5 actors you didn’t know were on the verge of music careers
Actor slash singer. That sigh-worthy double career has a way of bolstering a star’s profile or bludgeoning it to near-death. Unlike film, there are no take-backs in music. For every actress-first-singer-second like Jennifer Lopez there’s a dozen Jennifer Love Hewitt’s out there who’s names are but a tiny groan in pop history. Lopez was able to magically make us all forget about Gigi and land herself an endless array of Rom Coms after that cinematic calamity. In contrast, Hewitt unleashed four no-hit albums and got dropped from her label after the record company deduced that a return on investment was nowhere to be found.
Although the stakes are so high in the music game—what fool wants to take on Taylor Swift? —a brave new crop of movie men and women are still trying to climb the Billboard charts. Some Hollywood names seem totally legit in their pursuit while others… not so much. Here, we evaluate 5 actors looking to get into the music game for reals.
Johnny Depp
Music cred: The 52-year-old once owned L.A.’s most famous rock spot, The Viper Room, for years, has assisted Iggy Pop and Patti Smith on various projects and has been quietly strumming his pain since appearing in 1993’s Benny and Joon. The commitment is there.
Sound: Depp yearns to rock so much he recently founded a band called Hollywood Vampires with death metal diva, Alice Cooper. It’s Anthrax-meets-Nirvana-meets-Sonic Youth—messy metal.
Greatest hit: N/A. Depp’s Vamp performance at the Grammy’s garnered a fair share of hate-tweets—but it mostly was ignored. Many just couldn’t get past Depp wearing a crushed velvet ensemble.
Hailee Steinfeld
Music cred: FASHION‘s former cover girl was talking tunes back in 2013, when she admitted being inspired by squad queen, Taylor Swift. She also never took music lessons or vocal classes.
Sound: The goal is clear. She’s part of Taylor Swift’s squad and wants into get into Selena’s, Demi’s lane asap. Her catchy Max Martin-produced debut disc of pure dance-y pop doesn’t stand apart from anything else out there so we’ll have to see if disc #2 is happening for Hailee.
Greatest hit: “Love Myself,” hit #30 on the Billboard charts but got a lot of radio play. It’s a damn catchy piece of peanut brittle pop. Sweet beats, salty hooks and crunchy choruses make it a self-love anthem for dejected Tinder users.
Chloë Sevigny
Music cred: She starred in music scene movies such as 1998’s Last Days of Disco and 2003’s Party Monster and frequently gal pals around with Kim Gordon and Courtney Love. Also: she once dated Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker.
Sound: She wisely has teamed up with the always-incredible Johnny Jewel (of Glass Candy, Chromatics and Desire), whose specialty is creating remarkable electro-emo tracks that make Grimes sound semi-retired.
Greatest hit: A banger is not going to happen for Sevigny. And, Chloe is not going on tour anytime soon. Her two songs on soundcloud right now—”Little Flower” and “Prayer to Saint Therese” are soothing, performance-arty, spoken word sound sculptures that veer into Marina Abramović territory.
Allison Williams
Music cred: After starring in Peter Pan last year, rapping Kanye and singing folk songs on HBO’s Girls and raking in millions of views on YouTube with her rendition of Mad Men’s theme song, Ms. Marnie is ready. As soon as Girls last season finishes, expect AW to drop more joints than Snoop Dogg on a Saturday night.
Sound: Just like Marnie, Williams is a mature music connoisseur. She likes jazzy tones, full-on Broadway numbers and has a deep appreciation for singer-songwriter Lilith Fair fare. Plans of doing an album of 50s, 60s and 70s covers are underway and she says her dream producers are Mark Ronson and Don Was.
Greatest hit: Depends on what she chooses for this upcoming disc. Her voice is sweet enough that it could bring young adults into the adult contemporary genre.
Zendaya
Music cred: Known for her star-turn in Disney sitcom “Shake It Up,” the mullet-sporting teen talent released her first song, “Swag it Out,” in 2011 as her acting career started to take off. She’s done musicals and modeling before but singing has always been more than a hobby for her.
Sound: Her self-titled debut disc of 2013 mixed pop, dance and dub step but her upcoming sophomore album—which features a track with Chris Brown—is rumoured to be less pop-oriented and more R&B. It is supposed to be informed by ’90s soul and Nick Jonas, Timbaland, Diane Warren are some of the top collaborators she’s been working with lately.
Greatest hit:
The drum-heavy pop song, “Replay,” which hit #51 on the Billboard charts. With the right management, Rihanna-level fame could happen for Mz. Z.
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Actor slash singer. That sigh-worthy double career has a way of bolstering a star's profile or bludgeoning it to near-death. Unlike film, there are no take-backs in music. For every actress-first-singer-second like Jennifer Lopez there's a dozen Jennifer Love Hewitt’s out there who's names are but a tiny groan in pop history. Lopez was able to magically make us all forget about Gigi and land herself an endless array of Rom Coms after that cinematic calamity. In contrast, Hewitt unleashed four no-hit albums and got dropped from her label after the record company deduced that a return on investment was nowhere to be found.
Although the stakes are so high in the music game—what fool wants to take on Taylor Swift? —a brave new crop of movie men and women are still trying to climb the Billboard charts. Some Hollywood names seem totally legit in their pursuit while others... not so much. Here, we evaluate 5 actors looking to get into the music game for reals.
Johnny Depp
Music cred: The 52-year-old once owned L.A.'s most famous rock spot, The Viper Room, for years, has assisted Iggy Pop and Patti Smith on various projects and has been quietly strumming his pain since appearing in 1993's Benny and Joon. The commitment is there.
Sound: Depp yearns to rock so much he recently founded a band called Hollywood Vampires with death metal diva, Alice Cooper. It's Anthrax-meets-Nirvana-meets-Sonic Youth—messy metal.
Greatest hit: N/A. Depp's Vamp performance at the Grammy's garnered a fair share of hate-tweets—but it mostly was ignored. Many just couldn't get past Depp wearing a crushed velvet ensemble.
Hailee Steinfeld
Music cred: FASHION's former cover girl was talking tunes back in 2013, when she admitted being inspired by squad queen, Taylor Swift. She also never took music lessons or vocal classes.
Sound: The goal is clear. She's part of Taylor Swift's squad and wants into get into Selena's, Demi's lane asap. Her catchy Max Martin-produced debut disc of pure dance-y pop doesn't stand apart from anything else out there so we'll have to see if disc #2 is happening for Hailee.
Greatest hit: "Love Myself," hit #30 on the Billboard charts but got a lot of radio play. It's a damn catchy piece of peanut brittle pop. Sweet beats, salty hooks and crunchy choruses make it a self-love anthem for dejected Tinder users.
Chloë Sevigny
Music cred: She starred in music scene movies such as 1998's Last Days of Disco and 2003's Party Monster and frequently gal pals around with Kim Gordon and Courtney Love. Also: she once dated Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.
Sound: She wisely has teamed up with the always-incredible Johnny Jewel (of Glass Candy, Chromatics and Desire), whose specialty is creating remarkable electro-emo tracks that make Grimes sound semi-retired.
Greatest hit: A banger is not going to happen for Sevigny. And, Chloe is not going on tour anytime soon. Her two songs on soundcloud right now—"Little Flower" and "Prayer to Saint Therese" are soothing, performance-arty, spoken word sound sculptures that veer into Marina Abramović territory.
Allison Williams
Music cred: After starring in Peter Pan last year, rapping Kanye and singing folk songs on HBO's Girls and raking in millions of views on YouTube with her rendition of Mad Men's theme song, Ms. Marnie is ready. As soon as Girls last season finishes, expect AW to drop more joints than Snoop Dogg on a Saturday night.
Sound: Just like Marnie, Williams is a mature music connoisseur. She likes jazzy tones, full-on Broadway numbers and has a deep appreciation for singer-songwriter Lilith Fair fare. Plans of doing an album of 50s, 60s and 70s covers are underway and she says her dream producers are Mark Ronson and Don Was.
Greatest hit: Depends on what she chooses for this upcoming disc. Her voice is sweet enough that it could bring young adults into the adult contemporary genre.
Zendaya
Music cred: Known for her star-turn in Disney sitcom "Shake It Up," the mullet-sporting teen talent released her first song, "Swag it Out," in 2011 as her acting career started to take off. She's done musicals and modeling before but singing has always been more than a hobby for her.
Sound: Her self-titled debut disc of 2013 mixed pop, dance and dub step but her upcoming sophomore album—which features a track with Chris Brown—is rumoured to be less pop-oriented and more R&B. It is supposed to be informed by '90s soul and Nick Jonas, Timbaland, Diane Warren are some of the top collaborators she's been working with lately.
Greatest hit:
[caption id="attachment_252815" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic[/caption]
The drum-heavy pop song, "Replay," which hit #51 on the Billboard charts. With the right management, Rihanna-level fame could happen for Mz. Z.){kind=link}