Exclusive interview with Tinselfirs about their 2024 Christmas Reggaeton track “A Lil Naughty”. Inspiration, influences, and future plans.
1- How would you describe your new song to someone who hasn’t heard it yet? What emotions do you want to convey?
This song is like a mistletoe-inspired lover whispering sweet peppermint somethings in your ear at the holidays. It’s a fun, mid-tempo reggaeton-inspired Christmas song that makes you feel sweet and sassy, where you want to grab your lover and dance around in the kitchen, making gingerbread cookies or around a light-up Christmas tree.
2- What was the main inspiration for the song? Can you share personal stories or influences that guided you?
3- How did the song come about? Were there any collaborations?
(Draya) For me, I have heard only one song I have ever considered covering- from a random artist online, and after waiting a couple of years for a response about covering his song, I just figured – you’re a writer – write your own naughty anthem. So I did, I actually wrote 3 of them, two of which are on our second album of all original modern Christmas songs, Preferably Naughty. Funny story-a year after putting out the album, he finally got back to me. So four years later I had to tell him, ‘Thanks but I already wrote my own’.
(Will) Draya wrote this festive little bop on the ukulele during a beachy holiday moment, and after a few times of hearing it, I started chest drumming a downbeat along with her, and it just fit. It was fun and playful, and my infusion made you want to dance, which is not always the case with Christmas or even ukulele songs.
4- Which artists or experiences influenced your sound?
(Will) We were both raised traveling a lot as military brats, that’s what we military dependents call ourselves, and so we both have many diverse experiences and music influences. As a DJ, producer, and engineer, my sound in-general is inspired by John Williams, Issac Hayes, Larry Smith, and Irving Berlin to list a very few. My youth travels gave me extremely diverse tastes and flavors. I was born in the States but grew up all over Europe. I was a DJ in Germany as a teen, and my music evolved from there until I was an engineer and producer by profession in hip-hop, r&b, and electronic. Draya, however, has an authentic pop/folk voice. Those things combined, ultimately, after years of figuring out how to combine our seemingly opposing styles, led us -quite happily- to the genre of Christmas. Some call us Christmas e-folk, but we call our sound folktonephoplatronik, to honor all our main influences, with our genre as Christmas/holiday.
(Draya) I grew up in South Cali listening to classic soul, disco, and funk, but also goddesses, Donna Summer and Olivia Newton-John. We moved around, landing in South Texas listening to Tejano, Country, Pop, and Rock, all while obsessing about Xanadu and the ‘Breakin’ movies and dances. When I got shipped off again to the Midwest, I discovered a whole other world of sound and style- alternative rock and power ballads, Lilith Fair and Jingle Jams. If you know, you know! Music can be your savior if you move a lot, it was mine!
5- Is there a particular moment related to the creation of the song that you remember with pleasure or satisfaction?
(Will) Getting to use the Latin percussion style from Big Pun’s song ‘Still Not A Player’. I had wanted to be able to put those Latin sticks in a song forever, and this song finally gave me the opportunity. I have key moments and memories that give me ideas that I’m always looking to incorporate, but you have to have the right song- kind of like getting to use an emotional fiddle sound in our song ‘Crystal Stage’. I had been wanting to do something deeply emotional like that since the first time I saw that POW camp scene in the movie “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. For ‘A Lil Naughty’ though, it was those Latin sticks. I had been waiting to find just the right song for those.
(Draya) This is the first song I wrote on the ukulele with a down-beat, but it had to have it cause it’s a tad spicy, festive spicy, but still. It’s now the first song I play when I practice. I love it.
6- What emotions do you hope to convey to the public?
(Draya) As with all our original modern Christmassy songs, we hope to inspire festiveness and bliss during the holidays, or even all year, and what better way than a fun, unique tropical holiday bop that makes you want to dance. We want people to want to dance with their person during their Christmassy-time traditions. We think we nailed it! It makes us dance every time we hear it! We heard it playing in a convenience store a couple of weeks ago and just started dancing like fools! It was awesomeness!
7- What can we expect from the future? Do you have any news coming?
We’ve completed our first goal of 1 full hour of all original modern Christmas songs, but we have a long-term goal of 8 hours -a full workday- of all original modern holiday songs. For this coming year, we have our festive fun album, “HappyMerryBlessedFeliz”, and also the first peek into our new ‘dark Christmas’ sound, “Krissmisfits”. We are planning for both albums to have 10 original modern holiday songs, with our signature blending of contemporary elements and ideals with classic themes, completing our second hour of original modern Christmassy tunes.
8- What message would you like to give to those who follow you or discover you for the first time?
As Christmas creatives, we plan to continue creating festive tunes to freshen up your holidays and holiday spirit with tracks that are nostalgic, fun, emotional, and sometimes utterly surprising, as we did with our “Hello Christmas” and “Preferably Naughty” albums. Our genre is Christmas/holiday; it’s not a stop on our path, it is our journey!
