Fresh off this season of THE X FACTOR, Forever In Your Mind is making waves with their wildly catchy sound. And if their name didn’t spell it out already, these boys are determined to stick around.
The trio, consisting of Emery Kelly, 15, from Long Island, Ricky Garcia, 14, from San Antonio and Jon Klaasen, 15, of Indiana, just released their debut single ‘She Lights The World.’ The video racked up 15,000 views in only five days, making this group one to watch out for in 2014.
THE MAGAZINE recently caught up with the boys to chat about life on THE X FACTOR, their debut single and biggest celebrity crushes. Check out what they had to say!
What inspired you to audition for X Factor?
Jon: Me and Ricky were in a band who signed us up for X FACTOR auditions. We were huge fans of the show so we were super excited when we got through.
Ricky: Yeah, like Jon said we were originally part of a group and were so excited to audition in front of Simon! Unfortunately, the group didn’t go through but Simon kept me and Jon.
Emery: I’ve always loved singing and performing and I’m a big fan of the X FACTOR, too. So when the opportunity to audition in my town came about, I jumped at the chance.
What has been your favourite part of being on the show?
Ricky: Just having the opportunity to perform in front of huge industry professionals. We were so grateful for that opportunity.
Emery: I have to say when Simon put us all together into a group, that was probably my favorite moment… other than performing live, of course!
Jon: Yeah, definitely just having the opportunity to sing in front of the judges was incredible.
Ricky: Now of course I’m regretting being lumped with these two. [Laughs]
Emery and Jon: Hey!
Ricky: I’m just joking, we have so much fun together.
Jon: … but we work hard too! [Winks] Your band was formed by Simon Cowell. What is your group dynamic like? Have you become friends?
Emery: We’d met in the auditions and got on really well. When Simon put us into a group it felt like fate, but obviously we needed time to bond.
Jon: Emery had to fly homefor a private matter just after we were put together, so we literally had a week of rehearsals with him before we did the live shows.
Emery: Yeah, the timing sucked, but I had to fly home unfortunately. We’ve spent so much time together now that we get on like brothers.
Ricky: Yeah, we’re just like brothers. We love and we fight but it’s all good at the end of the day. We’re all so different which is nice, we can all bring something to the table.
Jon: What are you bringing Ricky? Tell us…
Ricky: Super powers, super awesome super powers.
Jon: Oh well, in that case…
Emery: Like these two said, we get on like brothers.
Where did the name “Forever In Your Mind” come from?
Ricky: The X FACTOR named us when we were on the show.
Emery: We want to remain ‘Forever In Your Mind.’
Jon: Oh, here we go again…
Emery: Hey, we do!
Jon: I know, we do… Now we will hopefully forever be embedded in your minds.
Ricky: That needed some kind of evil laugh.
Emery: Hey, we’re making nice music not evil laughs.
Jon: Yeah Ricky!
Ricky: My Bad. ‘Forever In Your Mind’… did we say that enough already?
How would you describe your sound?
Emery: I mean, it’s pop…
Ricky: with a bit of rock in there too.
Jon: We’re recording our album right now and have some really awesome songs, a real ballad, some rocky tunes and some major sing along pop songs, too.
What has been your craziest fan moment to date?
Jon: Well, I don’t think we have any “crazy” fans really. Everyone we meet out or talk to on Twitter is really cool.
Emery: Yeah, we’ve made a few girls cry.
Ricky: Emery, what did you do to make them cry?
Emery: I, erm… it was a happy cry. I hope.
Jon: [Laughs] Quit making girls cry, Emery.
Emery: I’ll try, I’m sorry.
Ricky: All joking aside, I think just having people come up to us to say hi and ask for pictures is pretty crazy for us, but we love to meet people so if you see us around make sure you come and say hi!
Who is your biggest celebrity crush?
Jon: Selena Gomez. I was going to say…
Emery: Ariana Grande?
Jon: Yes… but I knew these two would claim her as their crush so, ya know.
Ricky: Yep. Ariana Grande. She’s so beautiful.
Emery: Took the words right out of my mouth, Ricky.
Your Christmas single is coming out. How would you describe it?
Ricky: It’s a heart warming, uplifting, spine-tingling Christmas ballad.
Jon: Nicely put, Rickster. Yep. It’s one of those songs that makes you feel all warm inside, it brings that wonderful Christmasy feeling to your earphones. [Laughs]
Emery: I have to say, “This Feels Just Like Christmas” is one of my favorite songs we’ve recorded so far… Oh, and did we mention it’s available on ITunes now?
If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be and why?
Jon: Oh man, If we ever had the opportunity to work with Bruno Mars or One Direction that would be Uh-maz-ing! They’re huge inspirations of mine. Or Skillrex, we could make a sick remix together!
Emery: Stating the obvious, but One Direction obviously or Jason Mraz would be cool.
Ricky: Ariana Grande. [Laughs}
Jon: Oooh, yes. Ariana too… Can we just make a long list of artists we’d love to work with?
What are your plans (personally and professionally) after the season is over?
Emery: Since we left the show, we’ve been recording our album which is going really well and we should have that out early next year. Fingers crossed.
Ricky: Yeah, we’ve done two music videos too which was cool; getting to be on set etc… We filmed the video for our Christmas song “This Feels Just Like Christmas” recently up in Lake Arrowhead. That was so awesome, we got to go sledding and toast marshmallows!
Jon: Who doesn’t love toasting marshmallows?… Not Me!
Ricky: [Laughs] Yeah, so we did that and now we’ve just been working really hard behind the scenes, rehearsing and getting our shizzle together for 2014.
Jon: 2014 is the year for Forever In Your Mind, I’m telling you!
Emery: Fingers crossed! We’re working really hard right now and hope our fans continue with their support, we appreciate it!
Ricky: Yes, our fans are so awesome! They send us the best edits on Twitter and Instagram, too.
Jon: Did we mention we stalk Twitter and Instagram constantly? No? Oh well, we do!
Emery: You can follow us on twitter at (Emery: @emery_kelly / Jon: @jon_klaasen / Ricky : @RealRickyGarcia) come and say hi!
Thank you, Emery, Jon and Ricky!
Check out the video for Forever In Your Mind’s new Christmas single below!