Antonia’s breakthrough in 2015 was huge, but with other upcoming bands
the question is: will she be able to
keep up with 2016? The ever so elegant Antonia has a voice so unique no one can
match and her band to amplify her talents. It’s normal to see young bands
come and go with one hit, but Antonia insists her band is here to stay. What
makes them so different?
The 19 year old Antonia
hit the charts back in early June this year with her song ‘Sound City’, which
became one of the hottest hits of the summer. After her song became number one,
their twitter account gained three million followers in three days, as soon as
their music video was released their YouTube channel gained two million in one
day. The band then began their tour in early September in the UK, which had to
be reorganised due to the huge demand of tickets so the venue was moved to
arenas instead. Antonia insists this is only the beginning for her band.
When you wrote ‘Sound
City’, did you expect it to do this well?
“No, not in a million years.
We wrote that song three years ago and we performed it live a couple of
times and it always got the crowd in a good party mood and when we got the
chance to write an album we knew that was one. We weren’t originally going to
put that song as our single, but in the end, we did and it was obviously the
right choice.”
Are you happy with
the album (Simple terms) you wrote?
“Yes and no. We were given three months to write an album so
we had to use some of our older songs which we wrote when we were seventeen in
a basement. We’ve improved since then as artists whether it’s on the stage or
in the studio. However, I do love those songs and glad we got them recorded and
released. Our fan base loves our music which is always good (laughs).”
Talking about fans,
who was some of your idols growing up? Was it terrifying working with all your
heroes?
“Hell Yeah! I have a lot of respect for the people I got to
work with such as one of my idols Alex Fletcher (from the band Queen Bandit). I
grew up listening to them in my bedroom and now I’m in the studio with them
working on our album! It was kind of intimidating having to sing in front of
them, but I’m friends with a few of these legendary people. You just don’t want
to let them down and they all really helped me improve my singing techniques such
as how to amplify my voice more.”
Do you think it’s
important for artists to interact with their fan base or do you think it’s
getting too extreme now?
“I think looking back when I was younger, I would have loved
to have been able to tweet my favourite band member and its great how they (the
fans) can get to know more about their favourite bands/artists. It does scare
me a bit when fans sneak into hotel rooms or know where you live… it’s become
part of the job to deal with it now.”
Do you think there is
any negative of social media or mobiles for the music industry?
“As I said, social media is great and it means bands which
may not have gotten the chance to be heard now can with a website like YouTube
and Twitter because they can advertise to people for free on a large scale. I
do find it sad when I meet a fan and we never really get a good conversation
they just want a photo and follow… it’s almost seems they don’t care about the
artist at all they just want the attention of been able to say they’ve met
someone from a band. I don’t mind taking
photos I would just love a conversation with a fan.”
What sort of things
would you like your fan to talk about?
“The music! What’s their favourite song off our album?
What’s their favourite song in general? Have they come to any of our
concerts? I’d just like to know our fans
a bit better.”
When growing up, did
you ever expect to be in a band?
“I always loved being on stage and loved singing so it
always made sense. Since I quit school to focus on the band I have never been happier.
Music makes me feel part of something great. Music is everything to me. I
always wanted to have a career in music and I’m just so lucky it turned into a
reality.”
2015 has been a great
year for you, what can we expect in 2016?
“We are hoping to release an EP and begin working on our
next album, but we’re also touring America and some part of Asia such as Japan
and the Philippians! [Tickets on sale March 18th] 2016 was just a
warm up for our band Antonia. By the end of 2016 we won’t be the band we’re
today we will be even better and hopefully more music out there on the
market.”
