By BRENDA GOUGH
reporter@pqbnews.com
Local songstress Alexandria Maillot is one busy musician with the recent release of her new CD Just Another Girl, an important Canada Day performance in Surrey and an audition in August for a blockbuster vocal competition show.
Her hometown is Parksville but Maillot is everywhere these days with a big trip scheduled to Los Angeles in August where she hopes her singing will make an impression with the producers of The Voice.
Maillot may only be 19 years old but she has a lifetime of music experience and an impressive resume.
The emerging singer songwriter has been in plenty of talent shows and she is a finalist in the Peak Performance Project on Vancouver radio station The Peak FM, but she admitted securing a closed audition for the hit TV show is huge.
“Most of the talent comes from the closed auditions … but you have to be invited by someone who thinks you might be a good fit,” she explained.
The Voice features musician coaches Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton and Maillot said if she were to make it onto the show and makes an impression on the coaches she would have a tough time choosing which one she would like to mentor her.
“I am not sure what to expect but I am excited. I love Cee Lo Green. Adam might be good a choice. I love Blake too … he is a sweetie. If I got to that stage I would probably pass out,” she revealed.
The studio she will be auditioning at is just 10 minutes away from the Ellen DeGeneres studio and Maillot said she might as well try to make an impression on DeGeneres as well.
“I am going to camp outside of her studio and play music. I am writing an Ellen song,” she declared.
DeGeneres is a huge supporter of young musicians. Performers who have made appearances on her talk show have gone on to bigger and better things, including Carly Rae Jepsen of Mission who is now at the top of the charts with her hit Call Me Maybe.
Maillot said if she can get on the talk show you never know how it could affect her career.
“I love Ellen. She is so funny. Carly Rae Jepsen got on her show and it is exciting to see someone from the local music scene get recognition.”
Maillot’s music is described as pop, funk, R&B and soul and her CD entitled Just Another Girl is starting to get a lot of air play since its official release last week.
Maillot was chosen as one of the top 20 artists/bands out of hundreds of applicants in British Columbia to be a part of the inaugural Peak Performance Project, a $5.29 million plan designed to kick start the international music careers of three emerging B.C. artists every year for the next seven years.
She made top 20 in this year’s contest and will be performing with a new group of top 20 artists on July 1, at the Canada Day celebrations in Surrey.
Maillot said the Peak Performance Project boot camp is at the end of August and then each artist will be showcased at Red Room in Vancouver in September and October.
She said her fans will need to vote for her after boot camp and if she garners enough votes, she could win prize money and more.
On July 3 you can see Maillot at The Dinghy Dock Pub in Nanaimo, where she will be performing along with Danny Keehn and Glen Foster.
That’s not the only chance local music fans will have to see her in action. In August she has three different performances lined up at the Parksville Community Park for Beachfest.
