Just Ivy hit the sound waves with her single “Light Me Up,” featuring DJ Khaled earlier this year. She may be an unfamiliar face and name to some but the European artist is no stranger to the American music scene. “I never did it in Europe the way I’m doing it here for quite some time now,” says Ivy.
“The collaboration with DJ Khaled came about a year ago,” she continues. “We have other singles that we already recorded and ‘Light Me Up’ is actually our second official single release together.” She also discusses her affiliation with DJ Khaled and what involvement he’s had in her budding career.
“Khaled was the first one I recorded a song with,” she says. “I recorded a demo and it was passed from one person to another. When Khaled got a hold of it, he heard it and made a remix to one of my songs. We eventually met and it just clicked from that second.” This discovery and meeting led to a DJ Khaled-produced single, “Bad Girl.” But the Hip Hop deejay and producer wasn’t the only one who noticed Just Ivy. Famed Hip Hop choreographer, Laurieann Gibson also played a role.
“I met her in Los Angeles while I was working with Akon on the song ‘Paradise,’” Ivy says. “We got together and agreed to work together. I’ve been dancing, professionally, thanks to Lori for about a year now. That’s pretty much how it happened. I was lucky [laughs].”
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With the “Light Me Up” video notching over 1.5 million views on YouTube since July, Just Ivy is ready to release her debut album. “Most likely the beginning of the new year [2015] is when we’ll release my debut studio album,” she says. “Of course, I’m working with DJ Khaled as one of the main producers on the project. There are some tracks produced by Rio and songs written by Corey Chorus. Just stay tuned in!”
Not sharing too much information on other collaborations on her forthcoming album, Just Ivy briefly discussed working with Hip Hop artist, Meek Mill. “I met Meek Mill through Dj Khaled, of course,” Ivy says. “We had one song that had no features on it and Khaled suggested Meek. When Meek came to the studio, he listened to the song, goes into the booth and five minutes later, his first verse was done. He comes out, sits down again and five minutes later, another verse is done. I was sitting there with my mouth open and jaw dropped.”
Just Ivy mentions that the project will be released through independent label, Black Pearl Records. “There’s an advantage to being independent,” she concludes. “There are also advantages to being signed on a major label. Right now, we’re going to see how it goes and what comes of it.”
