Music
The Aces are set to breakout of their home state, Utah, with their glossy pop-rock album, When My Heart Felt Volcanic. We spoke to the band about the New Zealand pop icon who keeps inspiring them.
Ramirez sisters Cristal (vocals, guitar) and Alisa (drums), plus childhood friends McKenna Petty (bass) and Katie Henderson (guitar), first got together in Provo, Utah, in 2008 and used their home state’s conservative attitude to alcohol to their advantage. After years spent honing their glossy, cloud-bursting pop-rock in Provo’s alcohol-free clubs, the four-piece are finally ready to breakout with their debut album When My Heart Felt Volcanic, out now on Red Bull Records.
Cristal and her bandmates have admitted that it was the appearance of one artist in particular, back in 2013, that made them start taking The Aces more seriously than ever: Lorde. We spoke to Cristal to find out what it is about the New Zealand pop star that set them off.
I remember it was so explosive, the way she came onto the scene. Nobody was like her and she was creating her own life. That was just so inspiring to us. I remember driving to gigs, listening to the Love Club EP, and thinking to myself, wow, no one is like her. And that's so hard to do – to set yourself apart. Especially as a solo artist. From the very beginning, I thought, this is so inspiring. She was so young, 16 or 17, singing about being young and how it feels to grow up, and doing it in such a cool, effortless way that no one had ever done before.
Different artists have their own approaches to how they connect with fans. There are those who are mysterious and aloof and then there are artists who are very personal with their fans. With Lorde, half of what her project is, and why it works so well, is the mystery. Everyone wants to know what she thinks. They want to know what she’s going to say.
People don’t expect young female pop artists to be powerhouses, to be smart, to be businesswomen. They just don’t expect it. But she’s so intelligent and articulate and beyond her years. There are people aged 10 to 40 who go to her concerts. She's so universal. And she’s still so young but won’t take any s*** off anyone. She's not afraid to be herself. We’re really inspired by that. To be who we are and be true to our individual voices.
She’s still so young but won’t take any s*** – she's not afraid to be herself
It’s a double-edged sword when your first album is so successful, though. You’re doing amazing, your music is amazing, and you’re having an impact on the world. But there is that pressure to do it all over again on an even bigger scale – and that’s not fair. I remember watching Harry Styles explain how he was going to live up to the success of One Direction, and he was like, that’s not what it’s about. He just wants to create music because he's already experienced the craziness. It shouldn’t be about outdoing yourself all the time.
If you can listen to another band or artist and think, oh, they’re copying Lorde, that is the ultimate the test of being an icon. And Lorde passes it.
