar to Netflix’s hit interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, The Coop has a “choose your own adventure” format, allowing viewers to make decisions that affect how events play out.

“Getting to shoot a show like that, as an actor, was challenging, and I really do think it’s the future of entertainment,” Travis says. “It’s fun to watch those shows. You just don’t understand how much work goes into making them until you’re literally shooting like four alternate scenes of the same thing.”

Outside of his upcoming shows, Travis also has a clothing company called NC-17 that’s now sold at Zumiez, which is a full circle moment for him.

“Zumiez was one of my first jobs that I ever worked at, so to now have this clothing company all across the United States in the stores that was one of my first employers is pretty crazy,” he says.

“Being able to go into a mall and by my own clothes is pretty cool.”

It’s been two years since Travis released original music of his own, but this year, he earned his first platinum records – not for his own tracks, but for songs that he produced for other artists.

Throughout his expanding career as an entertainer, Travis has seen fans stay along for the ride while others have lost interest.

“I feel like I definitely have day one fans, people who have been with me from the very beginning,”

he says. “I’m not exaggerating. I know everyone says, ‘I love my fans’ and all that shit, but I’m indebted to those people. Obviously not everyone is going to like everything that I do, and that’s totally OK. I’ve found the craziest thing is that if someone who was a fan stops being a fan, it’s because I won’t put out music right now.”

Despite all his achievements thus far, Travis says that there isn’t one accomplishment that he would consider his biggest.

Instead, he acknowledges past shortcomings and appreciates the little wins.

“People look at success often very linear, like you went from nothing to this, but they don’t see the two or three times I got dropped by a record label or the time I had to cancel a tour because I couldn’t sell tickets or the show that I created that no network bought,” he says. “Every small success comes after a whole bunch of losses. So those really humble you. And I feel like every day I’m working towards being the best version of myself that I can be and doing things that make me happy.

And now my mindset is less about what people think of me, or how they perceive me, and more what I think of myself and if I’m being a good person or not.”

“I feel like I’ve lived like nine different lives, and then each prior life has led me to the next one,” Travis says. “But right now, I never thought at 30 years old I would be the hungriest I’ve ever been. And it’s cool to see a culmination of all my hard work in all of these different areas come together at the intersection of where my career is at right now.” NKD

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astrid s Words by LEXI SHANNON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

IN THE DAYS OF SOCIAL media, global success and stardom is readily available at the tap of a button. For 22-year-old Norwegian superstar, and rising international star, Astrid S., that success was once a dream that is becoming to life.

Born in the tiny Norwegian town of Berkåk, nearly 250 miles north of the city of Oslo where she now lives, Astrid gained a following of local fans, family and friends.

“I got into the music scene when I was 16 because I competed in the Norwegian version of American Idol,” she says, “I got fifth place, that’s when I realized that I could write songs and that music was something I wanted to pursue from an early age, I’ve always loved to play instruments and make melodies. That’s one thing I’ve done for as long as I can remember, really.”

Growing up a soccer superstar with high hopes for a career in athletics, Astrid’s career goal soon became music.

“It wasn’t even after the audition [for Idol] necessarily, after a while when I got into the Top

10 and I felt like people could connect with me and how I covered songs and I realized how I could also write songs.

My English vocabulary had gotten better. I think right after the show was when I realized just how it [music] made me really happy,” she says.

Since her rise to fame on Norway’s Pop Idol, Astrid’s career has taken off in her hometown and across the pond in the US. Selling out a headlining tour, opening for fellow Scandinavian pop goddess Zara Larsson and earning the title of Artist of the Year at the Norwegian equivalent of the GRAMMYs. Nearly 7 million monthly listeners later, Astrid is about to embark on another tour titled “Astrid S: Stripped Down” with stops in New York, Los Angeles and Paris, as well as a tour throughout Norway. Having played to crowds all over Norway and the United States, Astrid has found the route to international success at a young age. Despite that, there’s still major differences marking the crowds of her hometown in

Norway versus the vast and multicultural USA. “I think the craft in Norway or Scandinavia are different from Europe and the [United] States. We have a different culture when it comes to going to concerts,” she laughs. “If I’m going to be really honest, we get quite drunk. I go to shows with my friends to have a night out, so it’s more of a night out [than a concert]. Sometimes when I play shows in Norway, I just feel like I’m the music for the party, which can be fun too.”

Astrid has played all over the USA, from Philadelphia to Chicago and San Francisco to Boston.

“I do feel when I do concerts in the [United] States, they are the fans that know the lyrics and they listen to the songs. They don’t come to my shows to drink alcohol and get drunk,” she reflects, “I like both crowds, but it’s something special when you can have a show for someone that’s really quiet and sing along to the shows.

They really pay attention.”

The last time Astrid toured NKDMAG.COM

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in The States was a full production, with synths and backings out the wazoo. On the stripped-down tour, the electro-pop goddess hopes to steer away from that and more towards an acoustic-inspired set, with her own indie twist.

“It’s somewhere in between an electronic pop show and an entirely acoustic. I’ll bring my acoustic instruments and a guitarist, and I’m going to play the piano,” she teases, “Everything is going to be played live and more stripped down; the acoustic instruments will be the main instruments playing the songs.”

In today’s music industry, we’re seeing more crossover than ever of international acts and foreign languages.

Whether it was Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” taking the world by storm or the invasion of K-pop with BTS, GOT7 and BLACKPINK, genres are being bent and lines are being crossed. The global music industry is here.

Astrid’s case is a bit different. With Norwegian as her native language, one that is so vastly different than English, she has no desire to perform and record in her native tongue abroad. In her home country, however, she hopes to one day.

“My accent is a bit country-ish, so it sounds a bit weird in songs. I’d love to write in a dialect that’s more of the national accent, if that makes sense. There’s very strange accents in Norway, but I would love to do something,” she says.

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language barrier and thought of releasing in her native tongue “doesn’t make sense” to Astrid.

“For any non-Norwegians or Scandinavians, they would probably find [that] song by accident or because it’s in our region playlist. I don’t think that’s something like strategically me or the people I work with would like. But it is cool to hear that multicultural music and international artists and songs are growing,” she says.

Over the years, Astrid’s English has become better, allowing her to write in the language and gain fame with an English-speaking audience.

“Typically, I’m not a quick writer. I’ve become a lot quicker now that I’m 22, but when I was 16, 17, 18, I was in a lot of sessions. If I wrote with other people, they’d be so quick at finding rhymes and building a sentence that makes sense with the rhyme and they can think a bit faster,” she says, “It took a lot longer for me and it still kind of does. I think now I feel like I can write about anything I want, but I think it definitely is still a struggle when you don’t have all the words. That’s just what writing songs is about. It’s finding the right words to use to say it in a different way.”

As Astrid’s following continues to grow, she looks to expand her discography with two EPs in 2019. The first one, TRUST ISSUES, was released on Island Records on Aug. 30, with the second, a strippeddown EP, coming later in the year. NKD

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ramona young Words by OLIVIA SINGH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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RAMONA YOUNG, WHO STARS on The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, grew up “all over the place.” With a single mother in the Navy, she moved frequently and spent years splitting her time between California and Hong Kong.

Ramona can’t pinpoint any movies, shows, or actors that sparked her interest in acting, but it was something that caught her attention early on.

“I have always sort of been an actor,” she says. “Even as a child I enjoyed playing pretend like every kid does. But when I really started taking it seriously, it was a process. It was a process of transferring from having a normal day job to becoming an actress. I think I really wanted to start acting when I was around 16. I would daydream about it a lot.”

Prior to breaking into the entertainment industry, Ramona went to acting school, took classes, did work as extra, and eventually got an agent.

“It was one step that led to another and it I just got deeper and deeper into it,” she explains.

Ramona had roles in films like All About Nina and Blockers. She also appeared on Syfy’s Z Nation and ABC’s The Real O’Neals. On Netflix’s comedy horror series Santa Clarita Diet, she played a zombie alongside Drew Barrymore. One of the biggest takeaways from being on the show was learning to “have fun with the takes” and try new things onscreen.

“Every time I was off-screen, I would give everything, but it would kind of be in the same tone,” Ramona says. “And Drew was just like, ‘Just try it a different way. Just say it differently, even if it’s a little bit out of character.’

So now when I do take on set, I always try to do something a little different every time, just to have a variety.”

Ramona currently stars as Mona

Wu on Legends of Tomorrow, a quirky and wild Arrowverse show that centers on misfit characters who travel to different points in time to preserve history. Almost always, things don’t go according to plan and the legends end up having to do even more damage control that expected.

“I just thought it was so much fun,” Ramona says. “It was almost like a soap opera or a regular TV show, but with very fantastical elements, and I hadn’t ever really read anything like that before. I just thought it was such a fun twist on regular drama and really heartfelt stuff, but was just with such a fantastical twist.”

On her first day on set, Ramona recalled feeling cautious and trying “to not step on anybody’s toes.”

“I was worried that they hired the wrong person, and I was going to get fired, and I wasn’t what they were looking for.” she says. “I was filled with self-doubt and insecurities. It was very nerve wracking.”

There was also a level of intimidation, considering that a majority of the cast members have been playing their roles since Season 1.

“I felt like everyone else was so confident because they knew this show and they knew what they were doing, and they knew the characters,” Ramona says. “Being new, I definitely felt more vulnerable and more insecure. But everyone on the show has been so kind and so helpful and really welcoming, that I really couldn’t have asked for anything different or anything better.”

Mona was introduced during Season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow as a bubbly delivery girl who often dropped food off at the Time Bureau Headquarters. She soon discovered the organization’s real purpose and encountered a few magical creatures

that ran loose at the office. Mona’s caring disposition led her to become employed at the Time Bureau as a magical caretaker.

“I’m a kid at heart always and I think that’s really similar to Mona,” Ramona says. “I’d like to think that I’m a nice person and I always try to do what’s best for not just myself, but everyone else around me. So in those ways, I feel like I’m similar to Mona.”

During Season 3, Mona got accidentally scratched by a creature called a Kaupe. After it was killed, Mona was overcome with rage, triggering her transformation into a wolf-life creature – an identity she refers to as “Wolfie.”

The episode when Mona discovered her new abilities is also one of Ramona’s favorites from the season because the character “had an opportunity to be more serious.”

“I felt incredibly lucky to have a character with so many layers,” she says. “I felt really lucky to have a character that so many people put thought into writing for.”

With filming underway for Season 5, Ramona can’t share many details, but she promises that more adventures are in store.

“This show is always changing and the show is always transforming,” she says. “And it always tries to better itself from the previous seasons, so, I think the audience will be really happy about Season 5.”

Aside from Legends of Tomorrow, Ramona wrote a period feature film, which she’s “trying to get up and running.” “Long term, I definitely want to get into making more of my own projects,” she says. “I am very opinionated, but I also work really well with other people. And I just want to create an environment where I can be creative and free and tell epic stories.”NKD NKDMAG.COM

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