Victoria Abraham defines one up and coming artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles Karmin, the fast-talking couple that stole our hearts on YouTube.
This duo, which met at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, is pioneering their own musical genre called “swag pop.” Lead singer Amy Heidemann defines it as “a pop music base with a swag reduction, garnished with sprinkles of hip hop!” But, their music is definitely more exciting than a piece of cake, with multiple covers of hits such as Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” having gone viral. Since their humble YouTube days, they signed with Epic Records and their debut album drops on May 8.
Origins: Boston, Massachusetts.
Name meaning: The name Karmin is derived from the Latin word carmen, which means “song.” The “K” symbolizes karma.
Band members: Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan
Known for: Karmin is known for jaw-dropping, sonic speed lyrical styling that puts the fastest rappers in the game to shame.
Used in a sentence: “Karmin proves that not only can white girls rap, but they can do it well.”
Download now: Their latest single “Brokenhearted.”
File next to: They ain’t like no other duo you’ve seen before. Though one YouTuber describes Karmin as the love child of Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Kesha.
Fun facts: At Berklee, Amy studied songwriting, performance and business, while Nick trained as a trombonist.They both hail from small towns with populations under 10, 000 but managed to find each other in the big city after performing with numerous other groups.
When they first started performing together, Amy played a guitar her dad found at a pawn shop, and Nick banged out rhythms on a wooden box because they couldn’t afford a drum set. Their musical chemistry soon turned romantic, as Amy and Nick are now engaged to each other!
Career highlights: They gained notoriety by re-arranging the hits of artists such as Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Lady Gaga and Adele and posting the videos on their YouTube channel Karmincovers.
In April 2011, they posted their cover of Chris Brown’s hit “Look At Me Now.” The video went viral and was even tweeted by The Roots’ Questlove and producers Diplo and Jermaine Dupri. As a result, they were invited to perform with The Roots at Tufts University, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and for On Air With Ryan Seacrest.
Watch it here:
Notable lyrics: Karmin started strong with her debut single “Crash Your Party.”
“I’m here to crash your party / You think you’re the star of the show / I’m about to let you know / I’m here to crash your party / The bigger you are, the harder you fall / You had it all before I crashed your party”
