Swept Away

By Alex Teitz

Jaime and Amanda Rich are beginning to generate a buzz with their song, “Going, Going, Gone.” They have appeared on Disney’s Two Hour Tour, and the Jenny Jones Show. This is an accomplishment for a teen pop act with no CD behind them.

Besides being sisters, Jaime and Amanda both attend school while pursuing music. Jaime is in college as a freshman. Amanda continues towards finishing high school. A few months ago they launched their website athttp://www.sweptawayonline.com

Interview Note: This interview was conducted as separate interviews on the same day. Neither Jaime or Amanda were aware of each other’s answers.

FEMMUSIC: How did you first get interested in music?

JR: Well, I don’t know if you talked to my mom at all but Amanda and I started singing when we were little. We became more serious when we started singing as “The Spice Girls” at birthday parties. We did like a tribute show kind of thing. We got dressed up and lugged all the microphones and everything, and we had two other girls. I was Posh and Amanda was Sporty and we used to sing at birthday parties. We used to make really good money. It was really fun, and the kids really thought you were the Spice Girls. It was really fun.

We sang at a producer’s house for his daughter’s birthday about a year, year and a half ago and he said, “You guys should be doing this as profession, singing your songs instead of trying to be the Spice Girls.” It started to progress from there.

AR: I was brought up singing little talent shows for my relatives when they came down and Jaime and I used to put on our little shows, dress up in our tu-tus, and show them what we learned in dance class or music lessons. It basically started because I’d been in the acting industry and they always ask for like multi-talented kids. I started taking voice lessons when I was like, seven. Ever since then I’ve been singing.

FEMMUSIC: Who have been your musical influences?

JR: Besides the usual, I think Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston. I really like Faith Hill. I like a lot of the country, Shania Twain. I think they really put on a good show.

FEMMUSIC: What do you like about them?

JR: Well I think they both have started a long time ago, and they’ve progressed through their music. They’ve kind of built up through their music, and that’s what we want to do in our music. We want to break into this industry with our music, with our own original sound. They haven’t tried to be anyone.

Like they say in the teen industry that their are so many different carbon copies and that everyone’s like a computer generated singer. Everyone’s trying to be Britney Spears, and they say that Christina was a copy of Britney and then there’s Mandy and Jessica Simpson. But Amanda and I are trying to make our own sound. We don’t want to sound like anybody else.

FEMMUSIC: Who have been your musical influences?

AM: I love Mariah Carey. I think what she does with her voice is so original. It’s amazing how she can do that but I love Whitney Houston. It’s mostly Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. That’s about it. I love them. I try to copy them.

FEMMUSIC: What specifically do you like about them? What draws you to their style of singing?

AM: I have a very similar voice to Whitney Houston in the way, it’s not as high as Mariah Carey’s. It lower and she belts a lot. I guess that’s why I always try to belt like her and riff like her.

FEMMUSIC: Your song, “Going, Going, Gone” has attracted a lot of attention. How has that changed your life?

JR: I don’t know if it’s changed my life. We’re still trying to get there but we opened a magazine. My little sister reads those teeny-bop magazines and we opened, my nine year-old sister, and she opened it the other day, and we were in the back as “Up In Comers.” We had no idea. We were like, “Oh my god! Wow! Look at us.” We had no idea, We didn’t know that were going to put us in there. It was kind of weird seeing us there, and they were talking about “Going, Going, Gone.”

It has attracted a lot of attention but it hasn’t changed us at all. We’re still in the pursuit, so to speak.

AR: I picked up a magazine. Actually Jaime picked up that J-14 Magazine. She always buys those magazines and I always make fun of her because, “Oh you’re such a teeny-bopper.” And all those little girls buy those types of magazines, and she was flipping through it and she comes running through screaming, “Oh my god we’re in here!” We’ve gotten a lot of exposure from that song. We were on the Jenny Jones show because of that song, and the Disney Two Hour Tour for that song. It’s really, it’s pushed our career.

FEMMUSIC: How is it balancing both your music and school lives?

JR: Ah-haha. That is an interesting question. It’s a lot of traveling. It’s a lot of organization. It’s a lot of balancing.

Last semester was my first semester. I got all A’s. That’s quite a feat since I’m rarely here. It’s a lot of taking your books everywhere I go.

They’re yelling at me now because, oh boy,  I have a lot of traveling this week coming up. Wednesday is Amanda’s birthday and I am going home for Amanda’s birthday, and then I am coming home, back here so I can take all my tests on Thursday. And then I’m going again Thursday night for rehearsal and then I have to come back here on Saturday because we have a performance on Friday. So it’s a lot of moving back and forth. Luckily I’m in Orlando and home is only two and half hours. It’s a lot of driving. Lotta, Lotta driving. I just got a new car for Christmas (laugh) spend a lot of time in it. Move back and forth in it.

Amanda is very lucky. She has no idea because she’s getting her driver’s license on Wednesday, and she can’t wait to drive but she has no idea. (Laugh) She can’t understand why I’m always like, “Oh I got to drive back and forth again.” She’s like, “Why?! I’d love to drive back and forth. I’d love to drive.”

“Oh yeah, of course you would.” She has no idea, but she will. It’s a lot of balancing. I can tell you that.

My phone bill is like, crazy. I was switching long distance carriers and the women asked me if I could pick the numbers I call the most often to verify that it was me. And I was like, “I’m sure that there are two numbers on there.” I’m sure it’s my home number. I call there the most frequently. It’s a lot of keeping in touch. E-mail is a wonderful thing. Wonderful thing.

AR: My school’s really good about absence, and I’m very dedicated to my schoolwork like we set rehearsals, like we have a rehearsal in ten minutes, and it’s always right after school. I try not to miss school and all of our performances are on weekends, or on vacations or on nights right after school but it’s hard to keep up, but I’m managing.

FEMMUSIC: What are your goals for the future?

JR: Well, we have a lot of goals actually. Amanda and I want to record A full length CD. As far as a music goal, and we want to tour. I want to finish school in four years. I don’t want to be like one of these Backstreet Boys or ‘Nsync people that are my age and they still haven’t graduated high school. Don’t want to be a high school or college dropout. I definitely want to finish school. I want to get my degree in communications. And I’m not sure. I want to see where that takes us.

I’m not sure if I want to sing when I’m thirty but we’ll see. I have a lot of interests. I like political science, and stuff. You never know.

AR: Our goals are very high actually. They’re definitely set for the stars. We want to be huge. We want everyone to see what we’re all about. We want everyone to hear our music. We just want to get exposure everywhere.