With a hit debut album and thousands of loyal fans joining the #IamAChloe movement, Emblem3 is surfing a wave of success beyond THE X FACTOR. For brothers Keaton and Wesley Stromberg and their friend Drew Chadwick, this is just the beginning. THE MAG’s Dina Ginzburg caught up with the trio to talk about music, girls and so much more!
What did your experience on THE X FACTOR teach you about the music industry?
Keaton: It taught us everything we know. It happened so fast… it was crazy. The whole artist development thing that you’d normally do in five years, we did in six months.
Wesley: You have to be prepared, know exactly who you want to be as an artist, put in your 10,000 hours and practice all the time.Keaton: Know that you’re ready before you go into it.
Wesley: Yeah, you can’t be like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go on the show and they’re going to teach me how to be a famous musician.’ You have to go into the show thinking, “I’m ready to go right now. I’m ready to record, I’m ready to go on tour, I can play in front of anybody and throwdown in front of anybody. I can sing in front of two people, I can sing in front of 20 000.’ That’s how you have to be.
Which musicians are you listening to right now?
Drew: Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Bob Marley.
Wesley: It puts you in the best mood!
Keaton: Bruno Mars.
How does your longtime friendship and two of you being brothers affect your band dynamic?Wesley: It’s great. It makes it freaking amazing. It’s awesome. Drew, do you have anything to say?Drew: I have so much that I could say, I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t want to say anything because I have so much to say about that.Wesley: Well, you have to say something.Drew: We have the perfect dynamic to only stimulate progress and success… A self-sustaining system of inspiration.
What’s the concept behind your song “Chloe”?
Wesley: Not every girl is the most popular girl in school… We would rather be with a girl that we can be ourselves with, a girl that’s artsy, cool and beautiful inside and out. We’re saying, “We want Chloe.”
How does it relate to the Twitter hashtag #IamAChloe?
Wesley: The fans actually started that! They’re saying that they are Chloes. I would say that’s pretty cool, because most girls are Chloes!
How did it feel winning the Choice Breakout Group Award at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards?Keaton: It’s phenomenal.Wesley: Honestly, just a complete honour. It’s hard to even believe!
What’s the craziest city you’ve visited on tour?
Drew: Honestly, New Orleans was pretty crazy. It was an awesome time.
Wesley: Philadelphia. The people go crazy there. It’s insane!Do you find performing to be nerve-wracking?
Wesley: I just love it. It’s like our daily release.Keaton: You’re so peaceful up there.Wesley: After a show, you just feel so satisfied and so good. Playing shows is the best lifestyle.
Do you work out the lyrics first or the music first?
Keaton: It all depends on the song. Sometimes you’ll have a whole song built out and you just write the lyrics over it or sometimes the lyrics come first and you build the song around it, it just depends.What’s been your favourite musical collaboration that you’ve done?Wesley: They’re all different and they’re all really cool. Martin Johnson was awesome. The Madden were awesome.Drew: Max Martin was insane! It was so cool.How do you feel about the One Direction comparisons?Keaton: We don’t really get them anymore. At first it was just because we were a boy band on THE X FACTOR but now that people are hearing our style and watching us in interviews, we’re pretty different.Would you have still competed in THE X FACTOR if you had been split up at auditions?Wesley: Oh no, definitely not. If we wanted to do an acoustic album solo now, that would be probably ok because we’re all individual artists ourselves, but we would still come back together and still be Emblem3.Where did you find the inspiration for ‘Nothing To Lose’?
Wesley: Life in general. Daily experiences, highs and lows, work, triumph, failure, girls, love and relationships! Everything and anything you can write a song about.
Thank you Wesley, Drew and Keaton!