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Photo Credit: The CW
JESSICA LOWNDES TALKS 90210 AND NEW MUSIC!
By: Bessie Sorge
The third season of 90210 just kicked into gear
and is already exceeding the dramatic scale of the previous seasons by a
landslide. In the premiere episode, a strong magnititude earthquake
gave viewers a subtle hint that some major drama was about to unfold
upon the graduating class of West Beverly High, and its safe to say that
not a single character is left unaffected by the damaging results.
Adrianna is no stranger to being blindsided, often at her own expense,
whether it be struggling with being a child actress, teen pregnancy, a
drug addiction, an eating disorder or the questioning of her sexuality.
This season proves to be no different as she finds herself getting
caught up in the ups and downs of fame.
In the first few episodes, Adrianna has dealt
with Javier's advancements and his backlash when she turns him down,
which then leads to his untimely death during a car accident, where she
ends up stealing his songbook of unreleased music, only to use them as
her own after receiving praise from her boyfriend Navid and her manager
Laurel, and ultimately ends up getting busted by possibly the wrong
person. Phew! If that wasn't enough to make your head spin, we won't
even begin to discuss what is going on with the rest of the characters
on the show.
We sat down with Jessica Lowndes to discuss the
evolution of Adrianna in the third season of 90210, and to dusciss her
budding music career. She recently teamed up with U.K. hip hop artist
Ironik on a track titled "Falling In Love," due out on October 24th.
You can pre-order the track on iTunes,
and get a sneak peak at the video below. Tune into The CW tonight for
an all-new episode of 90210! Follow Jessica on Twitter to get the latest
updates on her music career: @RealJLowndes.
Photo Credit: The CW
This season of 90210 is already off to a crazy start; are you excited about unveiling all of the new drama in store for Adrianna?
(Laughs) I’m very excited! It’s a very
exciting season we have before us. There’s going to be a lot more music
this season for Adrianna, and as you saw, she made a very bad decision
the first episode. I think that can be rooted back to even season one,
like the pressure that her mom put on her to be famous and to be back on
top, you know? She was capable of stealing back then. And I think
she’s someone who has a really good heart, but in moments of desperation
she makes really bad decisions. Everything she’s given up, it was like
she finally felt like her dream was about to happen and then she saw it
slipping through her fingers, and it was the only thing she knew what
to do. And I think at the time she thought: "Ok, well I’ll sing it once
and that will be it. Ok, maybe I’ll sing it twice." Then the next thing
you know, it goes to YouTube sensation. Her boyfriend, Navid, is
telling her it’s the best song she’s ever done and you have Laurel just
giving her all this praise, and she’s definitely getting caught up, and
she’s going to start making excuses for it, and the lines are going to
get blurred because she just going to get driven by fame.
That's got to be difficult for her.
Well on top of living with a lie, you now have
Victor, who knows about the lie, and he is definitely going to be this
constant presence and force in her life. He is going to be very
controlling and not a very nice guy.
In last weeks episode you had this really
emotional, really powerful scene at Javier’s funeral. Can you talk a
little bit about the process you went through with that scene? Was it
difficult for you?
I think it was very difficult. I think it’s
just difficult doing funeral scenes in general. And for this, as an
actress I had to show guilt, I had to go to a very interesting dark
place. It was very challenging. And as you are singing the lyrics -
"This is me trying to say goodbye" - like that's just emotional in
itself. So yeah, it was definitely challenging, but ultimately
rewarding. I absolutely love acting and I absolutely love singing, and
when I get to do both in the same show, it’s great. It’s really, really
fun for me.
Photo Credit: The CW
What was it like working with Diego?
I love working with him. He’s such a sweetheart
and we have so much fun, and I love singing with him. He’s got an
incredible voice.
Were you aware of his music before he signed on to guest star on 90210?
I wasn’t really aware of it. When I heard that
he was signing on, I definitely YouTube'd it and thought it was really
catchy. He gave me a CD on set, so I could listen to it in my car. I
think he’s got a fantastic voice. I love working with him.
In the current season, Adrianna has made a
lot of changes in her life, the biggest being that she drops out of
school to focus on her music; how is that going to affect her friendship
with the rest of the characters?
I think it’s going to definitely affect her
friendships and relationship because she’s just thrown into this whole
new lifestyle and this whole whirlwind of craziness. I think it’s this
battle between fame and everything she’s ever wanted, and then just
staying true to herself and her integrity. I think definitely that line
gets blurred and she’s just going to kind of lose sense of reality, and
her perception of reality is going to be a little warped and off. It’s
going to be obviously difficult for friendships and difficult for
relationships, but at the end of the day, she does have a good heart and
she is very responsible. And she claims responsibility, whether it be
like kicking a drug habit, staying in school, admitting to the school
she was pregnant and not being afraid to question her sexuality and what
anyone thought. She was just going to do what she wanted to do and then
be who she is. She’s not afraid to be who she is, which I think is
something admirable. It’s definitely going to be crazy.
Photo Credit: The CW
(Fan Question) Milaya wants to know what you’ve learned about yourself by playing Adrianna?
I’ve learned so much about myself. Its amazing
that when you're on a show, like I was 19 when I signed on and now I’m
almost 22, and it’s like I’ve been kind of growing with my character too
and learning so much about myself. But when it comes to being an
actress, like I was dealing with the drug addiction stuff, and the
pregnancy, and even the whole lesbian storyline, and I think you push
your boundaries, because it was like I was terrified. At the beginning
of the day I was like, "Oh, I can’t do this!" And at the end of the day,
you learn that you can do this. I did a lot of research and I talked
to people that had actually been going through situations like that, and
it’s amazing. It’s like you realize that you are people who love doing
that. And because she’s gone through so much and she's gone through so much emotionally too, it’s like I really had to look into myself and see
like: "Okay, how would I react to this? How would react to this?" You
just learn, day-to-day.
Do you enjoy getting to combine your passion for acting and singing into one role?
I love the singing. Actually, I get to go sing
today for the show and go record some more music. That’s been a
passion of mine since I was three I've been singing. I was able to
record all though hiatus. It was kind of crazy; it was very much like
the Javier/Adrianna storyline.
I collaborated with this U.K. hip hop artist
named Ironik. When I was in London, it was a little eerie because he
came upstairs and he was like,"Hi, would you like to hear my track?" And
he was like, "Maybe we can do something together?" I was like,
"Alright, sure." I had no idea it was going to be a single, and I wasn’t
familiar with his music. Then the next thing I know, we’re shooting a
music video in L.A. and the video is online and it has over half a
million views on YouTube, which is just kind of crazy to me because the
single doesn’t even come out until October 25th in the U.K. It’s kind
of surreal, like I have fans on Twitter saying, “Hey, we pre-ordered
your song on ITunes!” It doesn’t even feel real yet. It’s definitely
exciting.
If I’m not filming, I’m in the recording
studio. And I love them both the same. I’m a storyteller and I’ve
always been like that. I love telling people stories and that's what I
do with acting; it’s other people’s words and it’s other people’s
stories. And then music, it’s my words and my story. I think it’s
really great. At the end of the day, I just love affecting people
and helping people in their situation and giving them someone to look up
to and to relate to. Yeah, it’s been going good. It’s been fun.
This was the first music video that you ever shot. What was that like being on set? I heard it was like all night shoot, too.
Oh, my gosh! Look at you, you knew it. I didn’t know if you knew about it.
Yes, I did.
Yeah, it was an all-nighter. Actually, I had a
photo shoot that day for like twelve hours, and then I went and filmed
that for twelve hours. I didn’t even feel tired, to be honest, because I
was on adrenaline and it was so fun. Because growing up when I was 13
years old, I was doing cheesy music videos in the backyard. Like there’s
a stack of really embarrassing home videos that will stay in Vancouver
in my parent’s place forever. Their in the vault. (Laughs) But it was
really weird. I still feel like the same 13 year old girl, but instead
people are actually going to see this video and it’s actually going to
be on the radio. It just motivates me too, for my own stuff, because I
have amazing opportunities to work with music producers around the
globe basically, like from Europe to all over the U.S., and we’ve
created some really incredible tracks and I can’t wait for everybody to
hear it.
How does your own music style differ from the style that is featured on 90210? Is your music style different than Adrianna’s?
At the end of season two the show actually
bought two of my songs, "Stamp of Love" and "Haven’t Been Drinking,"
which she performed when she was having her concerts. That’s definitely
similar to my style, but I would say it’s like pop/rock, my stuff, and I
like to incorporate piano. My mom is a piano teacher and I was raised
doing piano for years. It's more like pop/rock, where the song she sang
at Javier’s funeral, the show actually had written it for that scene
and when I heard it I was obsessed, I thought it was great. It’s
more slower and a ballad, and I think it’s a beautiful song. I would
love for it to be released. I don’t know if it’s going to, but I would
love for it to be released for everyone to hear it. I think it’s a
little different then my stuff.
Jessica Lowndes featured in "Falling In Love" music video.
Now is acting in a music video different than doing television or film?
(Laughs) Well, yeah, because you're
lip-syncing. (Laughs) It’s very fast, like literally, it doesn’t even
matter, we didn't even have two takes. It's like, "Ok, walk in the
door. Ok, do this. Ok, get up off the car," instead of actually
doing take after take and having to worry about your voice and your
reaction to things. But it’s fun, I love it so much.
What is the progress on your debut album?
I’ve done a lot of stuff. Every day, I’m
writing more and more. I actually will not sign with a label until
the time is right. I want to have a really good sense of who I am and
know my sound. Hopefully, next year I’ll have a single out, but again, I
don’t want to rush it. It’s like my first thing, you know, like my
first time doing it. You get a sneak peek with the Ironik stuff, and
then we’ll see. It could be soon or it could be still like six months
down the road. I don’t know, I love it. I keep writing and things keep
changing, and I’m like, "Ok, well actually I want this song on the
album, and I don't want this one." It’s interesting, it’s really fun.
Now you have a birthday coming up. Do you have any plans yet on how you want to celebrate?
Yes, I’ve kind formed that precedent of having
over the top birthday parties, which is just kind of ridiculous. I told
myself, after my sweet sixteen - it was a cheesy birthday party - I was
like, "I am just done with birthday parties, that’s it! Just have a
sweet sixteen." And then I ended up meeting this party coordinator -
just randomly, I met him while I was just out in L.A., like during the
day, I met him at a park - and he was like, "Hey, do you have a party
coming up?" And I was like, "Well, it’s my birthday in a week." And he
was like, "Well, let me do it for you." He ended up throwing me a
masquerade Phantom of the Opera ball, and there was a monkey, and there were belly dancers, and LMFAO performed. It was so over the top, but it
was amazing. It was like, I gave my friends a really fun night and it
was awesome. And the same with my 21st, I had a Moulin Rouge lingerie
party. So this year, I don’t know, the pressure’s on. I invite
everybody. I invite my whole crew. It’s nothing for me. If I
throw a party I’m not so involved like, "oh, my gosh, it has to be
perfect." I’m not over the top like that. I want to give my friends
a really fun night. I really should start planning it because I have
people on set asking me like, “Oh, it’s almost your birthday! Should we
get a babysitter for the kids?” And everyone’s looking forward to
it, so I don’t know. I really need to start planning and stop
procrastinating.
Jessica Lowndes and Ironik - "Falling In Love" Single Due Out 10/24
(Fan Question) Lindsey wants to know who would you like to collaborate with on your record?
Oh, my gosh, that is such a hard question.
(Laughs) There are so many different artists I love from Justin
Timberlake to Rihanna, to Lady Gaga - I think Lady Gaga is brilliant -
to like anybody, to Katy Parry. I would just be privileged to work with
these people that I look up to so much.
Have you heard Willow Smith’s music yet?
Yes, actually I just played - that's so random
that you said that - I was just playing it this morning for my mom and
dad. They are in town. I was playing the YouTube, her music video. She’s
so great. Let’s do a collaboration with her, that’d be fun.
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