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Cecilia Music interviews Cimorelli, the six-sister singing group that first gained fame performing cover songs on YouTube, and has since evolved into some of Catholic music’s most up and coming artists.
1) Cecilia Music: Hi Katherine (Cimorelli)! Who are Cimorelli: how and where did you start?
Hey! Cecilia Music! Thanks for this interview! We are six sisters from Northern California. We grew up in a Catholic, homeschooled family of 11 kids (yes, we have 5 brothers!) in a small town with zero connections to the music industry. Our mom, a classical pianist, taught us to sing and play the piano when we were really young.
We started our band in 2007 when we were teenagers and preteens (Dani, our youngest sister, was only 7 and not part of the band yet!). We played small shows around our town outside of Sacramento – harvest festivals, church events, coffee shops. Our biggest gig was the California state fair!
Our dream was to move down to Los Angeles and get a record deal. In 2009, we made a YouTube cover video of us singing “Party in The USA.” It blew up and ended up getting millions of views! From there, we kept uploading new covers every week.
We were discovered by a major record label (Island UK) and signed with them in 2010. We moved down to Los Angeles and basically felt like all our dreams came true! We spent 5 years in LA chasing that dream, and by the end of it we were exhausted and depressed. We felt empty. We were pretty much on the verge of quitting music.
In 2015 we decided to leave our record label and move to Nashville and become independent artists. It was around this time that we also discovered that we wanted our music to have depth and a strong message. We released several songs about suicide, divorce, self-worth and body image. As we saw the fans react very strongly to the messages, it ignited a fire in us to spread even more messages that would create a positive influence in people’s lives.
Since we moved to Nashville in 2015, we have written and released three albums, toured all over Europe, South America and the US, and even written a book!
We are now young women in our teens and 20s and we run the entire thing ourselves. It’s a business and we are still learning what works best with our very different personalities, shortcomings and gifts. It’s a work in progress but having the freedom to do it ourselves is incredible!
2) “Pretty Pink” is your new release. What is the inspiration behind it?
Lisa wrote “Pretty Pink.” She was inspired by the pressure on women to be perfect and always appear that they “have it all together,” and how we feel like we can’t be vulnerable or let people know when we are falling apart. The message is about embracing your inner beauty regardless of society’s standards of beauty, and embracing your worth and value, no matter what hardships you face in life. Our hope is that it uplifts every woman who hears it!
3) Does faith inspire your music?
Yes! Definitely! Our second album, Alive, is an entirely Christian album with many worship songs, and some life songs all viewed through the lens of Christianity (similar to a Switchfoot album).
When we moved to Nashville three years ago, we began to experience Catholic community on a whole new level; for the first time, we encountered an entire community of people who were on fire and passionate about the Faith. It definitely inspired and strengthened our faith immensely – both personally in our private lives, and also in our music career.
4) What is the idea behind your very lively music video?
It’s about a girl who is beautiful and seems to “have it all together” on her Instagram and social media, but inside she is falling apart. Her life is a mess, but you would never guess that from her exterior appearance. It’s about the things that really matter and discovering what those things are!
5) Being a six-sister band is a great challenge. Is it easy to get along? How do you manage?
It really is challenging! In some ways, it is easier to work together because we know each other so well so we can be incredibly efficient. But it’s also harder because we can be so brutally honest with each other, sometimes we hurt feelings and then you can feel the family and business dynamics blending together. I think the benefits outweigh the challenges in the end! It’s really an amazing gift to work with your family.
6) You have almost 4 million subscribers on your YouTube channel. Is it a responsibility?
Yes! It is 100 percent a responsibility. It is each YouTuber’s responsibility to be careful and thoughtful about the content they are putting out. It’s so easy to get caught up in what is trendy and what will get views and not think about how this will affect and influence the audience – especially children. It’s the responsibility of each YouTuber to be a good role model, and it’s their choice whether they use their influence for good or evil.
7)What do you have you in the works now?
We have a few very exciting projects coming up this year, but we have not announced them yet! Stay tuned!!
8)Where can we find “Pretty Pink”?
Our latest album, Sad Girls Club, can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes. You can watch our YouTube videos at YouTube.com/cimorellitheband.
And check us out on Patreon, an exclusive community where we connect on a deeper level with a smaller group of people! The link is patreon.com/cimorelli
Thank you so much!
MINI BIO
Name: Cimorelli
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Current City: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest Album: Sad Girls Club
Website: cimorellimusic.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/cimorelliband
And today we celebrate...