Teen idol Alexander James Rodriguez, who first rose to fame with his debut single My Crew, has released a vibrant and poppy cover of the Band of Merrymakers ‘Holiday in LA.’ The original song produced by hitmakers Sam Hollander (Panic! at the Disco) and Sam Griffin (Taylor Swift), was first released in 2013.
Listen to the song here
“This is such a fun story. I first heard Holiday in LA during 5th grade, when we were given it as a song to learn for the parent Holiday Performance. I just loved it. It is such a happy and poppy song with the lyrics describing the Los Angeles season of good cheer. It has been three years since that Christmas show, but I still love it. Back in August, I was on a bike ride with my mom and best friend, and we were talking about giving back to benefit children around the world. We bantered other Christmas records but kept landing back to Holiday in LA.”
On listening to the record, the song perfectly describes Los Angeles with verses like, “We wanna see snow, we go to The Grove cause every day’s a movie, All your wishes come true ….” which rings true as Angelenos have not seen snow since 1962 so families go to the famed outdoor mall and original Farmers Market in West Hollywood to seek snow. The second verse describes the SoCal beach weather some more, “Lords a leaping out on Venice Beach, There ain’t a cloud in the sky, Jack Frost nipping at a sunburned nose, It melts him every time.”
Alexander, who turned 13 in June, recorded his first set of singles, ‘My Crew’, ‘Your Smile’ and ‘Up To You’, in May. He later returned to the studio in October to record his version of Holiday in LA, of which all proceeds are being donated to UNICEF.
“It was really hard to recreate the song with all the backing vocals of children, as we were very much still in lockdown, so instead I asked a couple of my friends from 5th grade to join me in the studio, along with my mom and her former assistant. We decorated the studio with Christmas trees, tinsel and gave everyone a hat to help them feel the Holiday season vibe, even though it was October!”
Since moving from London to Los Angeles, Alexander has embraced his new home of Los Angeles, and just like the lyrics to Holiday in LA suggest, “We surf on our boards and carol in shorts, and sing with Brian Wilson, mistletoe in the dunes,” the rising star can be found regularly surfing in Malibu, as seen in his music video for ‘Your Smile’, skateboarding along Venice Beach or hiking the Hollywood Sign, all photos fans can frequently see on his social media.
“I really want to make music that people can sing along to and have fun. I have recorded three new songs that will release next year and who knows maybe I will sign with a record label – I’d love that!”
There is no doubt this is just the beginning for Alexander, who is definitely headed to high places. You can follow him for up to the minute news at: www.instagram.com/iamajrodriguez and his music can be heard wherever you listen to music.
Link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3wMYQJnHWOyWMeRoTISB4n
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