Cimorelli Tell Us Why Their Albums’ Release Took So Long and How Fans Inspired Their Book
It's been a huge year for Cimorelli and their fans.
In the last 12 months alone, the six incredible singing sisters released their debut album, a follow up album and a book of empowering stories and life advice—and they have even bigger things on the horizon.
We recently caught up with the group to find out their favorite tracks from their sophomore album, Alive, how their book came to be and how they've grown as artists in their near decade on YouTube.
Sweety High: What was the recording process for Alive?
Katherine Cimorelli: It was an amazing process. Some of the songs on Alive are 7-8 years old! We incorporated some of our all-time favorite songs we have written onto that album.
One of the cool things is that every girl really shared very personal moments in the songs. You can hear that we are really opening up and sharing some raw things on Alive. The overall theme of Alive is that every emotion is worth feeling, and through all the ups and downs, heartbreaks and triumphs, we become more human.
SH: What are your favorite songs on the album?
Christina Cimorelli: "Alive," because it encourages you to really feel everything in life and live it out fully and passionately.
KC: My favorite is also "Alive." It was actually inspired by a poem I wrote four years ago. I was going through intense heartbreak and venting to one of my friends about the pain I felt and she said, "What you are feeling is so beautiful. This is what it means so be human." That really inspired me and got me through.
Lisa Cimorelli: My favorite is "The Love Of A Man" because I wrote it and it's incredibly personal to me.
Dani Cimorelli: "My God Is Here," because it has such a magical feeling to it, and it makes me feel really connected to God when I listen to it.
Lauren Cimorelli: "Hope For It," because it always pumps me up when I need it.
Amy: My favorite song on Alive is "Your Name Is Forever," because it lifts me up and makes me feel like God is truly there for me.
Sweety High: It took years for the band to finally release a full-length album, and then you released another album in the same year. Why did that happen the way it did?
The reason it took us so long to release an album is because we were signed with a major label and were not in charge of the timing. We waited for five years hoping to release it, and our fans were getting so frustrated. Finally, we decided to become independent artists, and now we've released two full-length albums.
SH: Was it stressful to make so much happen in so little time?
KC: There were times when it was stressful, but overall, not really. Because we all write, there are six writers contributing songs, so the process is actually more of us trying to pick between this great volume of songs we love. Also, recording the first album taught us a lot about organization and how to make an album, so the second time around we pretty much knew exactly what to do.
SH: What has it been like to perform those new songs to your fans?
KC: We debuted a few of the songs from Alive on our European tour in November of 2016 and it was absolutely amazing—especially our song "One More Night." The main line is "Please just give it one more night" and we had the audience hold up the number one as a symbol of unity and reminder that we are not alone. Looking around and seeing everyone, even the parents, holding up their number ones was an incredibly moving and powerful experience.
SH: Tell us about the process of writing your book, Lessons Learned.
KC: Writing a book has always been a huge dream of ours. We were so excited to finally get to write one, and picking the subject matter was actually a really easy decision. Our fans are constantly sharing their stories on Twitter and other social media and asking for our advice. We sat down one day and brainstormed a list of what we got asked the most and what we thought would be the most helpful and that was how we figured out the layout of the book.
We've gotten a lot of positive responses about the book from fans saying the advice really helped them out. We are so happy because that's what we wanted. We have the best fans!
SH: How do you feel that Cimorelli has grown as a musical group since you first started all those years ago?
KC: I think we've grown up and matured a lot, meaning that we really try to have a purpose and message to everything we do. We've realized that sharing those messages with the fans is the absolute most rewarding thing. Being able to share special moments of connection with the fans onstage has changed our lives and I think that's why we write songs the way we do.
SH: What's next for the band?
KC: We have some very exciting projects coming up in 2017. Nothing we can share yet, but we will share as soon as we can!
Love hearing Cimorelli's best fan stories? Click HERE to read about their most memorable fan experience.