Looking For A Young Love With Koko LaRoo

 INTERVIEW 

KOKO LAROO

Hello Koko, welcome to Think In Electronic, thank you so much for taking time out to do this interview with us ..

How are you doing ? We sat here starving, What would we find in your refrigerator right now?
What’s up guys?? Thanks for havin me! I am doing extremely well! Hungry?? Well, I just made myself a plate of hummus, carrots, celery, grape tomatoes and a hard boiled egg. Haha might sound a bit boring to some but it’s actually delicious. And I am of course drinking an Iced Coffee with hazelnut from Starbucks. Typical.

Can you tell us more about who KOKO Laroo is, what you do, where you come from and What 3 drinks would you use to describe yourself? 
I am a topliner/recording artist. I was born in Ontario, CA (about 30 mins east of DTLA). My mom is a singer so i learned A LOT from her growing up. I taught myself guitar and piano when i was a kid and started writing my own songs when i was 12. I recorded my first POP CD at age 13 and after that i started messing around with different genres, trying to find the one that fits me best. I’ve done POP, R&B, ROCK, ACOUSTIC etc. Basically every type of music.

3 Drinks that describe me...

Hmm well, for 1...
Hot Cocoa ;) hahah it’s an inside joke with my friends. I used to walk into any of my friends house and say “who ordered a hot koko??”
2. Vodka Water With Lemon (my typical go-to drink)
3. Tequila Sunrise (makes me a bit crazy... then again, we’re all a little crazy at times)

We have to ask this where does the name Koko LaRoo come from?
Haha okay so my sister has been calling me “Roo” since i was a little girl and i have NO idea why. She’d call me “Roo”, “Roo Bear” and then started calling me “LaRoo” and it just stuck. I moved to LA when i was 18 and met a new group of friends and one of the guys (who ended up being one of my closest homies) ED GOLD was the “nickname” giver and he started calling me “KOKO” which i thought totally matched my personality. So i put two and two together and came up with KOKO LAROO and everyone seemed to love it. So i kept it!

What is it that attracted you to music? And when did you get your big break?
My entire family is musically inclined. Mom’s a singer (as i mentioned before). My dad plays saxophone and piano. My brother can basically play anything he puts his hands on and can actually sing pretty good too! And my sister plays piano. So music has always been around me and i’ve always had a mad passion for it.

I think i’m in the middle of my “big break”. I’m getting tons of fans and respect from the music industry from all the EDM features I have right now and things are starting to pick up really really fast. I  could definitely say that this year is probably my “breaking” moment. But we still have a couple months to go before the year is over, and I still have a few more exciting things happening before 2014 so i think i’m in the middle of my “big break”.

You are a pop singer/songwriter, how did you happen to fall into electronic music? Is EDM a genre you always saw yourself in?
To be honest, i NEVER thought i’d be writing EDM music. Not that i didn’t like it, just never crossed my mind really. It wasn’t until my good friend KiDD RiCH called and asked me “Have you ever thought about writing dance music? There is this thing called “Topline” and it’s when DJ’s/Producers/Labels send you tracks and you write the melody and lyric”. I really liked the idea so we started a topline team called “Kidd&Koko” and the very first track we did got cut in the UK with Alex Kenji and Richard Dinsdale called “Stars In The Sky”. It went to #2 on the Germany iTunes Dance Charts which kinda blew my mind so we started writing 3 times a week. Almost every track we’ve done has gotten cut and i get featured on it as an artist so it’s kinda the best of both worlds!

Young love with Felix Cartal is probably one of our favorite tracks at the moment, what inspired the track?
Such a fun song! Okay so Felix came to our studio in LA and as soon as he walked in the door we hit it off. Such a real dude. Hilarious as well. He played a track that he was working on (which was just a pretty basic track at the time) and we all agreed that we wanted it to be something catchy, fun and summer-like that would make everyone just feel good. So we came up with “Young Love”. Everybody loved that “crush” feeling we’ve all felt when we were younger so we thought we’d bring it back. We wrote it in a couple hours, then Felix went back home to Canada and worked on the track a bit more at his own studio. When he sent me the final version, he had added that drop after the chorus that goes “da da da da da da HEY!” and i was like..... “ohhh yeah people are gonna LOVE this.” And i was right! We’ve sold A LOT of copies so far and now we have “Young Love” acoustic out that is getting a lot of attention as well. So happy about that.

Felix comes across as being a complete honey, How was it like working with Felix Cartal? 
Honestly, you get nothing but good vibes from that guy. We joke around A LOT in the studio and on twitter. He calls me “Queen Selfie” because i take so many pictures of myself. He’s one to talk tho, cuz he may or may not take even more selfies than i do.

Oh and Gentlemen, if you want to impress a girl, go to the barber and ask for the “Felix Cartal” haircut. It’s seriously THAT good. Looks even better in person.

We have to ask you to spill the dirt on Felix one thing we would be shocked to find out about him? 
He has a major crush on me. Hahah just kidding. I actually don’t think there’s ANY dirt to spill. He’s cleaner than clean. I swear he takes like 3 showers a day.

Cole Plante, Myon and Shane 54 , Koko LaRoo Lie to me = Perfect, what was your highlight/ favorite moment of working on this track as well as your least favorite moment?
Ahhh Cole Plante. The heartthrob. Seriously, what a talented 16 year old. I sent the acapella of “Lie To Me” to Cole and his people over at Hollywood Records and they LOVED the topline. So Cole and MS54 made an amazing track and it came out beautifully. Such a perfect collaboration. I don’t think i have a “least favorite” moment with this one. All good vibes!

Everything we do has a message in it; Do you try to give messages in your songs? And if so, what are they?
Absolutely. All the songs that i write come from my own personal experience/heartbreak etc. For example, “Lie To Me” came from a state of wanting someone who didn’t want ONLY me. I kinda dated this guy and i knew he was a player but we had such a strong connection and i thought maybe i was gonna be the girl that he would change for. No one wants to be lied to, but in this very moment, i just wanted him to pretend i was the only one so i could feel loved. Total epic fail. He didn’t care about me. So instead i bounced, wrote this song, and now it’s on the radio so it’s all good!

This question is a hard one, out of all the tracks you have made which one has the most meaning to you? 
Ahhh... SUCH a hard one. One of my newest songs called “I’ll Still Be Here” is really meaningful to me. It’s about having people in your life that have always been there for me, through thick and thin and just letting them know that I too will always be there for them. No matter what. It’s my song to my family, my friends and my fans. :) It will be out sometime next year. 

Who are some artists you would like to collab with and why?
So many artist i want to collab with. I think it would be rad to collab with Krewella cuz i think they are super dope. I most DEF wanna collab with Diplo so I can bring out my hip-hop side. I also want to write with pop artists like Katy Perry, Chris Brown, etc. I love all music.

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
Koko LaRoo - Wild Child.

Where does KOKO see herself in the future?
Definitely writing for other artists for all genres and coming out with more and more music as an artist. I definitely want to perform on the Grammy’s one day.

We are ladies  and we like learning other ladies beauty tips can you share with us your favorite beauty tip?
There are a couple things i just can’t live without. Black fluidline from MAC, Nude Lipliner/mat lipstick, and Mascara. 

Thank you again for doing this interview with us, Do you have any last messages for you fans, and anything news you would like to share?

Thank you SO much for having me! And a HUGE THANK YOU to all my supporting fans! I love you all. <3

Make sure to check out 2 BRAND NEW REMIXES of “Lie To me” with Cole Plante, Myon and Shane 54 Feat. Koko LaRoo by R3HAB and JUVENTA that are NOW AVAILABLE on BEATPORT! 

Also check my new single coming out with Greg Cerrone on ULTRA Records called “Rise Together” this November!

Club Edit - Nov. 1st on BEATPORT
Radio Edit - Nov 19th on iTunes, Spotify etc.

Next Performance is November 27th at CREATE in Hollywood for a Insomniac/SBE Pre-Thanksgiving event with the EC Twins, performing our new single and theme song to Groove Cruise “Set The World On Fire”. Hope to see you there!