Olivia Somerlyn has been creating a buzz with her unique pop sound.

Recently we caught up with the lovely Olivia to discuss her year so far, working with the Jonas Brothers, the release of OXO plus whether we can expect an album too!

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The highly talented performer is not only a singer but also a songwriter, pianist and guitarist. Her musical talents are establishing her as the artist-to-watch, attracting the likes of top musicians such as Meghan Trainor, who Somerlyn joined on tour this year. She continues to build a strong fan base and challenges herself by pushing her musical limits.

The remix for “O X O.” has already been ranked the #1 song on US Billboard’s Breakouts Dance Club chart, was #1 most added at dance in its first week, and is continuing to build momentum leading up to the release.

“I wrote O X O about the people who try to bring us down but actually make us stronger by forcing us to believe in ourselves. They push us to prove them wrong. It’s a song about “haters” written from a more positive perspective that acknowledges the part they play in our journey to reaching our goals”.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with US star Olivia Somerlyn

We first heard of you 2 years ago when you were on stage with ‘Big Time Rush’, do you still speak to those guys?

Yes I do, all the time, they’re some of my best friends actually x two of them were in my OXO music video.

You really seem to have embraced social media, do your fans (SomerLovers) keep you active across your profiles?

I used to be able to reply to every message tweet and facebook message. Now offcourse I can’t reply to every single person these days but I try as much as I possibilty can.

After every show I do say “I’ll reply to you guys if you tweet me and I’ll reply to as many people as possible”. As soon as I’m off stage I’m busy replying to the tweets for a little while! I love hearing what people have to say about me and my shows. Even if fans can’t make the shows – I love hearing what people have to say if they heard it online, whether they love the music or what it means to them; that just means everything to me. I really love it as it’s an amazing way to have a strong connection with the people who live your music.

I feel really lucky that I’m a musican in this day and age because we have all of these amazing tools.

Born in San Francisco, your now based in LA, is that right? How come everyone in the US moves to LA?

In this day and age with the internet it probably happens less and less but there is something about a personal connection when your’re in a studio with somebody. I started coming to LA when I was in high school trying to work with different high school and producers – it’s really hard to do that remotely.

You need to be in a room with somebody if you’re writing a song together, so everybody is there x It’s the entertainment industry…it’s hollywood! Nashville and New York are also good places.

We know you love London, but if you had half a day spare, where would you go?

Whilst I was on tour with Meghan Trainor we performed in the UK and toured Europe on two different legs of the tour. The day of the last show was my birthday and we were in Milan! Meghan made it so much fun! She called me out onto the stage and sung to me, plus she had a cake for me too! She is the sweetest thing ever.

The next day my mum and any family were with me and so we went to Lake Como in Italy and joked that it was our one day summer vacation, because straight after that I had to fly straight to New York to start another tour in the US with Lindsey Stirling, so my day off was amazing!!

Having toured around Europe, which cities would you love to go back to?

I love travelling so much so it’s really hard just to pick one place. Italy is such a special place for me. I loved Amsterdam and Copenhagen too. In Germany I enjoyed the sights of Hamburg and Cologne, I loved everything so it’s just so hard to pick one city.

You are not only a songwriter, but you also play piano and guitar, did you ever perform when relatives came over as a child?

I’ve always loved music and have been interested in writing songs. My mum said that when I was little I would go up to the piano and figure out songs that I had heard… and play songs like ‘Happy Birthday’. Other parents would say “Are you seeing this”? My mum would reply “Oh I didn’t realise that was abnormal, she just does that”.

I started writing songs (I didn’t know how to play the piano or guitar) at the time so I woudl write the vocal melody from about the age of 13. Very quickly I started to teach myself piano and picked up my first guitar! From there it quickly escalated.

The O X O lyric video which is A-MAZ-ING by the way was produced by Kevin Jonas Jr with Brian Gonsar, what creative input did you have?

Originally I had the idea of getting my fans and friends to do the OXO dance in the video. It was just so cool to be able to add social media element on it, I really didn’t know how we should do that but they had that great idea.

I loved the way it turned out, It is so much fun to watch!! We got fan submissions…I didn’t event tell the fans what it was for but I just asked them to send me videos of them doing the dance to be more of a surpise for them. The fan videos were just so AWESOME..

Everyone is so busy but everybody that we asked just did it! It was incredible.

Your new single ‘OXO’ now, the lyric video stars the likes of Meghan Trainor, Nick Jonas, Lindsey Stirling and more musicians, but where did the idea of getting all these stars come from and how did you go about it?

I had toured with the Jonas’s, Meghan and spent time with Lindsay…It’s just people that I know including some youtube/snapchat people. There were also people that Kevin knew, the people that I asked were just friends of mine.

I’m really bad at asking for things, but I said it would be a fun thing to do if you guys wants to be involved. They knew the song as most had heard my sing on tour and it worked out really well. I was honoured that everyone had time to do it for me.

“The ultimate goal in life is to BE HAPPY and nobody has any power over that except for yourself”.

O X O is about the people in life who want to bring us all down, what message do you have for these people?

I definitely am a positive person and I think that’s the point of the song. There are a lot of songs about haters or at least one’s that mention them. It always has a negaive connotation, I don’t know if I would go with ‘mean’ but it’s just not from a positive perspective I guess is what I’m trying to say..

I wanted to write a similar concept talking about the people who don’t believe in you. I would thank them for their motivation for pushing me to prove them wrong. I always look at it like that, If anyone tells me it’s not impossible when you’re trying to do or accomplish something – I really think you should see it as a call to action as one day you will thank them for the parts they played.

Even if it’s not a specific goal, there are always people who try to make you unhappy…the ultimate goal in life is to BE HAPPY and nobody has any power over that except for yourself. That’s a big part of what the song is all about.

When I tell people that concept, when they hear it they just say “Oh my god I the feel the same way, I think about that a lot or I really should think of it that way”. I really want to change people’s mindset about negativity.

We hear you are also looking to put out an album, is this true?

The time-frame is hard because I’m focusing on the song which is on the billboard dance chart right now chart so that’s really exciting. We’ve started with the dance remixes and then we’re gonna take it to the pop charts and talk radio. I’m really excited for that.

I will wait to see what happens with the single, I am focused on that right now; Eventually I will release an EP or album. I have a lot of songs that I’ve been playing on the road that I can’t wait to release.

After every show, the majority of the tweets that I get were about OXO even before I ever even announced it was going to be a single. Fans are a big part as to why I chose it x Now they’re like…”What about this other song called this or when are you going to release that one”. I wish I had an exact date but it means so much to me that they remember the songs, that they love them and want to hear them.

Would you collaborate with anyone on your album?

That would be amazing! I love collaborations, I really do. The dream come true was working with Nick Jonas on ‘Parachute’, I would love to do more of that for sure. Anybody really I look up to then all the better.

Best of luck with the single Olivia, it’s been great talking to you.

Thank you so much xx I love you guys.

Watch ‘O X O’ here:

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