This girl loves to sing. And she’s already piqued the paparazzi’s attention. Of course, she is Britney Spears’ cousin and former assistant. But this sweet southern belle has some talent of her own. With a hopeful future as a celebrity singer, she’s ready to share her soulful sound and rich voice with the world…
Glam chatted with Alli Sims, and touched on everything you want to know. From her unique style to her relationship with Britney to her up-and-coming career, we’ve got the scoop…
What made you want to be a performer?
I’ve always wanted to be a professional singer – since I was really little… I wanted to move to L.A. right after high school, but my mom literally talked me through every semester of college. “You have to graduate!”
But, yeah, so I moved out to L.A. right after college to try to get into everything that I wanted to do singing-wise; a little bit of acting. And just realized L.A. is so expensive! I started working for Mindy Weiss, who I absolutely love, doing celebrity weddings and stuff like that. And was also just working on my stuff on the side. And you know you just sort of lose track of time when you’re working everyday and trying to do your own thing. You don’t even realize how long you’ve been here and you haven’t really done what you wanted to move out here to do in the first place. So I tried last year really to get a grip on that and start really working toward where I wanted to go.
Describe your vocal style.
Very soulful. I love slow, bluesy, passionate songs. I have a really strong voice. I’m lucky I can really control what I want to do with it. I can have vibrato or I can have it really smooth and steady. I started when I was little being trained theatrically – classically – in voice so was always doing more of a Broadway type of style. I grew up doing musicals and stuff. So it’s a really strong voice. And definitely being from Louisiana [it] definitely has a lot of blues in it.
What’s your life like in L.A.? What do you do for fun? Are you big on the nightlife scene?
I like to do a little bit of everything. My best friend and I went to a water park two days ago. I have a great group of friends out her and we’re always doing something fun. Whether it’s a barbeque at someone’s house, or just going to a nice dinner, or going out if we feel like dancing and doing that type of thing. I definitely go out. Definitely not wild at all, you know what I mean. I love to go out to little dive places or even clubs and dance with friends when I’m in that mood. It really depends on my mood.
Describe your fashion style?
I love comfortable. I love comfortable, functional, classic pieces. I was a big blue-jeans, cute tops girl for a while. But I’ve really moved into lots of dresses over the last year. Which is funny because I never really wore a ton of dresses. But I mean, this summer, my favorite is like Missoni little dresses; cute Pucci or Missoni bathing suits. If I could buy whatever I wanted to buy all the time I’d probably live in Chanel because I’m obsessed! From their purses to sunglasses to shoes to cute dresses – I love all of their stuff.
What about on the romance front? Are you seeing anyone?
No. I mean, I definitely am hanging out and, you know, kind of doing my own thing as far as that. But definitely not anybody serious. There’s one guy that I hang out with, but we’re definitely not dating – we’re good friends. We’re just kind of seeing where it goes – if it goes anywhere. It may not go anywhere. I’m just kind of dating around. I have so much going on right now. And it seems like every guy I actually meet and come in contact with has so much going on right now with their careers that it’s kind of like timing is weird right now.
What would you be doing if not performing?
Let’s see. I loved my job with Mindy. It was great because I was young and I didn’t mind traveling around and doing that type of stuff. I absolutely loved working for her. As far as my degree, I always thought I’d probably get into a marketing department – I love sports – at like a professional sports team or something like that. Or even with product placement.
So what, for you, will be the ultimate sign that you’ve made it as a performer?
My ultimate goal is to be able to make a good living, and to provide for myself comfortably and sing – that’s my passion. I have always wanted to do a part – a main character in a Disney animated film. You know Belle from Beauty and the Beast, stuff like that. I’ve always really been interested in doing soundtrack work. It would definitely hit me on the head and I would be like “wow this is really happening” if I had a main song in a feature film. Example, Faith Hill Pearl Harbor… I mean my goal is to just be able to record and do what I want to do, and put my stuff on movies, and have my stuff on the radio. And really appeal to a large audience.
Your Britney Spears’ cousin, and you used to work for her as an assistant. Would you ever consider doing a duet with Britney?
I don’t know! Honestly, I don’t know if our voices would even blend together they’re so different. You know what I mean? If she wanted to do something, absolutely. I would try to see if we could work something out. We’d definitely have a good time doing something like that. I really just don’t know. I just really don’t now how it would blend because it seems like it’s two different categories.
Working with Britney, how did it prepare you for a career as a performer? What did you learn? Is there anything you’d like to avoid?
Right. I definitely did learn a lot working with her. I met a lot of great people. I’m also very lucky because I have a lot of other friends that are in the music industry… As far as working with Britney; it was wonderful. She’s lovely. You know, I love her to death. We get along great. And it was just so fun to be with somebody from home, and the big city. And somebody that you could talk to and they listen to you; and you listen to them. It was a really good relationship – friendship. And, um, I’ve learned as far as gosh – you know, I still don’t know how to deal with those paparazzi people. I don’t think you can deal with them. You know what I mean? It’s really gotten out of hand. I would just hope that I would stand to the positive side of things, and not let them ruffle me all up where I’m bent out of shape. I think with them the best if just act like you don’t even know they’re there. Just smile and say hi and be really polite. And then go on with your business. Seriously, they’re gonna be there – they’re always going to be there. And it just depends on what part of your life you’re in, how out of control they’re going to be.
[Britney] was kind of in a transition stage as far as music and stuff, so I was in the studio with her. And that was really cool to see how all of that worked. And meet some of the people that she was working with and everything. But as far as that, it was more just helping her out day to day with lots of stuff.
What’s one thing about Britney that you think people should know?
As far as Britney – she is honestly; she’s a great friend. She’s a great listener. She’s a very, very generous, positive person. People don’t know her. And, of course, you form opinions by what you see. But you also have to realize that people want negative, when it should be positive things that they want to focus on. I just think everyone should know that she’s a wonderful person. She has great intentions. She really looks out for people that she cares for. And she’s an absolutely wonderful mother. She adores her children, and they adore her. And everyday, she wakes up, and the first thing is taking care of them and providing for them and making their day wonderful.
What about you? What’s one thing you want people to know about you?
I would just mainly want people to know that, you now, I feel like I’m a really nice person. And just, I’ve been wanting to do this since I was four-years-old. And it isn’t because I was working with Britney and hanging around with Britney that I decided “Oh, this is what I want to do” – just out of the blue. I feel like a lot of people think that that’s what happened, and they don’t know that I started piano when I was four-and-a-half. I was taking singing lessons when I was younger. I was in musicals. I was always doing something when it came to this profession. And mainly just want them to know that this wasn’t something that was out of the blue – that I think anybody can do and it’s easy. I know it’s hard work. Shoot, I’ve worked here for four years I’ve been working on it. You know what I mean? Just the timing kinda fell into place with everyone. You know what I mean?
So when you decided to work for Britney, did you ever think to yourself “people are going to think I’m riding on her coattails?”
Honestly. I think I was really naïve in that fact. Because when everything was going on at that time, the last thing on my mind was me and singing. You know what I’m saying. It was more like “she’s a friend; everybody needs a good friend sometimes.” I – you know – I wanted to be there for her. And honestly not one thing crossed my mind about that. Because, I honestly, a couple months before that had been so busy working with Mindy that I kind of put everything on hold anyway. So it’s not like when all of this started up that I was putting my music on hold to go with her. It was already kind of put on hold two months before that. So the only thing on my mind was “Oh gosh, I’ve gotta tell Mindy that I’m not going to be working for her anymore,” because that’s kind of what I felt that’s what I needed to do. You know life is short – I felt like that’s what I needed to do at that moment. I knew that it probably was just gonna be for a little while. But it was a personal decision that I just had to make on my own. I really didn’t even listen to that many people about it. Because I just thought it was the right thing to do at the time.
So, how are you feeling now about your future?
I’ve been working on this I feel like my whole life. So it’s definitely hitting reality. It’s kinda weird. Like yesterday I was like “Okay, yeah, it’s really happening now. I’m scared! I’m excited!” You know nobody wants to go out there and fail, everybody likes to dream and hopefully if they work hard enough and things fall into place right, be able to live their dream. For me it’s the beginning stages. This is my chance now. I hope everything goes like planned and just have a lot of support from the public out there. I think I’m truly talented and have been working on it for a long time…
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