We sit down with the beautiful and multi-talented Emilia Pedersen, to talk to the actress, model and singer about her life and career.
In an open and candid conversation, Dr Natasha Berridge recently sat down with Emilia Pedersen to talk about where she came from, her career and what the future holds for this young budding pop star, model and actress.
We’re very excited to have a chat with the amazing Emilia. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m Emilia Pedersen, and I’m an actress and singer. I’m from Denmark, and I’m half Brazilian on my mother’s side. I speak four languages, Danish, Portuguese, Spanish, and English. And I’m trying to learn French, but it’s really difficult. I’ve been singing and acting from a very young age. I’ve performed all over New York, Denmark, and Brazil, and all different parts of the world, and I just love it so so much.
You are hugely talented and music is a big part of what you do. Who is your biggest musical influence? And why?
There are so many amazing artists out there that are so talented. But I think Ariana Grande is a really big inspiration to me because she has such a phenomenal voice. It’s really inspiring how she tries very hard to kind of discover different parts of her voice, which is something that I’m always trying to do. I believe that to succeed in anything you need to constantly be working at it and studying it. Music is something that I find super interesting because with my own voice there’s a lot of different things that I can do with it. And of course, a lot of things that I’m still learning to do. That’s why I think she’s such an inspiration because she also tries to find different things in her voice.
Who has inspired you the most? In your personal and your professional life?
Definitely my mother without a doubt. She is the most inspiring person to me. Since a young age, she has taught me to be very independent, and to always count on myself. She is so supportive of my acting and singing career. Even in times where I’m doubting myself. She believes in me even when I don’t believe in myself. And she’s taught me so many life lessons that I can’t even begin to describe. But most importantly she’s always taught me to be true to myself, no matter the circumstances, and always stand up for what I believe in and to be very independent and chase my dream. I could not have done this without her.
Do you write your own songs or are they written for you?
I mostly write my own music. My latest songs, Skyline and Missing Myself were actually co-written, and the writing process was really interesting, because I’m here in New York, and we wrote them during the pandemic. So I couldn’t travel anywhere. And they were in South America in Brazil. So we did everything over the phone. Over Zoom and Skype. We kind of thought, okay, what’s something that we all can write about something that we all like. In regards to Skyline, we all have a huge passion for New York. I live in New York. And I think it is so incredible, all the different cultures. And my co-writers also love New York, So we decided to write about New York. And then we all pitched in and came out with this amazing song. And then the same process took place when we wrote Missing myself. We decided to think of something that might hit a little bit more home to some people because I love writing music that people can identify with. Something that speaks to people. That was really important to me. The song talks about how you go through life changes, and how love and heartbreak, has an impact on your personal growth and character evolution. So that’s also a really powerful song.
What was it like growing up in the States? Do you identify yourself as being an American? Tell us a little bit about about your experience?
I was born in Denmark, and when I was seven years old, we moved to New York, which is where I have lived for the past 11 years, and I’ve loved it. It’s really great because my mom is Brazilian, so I think of New York as everyone does. This melting pot of cultures. You can find everything in New York. There are all different types of people, which is something that I find amazing. I also love to travel, so I would always travel back to Denmark to visit family and travel to Brazil to visit family as well. So I never spent too long without going back home and seeing everyone and then reconnecting with my culture on a more personal level. I also loved New York because I got to experience so many other cultures that otherwise I would experience travelling, of course, with my family. Growing up here was really interesting because New York has amazing winters full of snow, same as Denmark, and then it also has the beaches that they have in Brazil. I think it was the perfect place for me to have a middle ground of everything. I also love living in New York because I feel like everyone is always late. Everyone always has something that they need to do. Everyone is always rushing. And it’s so busy. I love that rush because I feel so productive and I love being busy and having things to do, which is why I love to both act and sing. So if I’m not writing music or in the studio that I’m on set filming something. I just love to constantly be busy. So New York is a great place for me.
You are an ambassador for a number of charities. Tell us about one of them why you chose this, and why it’s so close to your heart.
There’s one where we focus on bringing clean water to the northern parts of Brazil because, in these dry areas, the ground is actually so dry that it cracks and nothing can grow there. So they don’t have food resources, and they don’t have drinking water resources. So that is one of the projects that we have. I like to say that if we can bring water from above, we bring it from the ground up. We dig these huge wells to find water resources and have it for the local people there. So that is one that I hold very close to my heart. And then also we have another one that I do a little bit more privately where I take care of a bunch of little schools, all over third world countries, and we renovate them. We did a project here with the children in New York, where I used to go to school. We set up a box where children could come and donate items such as pencils that they don’t use anymore or reading books, then we sent them to Brazil. We also did a little zoom session where we took pictures of the children in New York donating to the children in Brazil and showed it to the children in Brazil and vice versa. So it became a amazing little pen pal situation where they got to connect with each other. The children in Brazil absolutely loved it. They started learning how to speak English as well.
The powers of social media are immense, and you being an influencer, what are your thoughts on how you can use your social media platform to have a positive impact on others?
I have family all over the world, so it’s been amazing for me to connect with them in these difficult times of the pandemic. I also love social media, because it’s a platform where you can interact with people all over the world. It’s a really neat way of meeting new people and sharing ideas. Being an influencer, I also like to stay on the positive side of things and ignore the negative, because if I can make someone’s day a little bit brighter, then that’s already a win for me. I go on social media to get inspired or to inspire others or to share my outfit or just share my coffee order. I just really love connecting with people and talking to people, so if I’m getting a coffee, then I want to know what kind of coffee you would like to get. Or if you want to share your coffee order with me, then I’ll try it out and let you know what I think. So that’s kind of how I like to use social media.
How do you cope with that immense pressure of trying to look your best all the time?
Everyone has a bad day, a bad hair day, or sometimes you put on your makeup and it doesn’t quite look the way you thought it was gonna look. I think everyone has that as well. And I definitely have that too. The way I think of it is, I only have one life, and this is the one that I have, and I want to make the most of it. I’m very happy with my skin, with my body, and being myself. It’s never been a problem for me to stay true to myself. That’s something my mother has always taught me since I was little to not worry about all the bullying, which I got because I was very different from everyone else. I’m Danish, so when I was growing up in Denmark, I was the only one with brown hair, everyone else being blonde. So they were like, Oh my goodness, she’s got brown hair, that’s so weird. Or when I went to Brazil, I was lighter than the others and my hair is so straight and they all had curly hair. Then I came to New York where there are so many different people but I didn’t speak English. So I had to teach myself English so I’ve always kind of been the one that stuck out just a little bit. And the way I’ve coped with it was, yeah, I’m getting bullied because I’m different. But the way that I like to think of it is that I’m unique. Another problem that I came across when I became a teenager, is that I got a lot of acne. And I still suffer with it a little bit. But that was also hard on me because I would think, Oh, I have to put on a bunch of makeup to hide all of my acne and things like that, but I’ve become more comfortable with it. Maybe that’s also because as I’ve gotten older, it’s kind of getting better. But I’ve just embraced it and found that Yeah, no one’s perfect, but I’m happy with who I am. And I’m not going to let anything get in the way of me having a great day.
Tell us a little bit about your skincare routine? Your skin is beautiful.
My skincare routine is always go in with a salicylic acid cleanser. Because like I said, I have a lot of acne. So to get all the stuff out of my pores, salicylic acid cleanser is really good. Definitely recommend! It changed my life. Then a lot of moisturiser. Lots of moisturiser is always good and dont forget sunscreen. My mom was telling me when I was little, you have to wear sunscreen. And I always thought that why should I wear sunscreen because I didn’t get sunburned ever. So I didn’t think that was a problem. And it wasn’t until I started realising that I was getting like little spots wherever I had acne, so definitely wear your sunscreen and then a face mask every now and then definitely helps.
How have you coped during lockdown? How do you think the youngsters and youth have felt about being isolated?
Like I said before social media is a great way of reaching out to people and FaceTime can trick you into thinking that they’re actually there until you go in for that hug, and then you can’t really do that. I definitely think social media has helped during these difficult times. But also for me, I’m someone that loves to stay busy. And I love to try new things. So I have a lot of different hobbies. I love working out and I love horseback riding and all of those things. So I always keep myself busy and try to go outside in the backyard if I can’t go out in public. But I think keeping yourself busy and kind of distracted is helpful. Picking up new hobbies that you’ve never done before is also great.
What can we expect from Emilia Pedersen in 2021? What are your hopes? Have you got any new projects coming up? And are you allowed to share them?
Yes, finally I can share, and I am very excited to say that I have a lot coming in 2021. I have a lot of music coming out – I’m releasing an EP of five songs and two songs are already out. Then also the remix of Skyline, and I have much more coming after that as well. In regards to the music that’s coming, each song is very different from the other. They are all pop songs,and I think is great because it’s something that everyone can dance to everyone can listen to. So I make music that’s for everyone. I like to include everyone. But I also really like to explore different parts of pop music. So that’s why I’m very excited for the new songs that are coming because each one is a little bit different. And each one has a different story, which will be visible in the music videos. I also have a movie that I was in for Netflix that isn’t out yet. It was supposed to be out last year because of the pandemic. problems arose. And it hasn’t come out yet. I’m hoping that it will come out very soon in 2021. I also have a clothing collection coming out that I worked on during the pandemic as well. Like I said, i Love to keep myself busy. I decided to create a clothing line that I’m excited to share with all of you as well. So there’s a lot of other things coming that I can’t talk about, but those are a few that I’m very excited to share with you guys.
What is the name of the Netflix movie that will be coming out?
It’s called Diaries of an exchange student. It’s actually funny because, In the film, I play a Brazilian nanny teaching an American how to speak Portuguese, and Portuguese was my fourth language that I learned because I’m from Denmark, I was born there. So my mom has been teaching me Portuguese and it’s the fourth language that I learned, so I sort of have an accent when I speak. I just thought it was really funny because I was teaching someone else and I’m like, Wait, am I saying this right?
Acting or Singing? What’s your favorite?
It’s so difficult. I think it’s a tie between acting and singing, just because I think you can express yourself so artistically in each, but also so differently at the same time. By signing, you can express yourself not only with your voice but also with the dance and with the instrumental element, and it just takes you into a world of its own. You kind of get there physically, your body feels the music, and then you dance to it. But with acting, the way that I express myself is obviously through my whole body, it’s me moving in certain ways to get my feelings across and become a different person, become a character, and tell a story, someone else’s story. And the way you can connect with people is what I love. But it’s definitely a tie between the two.
How old were you when you started singing?
I started singing when I was three, just because like I said, My mom was always very good about putting me in different things. So I did a bunch of different sports. I did acting and singing, and when I was three, I started taking private vocal lessons, just because I thought it was so much fun. At that age I thought it was so cool that I could hit really high notes, so I just absolutely loved singing, and I drove my family insane. I was singing all the time at home, or if we were in the car, going to the grocery store, the radio would be on and I would be singing. So just always loved it. I started taking it more seriously about four years ago, because I had vocal lessons, I was in chorus in middle school, high school, elementary school, and I did the school plays and all the musicals. That’s always been something that I’ve loved doing.
Final question, If Brasil and Denmark played a football match. Who would you support?
We are a big soccer family. We’re big soccer and mixed martial arts fans. Those are our sports, and I’m going to share a story with you. The world cup a few years ago was difficult in our household. Because I was born in Denmark. And my father was born in Denmark, but my mom and my brother were both born in Brazil. So during the World Cup, Denmark was against Brazil, and it was tough. Okay, of course, Brazil won because they’re an amazing team. But my dad and I were rooting hard for Denmark, but because I’m half, I find it a little bit of a cheat. So once Brazil started winning, I kind of switched over.