Q&A with Empire Girl: Adrienne Bailon!

As a former member of girl groups 3LW and The Cheetah Girls, Adrienne Bailon is no stranger to the industry. However, this 28 year old Latina Beauty continues to make a name for herself as she pursues her solo career with the help of Singer/Songwriter/Producer Ne-Yo, launches her nail polish line, clothing line.. and even more; all while she stars alongside Julissa Bermudez in the Style Network's Reality Series, Empire Girls.

Read&Indulge as we talk about being an Empire Girl, Empowerment, and all of the upcoming projects Adrienne has up her sleeve.

I: I was watching Empire Girls a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed you and Julissa have great chemistry. Your personalities are so opposite sometimes, it kind of balances out. It looks so natural the way you guys communicate, how long have y’all been friends before the show?

A: Juli and I have actually been friends for almost 10 years. We met in casting at a BET event; when I first met Juli she was the host of BET’s The Center, and I was in 3LW at the time. So we’d go to a lot of the same music industry events. So I met her in passing around that time, and then maybe a year later we actually filmed a movie together called “All You’ve Got,” it was an MTV movie, and that’s when we actually became friends. We became really close friends, because you know, we were filming together.. It was like a really,really great time for us to bond and become friends. Literally, we became so close so quickly that we ended up sharing a trailer. We asked to put our clothes in the same trailer and ended up sharing a trailer.

I: Aww that’s really cool! I noticed that you and all of your friends go through the same things on the show. Y’all are all trying to focus on your careers, you and Julissa are trying to date around..even your friend Layla is married with a child but at the same time she’s trying to focus on her career too. Which one is more important to you right now? Trying to date around & settle down, or solely focusing on your career?

A: I actually feel like if I had someone in my life, then trying to have that would be #1, but since I don’t, since I’m single I feel like it’s more important to focus on my career, and I feel like that will come for me, you know? That will naturally come in it’s own time.

I: Definitely. When that time does come, do you think you will be able to have both? I know that’s what Layla was struggling with on the show; her husband wanted her one place and she wanted to be another place for her career. Do you think it’s possible to do both?

A: I’m hoping that it is, I think that’s like the question on our show, trying to see if it’s possible to make it work. I think anything that you really, really want, you can make possible, but at the same time, I think it isn’t going to be easy, you know what I mean? So I think it’s definitely going to be a struggle, it’s going to be hard. I mean just depends. If I have somebody that works in the industry with me, or maybe works with me and we can just travel and things together.. I mean it just depends on the situation.

I: I definitely agree with that. But on another note I’m only 20 years old, so I associate you with 3LW, and Disney Channel and the Cheetah girls, and I know that some people even associate you as being Rob Kardashian’s ex-girlfriend (which I think is weird), but do you think that it’s hard to get all of those images out of people’s head and just be Adrienne?

A: That is what I’d like. I mean I’ve obviously worked really hard in my career. I’ve been doing this since I was 14 years old. I’ve had a lot of experience. I mean, even with the Cheetah Girls we had Barbies, Game Boy Advance Games, we’ve achieved a lot in that area. I think it’s having longevity and I’ve been able to have that over the past, wow.. 13 years. I can’t believe it’s been 13 years. So I think it’s just keeping that up and focusing on that, that’s the most important thing.

I: Yeah, I definitely see that you’re trying to do your thing on the show, singing the national anthem at the NY Knicks game.. and I see that you were starting your own nail polish line, called “Made in NY?”

A: The first Collection is called “Made in NY,” and the name brand is called Fingertip Fetish, and we are actually going to be launching on Fashion Night Out, which is September 6th. The website will go up, it’s called www.FingertipFetish.com. Yeah, the website launches on Fashion Night Out and I’m really excited about it.

I: Me too! I LOVE nail polish. I have to get some. Do you have a favorite color from your line?

A: I have a few that I’ve worn out in public. I’ve worn Lady Liberty, it’s a deep green color that I absolutely love. I’ve worn that on the Red Carpet of “Think Like A Man”, and I got a lot of attention from that.  I’ve also worn Hail A Cab, which is a bright yellow, based on the NYC Taxi Cab.

I: Oh, okay! Yeah I definitely have to look at those. I can’t wait until the website launches.

A: Thank You! I’m excited. September 6^th, Fashion Night Out.

I: Great. I know that you are trying to do a Clothing Line as well. I saw that, you know, on the show, we saw the wardrobe malfunction and things like that. When that happened, did it kind of discourage you from working with fashion, and your clothing line? Or did you see it as a challenge that you had to overcome?

A: No, it absolutely discouraged me. It was upsetting, and I just felt like, you know, like anybody else, like, you don’t want to go on, you feel like, I’d rather just give up. I’m really happy to have a really supportive family that stuck behind me and encouraged me to go forward.

I: Yeah, I watched it on the show and you seemed so upset about it. I didn’t want you to stop working on your clothing line. How is it coming so far?

A: Thank You. It’s coming along really, really well. We are actually doing a collection; probably by February Fashion Week everything will be together.

I: Okay Cool. And I also noticed of course that you were working on a new album, and that you’re working with Ne-Yo. Could you tell us about it? What’s the name of it, when can we expect it, when will it be available, how can we describe the sound? *laughs*the clips from the show left us wanting more.

A: No, we’re really excited and there’s so much more to the album. We’re actually talking about doing an album half-English, half-Spanish. So I’m really excited about that. Spanish Music is my first passion.  Ne-Yo will be working on it. We don’t have a date yet, but we will probably be dropping a single by the end of the year.

I: We are looking forward to that. Do you have any other projects you are working on? Because it seems like you have your hands full right now.

A: I do, I also have a movie coming out, I finished it, and it’s called Elixir for ABC family, and that comes April of next year.

I: Oh wow, you really do have a lot on your hands right now!

A: I like working *laughs*

I: What should we expect on the next season of Empire Girls? I noticed that it hasn’t been coming on for the past couple of Sundays.

A: Yeah, we are part of the same NBC Family that airs the Olympics. We are part of the same network. So, they wanted people to focus on the Olympics, and I thought that was a great thing for our audience to tune into something that was patriotic. We are returning back to air this Sunday.

I: Will there be another season in the works after this?

A: We’re in talks right now, so we’ll see. It obviously has to be something that works for the both of us. The network definitely wants to do it, but we have to continue to make sure that it’s something that we both want to make, that it’s positive, and that we can still be in control of the show.

I: I actually really like the show because even though it’s a Reality Show, you know some Reality Shows are kind of negative, it’s actually a really positive show for young women. It’s just you guys working and being friends.

A: Thank you! I’m glad, because that’s really want we wanted. We wanted to set a new trend in reality TV, it doesn’t have to be so negative. It doesn’t have to be women beating up other women, bullying. I think it was really important for us to put out something positive that showed girls supporting and empowering one another.

I: Exactly, I DEFINITELY agree with that. Did you have anything else that you wanted to add?

A: Trying to think *laughs* No, I’m just really excited. I just want people to get the nail polish on Fashion Night Out on September 6^th. Along with that, you know people can always tune in to my website to get updated on things which is Adrienne-Bailon.com. That’s pretty much it!

I: Alrighty, Well thank you Adrienne!

A: Thank You!

*Tune into Empire Girls Sunday Nights at 7/6C and 9/8C on the Style Network!