I just saw the spot on The N. Were you surprised at the wide
fan base and the increased exposure that that small spot got
you?
Hope Partlow-Yeah actually,
it helped out a lot. My fan base is getting bigger and better.
It grew a lot faster than I expected it to.
In the spot you said we couldn't see that a large crowd had
formed to watch you perform while you were shooting your video.
Do you feed off of a crowd around you when you are performing?
Hope Partlow-Yeah. When
we were doing the video a crowd was forming and you can't see
that part. It definitly does. It's the same as recording in
a recording studio and then singing live. It's not so much pressure;
but it is. You can't really mess up when you are shooting a
video because they can make it work. Definitely, I feed off
the energy.
Where are you from?
Hope Partlow-Memphis, well
about 25 miles north of Memphis.
I notice the accent when you talk but you can't really hear
it much when.
Hope Partlow-Yeah.
How long have you been singing?
Hope Partlow-I've been singing
for a long long time. I'm only 17 but my dad sings and plays
guitar. When I was really young I would see him around the house
and singing. So I picked up on it really early. I got introduced
to music very very early and I fell in love with it. I just
stuck with it and he taught me a lot. There is this place down
the street and it's like a singing place and there was a house
band I started there since I was 5 years old and I've been singing
there every since and I still go there when I go home. So I
learned a lot from there from singing in public. But I got really
really serious when I was thirteen years old and I wrote my
first song with my parents and my aunt and we made a demo. The
song is called "Red Limousines." At the time I sang country
music so that song is very country and rockabilly. We gave them
out and we gave a few to my aunt and she lives in Nashville.
She is a songwriter so she did have connections but actually
the guy that got it didn't know her but he knew Virgin Records
so I was so lucky with that and I just consider it meant to
be and I met with Virgin and they signed me on the spot at 14.
Speaking of Virgin is Matt Serletic still the president of Virgin?
Hope Partlow-Yeah he is
the president of Virgin. I don't really know what's going on
with that.
I was going to ask if you felt any pressure with him working
so closely with you on your project?
Hope Partlow-Absolutely
not. He is a musical genius and he's such a great person. He
helped me out a lot. I was more nervous and felt more pressure
being in the studio and signing. I didn't really know what to
do. He helped me out so much. When you are singing the same
line over and over it's hard to give it your all every time
So he would tell me to do jumping jacks to get the energy up
again. I learned a lot from him. He's a really great person.
Do you also write music?
Hope Partlow-I do. I am
a songwriter. But I feel I will be way better later on in life
and I'm working on that. So for the first album I didn't want
any of my songs on the album because I didn't feel they were
up to par with what I wanted but I have two main songwriters.
What we did in the beginning was the norm, going out and finding
songwriters and listening to their songs. I would like their
songs for about a minute and I just couldn't relate to them.
These songwriters were much older than me and I didn't want
to sing stuff over and over again and I didn't know what I was
singing about. So I got fed up with it and I handed my diary
over two my two main songwriters Kevin Kadish and Angie Aparo.
I was so nervous about that handing over my stories from middle
school and part of high school but it totally worked out and
I got everything I wanted out of it.
Are you on the road now?
Hope Partlow-Yeah actually
we are doing tour after tour after tour. So this tour that we
are on now is radio tour/middle school/high school tour.
A lot of young artists get involved in so many different aspects
of the industry. Have you done any acting or modeling yet?
Hope Partlow-I lived here
in New York three months while we were working on the album
getting everything together. I loved it. I love it. Anything
that has to do with the spotlight I want to be in it. But for
the most part I love my music and that's my main priority right
now.
What type of music did you like growing up?
Hope Partlow-I started off
country so I love Patsy Cline, and Reba McEntire, Deana Carter
but I kinda moved with the times and started listening to more
radio. I fell in love with pop music. I love Sheryl Crowe, I'm
probably her biggest fan. I love Journey and now I'm kinda leaning
toward more of the guy bands. I like Offspring and Muse and
Green Day.
When you are not doing your music thing what types of things
do you like to do during your down time?
Hope Partlow-When I'm at
home I'm with friends because being on the road I don't get
to see them much and obviously with family. Again, I don't see
them that much and when I'm at home I want to soak up that time.
But on the road it's kinda you have to find different hobbies.
There is only so much you can do on a tour bus. Well we started
playing video games me and the band so we're really good at
Tony Hawk skate boarding.
Another thing from the clip on The N it looked like you have
a lot of fun on the road are any of your friends on the road
with you?
Hope Partlow-Well my band
is my friends. We didn't start off together. They are all from
Atlanta. There is a school there called AIM and they all kinda
came from that school. I don't know we all clicked. We all get
along together so well.
What's the hardest part about being a young entertainer?
Hope Partlow-Ok some days
I would much rather be hanging out at home with my family sitting
on the couch. Then there are other days when I cant wait to
get out on stage and perform. That's pretty much what keeps
me going on those hard days. Being a young entertainer I find
beneficial. I find the younger the better. I feel the sooner
you get into the business the more success you find. So I don't
regret anything and I'm glad that I'm 17 and here.
Visit Hope Partlow online at http://www.hopepartlow.com/
Interview
copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be
My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned
Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the
founder of Thabiz.com and
Imissthe80s.com and
writes for the Rap,
Teen, and 1980s
section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer
and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising
inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying
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Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com
or e-mail her at webmaster@thabiz.com.
Interview may not be reprinted, copied or distributed. You may
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Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com October
2005.
