TATYANA ALI
How's this for a wonderful daydream?
You're an acclaimed child actor on Broadway....then you're one of the most familiar faces on family T.V, playing little sister to Will Smith on The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air....you're accepted into Harvard University....you make movies....then, when you release your first single (oh, yeah, you can really, really sing!), it skyrockets into the Top 10 and is accompanied by a video costarring Antonio Sabato Jr.
Snap out of it! That's *not* gonna happen. Why? Because that's *already* happened to the beautiful, talented Tatyana Ali.
It make perfect sense that her first hit song would be called Daydreamin', because so many of Tatyana's own dreams have come true.
We met with Tatyana in a deserted hotel cafe on her most recent trip to New York. (We even got to meet her gorgeous manager - that's "mommy" to you!)
In person, Tatyana is even cuter than on TV or in her pictures. She wore a tight, brown, semi-sheer top with black bra, jeans, and was sporting a delicate gold nose-ring. When talking about her MJJ album, Kiss The Sky, she bubbled with excitement and anticipation. Sipping her coffee, she answered all our questions animatedly.
We would like to tell you, "This girl is going places."
Except she's already there.
POPSTAR! What are some of the things you daydream about?
TATYANA! Oh!!! I have a lot of crushes. I probably have a new crush every week.
Um....I daydream about, God, it kinda depends....I'll go watch a movie and if it's a movie that just completely grabs me, a movie I get submersed in - once the movie's over I still wanna see it, I want it to keep going on - then I'll daydream about the era the movie was set in and create a little character for myself.
This is really embarrassing! [giggles]
I certainly daydream about my work and the outcome of it.
POPSTAR! Daydreamin' is already a huge hit!
TATYANA! I don't gauge myself according to what's going on in the industry and what other people are doing. So when I started singing, I started to read the "trades" just to get an idea what SoundScan was and all these insane things that I'm just now understanding.
So it freaked me out when I opened Billboard! I kinda know what a "bullet" is, but not quite. And I saw "#20 with a bullet"....I had a heart attack. A heart attack. And then I'm like, "Okay, great, so everyone was curious, now they've satisfies their curiosity. Now it's gonna go down to 80." I was telling everybody, "Now I'm not even gonna be on the chart next week, okay?" [almost whispering] And then it went up seven points.\
POPSTAR! Having Antonio Sabato Jr., in your video is a great perk.
TATYANA! That's actually weird. I went with all my girlfriends to see The Big Hit. It was such a fun movie for girls - girls rarely have fun movies like that where it was four of my girlfriends and we were just sitting in the theater with out legs up going, "Ohmigod!" The whole movie was, "Ohmigod! Look at his butt! Ohmigod! Look at his oh, oh, oh!" [giggles]
I told the president of Will Smith's company about how much fun this movie was and how cute all the guys were in that movie and blahblahblahblah. She was like, "You know what? I'm having dinner with the director. Oh, wow, wouldn't it be interesting - hmm. I'm not gonna say anything. Just cool out."
We already knew the concept of the video. The whole point of it is: everybody knows me as a character, so I want to be myself. So in the video, each guy represents a different part of me culturally, who I am. My mother's from Panama, so my house is very Latin, we speak Spanish at home. So Antonio represents the Latin part of me.
You don't understand. When Antonio walked into the recording studio, she didn't tell me that he said yes. I JUST ABOUT HAD A HEART ATTACK. When I get nervous, especially around guys that are cute or whatever, or I really respect, I get very professional. Very, very professional. [Going into the business tone] Hi. How are you? Thank you so much. [Giving handshake] So I turn into this cold fish.
Meanwhile, I'm dying because in person he's just flawless, like a thousand times more beautiful than he could ever be on celluloid. And he was so sweet and so warm and kind. We danced together in the video. If he wasn't that nice, I would've seemed uncomfortable. I would've been like a piece of wood. [giggles]
It was awesome. Awesome.
POPSTAR! What are your personal favorite songs on Kiss The Sky?
TATYANA! I just started working on the video for the second single, Boy You Knock Me Out, and I love dancing to that song so much. Just hearing it - I always thought it was real coastly, but hearing it just banging in a studio with dancers and sweating to it, I love it. I think it's gonna be a really cool club record.
I love He Loves Me, which DJ Jazzy Jeff did. That was the last song I recorded, and it was kind of like a tribute song because for me, the project was pretty much done and I was happy with it. The song is about God - that's who I'm singing to - and I love it.
I think those are my faves right now, but then every time I get into thinking of what's gonna be the next single....
POPSTAR! You mentioned Will Smith. How instrumental has he been in your career?
TATYANA! Uhhh, he pretty much called me on my b.s. Like, I always sang, y'know - I started doing this when I was four and I'm from New York, so I did a lot of theater. So I was singing and dancing and acting.
So when I got Fresh Prince, I went out to California and that was the thing I was recognized for mainstream. So no one really knew that singing was something that I did.
Will and the producers got me to sing on the show. I happened at the end of the fifth season. My thing was, "I don't want to make it cheesy, I don't want to be cheesy, I don't want to have, like, this whole episode so that at the end I can sing. I don't need to sing," blahblahblah.
I was terrified. Terrified! Because I had found a little comfortable place where I wasn't the star of anything, I was part of the ensemble, so you can't really fall too hard. So Will called me on it. And he's like, "Y'know, I saw you when you were singing. You love it." He's like, "Tell you what. What if I set up some demo dates for you. You go to Philly, hang out in the studio and see if you like it."
And I loved it. It was like....I had a ball. I stayed in the studio until four o'clock in the morning just chilling and hanging out and writing more and singing more and, "Oh, can I try this." He liked ME.
All the demos that I did in Philly he brought to MJJ [Michael Jackson's label] and MJJ had the same kind of faith in me. Will is one of the executive producers.
What I realized is that Will has a lot of respect for me and I think it's partially because when we started working, I was 11 and he was 21, but he'd never acted before and I'd been doing it for seven years. I was the pro and he wasn't, so he had this weird respect for me even though he's so much older and a huge star.
But I don't think he wanted to hold my hand, I think he wanted me to go it alone and figure things out on my own and not feel like I had someone always carrying me through. Which I think is really cool.
POPSTAR! Will fans of the TV show be surprised at how sexy and mature Kiss The Sky is?
TATYANA! Yeah, I guess it is in a way. Daydreamin' is probably the "youngest" song on the album, I think. I think it was cool to release that first because it's not such a huge shock.
Me, personally, I'm not going out trying to be a sexpot, or anything like that - you know what I mean? Physically, I don't think I'm shocking. My nose-ring might be a little shocking, but that's it. [giggles]
In terms of the songs, I have to remind people when I see them, "You know, the show's been gone for three years." Because it's in syndication, people don't realize that. I was 16 when the show was over. Now I'm 19.
Actually, everything I sing about on the album I've experienced. I've been in love and I've broken up and I've had a relationship and of course I've had crushes and infatuations and all that other stuff. So I do think the album is a good reflection of who I am now. It's just a matter of people catching up, which I hope they do.
POPSTAR! Are you in love now or are you looking for love?
TATYANA! You know what? If love came knocking on my door I'd be happy. I'm not looking for a boyfriend or anything like that.
POPSTAR! But you're available?
TATYANA! Sure I'm available. Oh, my God! I'm so available it's crazy. It's sickening I'm so available.
POPSTAR! During an interlude on your CD, you list various kinds of love, including the love of conmpanionship. Who are your greatest companions?
TATYANA! My mother's definately my companion, and especially now more than ever. I hate to say - I introduce her as Mommy, not my manager-slash-mom. She does everything a manager does, and then some. She gives me love, too! [cracks up]
My [ex-] boyfriend [Jonathan Brandis], we were best, best, best friends. We had a long-distance relationship for like seven months, talked on the phone every day, twice a day. He was my best friend in the whole wide world. He actually still is my best friend. That was definately my first true, true, true, true best friend.
POPSTAR! You just finished a movie called Jawbreaker with Rose McGowan and Pam Grier. What's it about?
TATYANA! Three girls who accidently kill their best friend. [giggles] It's a dark comedy, it's definately a social satire on high-school life and popularity and what that really means.
There are a lot of different character roles in the script basically making up the different social groups in the high-school. I'm the head of one of the social groups. I'm "Brenda," the head cheerleader - mean, snobby.
Look, I knew some nice cheerleaders in high-school, but I was never a cheerleader, I was a brain. Everybody in sports, they got all the attention all the time. Actually, [laughs] the smart kids in the school had one special night at the end of the year that nobody else in the school knew about, only our parents and a few faculty members. Everybody in sports, they'd get every Friday.
POPSTAR! Was it fun playing such a nasty character for a change?
TATYANA! It was so cool! Every single day I went to work I had to find ways to be evil. She was definately a new character for me. It was just like - it was like pretty much you'd have to look at the person you were doing the scene with and say, "Where can I tear her up? What are her faults?"
It was interesting too because a character like that, what does she not like about herself, what is she scared of - that's what you bring out in other people and bash them for.
It was fun. It was a lot of fun. I did it right in the midst of the album just because I get a bug. I start to itch. I get that, I'm a workoholic, I think. I deferred a year from college to finish the album, so I had this nice chunk of time where I was recording, but I really wasn't working. For other opeople, it would've been a normal amount of work. But for me, it wasn't enough. So this script came and I was like, "Oh! I wanna be a part of this! Give me something! Please?" And the director gave me something, so I was happy - very, very happy.
POPSTAR! So people shouldn't assume you've stopped acting?
TATYANA! I don't think I'll go back into TV just yet. I want to do more film work, just 'cuz I've done TV for so long. Film is kind of unchartered territory.
Okay, if I have my way, I'd - a year, year and a half, even two years - go to film. And then the next step after that would be, like, another album. And then the next step after that I really want to do theater again. But then after that I don't know! [giggles]
POPSTAR! How can you have a singing career and go to Harvard?
TATYANA! I'm not booked in any tours because my album's just coming out and I'm a "new artist," so everything that I'm doing are "Summer Jams," which are on the weekends. So, I mean, I'll be really, really busy and probably really, really tired, but I'll be really happy because I'll be doing everything I want to do.
POPSTAR! Are you going to be in the dorm system?
TATYANA! Yes! They have one roommate, two roommates or three roommates. And then they have four to five roommates, which is like a suite, so that's what I chose because I figure there might be one crazy person out of the five, but if it's just one and I end up with that one nut, then I'm totally screwed! [giggles]
POPSTAR! Do you get to choose what kind of roommates you want?
TATYANA! They had us make a list of: "Are you neat?" "Are you messy?" "Do you smoke or don't you smoke?" But Harvard, their thing is, "Oh, the diversity of the school, there's so much diversity, you're gonna meet so many different kinds of people." So I think that whatever I put I'll get the opposite.
POPSTAR! What was your first paid acting job?
TATYANA! I think - I have to verfiy it with my mom - I think it was a standby for a commercial. They always do it for little kids because they might get sick, or they might now show up that day, or they might be cranky.
POPSTAR! What about your first paid acting job where you actually had to do something?
TATYANA! Well, you said "paid" and I got paid! [giggles]
I have a feeling it was a Tylenol commercial that ran for a while. The woman who does my hair and makeup was sitting in the hotel room and said, "You know, me and my friends were talking about when we first saw you, and I know exactly where I first saw you. You were sitting on a bed and you were holding a stuffed animal and you said, "Daddy, meet my new friend Brontosaurus." The Tylenol commercial!"
There are some people that have really followed me, and I know this because they tell me, "Oh, I named my daughter after you when you were on Sesame Street and Herbie Hancock played your name on the synthesizer. And here's little Tatyana!" I'm like, "OHHH!" [giggles]
POPSTAR! Who are some people you'd like to do a duet with?
TATYANA! There are people that I'm a huge fan of, but I don't know if I'd want to work with them because I don't know how I'd be.
Okay. Here's an example: The duet with Chico DeBarge. That was my idea. That song, Yesterday, wasn't supposed to be a duet at first. The president of MJJ heard it and said, "Wow, this would make an awesome duet. What do you think about having a duet on the album?" I was like, "I feel that. I feel that." The producer felt that, too, so while I'm recording other songs, I'm thinking, "Who's gonna do it?" But nothing's, like, really clicking.
So I go to a music convention in Reno and Chico DeBarge is performing. I'd seen his remixvideo and I was like, "Oh, yeah, that's cool. I like his song." But I don't know any of his other songs. He gets up on the stage - he is such an incredible performer that at the end of every song I knew that song. He was so unbelievable. I was like, " I want to work with this person so badly." And then it dawned on me: "Oh, my God! The duet!" So i turned to everyone around me from the label and I'm like, "C-c-can, can....? Him. I want to do the duet with him." I don't know how they got him to do it.
What do I do? Just like I said: Cold, professional. [giggles] "Nice to meet you. Thank you so much for doing this. Let's sing now."
But again, because he's so warm, like he's such a nice guy and so softspoken, he made me feel comfortable.
POPSTAR! What about your favoutire singers?
TATYANA! My idols? Diana Ross, because when I was little I knew all the Suprees' songs. And Tina Turner. Those two women are just like, nimber one. Their voices are unbelievable in what they express. You watch them and they hold you in the palm of their hand and you don't leave until they say good-bye.
I love Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, I love Aaliyah, I love Monica, I love Brandy's new CD. I like Monica's new CD a lot. I saw her perform in L.A. at a "Summer Jam." She ripped it! She was so good, she was so good.
POPSTAR! What's the best gift you've ever received?
TATYANA! You know why it was a good gift? Because it showed that the person really supported what I was doing. I'm learning to play the guitar. My ex-boyfriend got me a Fender guitar to start me off. I was like, "Ohhh!" and started cryyying.
POPSTAR! What's the best gift you've ever been given?
TATYANA! I'm a pretty good gift-giver. Because he's an aspiring film-maker, I gave him a Super 8 camera, really old-school, an old set with the projector, and got him the old film to go with it. So he plays with it all the time.
That, and when my little sister was little - when my little sister was really little - I got her a Lambchop doll. And she played with that doll until all of his little curls were gone - you know you're loved when your eyes are falling off.
POPSTAR! How do you plan to spend the holidays?
TATYANA! They might have me going to Europe. I might be working. Which wouldn't be new!
The above article and photographs appeared in POPSTAR! magazine. The text and photos have in no way been altered.
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