CHRISTINA MILIAN: Friday Jams Sessions
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
At the age of just nineteen Christina Milian signed to Def Jam and dropped a single that to this day can still get an arena full of thousands of people to sing in unison. ‘AM to PM’ was a club banger and while written during her “pop” phase it has stood the test of time.
Following it up in 2004 with her second album and hit single ‘Dip It Low’ and Christina Milian was fast becoming a household name. However while her musical career has always been rather successful since her first “professional appearance” on Ja Rules’ track ‘Between Me and You’; her heart always burned for the acting world; and being the multi-faceted artist that she is she soon began popping up in several films before transgressing into more regular television roles.
The last few years have seen her work as the social media correspondent for The Voice, compete in Dancing with the Stars and even appear in her own reality show – Christina Milian Turned Up – for which she is also the executive producer of. With even more film roles and new music on the horizon I sat down with Christina after her amazing performance at Friday Jams to discuss future projects and how to remain grounded.
After what looked to be a very enjoyable performance out there on stage Christina, what would you say you have enjoyed the most about being part of Friday Jams?
“I would have to say … well just the artists and getting to bond with these other artists; because I think everybody is all equally just real people which I love. You know sometimes we see celebrities and they’re just so far away, they’re travelling or on stages, on camera, TV and stuff and we don’t get to hang out! And I think this gave us the opportunity to do so because we have all had these longstanding careers and we’re just happy to be living and to be here and to present ourselves to our fans; people that don’t get to see us every other day like they do in the states.
So I would have to say that and just the travelling – I love to travel and see the world and see different places and try different food! I’ve been eating a lot of food, drinking a lot of drinks [laughs] and then just walking! Me and my friends we just walk everywhere and just discover things, so it’s really cool to just discover new things and see things a different way”
So who has your favourite artist been; bit of a hard question I know considering the calibre of artists tonight!
“Yeah that is hard. Um ok, oh gosh! Let’s just say … ok if I can morph two people together [laughs] I would put Kelis and Kelly [Rowland] together, because I love both of them! They both are just so sweet, they’re so cool; I’ve loved Kelis from the very beginning of her career, I’ve always been a huge fan and I still listen to even just her older material like that’s how much I love her! She is just so cool; she is like the definition of cool!
And then Kelly is just so nice. Like Kelly has like the biggest smile, she’s just like so friendly and it’s just good to be around her. But if we’re talking about Friday Jams … I guess Kelly isn’t here … so we’ll say Kelis! Kelis would be the one.”
Now some of your hit singles like ‘AM to PM’ have got cult status in New Zealand – does it still surprise you that people lose their minds when you play some of those songs live?
“Yeah, it definitely blows me away. I think when I got to see even just tonight – those reactions to the songs! Even though some places, they might love a song and have a cult reaction to it as well, but then maybe they’re like a little bit more like subdued in their nature … so you can’t always just base it off how like they react to it.
But the reaction here really let me know that everything that I’ve ever seen my fans either tweet me or say to me about coming to New Zealand, like it’s very true! And it felt 100% right, it felt really good!”
Having your own docuseries – ‘Christina Milian Turned Up’ – do you feel that that has given your fans more of an insight into your multi-faceted talents?
“Yeah, I definitely think so. I’ve always been a singer, an actress, songwriter; I’ve always done a lot of different things and then I believe that you can even go beyond that! You know I’ve been raised like if you wanna do something, go for it and be your very best at it! Many times in the beginning of my career I had ideas and I wanted to do things, and then people would tell me I couldn’t do it and then I would watch somebody a year later or two years later do the same exact thing! So I was like, you know what, I can’t let people stop me from what I was doing, you know pursuing my dreams and having it like go by all these rules.
So I feel like my show got me in the midst of me making the decisions to like really break out and start to just do things for myself. Singing and acting and all of that stuff has always been a part of my whole entire career, so now they actually get to kind of like witness the real true life of who I am and why I write the songs that I do and where that all comes from.”
Well yes you are certainly very talented on so many different levels – most people just try to make it in one creative area and then here you are!
“Oh thank you! I’m like … I’m like … I don’t know, I’m a multi-tasker! I’m Cuban, you know Cubans, we do a lot! We’re like ‘Oh ok you want me to build you a dresser, I’ll do a whole bunch of stuff, cook you a meal! [mutual laughter] You know I’ll do a billion things at once and usually that’s in real life like my days are … they’re never boring!”
Well your love of acting is no secret – what does that fulfill for you that music just can’t?
“I have to say that the acting side, the fulfillment there first off is just getting the role in the first place! [mutual laughter] It’s like Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! That means somebody believed in you enough to say that you can actually turn yourself into this person. It takes … I think it takes courage to become a character, you know some characters are easy, but other characters are … like you gotta dive into it and just become that person in that moment and create this whole story about how they are the way that they are! I think that’s really unique and I think it’s a challenge and I like the challenge! And then when it comes together, I love working with other actors and just studying them. I like usually have the time to just study what they are doing”
You have been a part of show business for a very long time – most of your life actually – what’s the one thing that you always try to remember to keep yourself grounded? Because it is easy to let yourself get carried away …
“Oh if you wanted to, but my family won’t ever let that happen, my Mom won’t! You know I’m not perfect, but I believe in just treating people the way that you would want to be treated and in the same way that they say ‘Some people that you see on the way going up, are the same people that you will see on the way down’ it’s very true, it’s so true. So we always gotta remember to just be good to people, remember where they started, remember what it was like to see a celebrity when you first started to.
You know because some people get afraid of like ‘Oh they don’t stop for autographs’, they get a little jaded by that, but you gotta remember like this is the opportunity of a lifetime for somebody, this might be their dreams; so you can’t take their dream away from them and have it shattered just because you know you’re being prissy. There’s nothing worse than just being like a butthole [laughs] I mean like no, c’mon, don’t forget the people help make you. But like at the end of the day just be happy! Live in the moment! We’re blessed, we’re absolutely blessed. I feel blessed to be doing this as I’m doing something that I love, and that’s the biggest reminder”
You have been the social media correspondent for The Voice, a contestant on Dancing with the Stars and the executive producer for your own reality show – what’s next for Christina Milian
“Ooo next? Well I’m working on new music so that’s great. I’m working on new music right now, and then I’m writing scripts! Right now I’m working with my friends , some girlfriends of mine -one of them was going to school to write scripts and she is in a family full of writers and I had an idea and so my girlfriends and I said, let’s start writing!
So you gotta start, you gotta start somewhere! Pick up a pen and start writing! So we’re writing a couple of scripts right now; actually we’re focused on one but we got the rest of the other ideas kinda [laughs] I’m also really focused in the tech world cause I have like some stuff in the tech space that I have invested in and stuff like that – I think it’s cool!”
Finally, what does RnB mean to you?
“Ooo. Ooo gosh! It’s like my whole middle school [laughs] my whole teenage life! What RnB means to me … I feel like it’s about a feeling. It’s about a feeling when it comes to RnB, whether it’s sexy or it’s you know a certain swag, it’s all about the feeling … it puts you in a mood! Whether it’s something sexy, whether it’s love, whether its pain, I think RnB has a real good way of giving you nostalgia that is classic and can last forever”
It’s timeless
“Yeah.”
Recently Auckland’s Spark Arena was host to the absolutely massive ‘Friday Jams’ Festival (you can check out our review of the day here). Sarah Kidd was there backstage to chat with a few of the artists, which we will be rolling out this short work week to get you hyped for Friday all over again! Be sure to tune in to ZM every Friday between 9am & 3pm for ZM’s Friday Jams to kick off that weekend party feeling…