Kate Hollowell has quite some experience in different corners of the entertainment world. She is part of LA punk band Slut Island, but has also shot music videos for the likes of Katy Perry. Now, she’s started a new solo project: Number One Popstar. With such a name, you’d assume it’s destined for failure. Musically however, it sounds like a potentially successful venture after all 😉 .

Forever 21 is only Number One Popstar’s third single. It has the same energy as, say, Maniac by Michael Sembello. The up-beat, danceable track starts with a kicking beat, a driving bass line and twinkling keys. Sounds carefree, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.

Hollowell explains: “I initially started writing Forever 21 when I found myself looking back on my early ‘20s, wanting to recapture the hopeful and dumb feelings of my youth. But the longer I spent on the song, the more it became a reflection of the loss I faced when my parents passed away in my early ‘20s. I started looking at my own fear of death, of dying like them. I really didn’t know where my life was headed back then. (…) I eventually turned that painful experience into a motivation to go after everything I wanted in life. To be seriously less serious, recognizing everything is fleeting.”

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Werner Schlosser

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.