EMBLEM3 at the CD signing at Best Buy, Fairless Hills, PA 7/31/13. Photo copyright 2013 Vin Manta
EMBLEM3 – They’re the One We Want
by Ali Speiss
It’s quite an adventure to catch a pop sensation early on the ride to stardom. This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to speak with the members of Emblem3 at their album signing for Nothing to Lose, which was just released on July 30.
However, for a band who had just released their debut album the day before, the word on Emblem3 was already out. Brothers Keaton and Wesley Stromberg and best friend (and honorary brother) Drew Chadwick first turned heads on the TV series X-Factor. They were signed up to super-producer Simon Cowell’s record label. Now their single “Chloe (You’re the One I Want)” is climbing the charts and getting played on iPods and radios all over.
So at the Best Buy in Fairless Hills, PA (the suburbs of Philadelphia), I walked past hundreds of committed fans who had been waiting in line for hours to get the new album signed. These same fans had to come the day before to get a wristband just to be able to wait in that long line. If that doesn’t prove that these fans are dedicated to the boys, I don’t know what does!
Oh, I know! A fan sending the boys a puppy on their doorstep. It was a Westie Terrier that the band actually kept and named Sampson Stromberg. He even has his own Instagram and Twitter. Check it out! The perks of stardom.
I had the chance to listen to the whole CD soon before getting to talk to the guys. I was really impressed. The tunes have a way of making me want to hear more and more as the next song starts to play. All the songs are so catchy, they get stuck in your head. (In a good way!)
There’s a bit of reggae, a bit of rap. It’s all very contemporary, with many of the songs having an island beat shining through. The guys say that was influenced by their lifestyle back in California. This makes sense, because in Cali you can’t get enough of the chill lifestyle, summer breeze, beach waves and bright sunshine.
For the record, their favorite beach is Huntington Beach. (I’ll wait a bit while all the girls book their trips.)
It seems Emblem3 still think they are back in California just chillin’, living life like they did before their journey with X-Factor began. It is all because of how down to earth they are. The whirlwind of new stardom doesn’t seem to have gone to their heads at all.
Drew Chadwick told me one girl had started to cry when he had tried to be incognito (with his hood up) as he walked through all the screaming fans to reach the bathroom. He didn’t know why. I laughed and told him its most likely because she was so happy to see him.
He did not seem to think so when he said, “I feel like my fans build up an image in their head and get disappointed when they see us.”
So do these guys know what it was like to be star struck? Not according to them. They said that they wouldn’t be dazzled if they met a hero or even just someone they looked up to. Clearly the guys don’t know what is going through all the minds of these screaming fans, who are mostly girls.
Then again, maybe they do. After all, lots of their songs are about girls. Are they about certain particular girls?
“’Jaden’ is,” Chadwick confessed. “‘Jaden’ is completely about a girl named Jaden.” She must know the song is about her, with a name so unique.
Keaton Stromberg continued, “I am sure you are asking about Chloe. That’s what everyone wants to know.”
Well I wasn’t necessarily asking about “Chloe,” I told them; all of them in general. Drew told me that the songs aren’t always all about a certain girl necessarily. Some of them are just a “mental idea. Kind of like a story.”
Click here to read the rest of the interview!
