Love Star is an American musical duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 2010. The band consists of vocalist, songwriter and keyboardist Adriana Fernandez, and guitarist and songwriter Will Alves. This year they are set to release a new album, beginning with their new single, Recordarte, produced by 16-time GRAMMY winning producer Thom Russo. Their sound is described as āHappiness in musical code” by People en EspaƱol and as “a kind of retro alternative pop that refuses to be blue” by iTunes.
Our Origins
Adriana Fernandez, who graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies and a Masters in Mathematics from California University Los Angeles, and guitarist Will Alves, who attended California University Fullerton and majored in Marketing, formed the band in 2010 after meeting in the Los Angeles indie rock scene. On the origins of the band Adriana said: “I started singing in church since I was five and have been writing songs since about Jr. High so I’ve always enjoyed and been passionate about music. However, graduating from University was something that I knew meant a lot to my parents since they sacrificed so much to bring my whole family from Mexico so that we could get an education here. Once that was accomplished, I decided to go back and focus on my first love and that’s when I formed a band.” Will grew up in Central California and came to Los Angeles to attend college, but always had aspirations of joining a band. Regarding the formation of Love Star, Will remarked “I think we both have always wanted to be in a band, but we’ve never really had permanent members. We definitely have friends that continue to tour and perform with us when schedules and timing allows, but they all have their own projects, so it’s always worked out best to keep it as a duo.”
The EP: Happiness
Their debut EP, titled āHappiness,ā was well received and all four songs continue to be played on various college, independent, online and major radios across the US, Mexico and Latin America. Shortly after their debut release, they packed up all their gear into what they call “The Love Star Mobile” and went on their first tour around the US, which they titled ‘Hearts and Stars.’ It was imediately followed by a second tour titled ‘Earn Your Stars’ in 2011, and in 2013, they added another more intimate acoustic tour they called the ‘Autum Acoustic Mini Tour,’ or AAMT for short. While on tour, they also began to experiment with filming their own music videos which has continued until today. The duo loves the stageā and regularly appear around the LA area at Los Globos, La Cita and The Whisky among others. They also made their MEXICO and CMJ debuts in 2015. Their music and videos have been featured on popular TV programs like Lanzate on Univision in the US and on El Shuffle in Mexico.āāā
The Album: Espectro
Love Star loves to push the envelope. In 2016, Espectro was not only released as a full-length album, but also in three chapters, thereby turning it into a āmusical book.ā Espectro is often referred to as a Music Soap Opera and in their own words, Love Star describes their music as ādismantled electro pop.ā To showcase the album, they hit the road in the Summer of 2016 with several dates in Mexico and the U.S. While in Mexico, they made appearanes on Reactor FM, Codigo MX, Grita Radio and the show ‘Despertardes’ on Coca Cola FM to name a few. Their tour was titled āTurn your SCARS into STARSā as it echoed the message from their new album. The single ‘Sola’ was awarded by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and they eventually released a music video for 10 of the 11 songs on the album. All of which were filmed, edited and released by Love Star.
More Touring & The Long Break
In 2017, Love Star continued touring with dates across England as well Paris, France. They also recorded a few demos at the world-famous Abbey Road in London 2018. They continued performing and sharing the stage with such artists as Oingo Boingo, Julien K and Missing Persons plus more. In the beginning of 2019, they released an electronic-style dance cover of U2’s ‘Love is Blindness’ using a demo they recorded years earlier from a session at Sun Studio in Memphis, TN. For the remainder of 2019, Love Star essentially took a break even though at the time it was not really intended. Adriana found interest in art as well as taking various classes in piano and drums. Will explored modular synthesis and several genres and styles of electronic music, looking for a departure from the guitar. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2020 they decided to reengage with the Love Star project and sought the help of Thom Russo once again to produce their new album.
Kissing The Chaos
Most of the demos recorded at Abbey Road in 2017 would eventually become the songs on this new upcoming album ‘Kissing The Chaos.’ Recording of the album began in 2020 right as the pandemic hit, and resulted in the process taking over a year and a half in total. This first single out from this new album is titled ‘Recordarte’ and a new video for the song is soon to follow. The majority of the album this time is in English where the two previous albums were predominantly in Spanish. Adriana has never really paid to close attention to what language she writes in, but focuses more on being inspired and letting the lyrics flow out the way she initially hears them. This time around, it is more English focused.
What’s Next
With a new single out and a new album coming this year, transformation is at the core of Love Star’s music and outlook. Love Star continues to metamorphose and it isnāt clear where this musical journey will lead them. However, their imagination is most stimulated by their unrelenting optimism as they look to reestablish themselves and thrive this year while continuing to grow and build for the future.