Audio Brit & Alex
"Let it Go"

Currently riding the success of "Let it Go" (from the Step Up 2 The Streets soundtrack), sister act Brit & Alex have made the transition from international models to international pop stars. Speaking from London, they talk about developing their multigenre sound and recording with power players like Dallas Austin, Ne-Yo, Tricky, and The Dream.

Brolin: Hey what's up guys? How are you doing? Brit & Alex: Good, how are you? Doing well, thanks. So yeah, I just want to talk about the new record. But also, just get a little bit of background on you guys. You're originally from the UK, right? No, everybody thinks that for some reason. But we're actually from Connecticut. Oh, really? OK. But you've been in Atlanta for a few years? Yeah, we were there for about three years. And did you move there specifically to get into the music game? I know you guys were working on demos and stuff before that. But was that the main motivation? Yeah, basically, we actually moved over to London when we were 16. And we were then for a couple of years, just doing school and then also trying to find our direction. Just because we didn't have any connections really in the business and we just kind of decided, let's go over to London where we know somebody that has a studio there. Maybe he can get us in touch with, you know, a couple of writers, whatever, just to kind of get our sound. And we ended up working this guy over here called Guz, this 19-year-old producer who we knew and we were all really open to experiment sort of. And it worked well for us 'cause we ended up finding, like, three songs, two of them are still on our album. One that Dallas [Austin] produced.

But after we got our direction with him, we said we have to get to America. You know, like, we're Americans, we want an American sound. Who can we have, really? What producer would work well with us, do we think? And Pink's Misunderstood album had come out around that same time and we were, like, OK, this is perfect.

And it was Dallas, and so we were, like, OK, somehow we've got to find a way to get to him. We didn't know anybody and we ended up, I don't know how we did it, but we got to his manager and he was into it and he was, like, "OK." He's like, "I think it's cool, but you know, Dallas, you know, he's just been doing all the TLC stuff, with Gwen [Stefani], and all these people. He was, like, he doesn't really do stuff for money anymore. He really has to feel it himself. So you've either got to play it for him and if he feels it, then cool, you guys can come down to Atlanta." So he agreed to do it. He asked us to come down there for eight days, and so we went down there and didn't do any work the entire time. [laughs] We were, like, what is going on here? Like, we were going out to clubs and painting in the studio and just hanging out with him. We were, like, OK, he's just being nice to us. He's not feeling what we're doing; he just wants to hang out with us. Be nice since we're down here. But at the end of it, he was like, "Listen, I know you guys probably think we haven’t done any work, but I just...from talking to you guys, I really feel like you can be my new TLC, and I'd like you to come back down here so we can actually work, but I really have to get to know the artist." Right, that makes sense. So we ended up going back to London for, like, a couple of weeks and then coming back and...we were supposed to be in Atlanta for two weeks and it ended up being, like the whole summer, like two months straight. Then he put us on to [producer] Tricky after that, and basically we worked back and forth with both of them and a couple of other people for the past few years. That's cool. And are you still in Atlanta now? We're actually in London right now starting the Step Up 2 soundtrack. But we're always back and forth in Atlanta. We moved back to LA about four months ago, just 'cause Interscope is out there and we were traveling back and forth so much that we just thought, we need to sort of... Get a home base. Yeah. So what can you tell us about the album? It's kind of...Dallas calls it "melting pop" because it's sort of a fusion of a lot of things. Obviously working with people like Dallas and Tricky, it definitely has its urban kind of feel. But it's all really melodic, you know, it's not like...we're not, like, Gwen or Fergie or anything like that. It's definitely songs with melodies. We've been influenced by, like, you know, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, people like that. Michael Jackson and Prince. Nice, right on. And do you do any of the songwriting yourself? Yeah, we wrote most of the stuff. I mean everything with Tricky we wrote ourselves. We did some stuff with us and Dream. But most of it we did ourselves. Especially, like, with Dallas. And then we did a song with Ne-Yo that Ne-Yo wrote for us. We ended up hearing it and loving it, but most of the tracks we've written on. Now I know that "Let It Go" is the big single that's on the soundtrack and stuff. Is there going to be a second single for when the album drops? Do you guys have that picked out? Yeah, we're hoping it's the Ne-Yo song. It's called "Hate You" 'cause we really love that. But we still have, like, three more songs to write. So we're not entirely sure what the next one is yet. Do you guys have a street date for it yet? Or are they just waiting to see on that? It's for summer we're saying, so far. But definitely, you know, midsummer I'd say. And then are you guys going to put a big tour together once the album drops, or have you thought about that yet? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think we'll probably end up opening for somebody first. But we want to get our own tour ASAP. [laughs] That sounds good. Have you guys, you know, performed live before? Or has it mostly been in the studio? Yeah, we actually had a band in Atlanta that we loved, which I wish we could have with us all the time. But we're in the process of getting another one together out here in London. Because we're doing some stuff out here that we need a band and dancers for. So we're doing that. Cool, that sounds good. Now I wanted to ask you guys, as new artists, obviously the music industry is kind of in a weird place right now and, just the technology and the whole iTunes and all that stuff has sort of changed the way that people get their music, or the way that they buy it. Does that, you know, does that worry you or make you nervous at all? Or are you just kind of rolling with it and, you know, hoping for the best? What can you do really? But I think, I feel like, as long as, you know, you buy into the artist and you really care about the person, I think you're always going to want to have the album. You know, and it's proven with people like Usher and Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige. Carrie Underwood, you know, you can't just have a song on the album. As long as you have a strong album and people believe in you, as an artist, as a whole, I think that you'll always be all right. Absolutely. So for the people out there that haven't heard you yet, you know, that haven't seen the movie or seen the video, heard the single. How would you describe your sound to somebody that's, you know, completely coming into it for the first time? I would say fresh, pop with an edge, like, urban pop I think would be really the best way to describe it. Fun, melodic songs. Nice. I also wanted to ask, I know you guys have done some modeling type stuff in the past. You know, a lot of musicians and singers that are out now, they have some sort of side hustle. Whether it's acting or whether it's fashion or, you know, their own vodka or whatever. Do you guys have any aspirations for different business kind of ventures on the side? Yeah, definitely eventually. But I think the music is our most important thing right now. So we're just focused on getting that out there. But there are definitely ideas that we have for the future. Right on, cool. So what would you like to say to all the, you know, either the people that are fans already or the people that, you know, the potential new fans that are going to be checking this out? Look out for us this summer. We worked on our album for a while. We think it's a solid album, and we hope everybody likes it. Cool. Well thanks a lot for taking the time to talk to me guys. I appreciate it, and good luck with the album and with everything else. Thanks a lot. All right, take care. All right, bye.