JAN. 2019 04 HAILEY KNOX
on her latest ep + stripping her songs back
20 WINNETKA BOWLING LEAGUE on starting from the ground up + making music that feels good
22 LENNON STELLA
on finding acting through music + executive producing good trouble
28 JAKE BORELLI
on never giving up + his love for country music
32 MAGGIE ROSE
on deal or no deal + how her writing has evolved
36 FELIX MALLARD
on their latest album + their incredible 2018
06 JOHNNY ORLANDO
on writing in different cities + her debut ep, love, me
10 BEX TAYLOR KLAUS
on always being a creative + his role on grey’s anatomy
16 BRYNN CARTELLI
on taking the reigns of her career + change the whole thing
on his upcoming tour + keeping his family in the business
on the lgbtq+ community + their venture into voice acting
on the kind of artist she wants to be + her mentor, kelly clarkson
38 CIERRA RAMIREZ 48 JIMMIE ALLEN
50 MAHOGANY LOX 54 LARKIN POE
on his australian roots + his starring role in happy together CATHERINE POWELL
publisher, editor, photographer, designer, writer
SAMANTHA BAMBINO
IAN HAYS
NICOLE MOOREFIELD
CARLY BUSH
RACHEL HILL
VANESSA SALLES
writer writer
ELIZABETH FORREST writer
writer writer
writer writer
OLIVIA SINGH writer
hailey knox Words by SAMANTHA BAMBINO Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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From the moment Hailey Knox purchased her first guitar from Walmart, she knew she was destined to perform. She had no concrete plan outlined, and stage fright plagued her for some time. But through it all, there was a constant, indescribable pull toward music that simply couldn’t be ignored. Now, at 19-years-old, Hailey can look back on that early-recognized instinct with pride. She was right. With two releases under her belt, including the most recent Hardwired Mixtape, the artist is gearing up to take the industry by storm, trusty guitar by her side. When taking into consideration Hailey’s childhood in upstate New York, her passion for the arts doesn’t come as a surprise. At only 7-yearsold, her father began teaching her how to play guitar. “Music was just always in the house,” she says. “I found a love for music through him playing.” Along with her sister, Hailey performed at open mics in local coffee shops, each gig allowing her to feel more relaxed in front of an audience. “I get very nervous before I get on stage, still to this day. I don’t know if it’s nerves or anxiety. I’m sure it’s all the feelings combined,” she says. “It kind of helped me with my stage presence and getting up there in front of an audience. Even if I didn’t feel confident, you have to just say, ‘I’m up here and I’m putting on a show today.’” Eventually, Hailey began testing the songwriting waters. Admittedly inspired by Justin Bieber, she penned her first song “Sugar Plum” on the ukulele while sitting on her front porch. But by the time she went inside, Hailey blanked, the melody crafted in her head forgotten.
“From this day, I always think about that moment and try to voice memo everything that I come up with so that I have it stored in my phone,” Hailey explains. “Voice memo is the best. You capture everything, and a lot of my songs come from just rolling a voice memo for a while and jamming. And then you go back and listen and pick it apart and figure out if this could be a verse.” Hailey spent most of middle and high school honing her craft. In her junior year, her efforts were put to the test when she was granted the opportunity to travel to New York City to meet with professional producers. “Every Friday, I would take the train into the city and I worked on my first EP, A Little Awkward, which is cool that school let me do that. So I would get on that train, usually with Mom,” Hailey says. “For us, the city was this scary place at first because we’re from upstate where it’s kind of quiet.” Over time, both mother and daughter grew comfortable with the idea of Hailey traveling to the Big Apple alone. She was on the brink of making her lifelong dreams come true, and there was no stopping her. A Little Awkward helped Hailey build a following on YouTube, where she performed acoustic versions of her songs and took cover requests. But she refused to stop there. On November 16, Hardwired Mixtape was released, introducing to the world 11 alternative/indie/pop/ soul songs that are deeply personal to Hailey. A particular favorite is the title track “Hardwired, ,which began as one of many voice memos on her phone. “I wasn’t sure if it was anything,” Hailey says, reflecting on how she asked her friend Maggie to listen.
“Obviously, the closer you are, the more friends you become with a person, the more real the song is going to be if you sit down and write because you understand each other’s lives. So she helped me craft that song, which is probably the most vulnerable song I’ve ever written. It feels like a journal entry, I always say. Those verses talk about my insecurities and things that I go through.” According to Hailey, most of the tracks heard on Hardwired Mixtape were created in the early morning hours, usually from the comfort of a hotel room floor. “A lot of these songs really came from the most unexpected times. I’m more creative in the nighttime,” she says. “As soon as 3 a.m. hits.” For Hailey, it’s a thrill to look back on how far she’s come in such a short amount of time. Most recently, she took the stage at Austin City Limits Music Festival, her largest gig to date. Prior to this experience, which took place in October, Hailey had landed several opening slots with Charlie Puth, R5 and Us the Duo. Never did she have an hour-long set all for herself. “It was my first big festival. I don’t attend many festivals and just being there was like, holy cow,” Hailey says. “It was really fun having my band members up there and us just going for it. It was so cool seeing somebody front row singing lyrics of mine back.” Though Hailey doesn’t have a Hardwired Mixtape tour planned just yet, 2019 will see her working on new music, both produced and acoustic. “I love when you’re able to take a song, no matter what the production’s like, and just sit and sing it on an acoustic guitar,” she says. “I think it’s so cool when you’re able to pull somebody in from a lyric and melody.” NKD NKDMAG.COM
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johnny orlando Words by RACHEL HILL Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
15-year-old social media star and singer/songwriter Johnny Orlando has set course on finding his way through the tumultuous music industry, wanting to write his own story. With an international tour, notable award nominations, such as Teen Choice and the MMVA’s, and signing to Universal Music Canada/Island Records all the while maintaining a normal teenage life as much as possible. I catch up with him over the phone as he’s just arriving home from a full day at high school in Toronto, Canada. Wondering how Johnny would manage to attend a traditional format school schedule, he informs me he is lucky enough to be enrolled in an “elite athlete school”, meanwhile joking about his perceivable lack of athletic ability. The school poses a flexible schedule that accommodates Johnny’s arguably hectic calendar. A few days prior, he and frequent collaborator/pal Mackenzie Ziegler, performed their hit “What If ” in the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an opportunity Johnny views as an “amazing honor”. The holiday tradition also happens to be popular in his homeland of Canada. He recalls those around him watching it on TV or tuning in on the radio throughout his childhood. Johnny was an imaginative young boy while growing up in a small town outside Toronto. He
dubs art as his favorite subject in school and one would often find him putting his vocal range to work in the choir room. At only 8-years-old, Johnny sought out the help of his older sister Darian to utilize YouTube as an outlet for his creativity. The unknowingly promising venture began with covers of songs with the intent of publishing for family and friends to see. It didn’t take long for his first video, a rendition of Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe,” to be shared and streamed across the country. Johnny recalls riding in the car with Darian as she shouted out, ‘Oh my God, we just hit a thousand views in a week!’ “I remember this was my first video. I was like, ‘Nice.’ I had no idea what they were even talking about,” he explains, “I couldn’t even fathom that a thousand views in a week in 2011 was insane. Especially for kids like me. I’m just an 8-year-old kid.” With his channel’s amounting popularity, the pair continued to brainstorm ideas for future videos including more covers and vlogs giving fans an inside look at his daily life. Johnny has since amassed a following of over 16 million dedicated followers across his social platforms. You’ll find it hard pressed to make it a minute or so in conversation without him mentioning one family member or another. He’s joked before that the Orlando’s are often referred to as a cult on
account of how they always travel in packs. For any appearance, interview or tour stop, there is at least one other Orlando accompanying Johnny for support. “Every single time that I’ve ever gone anywhere, they’re always right beside me and I’m just so grateful because I don’t want to be traveling with a manager or people that I’m not related to,” he says, “There’s so many artists now where their parents just stay home and wait for them to come back. But my family has always been involved with my life and they continue to support me and are involved today.” Johnny suggests fellow younger artists who are upand-coming in the industry follow suit. “It’s 100 times better to be with your family, especially if something happens, like something breaks down your family’s right there to comfort you,” he says. Darian has been deeply intertwined with her brother’s musical efforts since his start, serving as a sort of creative advisor who was responsible for steering the ship in terms of producing original songs when Johnny was very young. “When we made original songs on YouTube, I think we made the first one when I was 9-years-old, I was really too young to know what was going on,” Johnny reveals. Present day, his creative process stems from thoughts that pop into his head. “The real start of the song is what you’re thinking of beforehand. NKDMAG.COM
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BEX TAYLORKLAUS Words by CARLY BUSH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
brynn cartelli Words by ELIZABETH FORREST Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Glam by AMANDA THESEN
The Voice discovered Brynn Cartelli, winner of the show’s fourteenth season, through a YouTube video. They liked what they heard so much that they contacted her to personally ask her to audition. “When an artist has an opportunity knocking on their door, they don’t turn anything down,” Brynn laughs about it. “I just took it and ran with it.” After passing through an initial audition in New York for the thirteenth season, she failed to turn a chair during live taping. But Season 14 was a different story. After a year of hard work, Brynn returned to the Voice stage to audition in front of the show’s judges. Before the end of her rendition of “Beneath Your Beautiful,” Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton both turned their chair. Ultimately, Brynn chose Kelly as her mentor. “Kelly really believed in me and gave me confidence in who I am and what I was doing,” Brynn says about her choice. The two were a perfect match. Although The Voice was a positive, life-changing experience for Brynn, there were a few obstacles along the way. It was her first time on national television and she had her first experience with internet trolls and brutal negativity online. “I think you totally doubt yourself, especially
when you think about pleasing everyone,” she says, “and at the end of the day, you just can’t.” That realization pushed her to work harder than ever. At 15, she was younger than the other contestants, and in turn felt that she needed to really prove herself to stay on top. “Whether it was the arrangement or how the stage was going to look or what we needed in the song or the song choice itself, I really wanted to take ownership over it,” Brynn says. “I’m a very visual person, so I put everything I could into the songs each week.” And of all of her performances, she is most proud of her version of Coldplay’s “Fix You.” When the show’s winner was announced, Brynn was shocked; she never thought she was going to win. Once the finale’s cameras stopped rolling, she was immediately whisked away to speak to the press, but once she returned to her hotel and was able to take it all in, she chose to spend her time with her family and friends. “I knew I was going to have to talk about it a lot in the next week, so we spent our time eating our faces off and talking about everything else,” Brynn remembers. “I reflected later by myself, but it was a time to celebrate the people who came out for me.” One of Brynn’s long-lasting
relationships to come out of The Voice was with her mentor and friend, Kelly Clarkson. Since the show’s end, the two have remained close and Kelly continues to help Brynn with expanding her artistry. From the very beginning, Kelly believed in Brynn and trusted her in a way nobody had trusted her before. “She’s just so nice and so real. I think it’s hard to find that across celebrities,” Brynn says. “She’s just really cool and cares about people, no matter who they are. She’s been an inspiration for me since I was 5, and I am still very, very inspired by what she does.” One lesson that Kelly taught Brynn is to be true to herself. “I really wanted to break out and be heard across not just people who watch The Voice, but across all listeners of music,” Brynn says. That time is rapidly approaching; Brynn will open for Kelly Clarkson’s Meaning of Life tour, kicking off later this month, alongside Kelsea Ballerini. Before tour begins, Brynn promises to release some new music. “When I play the show closest to my home, that’s going to be really fun,” Brynn, who is from Massachusetts, laughs. “A couple people have told me they’re going to be buying tickets, and I’m like, ‘Well, I’m going to be singing songs about you and you have no idea.’” NKDMAG.COM
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LEAGUE
WINNETKA
BOWLING
Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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Matthew Koma grew up in Long Island, New York and was consistently surrounded by music from an early age. He played in bands with his brother for years before eventually moving out to Los Angeles ten years ago to pursue music more seriously. He began writing and producing for other artists, but wasn’t sure what he wanted his own sound to be. While working on an album for Interscope, he was hooked up with a few electronic producers and took “a weird left turn”. He spent a few years in that region of the music world before eventually making the concrete decision to focus on something new. And thus, Winnetka Bowling League was born. Winnetka Bowling League was never a side project, and Matthew never wanted to approach it as such. “I put a hard stop to the [electronic] stuff,” he says. His main goal with the music he was writing was for it to feel good to him, because he had spent so much time making music that didn’t necessarily hit that bar. “I was really jealous of artists who you would hear their story and it was like, ‘Yeah, I was just doing what I was doing and it started resonating with people.’ I felt like I never got to do that,” he says. Matthew spent six months demoing songs that he had collected over the years, but didn’t feel like any of them were different enough from what he was known for to be considered a definitive change.
Then he wrote “On The 5” – which served as Winnetka Bowling League’s first single. “It sort of straddled the line of being song-driven, which is definitely the foundation I come from, but sonically I felt was a little different from where I’ve been,” he says. That’s when the lightbulb went off. Winnetka Bowling League’s first, self-titled EP was built around “On The 5” and was released in September. Despite Matthew’s success elsewhere in the music world, WBL serves as a completely separate project, with most fans being new listeners and not necessarily people that have followed Matthew’s entire career. “Proof being, I put out a song with The Midnight Kids recently and so many of the kids listening to it are like, ‘Matt’s back! He hasn’t put out music in over a year!’” he laughs, “It’s such a separate world, and I’m grateful for that, to be honest. It’s humble beginnings and starting from ground zero.” This allows Matthew to really project a true representation of himself and his music out into the world, without preconceived notions based on his past releases. “It definitely feels like the first step of the latter,” he says. Going into a new project with an arsenal of knowledge has made the experience “a lot more fun” for Matthew. “From years of doing it and years of seeing certain kinds of successes, it’s almost a self-lesson,” he says, “All you really have is a process. What
happens outside of that box is regardless of you.” Over the years, he’s learned that so much of what he once thought he could control – like what songs resonate the most with listeners – are out of his control, which has been a freeing realization. “I’m so grateful to just get on stage and play shows,” he says, “They may be way smaller shows than what I was playing, but they resonate in such a different way that I’ve never been happier.” The band played two shows in New York and Los Angeles in October, and will head out on the road with Mother Mother starting January 12th. Past that, the band will release their second EP in the spring and promises to be on the road a lot more throughout 2019. “It’s a true restart. We’ve played two shows but I’m so hungry to play more,” Matthew says. Being used to full record releases growing up, the single-driven culture that is dictated by the electronic and hip-hop worlds was at first foreign to Matthew, but he’s beginning to see the benefit of having a constant stream of music coming out. “I think songs raise their hands when they’re supposed to and collections raise their hands when they’re supposed to,” he says. That being said, an album is a goal, but Matthew doesn’t see albums as “this big important thing” anymore. He writes a lot, and he’s having so much fun writing for this band, that his main priority is to keep putting music out. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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lennon stella Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
jake borelli Words by IAN HAYS Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Jake Borelli grew up in the suburbs just outside Columbus, Ohio. He was raised with his two older brothers, feeling safe and encouraged to explore his artistic endeavors. As he puts it, it was a liberal environment that was accepting of all people. His first love? Painting. Visual arts were his forte through high school. He surrounded himself with likeminded artists, finding inspiration far from the test screens of Los Angeles. “I was always drawing and crafting. I remember sitting in the bathroom and making weird sculptures out of toilet paper and water. Or, like, trying to make a rollercoaster out of construction paper,” he says with a laugh. “I was always doing something creative.” His grandmother was a painter and sculptor; she’s where he found the most inspiration. Going to Grandma’s meant he would have free reign – tubs of markers dumped out on the floor for easy access. It was in high school that he took formal art classes and learned to appreciate art on a new level. While his early focus was on
painting, another visual art slowly began taking center stage: acting. Originally, theater was just another artistic outlet. He performed in the Columbus Children’s Theater. But the deeper he dove, the more it took hold of him. As with painting, he learned the technical side and found he not only enjoyed it but was good at it. As a teen, he was signed to a local talent agency and started getting radio and commercial work. That’s when he realized he was meant to take a different artistic path. “The big decision came when it was time for college. Do I go to visual arts college or do I go out to L.A. and pursue acting? In my heart, I knew acting was what I really wanted. So, four or five days after graduating high school, I got on a plane and moved to L.A.,” he says. Having made connections in the months leading up to the potential move, Jake came to LA with a plan. His first goal was to get representation. For, Jake he was in a prime spot for acting. He was 18, a legal adult but also “looked 14” so could be cast for younger roles. He was signed to a manager before the plane touched
down. But even with this first step quickly accomplished, Jake knew he still had a lot to learn. “I crashed on the futon of one of my managers’ son’s. I was 18 and had no idea what I was doing. I was there for two months before I met friends and moved in with them. I was just kind of stumbling through this process, relying on my instincts and just hoping everything worked out,” he reflects. As time passed, Jake booked roles guest starring on TV shows and acting in short films. Then, he was cast as Wolfgang on the Nickelodeon series, The Thundermans. It’s no secret that some of today’s biggest stars got their start on Nickelodeon. And Jake couldn’t have been more excited. He grew up with Nickelodeon on the TV. “I know people say this a lot, but that set was truly like a little family. We all hung out, we were all young and experiencing this new thing together. I came in at the end of Season 2 and everyone welcomed me so quickly,” he says. A one-episode stint turned into a recurring role. It was a role where Jake was encouraged to find those extremes and absurdiNKDMAG.COM
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maggie rose
Words by NICOLE MOOREFIELD Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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Over the past decade, Maggie Rose has changed her hometown, genre, label, hairstyle — even her name. Now, she wants to change the world for the better. Growing up Margaret Durante just outside Washington, DC, she attended Catholic school and sang in church choir. “There weren’t a whole lot of secular opportunities” to sing, she recalls, but nothing could hinder Maggie’s passion for music. “Even before I could speak, I was crawling around singing,” she says. Her parents quickly took notice, letting Maggie perform for all their houseguests, and singing soon became her identity. At 15, she began performing in Jersey Shore bars with the B-Street Band, a Bruce Springsteen tribute band founded in 1980. It was an unconventional pairing, but she loved it. “That’s when the professional aspect of being a performer really merged with who I was as a singer,” she remembers, and also when she started writing. After high school, she moved to South Carolina, studying vocal music at Clemson while still performing with the B-Street Band in New Jersey. In the midst of it all, Maggie received the opportunity of a lifetime: she caught the attention of Tommy Mottola. In 2007, he was still one of the biggest music industry moguls in the game, “so when I got a phone call from his assistant on my way to Econ, I about passed out,” she remarks. A few weeks later, Maggie sang for Tommy in Manhattan. Recognizing her potential, he asked if she was ready to move to Nashville. “I couldn’t just stay at Clemson and put it off,” she realized, so 18-yearold Maggie made the decision
to leave college and pursue her dream. “The next couple of years were really just baptism by fire,” she recalls. A teenager navigating Nashville when Music City had a signature look and sound, she was pressured to grow out her hair and lose weight. “Tommy Mottola comes from the old guard,” Maggie comments, so there was more time spent shaping her appearance and brand than her writing. Fortunately, that period of her career was short-lived. Tommy connected Maggie with Laura Stroud in A&R at Sony, who worked diligently to make her appointments with successful writers. “When you’re playing an opponent in a sport and they’re better than you, it inherently makes you better at what you do because you get to study all the things that are their strengths,” Maggie recognizes. Ultimately, record label politics overpowered Laura’s determination, and Maggie left to form her own label with a backer. But even that was not true autonomy, so she went fully independent. “As a creative person, you have to make compromises,” she says, “When you feel like you aren’t being entrusted with the reigns to your own destiny.” During that process, Maggie went through a complete rebranding — a term she hates but cannot seem to escape. She cut her hair short and became Maggie Rose (her nickname and middle name) professionally. “There is power in reinvention,” she shares. “Everything that I’ve done subsequent to that has been something that I’ve really owned.” Maggie’s transformation was
also musical. “My story and my self-discovery really began [in Nashville],” she tells. At 19, she was surrounded by professionals and writing songs every day. As a country artist under Universal Music Group, she could churn out songs quickly, but releasing her first album as an independent artist, Change the Whole Thing, was “a huge act of liberation.” Over time, the city’s changing music scene shaped her sound: influenced by a musical potpourri, — including Americana, Roots Revival, Gospel, and R&B — Maggie slowly leaned into soul. With Change the Whole Thing, Maggie focused on “following the music and trying to see what feels right” rather than letting labels or conventions limit her creativity. Her decision to subvert genre was also motivated by the lack of airplay given to female artists on country radio. “I ended up using those challenges and responding [to them] in a way that helped me discover the music that I actually did want to make,” she shares. In making music she loves, Maggie inadvertently backed herself into a seemingly unmarketable corner; her “vocally forward” sound is hard to fit into an iTunes category. However, rather than losing support, Maggie’s audience has expanded. Fans are not concerned with defining her music, “they just connect with it,” she says. “I feel like I’ve found my lane, which is being versatile.” Unsurprisingly, Maggie’s influences are also genre-benders: artists like the Beatles, as well as “soulful trailblazers” like Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield who were “known for their versatility NKDMAG.COM
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felix mallard Words by NICOLE MOOREFIELD Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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At just 20-years-old, Felix Mallard is unexpectedly insightful, which his rapid success over the past year reflects. Felix grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. He never considered acting until he was scouted by a modeling agency at 13. They got him an audition for Ben on popular Australian soap opera Neighbours and conveyed that, while he wouldn’t get the part, “it’s just good to network,” Felix remembers. Much to the agency’s surprise, he was hired for six episodes. With a fast-paced shooting schedule and an experienced, supportive cast, Neighbours was a great learning experience. The show’s large audience taught him that “what you put out in the world is going to be seen regardless of whether you want it to be,” he shares. “There is a sense of being a role model.” But it is responsibility, not pressure. At first, Felix was unsure about acting professionally, but advice from director Declan Eames changed his understanding of the job. Felix was trying to understand why 14-year-old Ben was grieving for his father, who passed away when Ben was young. Declan helped him grasp the character better, but also explained that Felix’s job as an actor was to convey to kids watching Neighbours who were growing up without a dad “that it’s okay to go through that emotional journey,” Felix recalls. Ever since, Felix has favored roles with important messages. Felix’s love of meaningful stories continues with his most recent project, CBS’s Happy Together. “It’s about finding an unorthodox family,” he explains. Felix plays Cooper James, an Australian pop sensation who moves in with his accountant, Jake (Damon Wayans Jr.), and his wife, Claire (Amber Stevens West). Happy Together “is such a nice thing to have on TV,” Felix says, because unlike most sitcoms today, the
show portrays marriage and family optimistically. “That’s what sets it apart,” he adds. Viewers get to “be happy for 30 minutes.” The show didn’t have a name until the network’s Upfronts presentation in May, but Happy Together perfectly sums up the message, as well as the set dynamic. “[Everyone working on the show is] so hardworking, but they’re so happy,” Felix observes. The sitcom is loosely based on a true story: at the peak of his One Direction fame, Harry Styles was living with Happy Together’s executive producer, Ben Winston. “We took the concept of Harry living with Ben and then made it our own,” Felix tells. Cooper isn’t based on Harry at all, allowing Happy Together to write storylines without affecting Harry’s reputation. “I didn’t watch any of [Harry’s] mannerisms,” Felix reveals, but instead drew inspiration from people he knows “who are like human Labradors.” Cooper is “endlessly happy, and he doesn’t take things for granted,” and Felix can’t always match his unrelenting optimism, “especially in the morning,” he jokes. At the same time, playing Cooper has made Felix more grateful for his own life and privacy. Although Cooper has found wild success and possesses an internal pride and happiness that Felix strives for, “he doesn’t quite know who he is yet,” Felix notes. Cooper moves in with Jake and Claire to find normalcy and human connection in a new, unfamiliar world of agents and fangirls. Originally American, Cooper was rewritten to be Australian when Ben Winston heard Felix’s accent, and “it informs the character so much more that he’s so far away from home,” says Felix. Felix’s next big role is Roamer in the film adaptation of Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places. Shifting from the mindset of a lovable pop-star to a big-
oted bully takes a lot of mental energy, but Felix enjoys “finding out why those characters behave the way that they do.” “[Roamer] is really an antagonist through the film,” Felix explains, “but from his perspective, he’s being antagonized by the person who has taken his girlfriend.” He doesn’t understand the pain he is inflicting and just wants to protect Violet (Elle Fanning). “He wants her to be okay and doesn’t know how to deal with that in himself.” Felix hopes to make Roamer’s internal turmoil evident such that viewers will understand him and “love to hate” him. He wants to show that Roamer is not just “a dick because the plot needs it,” but that “he’s really going through a hard time.” Many characters in the film are similarly struggling. All the Bright Places tells the important story of teen suicide in hopes of destigmatizing depression and showing viewers that they are not alone. “It’s okay to seek help and it’s okay to go through these things,” Felix expands, “but you are loved.” He commends the entire cast and crew for their “incredible job in portraying that everyone has their own journey to go through and [hardships] to deal with.” While Felix has flirted with comedy and drama, his dream role would encapsulate both. “So much of life is the good with the bad,” he elaborates. Felix recently ran into this balance in his own life when his grandfather passed away. The pain unified his family, teaching Felix the duality of emotion. “It was all of us staying in the one house, all of us going through the grief of losing someone, yet, at that time, I’d never laughed with my family more.” Felix’s ideal part would highlight life’s bittersweet moments. “It’s finding the dark in the light and the light in the dark, and that’s what I love.” NKD NKDMAG.COM
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CIERRA RAMIREZ Words by OLIVIA SINGH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Glam by BLONDIE Styling by LAURA SCHUFFMAN
LOOK 1: Turtleneck by AFRM Jacket & Jeans by PISTOLA LOOK 2: Bodysuit by AFRM Skirt by THE JETSET DIARIES Booties by RITCH ERANI NYFC LOOK 3: Top by AFRM Jeans by PISTOLA LOOK 4: Sweater by AFRM Jeans by PISTOLA LOOK 5: Blazer, Flare + Bustier by AFRM Earrings by 8 OTHER REASONS Pumps by RUTHIE DAVIS
jimmie allen Words by RACHEL HILL Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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Turns out 32-year-old country newcomer, singer/songwriter Jimmie Allen, isn’t really new to the scene at all. The country crooner dropped out of the University of Delaware with $21 to his name over a decade ago to pursue his dream of making it big in Music City. He worked a slew of odd jobs in Nashville to try and make ends meet while doing writers’ rounds and even did a stint of living out of his car. If you ask if he knew he’d reach these levels of success one day, he’ll tell you he did. Not how or when. But he was sure his drive would get him there. The tenacity paid off. “Ever since I was a kid I knew at the age of like 9 or 10 that music was what I wanted to do for a living and I’ve been chasing it down ever since,” says Jimmie. Hailing from Milton, Delaware, young Jimmie sunk himself into school plays, church choir, playing the drums, piano and some bass guitar. His adeptness for creative writing stems back to his youth in which he loved to develop characters and storylines for potential movies. It’s evident Jimmie’s craft has been influenced by his eclectic taste in tunes as a boy, listening to Alabama, Ricochet, Prince, Michael Jackson, George Strait, Three Doors Down and Tupac in his high school years. Influenced by this crowd, his smash hit single “Best Shot” leans in towards R&B-flavored country. It topped off at No. 1 in Canada country radio in December 2018 and spent two weeks as the most played song on country radio in the U.S. The meaning behind the song chan-
nels Jimmie’s unwillingness to ever give up. As for the music video, viewers are treated to charming home videos and pictures from Jimmie’s time growing up with his family in Delaware. He made the choice to focus on his loved ones in the song because for him, “What makes me want to wake up every day and be better and quote unquote ‘give my best shot,’ per se, is my family. I’m super close with them.” The release of his debut album in October 2018, Mercury Lane, was highly anticipated following the success of his self-titled EP and “Best Shot”. The name is derived from the street he grew up on in Milton. It’s clear a great deal of his musical – and personal – identity is centered around his idyllic family life. “It’s like holding onto memories because I realized in order to go where I need to go, I had to move. And life is all about keeping memories in the past and just progress,” he continues, “And sometimes the progress takes you different places.” Although he stresses he always wants to leave his work up to interpretation for every listener, for him, “Mercury Lane” is an homage and walk down memory lane. “It [the album] is just a process, a process through life. It talks about relationships and never quitting, you know, chasing your dreams no matter the obstacles,” Jimmie reveals. Jimmie is currently on the road with fellow American Idol alum, Scotty McCreery. Funnily enough, they both competed on Season 10, however Scotty ended up the reigning champ, with Jimmie getting cut just before the
Top 24. With the Seasons Change tour serving as Jimmie’s first as a solo artist, he’s been learning cues from Scotty and soaking it all in. “It’s been fun getting the chance to see Scotty’s show and getting the chance to perform mine in front of his fans,” Jimmie adds, “I’m just learning a lot about the road and trying out different things.” He’ll be heading back out on Kane Brown’s Live Forever Tour for select dates. Expect to see Jimmie back on the festival circuit as well as focusing on his next single. He’s also diving into his passion for film with exciting acting and movie opportunities. 2018 proved to be a generous year for the country star. With “Best Shot” reaching number one on Country Airplay in November, Jimmie became the first African-American country artist to shoot a debut single to the top. The recent increase in discourse concerning inclusion in country music has been applauded by many, including Jimmie. “Honestly, country music stemmed from Blues. So for me, when people bring up, ‘How does it feel to be a black guy in country music?’ I was like, well that’s how country started, you know,” he admits. He has never viewed the genre as a “white thing”. “It started with black artists such as Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. And that’s when country came from bluegrass and then went Western,” Jimmie mentions, “Now it’s kind of coming back around to the intent of country music, which is inclusion. A place for everyone to kind of really talk about what’s on their hearts. So for me, it’s good to see it getting back to where it started.” NKD NKDMAG.COM
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mahogany lox Words by OLIVIA SINGH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Mahogany Lox was born into a musical family. Her grandfather, Berry Gordy, founded Motown Records and had a knack for identifying talented artists and signing them to his label – from groups like the Supremes and the Jackson 5 to soloists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Mahogany’s older brother, Sky Blu, and her uncle, Redfoo, also followed a musical path as part of duo LMFAO. Given her family’s history, it was inevitable that Mahogany would also become a musician. Mahogany was raised in Pacific Palisades, California. Growing up, she was surrounded by music thanks to her brother, who was always either playing basketball or experimenting with music in the garage. “I knew what I wanted to do when I was young, just because everyone else was doing it and I loved it as well,” Mahogany says. Like her relatives, Mahogany found herself singing. That led to putting on small shows for her parents and getting a vocal coach. After finishing school, music became her primary focus and she started actively pursuing singing and DJing. Mahogany got her first piece of DJ equipment for her 16th birthday, as a present from Sky Blu. “My brother actually gave me a choice,” she recalls. “I was still in high school and he said, ‘Do you want a Louis Vuitton backpack to be able to look fresh at school or do you want
DJ equipment and I’ll teach you how to DJ?’” The designer backpack sounded like an enticing offer, but she chose the other option. “I think the right decision was to get the DJ equipment, and I’m so happy I picked it, because now I can DJ and I love it,” Mahogany says. “He taught me how to, so it was a nice bonding experience and it changed my life.” The 24-year-old’s real name is Mahogany Gordy, and she was named after a ‘70s movie that was directed and produced by her grandfather. She started going by Mahogany Lox after Sky Blu created an entertainment company called Big Bad University. Sky Blu called himself the Big Bad Wolf, while another group member was known as Little Red Riding Hood. Sticking with the fairy tale theme, Mahogany called herself Goldilocks. Although the idea for different mascot names was scrapped, Mahogany decided to put “Lox” at the end of her name and “it just stuck.” In 2013, Mahogany started DJing at Magcon – a popular meet and greet convention where young fans could get the chance to interact with social media stars in person. The convention was comprised of a group of boys who had large followings on the now-defunct platform known as Vine, like Shawn Mendes, Nash Grier, Jacob Whitesides and Camer-
on Dallas. While fans met the Viners, Mahogany stood on a stage and DJed with bright red liptstick, cat ears and bedazzled equipment. “Magcon was totally different from anything I had ever done,” Mahogany says. “It was brand new to everybody. It was a bunch of lines and people were just waiting to meet people, and then there was me DJing. I had a really fun time trying to figure out how to get them to turn to look at me instead of just facing their line.” “It was two days, so by the second day, I got everyone to spin around and look at me and interact with me while they were waiting, and that was a big accomplishment for me,” she recalls. “That helped me grow just as a performer, because I really had to get their attention. It was a lot of fun and then we all became family.” Mahogany also opened for Fifth Harmony as part of their 2015 Reflection Tour, which stopped at more than 20 cities in the US from February to March. “It was so much fun,” she says. “It was awesome because I was in front of the Fifth Harmony fanbase and I got to meet and vibe out with more people and it was really cool to expand that way, just DJ and get to know different people.” Every night, Mahogany would watch Fifth Hamony’s performances. “By the end of the tour, I knew every dance,” she says. “It definitely made me want to dance even more. NKDMAG.COM
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larkin poe Words by VANESSA SALLES Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
With their latest album debuting at the top of the Billboard Blues Chart, Larkin Poe has solidified themselves as a band on the rise. Comprised of singer/ songwriter multi-instrumentalist sisters, Rebecca and Megan Lovell have created their own brand of Roots Rock ‘n’ Roll. Gritty, honest, and soulful, the duo has evolved in a way that’s managed to remain authentic to their true sound. “Rebeca and I started Larkin Poe at the beginning of 2010,” Megan recalls. “We spent most of our teenage years out on the road touring in a band called ‘The Lovell Sisters,’ an incarnation that included our eldest sister, Jessica. Because of that, we already knew that we loved the lifestyle of being an artist. Starting Larkin Poe was the natural progression of our musical expression.” Creating as a duo, the sisters make sure each other’s opinions feel valid and heard. “Achieving balance as a duo is always a work in progress,” Megan says. “Rebecca and I feel so fortunate to share everything with one another in this lifetime and are so thankful for the bond that has been forged between us. We’re pretty much in lockstep with all the creative moves we make as a band and we thank our lucky stars for that.” Describing their musical journey, Larkin Poe’s evolution is ongoing. “We have never been afraid to chase after the fragments of music that we hear in our heads from record to record,” Rebecca explains.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to remain independent for the majority of our career as Larkin Poe and, as such, have been allowed a lot more space and freedom in our creative experiments. It takes years of time to figure out who you are, both as a human and as an artist. I imagine we’ll keep evolving our sound until the end.” With the release of their latest album, Venom & Faith, the 10-track release encapsulates Megan and Rebecca’s artistry and gives listeners a peek into their musical souls. “The support for Venom & Faith has been so overwhelming,” Megan gushes. “The album has only been out for a little while now, but already at shows, we look out into the crowd and see so many beautiful, smiling faces, singing along with us! It’s every songwriter’s dream.” On stage, Larkin Poe gives it their all from start to finish. Creating a world that allows fans to escape their realities for a night, Megan and Rachel pour their hearts out whilst performing. “For me, ‘Honey Honey’ is the song on Venom & Faith that really lights me up,” Rebecca reveals. “We worked and worked and worked to find the right production approach for that song – I’m talking blood, sweat, and tears – so when the musical elements of the track finally came into focus, it was such a payoff. We were elated! I love being able to perform it live.” Of their latest release, Megan and Rachel cite the album as their
top pick from Larkin Poe’s discography. “Venom & Faith is, by far, our favorite album we’ve ever released,” Megan says. “In an effort to give fans a truly distilled taste of our musical souls, we decided to self-produce the album and to commit to playing as many of the instruments as we possibly could, which wound up being pretty much all of them!” Encouraging their fans to embrace their own creativity, the band insists it’s what keeps you engaged in the life you’re living. “We want to bring joy into people’s lives with our music and our performances,” Megan shares. “We also want to inspire people to dip their toes into the pool of creativity. It can take countless forms but no matter how you access that stream, you’re bound to be more present in your own life.” As for what’s up next, the sister duo is set to cross off a major bucket list moment in the new year. “We’re touring Australia for the first time this year,” Rebecca exclaims. “That’s something we’re really looking forward to. There were so many highlights in 2018 and we’re just excited to see the milestones that we’ll reach in 2019. Having Venom & Faith debut at #1 on the Billboard Blues Charts was a crazy one for us. Getting to play at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, being on tour with Keith Urban, selling out headline shows across Europe, the UK, and the USA – it’s all been amazing.” NKD NKDMAG.COM
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