I forgot to make a post a few days ago, but here’s Aly & AJ‘s incredible photoshoot for the digintal magazine LadyGunn. The sisters look very beautiful. There is also an article on the site, which you can read here.
When it comes to discussing the endless list of iconic cultural moments synonymous with growing up in the early 2000s, it’d be a crime not to give due diligence to Aly & AJ. After getting involved with Disney Channel at a young age, the multitalented sisterly duo, comprised of Alyson Michalka and Amanda Joy “AJ” Michalka, conquered both the television and music industries with their girl-next-door charm meets rockstar attitude. The adolescent stars soundtracked the formative and delightfully angst-filled teen years of many Millenials and Gen- Z’ers alike with their 2007 album Insomniatic and RIAA certified platinum hit “Potential Breakup Song,” which had every teen – regardless of relationship status or past experience – berating their partner for forgetting their birthday: “What kind of boyfriend would forget that?”
Now, 14 years later and on the other end of a TikTok resurgence of the same 2007 hit, Aly & AJ have finally released their first full-length album since Insomniatic. The record, a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun, is the product of years of musical growth and personal discovery that was necessary after the industry left them unsure about their futures as musicians. “I do kind of think that that confusion and 78violet moment and [our] break,” AJ expresses earnestly of the sisters’ brief stint as a differently named act in 2013 followed by their five year musical hiatus, “all of that just made us kind of stronger, and more sure of the fact that we are supposed to be doing this.”
Even though the two have been producing captivating ‘80s inspired pop music together since 2017, their new record feels like their ultimate rebirth. “I feel like the record we made,” AJ shares, “was the record we were born to make years ago and didn’t necessarily have the writing skills under our belts yet [to] because we were super young when we first got signed [and] didn’t really have the ability to write what we wanted to write because we were being a bit pigeonholed by a label that I don’t think really knew what to do with our kind of band.”
The new record, which flaunts a lengthy album title plucked from the chorus of one of the album’s formative tracks “Don’t Need Nothing,” is a proclamation of the now adult duo’s reclaimed artistry with a quintessentially Californian flair. Recorded at the historical Sunset Sound in Los Angeles almost entirely with a live band, the album reflects a sense of musical maturity and clarity that the sisters have gained over the duration of their hiatus. “I do believe that these are the best songs we’ve ever written,” AJ states firmly. “This is the first record we’ve made where we got a bunch of musicians together in one live room, playing music at one time, together, in a space that created a lot of good energy. I think being in that setting with musicians who are really talented just brought a whole new level of authenticity to the songs.”
