Completely Expressive: An Interview with Arlene Zelina

by - January 15, 2019


An online presence in today’s industry is much more of a requirement than it’s ever been. To get noticed, an artist has to bring something to their online presence that will not only garner the attention of music lovers but of music industry professionals. For Australian singer/songwriter Arlene Zelina, her own spin on top 40 radio hits did just that.

Her cover songs uploaded to YouTube, including Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger”, Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and Celine Dion’s “Ashes”, have reached hundreds of thousands of views and even sparked the interest of Jason Derulo and manager Frank Harris. Zelina was the first artist signed to their label, Future History.  

“It's so much fun interpreting other artists songs in your own way,” she said. “I tend to do most of them acoustically so it always gives a completely different vibe to the original.”

Her love for performing started at just 3 years old, and remembers listening to a multitude of genres and artists that ultimately rounded out her sound. However, she has recently gone in a new musical direction with her latest single, “Dream of Me”.

While she hasn’t completely abandoned her blend of hip hop and pop, this time around Zelina has focused on a more urban pop blend with soulful undertones.

“I love progressing in my music and pushing the boundaries,” she said. “It's always exciting as an artist to be able to try new sounds, and push your voice in ways you haven't before. For me, it was moving more into the R&B lane with more soulful undertones.”

The inspiration for the track comes from her experience of being a single woman living in Los Angeles.

“Let's be honest - dating in general is hard, but dating in LA is even harder,” Zelina said. “The whole concept is really about exploring your imagination, who you are as a woman and living out all those dreams and fantasies. Sometimes it's ok to chase after lust rather than love. It's about being confident and unapologetically you.”

By having the opportunity to be completely expressive and make all of her own decisions, Arlene Zelina gets to not only create her own spins on popular music but gets to share original music through the same platform. She has just barely scratched the surface on sharing her life with the world and accomplishing all of her goals, so this year should be full of new songs, new shows and more insight into who she really is.

You May Also Like

0 comments