Auburn interview: Beatweek Rising Star 2011 talks Perfect Two, debut

by Bill Palmer

“I laugh a lot more, so I think that means I’ve matured,” says Auburn of how her life has changed over the past year since she first made it onto the radio with La La La. “My idea of maturity may be the opposite of most people.” The first female artist signed to the hit factory known as Beluga Heights is gearing up for the release of her debut album later this year, and in the mean time her subsequent singles have shown her to be a more complex artist than any one song might have foreshadowed. In fact on her latest single Perfect Two she’s traded in synthetic beats in favor an acoustic guitar ballad.

“I’m interested in seeing what happens with Perfect Two because it’s been out for awhile,” she says of the fact that the song has been available in a more raw form via her MySpace since last year. “Probably ninety-seven percent of the people who will go and buy it on iTunes already have it, so it’s just based on support I guess. It’ll be pretty dope to see that.” That support saw the song reach the top fifty on the iTunes pop chart, and it’s no great surprise that fans got on board with the single as they’re the ones who chose it. After posting pieces of four new songs online, she “decided to leave it up to the fans, even though I knew Perfect Two would win. I swear I already knew. I just wanted to see what they wanted to hear.”

The all-out acoustic number comes after Auburn had already begun to step away from La La La with her second single All About Him, which featured something of a retro feel. “I went to the studio and I was really in a lovey-dovey moment. I had a boo at that time, a little baby, my little Asian treat and I wanted to write a song for him. So I wrote the song, and none of us thought it was going to be that song, next-single material. But the closer we got to finishing it, the more excited we got about it.”

After asking someone she respected for constructive criticism on All About Him, she was informed that the song was “too kiddish. I don’t agree, but I was told it was too kiddish. So I guess now the funniest part is Perfect Two will be my next single, and that’s even more corny. So I’m in love with this direction right now.”

Fans who’ve been patient in waiting for Auburn’s debut album shouldn’t be concerned by the fact that she’s been back visiting her native Minnesota of late and recently wandered off whimsically into Wisconsin on an unplanned road trip; she’s set to reconvene with Beluga producers JR and Tommy Rotem in Los Angeles in June to continue working on the record. Already in the can are “forty songs recorded that I love” along with other lesser works that are simply “eh,” she jokes. But don’t expect her to have access to her own demos during the upcoming sessions.

“Let’s say me and JR or Tommy make a really dope song. I’m able to hold onto the rough cut. But it’s been proven that I can’t have the final product, otherwise I’ll release it online and just call it a snippet but it’s pretty much the whole song. So they’re like okay, you can’t hold onto the song,” Then she admits that “I asked them not to. I don’t trust myself.”

Some of the new material has been exposed through the single contest, with brief pieces of Doin’ Me and So Over You having been posted for voting purposes. She says the former has turned out to be widely relatable, as “a straight up gangster tweeted me ‘I love that song.’ So I love the fact that so many different people can relate to that song. La La La, a lot of people liked it but it was primarily for girls, for women. I don’t think guys like being told ‘Don’t call me,’” she says of the line in which she famously complained of guys ‘blowing up my phone.’

As far as the song So Over You, look around and you’ll discover that it’s floating out there in full. “A lot of people have heard that. It got leaked,” she quips, “and that one was actually not me.”

Although her album won’t be out for awhile, Auburn says she currently has a preference for its title: Call Me Auburn, which also serves as her Twitter username. So what are the odds the title sticks? “I have no idea,” she admits. “That’s just something I would do.”

Learn more at CallMeAuburn.com • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook

Auburn releases La La La video, makes use of iPhone 4 FaceTime

Auburn, the rising pop star whose hit single La La La has consistently been in the top twenty on the iTunes pop singles charts, has released the official music video for the song – and it uses a creative, timely method of bringing guest vocalist Iyaz into the picture. Throughout the video, Auburn refuses to answer repeated phone calls on her iPhone 4 which come from a heckler at whom the song’s lyrics are directed. However, when fellow Beluga Heights / Warner labelmate Iyaz calls, she takes the call and he appears on the iPhone’s screen to deliver his supporting vocals.

The use of Apple’s “FaceTime” video conferencing in the video is obviously simulated, as the iPhone 4 in question isn’t on a wifi network at the time, and as every iPhone user who’s tried FaceTime can tell you, the new feature is regretfully wifi-only. But nonetheless, the La La La video represents what is apparently the first use representation of FaceTime in a major label music video, something Apple fans will likely enjoy. However, they may be less thrilled with the video’s conclusion, which sees the guy who’d been trying to call Auburn show up at her door, only to see her toss his iPhone 4 into a fish tank – which we’re pretty sure isn’t covered under warranty.

Auburn recently discussed the success of La La La and her forthcoming debut album with Beatweek in an in depth interview.

Beatweek Magazine issue #82: Goo Goo Dolls interview, Apple Event, Auburn, Hey Monday, Zoe Scott and more

New in the 82nd issue of Beatweek Magazine:

• Goo Goo Dolls cover story interview: Johnny Rzeznik and Robby Takac discuss their new album Something For The Rest Of Us and reflect on twenty-five years of Goo

• a look at Apple’s September 1st media event

• interviews with Auburn, Hey Monday, and Zoe Scott

• reviews of new iPad cases, iPhone docks and more

Read this issue now

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Auburn interview: La La La, Beluga Heights and more

Auburn is her first name, but it hasn’t always been – don’t bother asking her what it used to be. And her hit song “La La La” only paints half a picture of who she is a musician. But as the first female artist to join the ranks of the Beluga Heights label (Sean Kingston, Jason Derulo, Iyaz), the Minnesota native finds herself garnering plenty of attention even as she grapples with just what direction she wants her debut album to take in our Beatweek interview…

So just who is Auburn? For one thing, she’s the rare artist who, even after we’ve blown though our allotted time, all but insisted that we keep going until I’d had the opportunity to ask her about every topic in my notes. But any conversation about Auburn’s music has to start (but certainly not end) with her breakthrough hit single La La La. “I told everybody, that I wouldn’t sing anyone else’s lyrics,” she says of the fact that this is the only one of her songs which was originally penned by someone else. But after hearing La La La (which was penned by friend and labelmate Iyaz) and falling in love with it, she recorded it that same night. “It’s about a clingy guy, all in your face, in your space, and I just felt like it was just Auburn.”

The urban-pop song has enough of a meaty backbeat to it that it’s already been heard over the PA systems at NFL Football games. But if you’re expecting La La La to give you a full picture about what else you might be hearing from Auburn, those assumptions erased the minute you hear a song called Perfect Two, a gentle upbeat ballad which sees her vocals backed by nothing but acoustic guitar. And that’s before you even get to her rap videos on YouTube.

“We were in the studio one day and I heard those chords, and I just fell in love with it and I just started writing to it,” she says of Perfect Two, which could “possibly” end up being her next single, with the other candidate being of a different style altogether.

So why is Auburn’s music all over the map? “That’s because of what I listen to. I listen to a lot of different music. I don’t just listen to one sound or one genre. I’d say the only style that I don’t listen to is heavy metal. So in my iPod, you can see me walking around listening to Rascal Flatts or Nickelback, and people are surprised by it. But that’s what I’m interested in, is just music. Music is music. I don’t think that you should be confined to one sound, you know? So I think that all holds some type of effect on my way of writing.”

The genre-jumping nature of her music has left something of a quandary for Auburn and Beluga Heights label boss J.R. Rotem. “We have more than enough songs to make about two albums,” she says of her impending debut album. “But we’re both really picky. And because my sound is everywhere, I don’t want to confuse you or your ears, so we’re still working on figuring out what the album will be, figuring out the right sound. It’ll be done probably, if not late this year, early next year for sure.”

The partnership with Rotem dates back to 2007, when his brother spotted her MySpace page and wanted to know why she’d already racked up more than four million song plays on the site. That led to a trip from Minnesota to Los Angeles, and after they hit it off, “I did a song with JR that night. I’ve just been making music with him ever since then.”

The pairing has her in the position of being the first and so far only female artist signed to Beluga, a label whose early success has been otherwise dominated by male artists. But of Kingston, Derülo, Iyaz and the gang, she says “They treat me like I’m a little sister or a big sister. It’s more of a family at Beluga. It’s never felt like work when you walk in there. It’s always felt like a family. So I don’t feel any pressure or anything like that.”

Her newfound position in the spotlight is a big jump from the “painfully shy” child who was tagged with the nickname Wednesday by her family growing up because she rarely ever spoke.

“Back then it was just an issue with me feeling like I couldn’t trust anybody, I didn’t want to waste my words on people I felt didn’t deserve it. I was young. I just thought I knew a lot,” she says of a stage of her childhood which abruptly ended when her mother sat her down one day and explained that “she didn’t want me to grow up to be this rude kid.”

The adult Auburn is a far cry from that, spending significant time on Twitter interacting with her newfound fans and of course giving interviewers more time than they’re supposed to have with her. But despite her forthcoming nature, there’s one topic she has no intention of dishing on: the first name she was originally given. “My mom didn’t even name me. My cousin named me. I would tell you my original first name, but I’m not gonna do that. We changed it when I was a baby. It was back and forth, they argued about my name. It was horrible. I’m not even gonna put it out there.” Asked if she’s concerned that fans will begin a guessing game now that they know that Auburn wasn’t her originally her first name, she jokes “They won’t even guess it. It was really bad.”

Twitter bios are often posted in jest (Emmy host Jimmy Fallon lists himself as “astrophysicist”), but when Auburn lists herself as being a singer, songwriter, and graphic designer, she means it. “Before I even linked up with Warner and Beluga, I was making all my profiles and pages,” she says of her own internet presence. ”I’m so hands on, it’s ridiculous. I’m hands on with everything that has to do with visual and anything that has to do with design. So let’s say we’re trying to work out a MySpace layout, it’ll all come from ideas they’ll pull from me and see what I want.”

Although she’s already amassed a war chest of studio material, her impending tour dates opening for Derülo won’t interfere with her ability to continue generating new demos. “I have a mic that I carry around that connects directly to my MacBook, so any time I get an idea I’ll just record it in GarageBand and probably send it through to J.R. and ask him what he thinks. I’ll still get a lot done while I’m on the road.” While the silence of a hotel room is her preferred recording locale on the road, “I can record in the car and it still works out.”

Auburn’s live shows have thus far consisted of little more than her own live voice along with backing music coming from an iPod connected to the venue’s sound system. But asked if she plans to keep it that simple forever, she says “Heck no, I’m gonna bring in a band, I’m gonna bring in fireworks. I’ll bring in as much as I can to be as entertaining as I can.”

So is Auburn surprised to see her debut single blowing up already? “Of course,” she says of the fact that the song has carved out a spot in the top fifteen on the iTunes pop chart. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I didn’t have faith in the song. But I didn’t think it would do that well so soon. So of course I feel overwhelmed by it. That’s kind of freakish.”

How does she keep it all in balance? “I’m really spiritual. I pray before I do a show. I pray after I do a show. I pray before I even do an interview.”

And about that debut record, whose release date, release year, and even its next single are not yet set in stone? “Because I have so many different songs, I feel like I’ll give you a little bit of everything.”

Learn more at CallMeAuburn.com • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook