DEC. 2017 18 DYLAN GWYN
on what to expect from the second season of beyond
04 CORBIN REID
20 RUSSELL DICKERSON
38 CARLY PEARCE
on learning from viola davis + her new series valor
on all the things he checked off his bucket list this year
on a life-changing year + the success of “every little thing”
08 THE KNOCKS
26 WALKER HAYES
48 COREY HARPER
on their new single “house party” + 2018 plans
on his debut album + giving his kids the vip treatment
on picking up the guitar + learning how to write songs
12 BOHNES
30 EMMA DUMONT
52 TAYLER BUONO
on empathy, travel + the meaning behind the name
on how the gifted parallels today’s political climate
on showing a different side of herself with “who am i”
36 LYRICA OKANO
on finding a role that doesn’t play into asian-american stereotypes
CATHERINE POWELL
publisher, editor, photographer, designer, writer
SAMANTHA BAMBINO writer
CARLY BUSH writer
ELIZABETH FORREST writer
IAN HAYS
STACY MAGALLON
writer
writer
MARISSA JOHNSON
NICOLE MOOREFIELD
writer
writer
BRITTANY LANDAU
VANESSA SALLES
writer
writer
corbin reid Words by MARISSA JOHNSON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Actress Corbin Reid “took a leap of faith” and left everything to pursue her dreams in Los Angeles and isn’t looking back any time soon. Growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Corbin always followed in her older sister’s footsteps. From taking dance classes to being a figure skater, Corbin mirrored her sister, eventually leading her to her first role in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. From then on, she continued performing through high school and into college at the University of Michigan. During her time at the University of Michigan, a school that she says from the beginning “felt like home”, she had the best of both worlds: an ability to take regular classes and attend sporting events, even taking on a minor in Spanish, wanting to learn everything she possibly could while also being in one of the top rated musical theater programs in the country. After college she toured with Rent, High School Musical, and Xanadu, and worked as a cocktail waitress and receptionist until she landed her first Broadway role in American Idiot. As a “swing” for four characters, Corbin had to essentially memorize the entirety of the show, sometimes being expected to run on stage with only a few minutes’
notice. “It felt like boot camp for me,” Corbin says, “After that, everything was a piece of cake.” Despite the reception she was getting from managers and representatives in New York, she really wanted to be in Los Angeles. With Los Angeles constantly popping into the forefront of her mind, she made the choice to leave New York, much to the disappointment of her representation. Her team’s lack of faith in her ability and motivation to make the move to Los Angeles lead her to the decision to start over with a new team, and with help from an old friend from college, Darren Criss, she picked up new representation and started the audition process in a new city. Corbin was met with much enthusiasm from the industry in Los Angeles, unlike her previous representation, decisions she’d made were backed with nothing but positivity- she knew that the people behind her fully believed in the moves she was making. For her first project in Los Angeles, Corbin became involved with a show called For the Record, a live theater company that builds its scripts and music off of the work of famous directors like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. As she was auditioning,
Corbin also worked three jobs to make ends meet. She was a nanny, watiress, and even spent time as a product demonstrator at the Home Depot, until she finally got her first pilot: a role on Issa Rae’s project, Words With Girls, a show that highlights minority characters Corbin describes as “The L Word meets Girls”. The show made its debut at HBO’s film festival. Nine months later, Corbin had the opportunity to audition for a role in an “unknown” Lionsgate film called The Stakes. Knowing only that it was a horror movie, Corbin went through several rounds of auditions. The audition process for this film was unique in that the director had a very specific method of obtaining the performance that he needed for each scene. “He would wear us down,” Corbin recalls, stating they would do scenes 25-30 times. Corbin landed the part, getting a call from Lionsgate saying that she would have to sign on to the movie before they could disclose any more information. Even without knowing what exactly she was getting herself into, Corbin agreed to the role, and, after signing a contract and a hefty NDA, she learned that she had just been cast in the top secret Blair Witch Project seNKDMAG.COM
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quel. The project was so under wraps that there was a strict rule on who could be in the know: only cast and their teams. Of course, you can’t keep anything from your parents, especially a Blair Witch-sized secret, but for Corbin, telling her mom also meant keeping an eye out for her spilling the beans on Twitter. “My mom loves Instagram and Twitter, so that’s not helpful,” she laughs. For three months, Corbin went off the grid into the woods of Vancouver to film, with production working under a fake title to add to the secrecy surrounding the movie. Corbin admitted that before filming Blair Witch, she wasn’t a fan of horror movies because they scared her too much, so when the director and crew would try to scare them by dressing up in costumes, using a foghorn in the middle of scenes or playing “devil sounds” to set the mood, her reactions of fear were completely genuine. After the success of Blair Witch, Corbin was brought on to the hit ABC show How to Get Away with Murder. Though she was only supposed to be in a few episodes, she ended up being brought on for the majority of the third season. She describes working with Viola Davis as an honor, saying “Just watching her work was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had. I’d go watch her film scenes just so I could see what greatness looks like.” Now, Corbin is a regular on the CW’s Valor, where she plays Jess, the wife of a special forces officer that is taken as a POW.
In order to prepare for this role, she spent time interviewing and building relationships with wives of current special forces members, who shared with her the triumphs and struggles of being a spouse of someone in the special forces. She wanted to honor their stories in the most authentic way possible. For Corbin, the collaboration between herself and the show runners has been “gratifying and exciting”. She has been able to create a character from the ground up and imagining Jess’ past and future has allowed her to portray this character in a way that feels genuine and real. “It’s an honor to be able to address something that’s happening right now” Corbin says on Valor’s exploration of the current events in Somalia and the aspects of the personal lives of special forces members that have previously gone untouched. Subjects like PTSD, marital issues, mental health and even xenophobia are being brought up throughout the show. For the rest of the first season, Jess will keep the relationship with her son in the forefront of every choice that she makes as she continues working with the CIA and taking some matters into her own hands in order to bring her husband back home. Once production wraps on this season of Valor, Corbin is hoping to do another run on How to Get Away with Murder or even a film, but she is also hard at work on an EP with the first single and a music video ready to go. No matter what she tackles next, Corbin is planning to keep busy. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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the knocks Words by VANESSA SALLES Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
If this past year has been any indication, The Knocks are set to have a very eventful 2018. The American electronic music duo, comprised of Ben “B-Roc” Ruttner and James “JPatt” Patterson, hit the Top 40 Radio charts last month with their feature on Sofi Tukker’s “Best Friend” and are currently working on their new record and follow-up to their 2016 release, 55. “On our last record, we had our sound but we didn’t have a story or personal connection to it,” Ben says. “Now, we’ve really figured it out and have tapped into what really makes us, us. It took a long time for us to get here and I think there were some delays at the beginning of our career but
this record is the best example of what represents us the most. Everything happens on its own time but things are definitely exciting now.” JPatt and Ben, who met in New York, credit the city as a major source of inspiration. “Open format DJing originated in the city and I think we try to incorporate that into our sound and keep that alive by using different genres,” JPatt shares. “It can be hard being ‘too’ versatile because, nowadays, people seem to like one thing and stick to that. When you switch up on them, you run the risk of losing fans. However, I think we’ve done a good job at experimenting with our sound and keeping the listeners happy.” Over the years, the duo NKDMAG.COM
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has become seasoned pros at writing and producing. “We had both gone to the city with the same idea in mind – we both wanted to be hip hop producers,” Ben says. “We actually had a mutual friend and met at a studio and ended up becoming roommates. At first, we were both doing our own thing and would help each other out whenever we could. It’s definitely a hard hustle when you don’t know anybody in the scene and it was slim pickings for the both of us for awhile. Neither of us really had a day job; I started DJing at nightclubs and JPatt had a restaurant job – we’d just be making music all day. Eventually, we started working together and things took off from there.” Having to create their sound in small New York apartments, Ben and JPatt’s neighbors would often bang on the walls to get them to quiet down. “We used to call it ‘getting the knocks,’” Ben laughs. “If I got the knocks on my side, I’d turn off my music and go work in JPatt’s room. If he got the knocks on his side, he’d come to mine. The name just ended up sticking and the first thing we did as The Knocks was a remix tape of Jay Z’s ‘American Gangster,’ using funk/disco/soul samples. We wanted to be producers but then we started putting out our own music on Hype Machine and SoundCloud. It did way better than when we were trying to do stuff for other people.” 10
As musicians, the duo has always gone against the mainstream. “We were never good at going with the norm,” JPatt says. “We were always attracted to the alternative stuff but we learned very early on in New York that majority of the people weren’t into that – it wasn’t relevant to them.” Sonically, The Knocks are hoping to use their new record as a way to bring back the sound of the underground scene. “The whole underground scene is pretty nonexistent now because of the internet,” Ben adds. “That’s what we’re trying to bring back with this new music; I think this record is going to catch more ears than the first one because of how different it is. For a long time, we were just getting good vocals that had nothing to do with us – it feels good to be making stuff about us now.” Thinking back on their last album, JPatt says “there are remnants of us trying to be what we weren’t.” He adds, “We weren’t really sure how to vocalize our ideas and I think that’s why we had a lot of features on the record.” Today, when The Knocks perform, both JPatt and Ben take center stage more than they ever thought they would. “It kind of just happened,” JPatt says. “It was a natural progression but I definitely didn’t think much of myself as a frontman. It happened as we toured – we recognized that we have the ability to be both frontmen and performers.” Since taking more control of their music,
JPatt confessed the differences between writing for yourself and writing for other people. “It’s very different,” he says. “When you write for other people, you’re not afraid to say certain things that you wouldn’t say otherwise. For myself, I’m a little pickier with what I say; there’s more thought that goes into it.” The duo’s latest single, “House Party”, is an accumulation of everything they’ve done. “It’s a standalone track but it feels like a transitional piece,” Ben says. “JPatt wrote the vocal as a freestyle and it’s totally real. It’s more of a club record and a lot of this new stuff is going back to dance music; I think we got into that from being DJs and being apart of that world in New York. I’m excited about the sound because it’s the most fun to play live. When you start touring, you realize how much you want to be playing that genre. Of course, you never really know what to expect when it comes to reactions. A lot of people have said that it feels like a throwback to our old stuff and style.” As for the rest of the year, The Knocks are constantly DJing and are using their spare time to work on their new new album. “We probably won’t do a live show until this album is out,” JPatt says. “We’re trying to keep the live shows a special thing so, once the album is out, we can figure out how to make the shows a special experience for the fans.” NKD
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bohnes Words by IAN HAYS Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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Alex DeLeon grew up calling two places home. His parents divorced before his first birthday so he split his time between Vegas with his mom and Northern California with his dad. You can look at the locales as a precursor for the person Alex is now. You have the city of glitz and everything big contrasted with the laid back, blue collar town folks go to get away from extravagance; a place you will never be lost in a crowd. Alex’s grandmother and father were singers. There was always singing around the house, so a love for music was inevitable. “I mean, I couldn’t get them to shut up if I wanted to. My dad would be singing Sinatra. Then we’d get in the car and he’d play Dookie by Green Day. And we had every Michael Jackson album under the sun,” Alex recalls. But while Alex appreciated the varieties of music presented to him, he didn’t have dreams of rock stardom as a child. Following in his father’s footsteps wasn’t the initial plan. In fact, Alex describes it as “stumbling” into music. The first kick came in high school when he first started learning guitar. And like most dreamers before him, he found comradery with like-minded musicians ready to see what these instruments could do. From the beginning, Alex wasn’t concerned with genre; only sound. “I approached songwriting very similarly to how I do now. I just picked up a guitar and started strumming some chords,” he says, “Sometimes lyrics come first, sometimes it’s the melody. At the time, I was just writing songs because I loved to write. I think that’s important- to not force yourself, but write when you feel inspired.” He is not of the school of making music for fame and money. While those can be accepted rewards, they
shouldn’t be the purpose of writing. He’s seen so many start writing songs that are imitations of what they hear on the radio in hopes of cashing in then selling out; it’s the tech-bro startup equivalent in the music world. “What many forget is 90% of these famous musicians started off in their garages working from the bottom up. They wrote because they had a passion for it,” Alex says. Starting off, writing music was a way to pass the time. He was involved with sports and didn’t party much due to focusing on school and fitness for basketball. So, when he found himself with free time, he began writing and playing, finding out what it had to offer. Once Alex and some friends formed their rag-tag band, he began to take what he was doing with a sense of urgency and seriousness. This group of guys Alex jammed with in garages would later become his first band, The Cab. The more they practiced, the more others started to encourage them to play a show. They posted a few songs on Myspace and after generating some positive responses, they booked their first gig. The first show sold out. “All of our family and friends came. And we were like, ‘Woah, we just sold out this venue.’ And then the venue asked us to come back next month and do it again. So, we wrote a few more songs and came back,” Alex says, “We started to organically build this fan base and it grew and grew. We went to playing 50 people to 1,000 people a few months later. Things just took off in Vegas.” For eight years, Alex played and toured with The Cab. He learned the tricks of the trade. He gained experience as a DIY musician on endless van rides between gigs and as the NKDMAG.COM
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front man of a signed band. A new hunger arose in Alex as The Cab dissolved. It was then Alex embarked on a literal journey across all seven continents. When The Cab ended, Alex wasn’t sure what to do next. He had been a touring musician for eight years since graduating high school and all of that suddenly came to a halt. It was a chance for self-discovery. “All I had known for those years was ‘Alex, the front man of The Cab’; ‘Alex, the singer on-stage’. It was a chance for me to find out who ‘Alex’ is and who I have become. What do I like? What are my other passions?” he recalls. It was a somber, yet sobering time for him. Rather than be trapped by his loneliness, Alex escaped around the world with no set final destination. So, he packed up and set off. The goal was to be open and just absorb and take everything in. He would befriend strangers and just listen to their stories, intertwining lifelines between himself and the tales of those he met on his travels. And while music wasn’t the focus, it’s impossible to dislodge the art from the artist. He would write his ideas down to keep for later, but the focus was just to be. “Once you see the world, you think of everything differently. You become more grateful for what you have. You just love people more; you love cultures more. You gain more empathy and understanding,” he says, “Even if it’s just traveling to a different city in your state. It’s important to see more of the world than what you’re accustomed to.” Empathy. That is the key. It may be clichéd knowledge, but there is a correlation between heavy reading and higher states of empathy. It allows you to connect and ‘understand’ (in the broadest sense) other’s perspectives. And it’s only then that you can 16
actually tackle the questions outside the self to understand what is within us all. Through traveling and trusting complete strangers, the seed of empathy grew in Alex, allowing his writing to bloom. The best art is selfish for the most selfless reason- to connect with others. “The Bohnes project is so much more introspective. When you’re in high school, you often write about teenage love and the problems that seemed big then are ridiculous now. But now, even though there are love songs, they’re from a different perspective. It’s like I grew 50 years in 2 years when it comes to wisdom,” Alex says, “There’s a lot of songs that explore life and death; and it sees death as a beautiful thing because it forces you to live.” And while the work for the first Bohnes project isn’t a concept album, there is threading and consistent themes running song to song. And the name Bohnes is meant to reflect those themes of looking past the concepts of life, death, love, relationships and delving into the steps that happen once you understand what they mean. It’s this push and pull that is meant to reflect life as a whole and bleed into the lyrics and compositions. It’s the melding of form and function. The album is finished and is slated for release in early 2018. But while the album is left to cure, Alex is focusing on releasing the content that is lead to the release. He’s working on scheduling out more singles to be released and corresponding music videos. “I filmed one music video on all seven continents. I don’t think that’s ever been done for before. I was building this whole universe for two years and putting every part of me into this thing. I was documenting and have about 10 or 15 music videos filmed. I
was working every step of the way. I was just doing it quietly. I wanted this to be a 360-degree project,” he says. Bohnes isn’t just about the music. It’s about the content that music can produce in various facets of artistry. There’s an innovation and a universe that Alex built in order to bring context and order to what Bohnes is all about. It’s about being tangible. Just 15 or 20 years ago, this may not have been possible. With the global rise of social media and the interactions it allows, artists can rip content open and find new ways to present their medium via channels that weren’t available to Alex’s heroes. While there are music videos, there are also the studio version, an acoustic version, and a remix of each track. This is where empathy comes back into play. The acoustic versions are reworked by Alex and his producer to show the piece from a different angle. A simple chord change places your story in late fall instead of the end of summer and that makes all the difference. For the remixes, Alex brought in musician friends and peers to put their spin on his work. Bohnes is the omniscient narrator discovering the answers that were there all along. Tackling subjects via poetry, video, and several layers of music, Alex is building up a body of work as Bohnes that is a reaction to itself. It’s not ‘breaking the fourth wall’ self-referential. It’s an opportunity to look at one subject and use it as an ingredient in multiple dishes to see how it changes, how it affects each dish, and even why we need the dish at all. Alex is ready to begin a conversation with the world through the music of Bohnes. Art was and always will be interactive. The question is, are we ready to push beyond the answers to the next step. NKD
dilan gwyn Words by NICOLE MOOREFIELD Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
It was a long climb to the top for Beyond actress Dilan Gwyn, who has overcome discrimination and hardship to become an overnight success as Willa Frost in the Freeform original series. But for the 23-year-old star, the opportunity to bring such a strong character to life is well worth the difficult journey. Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, Dilan’s unique childhood shaped who she is today. Her parents were political refugees from Turkey, where 18
they were persecuted for being an ethnic minority. With her older sisters, they fled to Sweden before Dilan was born. Dilan’s father, a journalist and activist for Kurdish rights, died when she was only 11, upsetting her entire world. “My whole teenage years were spent trying to find a way back to normalcy and happiness,” Dilan says. Dilan found refuge in acting when she was around 17-years-old. Three years later, Dilan was accepted into both the Stockholm Film School and
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. “I had to make a crossroads decision — should I be behind the camera or in front?” she reflects. Eventually, she decided to accept the once-in-alifetime opportunity to attend drama school in the United States, leaving everyone she knew behind for California. The stark contrast between Stockholm and Los Angeles came as a shock to Dilan, whose only knowledge of the area came from a quick Google search.
“You don’t see any pictures. It’s just the skyline and palm trees. But what does it look like, what is life like?” she says. The weather and locals in Los Angeles proved too strange for Dilan, who transferred to the New York campus for her second year. “I love New York. For me, it was such a natural place to be,” she says. The culture and history of the city were more familiar to Dilan, and she quickly became infatuated with her neighborhood in Queens. “I like New
Yorkers. I like their way of being and living and talking,” Dilan adds. “I connected with them a lot more.” Dilan’s first two roles after graduation were Swedish films, but she quickly realized her appearance was too “exotic-looking” for Swedish directors. “The lack of on-screen diversity is a problem in Sweden,” Dilan adds. Instead, her success came in London, where studios were more open-minded. Dilan first booked a small role in Dracula Untold, then landed a guest appearance in Da Vinci’s Demons within the same week. Beyond has been Dilan’s biggest role yet, where she plays the mysterious and independent Willa Frost. Dilan was drawn to the role of Willa because of her take-charge attitude. As soon as she auditioned for Willa, Dilan fell in love with the character. “I really enjoy playing strong women,” Dilan passionately remarks. Where the first season was about Holden (Burkely Duffield), Season 2 will focus more on his companions, especially Willa. “For me, the second season was a lot more fun because now we have established the realm and the [relationship between Willa and Holden],” Dilan says. Although helping Holden remember was essential to the storyline, it didn’t leave a lot of room for Willa to shine as a character. In contrast, Season 2 will explore what she wants out of her life. “I think for Willa, she didn’t even know that herself. It’s always about the realm or what Arthur wants, but what does she want?” Dilan reflects. “A part of [Willa] wants to be a normal girl and have a normal life, which she’s never had before. She’s very much drawn to that. She was really drawn to Holden having a normal family,” Dilan adds. Willa has never had a family or real friendships before, so the relation-
ships she is developing are still very new to her. As she learns how to make friends, attend family dinners and go on dates, “she tries to plaster this idea of a normal person on top of her, and she’s not very normal.” Season 1 was an instant hit, growing a wide fanbase soon after its release. Dilan attributes some of the show’s success to its accessibility. Because the entire show was available to stream at once, many new fans were drawn in immediately by the plot. Dilan sees Beyond’s unusual release format (for Freeform) as beneficial to shows without a pre-existing fanbase, since the intended teenage audience likes to binge their favorite programs. Because there is no delay from week to week, fans are less likely to miss an episode or lose interest in the series. The night of the show’s release in January, Dilan’s social following exploded from a few thousand to almost twenty thousand people. Before working on Beyond, Dilan’s didn’t consider herself much of a personal “sharer” on social media, but she has taken the opportunity to grow her presence and stretch her comfort zone. “I need to think twice now before I post something stupid,” Dilan jokes. Although documenting her daily life is still unnatural to Dilan, she enjoys being able to live tweet the show and interact with fans. In the year since the premiere, Dilan has learned how to take selfies and document her meals – concepts that were once foreign to the actress. Behind-thescenes footage was also a new experience for Dilan. It took a while for her to become comfortable around the camera, but now she is a pro at acting natural and looking directly into the lens. “[The directors said to] just be yourself...what do you mean? I can’t be myself, I’m an actor!” she laughs. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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RUSSELL DICKERSON Words by BRITTANY LANDAU Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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At the beginning of 2017, Russell Dickerson had said that his goal for the year was to release a full-length album, to tour and to sell out venues. Cut to December and Russell has 22
accomplished just that. He supported Thomas Rhett on the Home Team Tour in the spring, along with Kelsea Ballerini and Ryan Hurd. At the same time, Russell was making
his way around the country to “just about every radio station there is” to promote his songs. “That was the craziest six months of my life,” he recalls. After the tour, he and his band
continued to play shows around the country. In September, Russell joined Florida Georgia Line on the Smooth Tour, alongside Nelly and Chris Lane. Going from headlining sets
to opening sets is no easy feat and as Russell changed between the two often this year, his mindset had to change as well. “You can’t think that everybody knows you. You have to get out
there and be like ‘hey, my name is Russell Dickerson, these are my songs that I wrote.’ They don’t know who you are or what you’re doing. You’re the first guy. You have to go out and just make an impact. We tried to just pack as much energy and memorable moments into 15-20 minutes as we could,” he says. Even with 15 minutes, Russell managed to squeeze five songs into his set on the Smooth Tour. “We had to discuss it a little bit because, for the set, we cut out the second verse of the first song, go straight into the guitar solo, and then cut the outro,” he explains. “We chopped up the songs, but it still had a good flow. We told some of Florida Georgia Line’s crew and they couldn’t even tell, so I think we did a good job of chopping up these songs and piecing them together into one set.” Between all of the shows and tours, Russell was going from radio station to radio station to promote his songs and album. “It’s kind of been a continual thing of going into these radio stations, busting out a guitar, singing in a conference room, trying to connect with the program director, and just hanging for a minute,” he recalls. The real problem is trying to stand out in a sea of artists that come through the station every day. “We hit Top 40 in about six weeks which is so fast. Now, since we have a Top 20, all of these guys are like, ‘Dude, this is blowing up. It’s crazy!’ It’s just cool to know that I’m one of the ones that they’re paying attention to now,” he says. NKDMAG.COM
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The success of “Yours”, the title track of Russell’s new album and the single that made it into the Top 20, was no surprise to Russell. “There’s a dream I had. I knew this song was a big song. I knew it was, but I had to keep hoping and hoping and holding out and holding out,” he remembers. On October 13 Russell’s long-awaited first full-length album, titled Yours, was released. “We’ve had songs stacked up for a good six years. It was just perfect timing. We went through and I pieced them all together in, what I felt from my gut, was good for the record,” he explains. “There’s no calculations or algorithms to making an album. I just went with my gut and that was how it pieced together. There’s no real explanation.” When going into the recording process, Russell had a clear picture of which song fans were going to love. “I was so pumped for people to hear “Billions” because I just love that song so much. It’s just so energetic and over-the-top, like me,” he laughs. Then there are songs like “All Fall Down”, which is garnering more attention and streams than Russell imagined. Though the album came out recently, Russell and his band have been playing these songs for a while. “If you’re coming to a show, it’s an exclusive in to hear these songs and I wanted to give all of these people a little preview of all of these songs. I wanted to promote these songs as much as possible,” he says. 24
Playing these songs live while they were unreleased is what led Russell to getting more exposure. Songs like “Would You Love Me”, “Blue Tacoma”, and “Lowkey” were plastered all over social media sites, including Snapchat and YouTube. “These videos get thousands and thousands of views and then people would come to the shows and be singing every word. The songs weren’t even out yet. It’s crazy,” he exclaims. If you don’t know Russell from his energetic live shows or hit country songs, you might recognize him from this past season of The Bachelorette. Russell performed “Yours” during Rachel and Dean’s romantic one-on-one date during Week 4. “I’m a sucker for anything cheesy. They’re sort of in a relationship and they’re singing this song and I was thinking this could be love. That’s the optimist in me, but they were just dancing and kissing on this platform. Honestly, it was pretty magical,” he laughs. Though the show focuses on romance, it seems that the audience was focused on the song as well. “It was one of the biggest reacting songs they’ve ever done. That shows that it’s not about me, it’s not about the contestants, it’s just the song. That’s more of a compliment than anything else because it’s just about the music,” he says. “We sold like 20,000 singles in a week and went from 49 to 42, I believe, on radio. There are people who come to shows and say they first heard of me on The Bachelorette. People have
stuck around and we continue to grow with them.” Russell may have accomplished his goals for the year, but there’s no doubt that he’s continuing to dream big. “What’s next? A No. 1 single. Then, really diving into a headlining tour and selling out. I just want to play shows and tour. I love live shows. I love going to concerts and I want to put on that experience for my fans. The Tonight Show [with Jimmy Fallon] would be dope too,” he says. His future goals also include making his live show bigger and better than ever. “[Since] the album has been out, people have been singing all of the songs. I feel like I’ve been teaching them these songs that they didn’t know yet. Now, I’m looking forward to taking the time to stop and let them sing. I’m excited to dive into that and see what parts of what songs I can let them take over,” he says. As for the visual aspect of his live show, Russell wants it to be just as over-the-top as he is. “I want confetti, smoke, CO2 cannons, and everything I can get. I want it all,” he dreams. “Financially, we’ll have to figure something else out. Maybe one single light, a single confetti cannon, or even little party poppers for the audience,” he jokes. Jokes aside, Russell is ready for his career to launch even further. “We’re just flying here, there, everywhere, continuing to play shows and really push the album,” he says, “Keep pushing it and pushing it as far and as high as we possibly can.” NKD
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walker hayes Words by SAMANTHA BAMBINO Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Two years ago, Walker Hayes received something most artists only dream of: a second chance. For some time, the country music performer was at the lowest point of his life, battling alcoholism and working odd hours at Costco after his original label dropped him. Now, with the release of his new album boom. on the horizon, Walker is ready to become a permanent fixture this time around in the country music world. Since NKD last caught up with Walker in 2016, his career has taken a major leap forward. He now has a brand new record label to call home in the form of Monument Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment and the brainchild of Shane McAnally and Jason Owens. “It’s a golden opportunity,” he says. “I can’t think of any better 26
place to be in today’s country radio climate.” For Walker, who knows firsthand what it’s like to lose the support of a label, having a team of industry veterans dedicated to his success is a breath of fresh air. As the launch artist of Monument, all hands have been on deck to produce boom., which appeals to old and new fans alike. When Walker first set to work in the studio, he began taking tracks from his previous albums, 8Tracks (Vol. 1) Good Shit and 8Tracks (Vol. 2) Break the Internet, and putting a larger band behind them. “We didn’t change anything really,” he says. “Same vocals that we did in the shack, same snaps and beatboxes.” A few of these tracks have since been released to get people
excited, including the honest yet catchy first single “You Broke Up With Me”. The song was officially released to radio on June 26 and the public quickly latched onto the relatable track, allowing it to soar up the charts. “Country music radio is still keen. Your best career move is to get that massive audience via radio,” Walker says. “You Broke Up With Me” will be one of seven songs on boom. remastered from 8Tracks. The final three will be brand new and exclusive to the album. With more songs under his belt than could fit on the 10-song track list, many tough cuts had to be made. But for the ones chosen, Walker says there are some interesting stories behind the selections. For example, “Mind Candy” almost didn’t make it. When his
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band initially played the song, it didn’t sound great. At first, Walker and team were grateful it was one less song they’d have to worry about fitting on the album. He was prepared to let the song live on 8Tracks forever, until the band played it a second time and it sounded amazing. As for the three new songs, each has its own vibe and message that he thinks fans will enjoy. “Craig” is the one “story-heavy” song based on a true friendship in Walker’s life. When he was at his lowest point and struggling to keep things together, Walker encountered a man named Craig who took a genuine liking to him. “He met me at a terrible time in my life at this church,” Walker says. “But he just accepted me and my family.” During this time, he and his wife were forced to fit their six children into one car. When he lost his record deal, an endorsement went with it and so did a minivan the company provided. Walker knew he’d afford another car at some point, but it would be a while. One night at his son’s baseball game, Craig pulled up in his own minivan. Handing Walker the title and keys, he explained how someone did a great deed for him a long time ago and he wanted to pass on the favor. Walker was beyond grateful and has searched for the perfect way to thank him ever since. The answer came through what he does best: music. During one of his final sessions in the studio, the words to “Craig” flowed out of Walker, who names this song
a reflection of his writing process for the album. “I didn’t write any of the album, really, for an album or for any format. I really just wrote them all, like ‘Craig’, because I had something to say,” he says. “I didn’t want to show everybody I’m a clever writer. I didn’t want to write a radio hit.” All he wanted was for the generous man who inspired the song to turn on his radio, hear it and feel appreciated. And that’s exactly what happened. The second new track, “Shut Up Kenny”, is based on a real-life fight Walker had with his wife. One night after an argument, Walker went for a drive to clear his head. A song by Kenny Chesney came on the radio, reminding him of happier times. In his frustration, he changed the station only to hear the same exact song. “I was trying to stay pissed for the fight, and then these nice memories were coming in,” he says. “And then I was like, shut up Kenny!” The final new song, “Prescriptions”, which was written with Matthew McGinn, goes beyond the boundaries of country music to sound almost pop. The finished product of boom. will be released on Dec. 8 and Walker couldn’t be more excited for his fans to hear it. “It’s got deep stuff for everybody,” he says. “It’s just a solid body of work.” Also anxious for boom. to hit the shelves is Walker’s support system - his wife and six (soon to be seven) children. All of them have been along for the crazy ride
that’s been the past year, joining Walker on his recent tour with Thomas Rhett. Though he admits it’s weird to have people recognize him and ask for pictures, his children, especially the three oldest, have been loving every second of their dad’s growing success. Walker went from performing small venues to sold out arenas in a short span of time, and though his set has evolved beyond him and a loop pedal, he can always count on seeing his kids’ proud faces in the front row. “They look at me a little starstruck when they’re down there and I’m singing to a humongous arena. You could tell they get a kick out of that,” he says. No matter the level of fame he achieves, Walker’s family will remain his No. 1 fans. But after experiencing backstage and bus life on the Thomas Rhett tour, he admits they’ll never settle for an average concert experience again. For now at least, they don’t have to. Walker will soon be embarking on a 2018 tour with Kelsea Ballerini, who he’s honored to be supporting. “That’s what I want to be out with. People who make their own music which has that integrity,” he says. “I just love writers and I consider her a genuine, incredible singer songwriter.” As Walker’s jam-packed year comes to a close, he’s savoring every moment while planning ahead for what comes next. Do we hear an 8Tracks (Vol. 3)? “I’m really making it in a business where most people don’t. I feel super fortunate to be able to do what I’m doing,” Walker says. “It’s been a heck of a year.”NKD NKDMAG.COM
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emma dumont Words by STACY MAGALLON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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When I first meet Emma Dumont at The Peninsula New York in Midtown Manhattan, we exchange awkward eye contact in the lobby. It’s almost like we’re meeting for a blind date. Her eyes are narrowly focused on her cell phone screen, but peer over so slightly to see where she’s walking. The Peninsula lobby is a perplexing blueprint of unexpected corners and corridors under warmly lit chandeliers; I don’t blame her for looking -and maybe feeling -- a little lost. “Oh, thank God,” Emma says once she realizes she’s right where she needs to be. She tucks her cell phone away before shaking my hand. “This hotel is so confusing to me.” At 5’9” and in high heels, she towers over me, but immediately comes off more relatable than intimidating. Emma is one of many superheroes in Manhattan today. She arrived three hours ago and is departing in less than 24. She and her FOX co-stars are in town to promote their newest Marvel series, The Gifted, at their New York Comic Con panel tomorrow morning. The 22-year old actress sits across from me, examining the bustling lobby filled with tourists, suited businessmen, and to her delight, newlyweds. She points to the bride and groom in the distance, posing with their families beneath a marble arch. “Guys, they’re taking pictures together,” Emma coos. The newlyweds press their foreheads together as the photographer’s external flash goes off. “Ugh, what’s it like to be that happy and in love?” she jokes. In that moment, I realize the first thing I like most about her. She feels like a friend you haven’t seen in five years, but speaks to you like she’s texted you every day since then. She squeals “Congratulations!” as the 32
couple passes by. “Acting paid the rent,” the Seattle native says to me. There’s a tone of sincerity in her voice -- one that tends to surface on the topic of personal struggle. Emma began ballet training at age 3, violin lessons at 4, then community theater at 6. Her summers were spent between the American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet School, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. All the while, her single mother pushed her to excel in academia as a means to secure her future. In most cases, a child picks a route and sticks to it. Instead, Emma balanced life as a bright engineering student who participated in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics while acting, dancing, and modeling. By her 16th birthday, she had already lived in Tokyo, Milan, London, New York City, and Hong Kong as contracted talent under Ford Models. “I didn’t grow up with a ton of money,” she continues. “If I wanted to go to college, I’d have to get a job.” Those jobs often came in the form of sixyear contracts. By 2016, Emma had main roles in NBC’s Aquarius and ABC Family’s Bunheads, then appeared in Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars and SyFy’s The Magicians. Then, in 2017, she was presented with, inarguably, the most political role in her career. Prior to filming The Gifted pilot in Dallas, Emma and her co-stars were given little to no information regarding the pending Marvel project. There was no script to reference, no disclosed character names, and their auditions were improvised scenes that had nothing to do with the show’s premise. “The only thing I knew was that Matt Nix was creating it in cooperation with FOX
and Marvel, and that Bryan Singer was producing and directing the pilot,” she says. Nix, most notable for writing and producing USA’s Burn Notice and FOX’s The Good Guys, kept her anxiety at bay as the project’s confidentiality continued even after she booked the role and signed her life away again. “It was only a week before I flew to Dallas to film the pilot did I go, ‘Oh, shit. I’m playing Magneto’s daughter.’” The Gifted pilot is framed on the alliance formed between a party of misfit mutant refugees and the Strucker family, whose teenage children come of age as they understand and harness their newfound powers while adapting to life on the run from a fascistic police military regime. Within minutes of the pilot, Polaris’ arrest instantly exposes viewers to the segregation in a world where anti-mutant sentiment soars high. The FOX drama follows the Struckers and their mutant cohorts as they flee from Sentinel Services, a federal enforcement agency dedicated to hunting, ostracizing, and prosecuting all who carry the X gene. Emma portrays Lorna Dane, more commonly referred to by her mutant alias. “Polaris is a badass,” Emma says of the law-defying mistress of magnetism who, ironically, spends a considerable amount of Season 1 behind metal bars. After reacting to the gunshot wound of boyfriend and mutant ally, Marcos Diaz a.k.a. Eclipse (Sean Teale), it’s Polaris’ erratic, public behavior that leads to her detainment by Sentinel Services. The on-screen discrimination perdures in the attacks from her tempestuous cellmates, repulsed by the sight of her pale skin and green hair. “She’s fighting for her life. I think a lot of her
actions are questionable, but all she’s trying to do is survive,” Emma says. Polaris’ strife for survival is amplified by her lack of emotional control and ongoing battle with bipolar disorder. Untreated and unmedicated, the green-haired heroine is often agonized by her explosive emotions, leading to eruptions elsewhere. “I love that she feels so passionately that she can’t control her powers,” Emma says. “These intense feelings overwhelm her anytime she sees someone doing wrong, someone innocent hurting, or someone abusing power. I really look up to her.” “I think it’s vital to represent mental health issues on television, especially in women; strong, badass women,” she continues. “Polaris is faced with challenges you’d think would hold someone back, but it pushes her forward. I experience those feelings in my own life, so living out those emotions every day is almost healing to me.” Emma extends both hands before her. Her “Polaris nails” -- lengthy and pointed -- are painted a deep emerald green. She raises her middle and index fingers while keeping the others bent, then rotates her wrists. “The role has gone to my head because I think I have real powers,” she continues, laughing. “I’m always trying to move people and move traffic.” The advancing theme of survival for the Mutant Underground is exacerbated by the catastrophe of 7/15. July 15th marks the day in Dallas, Texas when a sonic blast from a mutant rights march murdered thousands of loitering civilians. Based on the real-world terrorist attack on September 11th 2001, the boundary between humans and humans who carry the X gene has been clearly NKDMAG.COM
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delineated -- the latter of which are written off as terrorists. “Mutants are allowed to exist in that world just like you’re allowed to be Muslim in this world,” Emma says. “But either way, that’s not going to stop anyone from performing hate crimes against you.” In a superhero-filled era of television, where does The Gifted stand among the ranks? For one, it focuses on the experiences of the exiled, and not what it takes to be a ‘hero.’ The show expands on the discrimination mutants face, and while their existence is not explicitly illegal, the full-fledged oppression is the show’s towering plot pillar, receiving positive acclaim for its intimate, social, and political narrative. “The Gifted is straight up about Nazis, vile bigotry, and people who claim to protect the general populous by deciding what rights and what laws apply to which people, ” Emma says, noting that Sentinel Services, or the S.S., share the same acronym as the Schutzstaffel, a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler’s reign in Nazi Germany. “I hope the show holds up a mirror to society, especially to younger generations who can’t help but be raised in biased, hateful households and environments.” The connection between The Gifted’s anti-fascist undertones and today’s political climate is thinly veiled, to say the least. Emma doesn’t appear keen to hide that. “We know our show runs parallel to the country’s current political climate, but I find myself getting exhausted by tiptoeing around it. I don’t think we live in a time where you should tiptoe around anything. We live in a time where people need to take a knee or raise a fist. If you have a voice, use it, because a lot of people don’t,” Emma pauses for a moment
and collects her next thought. “And as for myself, I’m a white girl in a society structured by white privilege, so it’s a blessing to play a minority in the world of the X-Men. I will never understand what it’s like to be a minority, so I’m doing my best to portray it correctly.” With a pilot written prior to the presidential election of 2016, the eerie similitude between our world and theirs comes at a pivotal time in history where predilection among races is still rampant and heartbreaking to those unfavored. As Season 1 of The Gifted unravels, we’re further acquainted with more tenebrific plot points and dialogue that correspond with the lacking light in humanity, offering a candid reminder that injustice lives wherever bigots prosper. “This is the biggest reason why our show is so consequential and why it needs to stay on the air,” Emma says. “People just don’t understand people and ideas that are different from them.” Despite Emma’s antipathy with both universes, it doesn’t seem like she’s accepted this political discourse as permanent, and she isn’t tolerating it, either. “Having a voice to speak up against social injustice isn’t something everyone has,” she says as her green eyes widen. I notice her fists are beginning to clench. “And if you do have a voice and decide not to use it, you’re part of the problem. In order to keep prejudice out of our societal norms, we have to make people really uncomfortable.” Emma’s mutant counterpart isn’t the only person desperate to assist those in need. The actress is currently enrolled at Georgia State University working towards her degree in mechanical engineering while filming The Gifted in Atlanta.
“I want to go into robotic prosthesis,” she says, nonchalantly. I have no idea what that is. “I want to make fake joints for humans,” Emma clarifies, laughing. “I want to make technology commercially available to the people who can’t afford it. I just want to help people.” If that mentality sounds like it shares similarities to her crafted persona of Polaris, it’s because it does. She’s proud of it -- even if she can’t move traffic with her hands. “I want young boys and young girls to know it’s okay to be strong and to be different,” Emma says. “And with a couple billion people on the planet, there’s at least one person feeling the exact same way as you.” An hour later, Emma invites me up to her room to change out of her dress and heels. She’s been craving mozzarella sticks all evening and doesn’t want to appear overdressed. “I don’t know what to wear to this party tonight,” she says from inside the bathroom. The flat-screen television is playing episodes of Family Guy, her eyeshadow palettes are cluttered around a desk, and her shoes are strewn across the cream-colored carpet. This room looks a lot like mine. “I’m ready!” Emma announces. I can almost hear the grin on her face. She barges out of the bathroom, now wearing a pair of ripped boyfriend jeans, a white T-shirt, and black combat boots. “I literally look like Polaris,” she says, giggling at her reflection in the suite’s full-length mirror. Whether she’s on the hunt for mozzarella sticks in our universe, or training young mutant refugees in another, Emma Dumont has the makings of a hero, and I think the polarity of both worlds feels appropriate. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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OKANO
Words by ELIZABETH FORREST Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
LYRICA
Lyrica Okano’s journey to the screen has been anything but conventional. Her acting career accidentally jump-started at the age of 7 when she tagged along with a friend to an audition for Memoirs of a Geisha in Chinatown. “At that age, I saw little people in the television screen and thought they were living there,” she laughs. She admits she had no idea what she was doing and only auditioned because of her playdate, but she made it as far as the screen test. And although she didn’t get the part in the end, she’s acted on and off since then. Most of her energy went into rhythmic gymnastics until the age of 15 when she made the national team, but once she retired, acting became her primary focus. Lyrica’s first major role is as Nico Minoru in Marvel’s Runaways. The Hulu series premiered on November 21 and centers around a group of teenagers whose parents are secretly supervillains. “As much as I wanted a really good role like this, I never really thought that it would come so quickly,” she explains. It came as a bit of a shock as well; during auditions, she wasn’t given much information about the role. She knew that they were looking for a Japanese-American to audition for the role, but she had to connect the dots herself to figure out who she was auditioning for. “It’s still rare for me to find Japanese or even Asian-American roles out there that aren’t just the best friend or the smart kid in class or the edgy Asian with a sword,” Lyrica says. Because of this, the role was huge to her and she was enthusiastic about the part from the very beginning. She hadn’t read the Marvel comics before auditioning for the role, but she had watched Marvel movies and loved
Jessica Jones beforehand. That, combined with the role itself, motivated her to give justice to the part. “Nico’s a badass Japanese-American who’s rebelling against her parents. You don’t read about that a lot,” she laughs. Nico is also Wiccan goth, which only added to the appeal; Lyrica was a witch for every Halloween since she was a kid. Her talent and desire for the part showed, and immediately after getting the call that she would be playing Nico, Lyrica packed up and moved all the way from New York to Los Angeles. Filming for Runaways wrapped in late October. Since she moved so far so quickly, Lyrica could have easily felt homesick, but she never felt alone. She was close to everyone in the cast, including the older actors. Being on set was a relatively new experience to everyone in the cast, minus Gregg Sulkin, so bonds were formed as early as during the initial filming of the show’s pilot. The shooting location was far from where everyone was staying, so the cast stayed together in an Airbnb for a week. During that time, they did everything together, from eating dinner to filming the show to early morning pick-ups. “It was really fun,” Lyrica remembers. “We got really lucky. I’m glad none of us are assholes.” Things have changed a bit for Lyrica since becoming involved with the show. The biggest change was moving to Los Angeles; she had lived with her parents in New York her whole life until that point. And because of a terrible driving test experience in her past, Lyrica doesn’t drive. She admits that she still feels like a tourist in Los Angeles because she relies on Lyft to get around. Though she’s noticed the changes, she’s been so busy that it’s been difficult to take a breather. “I
don’t think I’ve gotten much time to process what’s been happening,” she admits. “Now that we’ve wrapped, I’m finally like, ‘Wow, we just did four months of shooting this really incredible show. It’s kind of crazy.’” In fact, she was so focused on her part that she was caught off guard by her first experience with fans of the show. During New York Comic Con, it became clear to her how highly anticipated the release of Runaways truly was. Lyrica’s Comic Con experience was a two-day event: the first day featured a panel and screening, and the second day, Lyrica and the rest of the cast were able to meet and interact with eager Marvel fans. It came as a complete shock because, while shooting, everyone was on their own. Everything was a secret and nobody was even allowed to post anything to social media. “I thought once we got to Comic Con there would just be ten people in the crowd, which would have been great still, but to see all those people excited about our show was so humbling,” she remembers. A highlight of Comic Con was that hundreds of fans were able to preview the pilot of the show. “We got to see everyone’s reactions to that,” Lyrica says. “It was so crazy! I was so scared, but it worked out.” Once the viewing was over, she met with fans and signed posters for them. Because of the unexpected confirmation that there was a huge fanbase behind the project, it prepared her for the show’s release to the general public. And although Lyrica is focused on Runaways for now, she hopes to keep auditioning and find other opportunities in the future, both in film and theater. “I’m open to anything right now,” she says. Goth eyeliner optional. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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CARLY PEARCE Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
“It’s taken me a second to really believe that it’s my time,” Carly Pearce told me a year ago as we sat in a diner in Nashville. She had just signed to Big Machine Records and confessed that she wasn’t even sure she was allowed to tell me that yet. She had also just released “Every Little Thing” independently a few weeks prior and simultaneously kick-started a life-changing year. It’s officially Carly Pearce’s time. “That was a time in my life where my phone wouldn’t stop ringing,” Carly reflects on our last interview. Now, almost a year later, we meet in a green room in New York during street week for her debut album, Every Little Thing. She’s running on minimal sleep, but you’d never be able to tell. 2017 has been inarguably Carly’s most successful year, but it took a lot of left turns to get here. Her singing career started with a job at Dolly40
wood, and in a full circle moment, she ran into Dolly Parton at The Today Show while she was there to perform. “I freaked out just as much as I did the first time [I met her],” Carly admits. Following her time at Dollywood, Carly tried relentlessly to launch her artist career in Nashville but ended up stumbling into a back-up singer position with Lucy Hale of Pretty Little Liars fame while she was promoting her debut country album. After Carly’s first rehearsal with the band, Lucy went home and Googled her, found her original songs, and encouraged Carly to not give up on her artist dreams. Following Lucy’s tour, Carly dusted off her songbook and took another crack at being a country artist. A duet with Josh Abbott Band (“Wasn’t That Drunk”) put her on the map and Sirius XM’s The Highway started playing her songs. They named “Every Little
Thing” a Highway Finds song and things began to change. “Never in a million years did I think that all of this would happen,” she admits, thinking back on the last 12 months, “I never thought I’d be embraced with a song that doesn’t fit anything in the mold of what you need in a breakout song or as a female artist.” She describes the whirlwind year as a “little dream world”. She took “Every Little Thing” to country radio in February and once she was named one of iHeart Radio’s “On The Verge” artists, she really felt like things started happening with her and the song. “I knew that was going to at least give [the song] a fair shot,” she says. The song did get a fair shot, and in November, “Every Little Thing” went No. 1 – making her the first female to hit No. 1 on the country airplay charts with her debut single since Kelsea Ballerini’s breakout song “Love Me Like
You Mean It” in 2015. This makes Carly only the third female artist to hit that accomplishment in 11 years, with Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” taking the honor in 2006. This also makes her only the second solo female to go No. 1 this year, following Lauren Alaina’s “Road Less Traveled” in April. “If you would’ve told me this time last year that the little song I wrote about my broken heart would change everything about my life, I would’ve never believed it,” Carly says, “Every artist and songwriter I know dreams of having a No. 1. To have achieved this with my debut single is unreal. I’ll never, ever forget this.” But as much of an accomplishment as a No. 1 single is, it’s the connections Carly has made with strangers that makes the song’s success more meaningful. “People telling me their stories on how they can relate to it and connect to it, and every time I play it
live, from the first beat of the drum, people know it,” she says, “And that’s just powerful. It’s a little underdog song.” Having done an intense radio tour to push “Every Little Thing”, Carly is now more aware than ever of the ratio of male to female artists on country radio. At press time, just three solo females (Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert) and one duet (Faith Hill, with her husband Tim McGraw) sit in the Top 40. “I don’t think it will last very long,” Carly says, “There’s a lot of amazing women right behind me – Jillian Jacequline being one of them – and I’m sure there’s a slew of other ones that I’m just not aware of yet.” She recognizes that because of the success Kelsea and Maren have had, a door opened for her, and she hopes that her success will open a door for another female artist. The song’s steady climb to success
meant months of anticipation for Carly’s debut full-length, which was released mid-October. “My fear was that I wouldn’t be embraced as an artist, but as a song,” she admits, “So far, everyone has been so receptive and so kind about [the album] and I feel like it’s just going to be nice to see people grow with me in the album, instead of just getting to know ‘Every Little Thing’, they get to know me as Carly Pearce.” She feels that listeners are identifying with the songs and feeling the things she hoped they’d feel upon listening to it. The album, appropriately titled Every Little Thing, is a culmination of three years of work between Carly and her producer/collaborator, busbee. By the time she signed to Big Machine at the end of 2016, the two had stockpiled dozens of songs, so once she signed her deal, it was just about picking the best songs and figuring NKDMAG.COM
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“If you would’ve told me this time last year that the little song I wrote about my broken heart would change everything about my life, I would’ve never believed it.”
out what was missing. While Carly wants to be known as both a singer and a songwriter, for her debut album she opted to follow in the footsteps of the women in country that she idolized growing up, who she believes always chose the best songs to sing – whether they wrote them or not. “The best song won, and a lot of times they did not write them,” she says. “Hide The Wine”, “Catch Fire”, “I Need a Ride Home”, “Feel Somethin’” and “Honeysuckle” were all songs Carly heard and felt needed to be part of her story. “I felt like people needed to hear them, and I felt like they needed to come from me because I could identify with them just as much as the ones that I did write,” she says. “I Need a Ride Home” was a song Carly heard over a year before she recorded it, and was immediately struck by how some details were so specific to her life. “I used to sit at the kitchen table with my grandfather, and it talks about that, and I really was like, ‘Hillary Lindsey had to know that was my story!’” she jokes, “It was truly creepy. That second verse… my grandpa had a creek outside his house and a field full of nothing, and we sat at the kitchen table. So I feel like that song was meant to be.” Her new single, “Hide The Wine”, was another song she heard and felt compelled to sing. When her publisher first played her the song, she begged for it, but it was already being recorded by another artist. “I was pissed,” she admits. She kept waiting for the song to come out and it never did, and within the same month that she signed her record deal, it was cut from the other artist’s album. “My publisher found out by just buying the album,” she laughs, “So I got it.” When it came to putting together the track list for Every Little Thing, 46
Carly went in with that “best song wins” mentality she always admired. “I am a songwriter, and I want to be known as a songwriter, so that was really important to me – I didn’t want to just cut a bunch of outside songs – but I knew which of my songs were going to be on the album, and past that I was open to exploring outside songs, or songs that busbee had written because he knows my vision so well,” she says. Carly’s main goal is to be as authentic to herself as she can, which is what she did with “Every Little Thing”. When she got in a van and started her radio tour, she said to herself, “I would bet my life on this song. But if it goes up in flames, I’m OK with it and I can walk away because I genuinely put every single ounce of who I am into this.” That’s the same mentality she approached her album with. “If I crash and burn, I made the album that I wanted to,” she says. Once Carly saw the reaction to “Every Little Thing”, she made sure the rest of the album was as transparent as that song – even if it was a more up-tempo track. The reaction to certain songs is how she ended up picking “Hide The Wine” as her second single, because that was clearly the universal favorite among fans based on tweets and live show reactions. It was a bonus that it was the one Carly was rooting for, too. And while “Hide The Wine” is the official single, her old friends at The Highway have also been playing “If My Name Was Whiskey”, which is another fan-favorite. Her success on radio has also translated to her live shows. Last year, when she would open for artists, most of the audience didn’t know who she was and wouldn’t perk up unless they heard something they knew. But this year – especially on her fall tour with Brett Young – she’s noticed that
audiences are more inclined to pay attention throughout her entire set – not just when she played the single or a cover. “That’s a very exciting feeling,” she says. Now that the album has been out for a few weeks and fans are reacting to it, Carly is making the necessary changes to her set to accommodate listeners’ favorites. For the Brett tour, she was able to build a full set with an intro and built in moments for the first time. Starting next year, she’ll hit the road with Blake Shelton and Brett Eldredge on a massive arena tour – a first for Carly. “This is a territory I’ve never played in,” she admits, nervously, “But I think trying to think about the person in the very last row, in the very top section, and how do you connect with them is, I think, how I’m going to try and [win people over].” She’s not a “fire and rockets going off” artist and she doesn’t want to pretend to be one just because she’s playing to a bigger room. Because of Blake’s appeal outside of the country format, Carly will also be introducing herself to a group of people who have maybe never been to a country show before, and she’s excited to have her songs get heard by a wider demographic than ever before. “I feel like Blake’s kind of a national celebrity. He’s not just a country artist, and I’m very fortunate to get this opportunity to get to play with someone as massive and outside of the genre as he is,” she says. Looking forward at 2018, her main priority is to get in front of as many people as possible and play her songs. “Hopefully, by this time next year, I’m known to every country music fan,” she says, “You won’t have to say, ‘The girl who sings “Every Little Thing”’ for them to go ‘OH.’ They’ll just know Carly.” NKD
#tbt: one year ago, photographed at flipside in nashville NKDMAG.COM
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corey harper
Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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If there’s a guitar in the room, it’s nearly impossible to have Corey Harper’s full attention. Corey was born in St. Louis and grew up around music. His parents were constantly playing music around the house, and he would hear music in church. His dad is a big classic rock fan
Corey would play guitar along to tapes and CDs in his house and truly got a feel for the instrument. Long before he started singing, Corey was already writing songs just on guitar. “They didn’t really necessarily have lyrics, but I would make up chord progressions and I would
singing to his skill set. He appreciated that he was recognized both as an incredible guitar player, and as a great singer and wanted that for himself. “I believe everyone has a voice, and everyone can learn how to sing, it’s just digging down deep,” he says, “If you really think hard
“If you really think hard about something and you’re really emotional about something, and you really want it that bad, you can find it and get it out.” and his mom drifted towards 1960’s/1970’s singer/songwriters. He started to discover his own sense of music in middle school when he got his first guitar. Artists like John Mayer, Nirvana and Dave Matthews Band were artists he found inspiration in early on. Throughout his adolescence,
play songs that sounded like other songs I really liked and make up my own words,” he says. This early delve into writing served as practice for learning how to sing and play guitar at the same time – a skill many take for granted. John Mayer was Corey’s main inspiration for wanting to add
about something and you’re really emotional about something, and you really want it that bad, you can find it and get it out.” Above being an artist, Corey always wanted to be a guitar player, and his career took off pretty quickly. Once he moved out to Los Angeles when he was
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20, he started playing guitar for Cody Simpson and thought that is where his professional music life would live. But on the side, he was still writing songs, learning to sing and playing shows around time. “I was trying to make something, but not as hard as and articulate as I am now,” he says. Songwriting came very naturally to Corey, partly due to his parents teaching professions, he thinks. Because of that, Corey grew up loving literature and loving to read and write. His siblings are also very well-spoken and eloquent writers, and his family as a whole is very open with each other, which helped Corey learn to be vulnerable from an early age. “Songwriting really helped me express things that maybe I didn’t want to say about myself in that moment, and helped me put it in another voice and another language to where I could really express some things,” he says, “It’s another way of taking what’s inside and what you’re thinking and putting them out so that they can be translated to anyone and
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people can take away anything they want from it.” In terms of his own artistry, Corey doesn’t feel like there was any one defining moment that made him think a career as a solo artist was feasible. “There are so many high and low points,” he admits. He admits that it’s easy to get caught up in feeling like a small fish in a big pond, but after a while he felt like his shows were getting better and people were reacting to his music more strongly, and things started to fall into place. This fall, Corey joined Niall Horan on select dates of his sold out Flicker Tour. The pairing was a natural one, as the two have been friends for a few years now. But even still, Corey didn’t expect many people to know his songs. “A lot of the fans that I have come from that world of young pop music artists,” he says, “There’s so many of those fans but it’s such a small world in that fandom that they kind of get to know the more esoteric, less known singer/songwriters, which
they think is really cool.” He feels that his songs are pretty universal and were easily accepted by the audiences both on the Justin Bieber tour and Niall’s tour. Now that there are some more eyes on his project, Corey definitely feels the pressure to keep up with the demand for more music. “You could release an album and the next day [fans] will be like, ‘We need more music!’” he jokes. But he’s extremely grateful to have people giving him feedback on his songs, because it helps guide his creative vision a bit more. “I think you’re always trying to do a trial and error, research and development every time you put out a song,” he says. Looking into 2018, Corey will be hard at work in the studio writing more songs and when he’s not touring, he plans to play more shows around the Los Angeles area to test out some new tracks. “Always playing music and having fun,” he says, “Just living the life of a 23-year-old guy.” NKD
tayler buono Words by CARLY BUSH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Tayler Buono is difficult to characterize by genre. She considers herself influ-enced by electronic pop and R&B, and her biggest influences include Frank Ocean and Chance the Rapper. But the 24-year-old songstress’ true talent lies within her heartfelt lyrics, through which she expresses simultaneously personal and 52
universal sentiments. The youngest of three children, Tayler grew up in Orlando, Florida, where her family encouraged her vocal talents, which she began to display around age 8. At 14, she began writing her own songs. It was around this time that Tayler began to seriously consider pursuing her passion on a profes-
sional level. “That was when I became, like, really obsessed, and knew, ‘This is what I need to do with my life’,” Tayler says. She remembers carrying her phone around with her at school, constantly writing down ideas for songs, but knowing no one in the Orlando industry put her at a disadvantage. “It
was overwhelming, because I was so passionate and I didn’t know where to start,” she says. When Tayler was 18, she did what many other aspiring songwriters in the south do. “I started going to Nashville,” she recalls. At first, her ventures into Music City were tentative. She was determined to meet people who had made their dream into a reality and learn as much as she could about the Nashville songwrit-ing world. “I started co-writing with other writers,” she says, and not long after won the Florida Grammy Showcase with her submission to a statewide songwriting com-petition. This allowed her to play the Grammy Festival on the See Women Who Rock Cruise, where she made a close friend who encouraged her to relocate. “I moved [to Nashville] about two years ago,” Tayler says, “And just started writing a ton.” Having made the transition to a slightly larger music community opened the doors even wider for her: she started flying out to Los Angeles, where she wrote her breakout hit “Technically Single”. Although the song was written in only three hours, during what Tayler calls a “random session,” it is nonetheless deeply meaningful and significant to her on a personal level. The song poured out of Tayler in the studio as she began exploring her emotions related to a confusing relationship she was in at the time. The message is one that many millennials will find familiar: “We were more than friends, but not technically in a committed relationship,” Tayler says.
The song was an almost overnight success, amassing 20 million streams on Spoti-fy independently. Without any traditional promotion or a label backing Tayler, her experience of being “technically single” nonetheless seemed to strike a chord with listeners. When it reached her now-manager at Red Light Management, she was signed to RCA Records and her career began to take a strong upward trajecto-ry. Tayler’s most recent single, a slightly more balladic pop track called “Who Am I”, was released in October. It is nothing short than a glance into Tayler’s heart. “I was going through this breakup,” she explains candidly. “In this breakup, the hardest part was that I was told that I was too emotional, and it kind of left me feeling like, ‘Am I too emotional? Am I too much?’ It really left me, like, ques-tioning, ‘Who am I, actually?’” She feels certain that though the song accurately depicts the hardship of a tumul-tuous breakup, it also has the ability to provide strength and courage to young women struggling with self-doubt. “It has a really empowering turnaround in it,” Tayler says. “I’ve always been a really emotional person,” Tayler says. Her original communi-ty of Nashville writers, well acquainted with diaristic songs about heartbreak and sorrow, allowed her to embrace this. But as time went on, Tayler’s approach changed. She shifted from writing solely on guitar to collaborating with different producers and creating her music
against an unfamiliar landscape of electronic beats. It inspired her, but didn’t constrain her. “I started writing more, like, straight pop. But overall it’s had a theme of more honest pop, because that’s just what I write. The lyrics are always really honest,” she says. What is the process when Tayler enters a studio with a new collaborator? “It’s al-ways different. There are really new rules. It’s whatever the inspiration is. Some-times I’ll have a concept or idea, like, that I got from something I went through recently, and I’ll just start with the concept idea and start singing melodies. Sometimes the melodies come first. Sometimes the lyrics do,” she says. Thus far, Tayler has remained committed to the goal she set in place for herself in her early teens: she will only release songs she has written herself. “Part of the reason I’m so passionate about singing is because I’m singing something that I be-lieve in, something I can relate to,” she says, “Before I started writing songs, if someone would ask me to sing for them, I’d start crying and get so nervous. It’s so different when it’s coming from, like, a real place and I have a vision behind what I’m saying.” The response to “Technically Single,” and the joy Tayler received upon seeing that many listeners found it relatable, was encouraging. She has felt motivated to keep penning songs that are authentic, real, and true to life, no matter what. Tayler is currently working towards releasing a full-length album, touring more extensively, and gaining a more devout fanbase that she can engage with. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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