April 2, 2015
"With You" Now...Musical Royalty Cheyenne Elliott
JC Alvarez READ TIME: 5 MIN.
Breaking into the music biz today has become dependent on a national consensus on how many votes you're allowed during a live broadcast. Unless you are wily enough to charm the pants off a winning "voice" coach, you stand little chance of emerging an "idol" of millions and debuting at #1 on the iTunes hit list. Now what if you've been performing since you were a little girl, honing your talents on stage in your adolescence alongside - not only a true idol...but an icon? If you're that fortunate, then your ticket to stardom is practically one that's guaranteed, though paved with the sweat, tears and hard work.
Emerging pop recording artist Cheyenne Elliott has already placed on Billboard's Dance Chart with her brand new single "With You." The premiere hit off Jason Dauman's own music label Tarpan Music/Dauman Music is the #3 Breakout Record of the moment --�exactly what you'd expect from the lovely young miss who has been touring the world singing since she was a teenager with her legendary and famous grandmother Dionne Warwick.
To introduce the ingenue onto the scene, Elliott has appropriately chosen a track that is purposefully generating the necessary buzz not only suitable to radio, but also made to fit onto the dynamic fabric of the club scene. "I love dance music and that sound," the artist insists, and the remix for "With You" which was crafted by Jamie Sanchez certainly has the necessary beats per minute to inspire mighty gyrations on the dance floor. "People are really gravitating to it and the feel and the energy in it," Elliott is happy to share. "That's really what we tried to capture. I'm very proud of it."
The Greatest Love Of All
So perhaps you can understand Elliott's eager enthusiasm as her single starts to climb the charts. She has quite the legacy to live up to. Among her grandmother Dionne Warwick's most famous close friends she can count music legends Gladys Knight and Gloria Estefan who will be closely minding her career. And then of course there's her cousin - the incomparable Whitney Houston who certainly influenced Elliott from a very young age as well.
Come Saturday, April 11 Elliott will be premiering the song "With You" for a live audience at the legendary Night of a Thousand Gowns in New York City. "I've been rehearsing and practicing, so I'm really excited to be performing," Elliott remarked. It'll be her first time signing the song live and it doesn't escape her that the outfit will be as important as hitting all the right notes. "I definitely have something eye-catching in mind that will be coordinated along with the dancers," added the artist, who is as savvy about image in today's pop-music world as also having the talent and fierce dedication to capture an audience.
"I'm definitely conscious of it," she said. "Everyone really is. It's a package - my music, my sound and my look -- and I want to properly represent and do my best." That care to detail and professionalism can certainly be considered a part of Elliott's genetic make-up, after all given the career longevity of her own grandmother Warwick and, of course, the success matched by Houston. Both have provided Elliott, along with her supportive parents, a template of success to graciously follow in. "You have to live in the moment," she said. "Everything that happens, happens for a reason, and you have to take all of these experience and be thankful for them."
Living Up to the Legacy
In the meantime, Elliott has dived into her music, recording and performing and putting great effort into defining her own vocal personality. She's very much attracted to the current popularization of dance and EDM in pop. "There have been so many great songs out and especially on the radio," but Elliott admits she's envious that she didn't get to record on the breakout hit for Clean Bandit, "Rather Be" which has been popular in mainstream as well as the club scene. "It's so funky and makes me feel great! It's a breath of fresh air. I wish that song was mine!"
Cheyenne is diligently on a new track to follow up "With You." "I want to continue to perform and excited with journey ahead." She's hopeful to one day collaborating with Pharrell Williams. "The music he's been producing in the last two years is so unbelievable. He's so talented." And in the meantime Elliott's work with producer Narada Michael Walden (who has produced songs for Mariah Carey, as well as Whitney Houston) is helping to shape her identity as an independent musician. "The fact that I'm getting to work with Walden [to me] is insane!"
Native New Yorker JC Alvarez is a pop-culture enthusiast and the nightlife chronicler of the club scene and its celebrity denizens from coast-to-coast. He is the on-air host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Out Loud & Live!" and is also on the panel of the local-access talk show "Talking About".