Julia Nunes has been writing songs since she was thirteen. Now at the age of 20 she is studying for her music major in Rochester, New York where she has lived her whole life.
But over the last year she has become a big Youtube hit. She sings covers of well known songs like The Foundations classic ‘Build me up, Buttercup’ which has received over 1.5 million hits on Youtube. Along with posting cover songs mostly recorded in Julia’s own room, she also records and writes her own songs. Julia’s song ‘Into the sunshine’ has been viewed and listened to over 2 million times and the views just keep on rising.
Julia’s fans will be familiar with the sound of her ukulele, it gives her music an original sound and identity. While most teenagers choose to rock on a guitar, Julia says ‘I played guitar first, but I couldn’t bring it to summer camp cause it would have got ruined, so when I found a cruddy ukulele two days before leaving I was pumped. I played it all summer and it became my ‘thing’.
Like most musicians music was a big part of Julia’s life growing up. ‘My dad is a musician, and was writing children's music since my older sister was born, and played in a blues band with his friends. So music was pretty prevalent to say the least.’
One of Julia’s well known cover songs is ‘Gone’ by Ben Folds. Julia posted her cover of the song two years ago. Ben seen the video and his management got in contact with Julia, asking her to open for him on his tour. Julia says how surprised and excited she was when she heard Ben wanted her to open for him ‘I actually thought it was a scam, just Myspace junk mail but his manager called my mom and asked why I hadn't responded to their messages, and that's when I did cartwheels down my dorm hall.’
Julia is on her own record label ‘Rude Butler Records’, named after a part she played in a 4th grade musical. She has received offers from major labels and big time agents but prefers things to stay where they are for the moment. ‘I prefer to stick with my close circle of friends and people I trust.’
On weekends Julia tours and during the week she does her course work. Eventful.com described Julia as a ‘Ukulele diva’ but the only thing she says she likes to have on tour is orange juice. This summer Julia is playing at the Bonnaroo music festival. It’s a 4 day, multi-stage camping festival on 700 acres of farm in Manchester, Tennessee in June. The festival has a mixed bag of genres from rock and pop to jazz and hip hop She will play along side acts such as Kings Of Leon, Jay-Z and Norah Jones.
Julia has a lot of fans who love her and her music. Some post Youtube videos as a response to Julia’s covers or songs or they cover Julia’s songs. I’m sure they had a field day when Julia asked her fans to make their own videos of themselves and their friends singing her song ‘Binoculars’. The video edited pieces of the fans submitted videos along with Julia’s own recording.
When I asked Julia who she would love to collaborate with she mentioned one of the bands who will play at Bonnaroo this year ‘I think The Avett Brothers and I would make a cool combination.’
‘I think you know’ is Julia’s third album that was released on February 2nd 2010. She says ‘"I Think You Know" has gotten way more attention from the media folks than anything I've ever done and so far the reaction is that I’ve stepped it up a notch.’
Julia Nunes now has three full length albums out. Her debut album ‘Left right wrong’ and her follow up album ‘I wrote these’ are available to buy or download on her website www.junumusic.com. You can also buy Julia’s cover songs which I would highly recommend. She is a superb, incredibly talented, fresh young artist who continues to make original and catchy songs.
No comments:
Post a Comment