Alina Smith Music - Official Site - News

09.01.11 - Alina Chosen as FINALIST in Temecula International Film & Music Festival Great news! I have been selected as a finalist to perform at the Temecula Intnl. Film & Music Festival at the Opening Ceremony on September 14th as well as the Music Fest on September 17th! GET TIX, LEARN MORE: 08.19.11 - Oh, New York! I've had a busy August so far - lots of news! 1. I have just played my last show as the hostess of T.G.I. Alina & Friends at Pi on Sunset in West Hollywood! The show has had a good run, but now it's time to move on, to bigger and better things, hopefully :). 2. I traveled to NYC and had my debut at the Friar's Club, as well as Rockwood Music Hall, performing with the UBER-TALENTED, Morgan Karr! 3. I have had a reuinon with photographer Rob Boudon, who has photographed me in NYC when I was 18! Check out the THEN and the NOW pictures (guitar and bass sexiness by Matt Siffert)
THEN
NOW
07.10.11 - My EP Reviewed! From wildysworld.blogspot.com Cinderella’s got nothing on Alina Smith. Smith, who flew out of her native St. Petersburg, Russia on the strength of her amazing voice, is on the verge of stardom. Smith found her way into a choir touring Europe, as a nine year old soloist. Next came L.A., where Smith has won a host of awards for songwriting and performance. Smith penned the song “Fallin’ 4 U”, chosen by Sony to be the debut single for artist Aisha. Smith has also been featured on a Michael Jackson tribute CD released in Japan. Stateside, Smith has built a significant following on the West Coast, and in New York City, where she has played regularly at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar. Smith’s self-titled debut EP is all you could hope for in a pop album: Intelligent lyrics, universal themes, great melodies, and the sort of choruses that stick to the inside of your head for days. Alina Smith opens with "Kissing Tree (Boom Boom)", a deliciously infectious pop song with folk and country undercurrents. It's a highly enjoyable number that's danceable and finds smith sounding like an eclectic cross between Macy Gray and Trisha Yearwood. Smith's voice has a distinctive tonal and quality that is memorable and highly listenable. "Hanging In The Rain" is a relationship retrospective full of artful imagery; a pop/country ballad with a soulful vocal line that speaks to the changes heartbreak can bring. "Top Down" goes the pop route, but blends in country, soul and Celtic influences... READ MORE HERE 07.05.11 - LIFE AFTER COLLEGE I'm back from Northwestern, feeling like a brand new girl! The songwriting workshop was amazing: not only were we taught to dig deeper into our craft, we also learned to dig deep inside ourselves to find the stories that really matter and turn them into songs! I wrote four new songs at the workshop (two on my own and two with my new BFF Morgan Karr - check him out) and we performed them at two different concert halls on the Northwestern campus! (see iPhone pics below, video and performance pics coming soon!) Now, I'm back in LA, feeling extremely inspired and writing like crazy with Morgan & our friend Will Champlin! Expect to hear lots of great (I think!) new music very soon!
Alina @ Northwestern University
06.08.11 - Alina is given Scolarship for Northwestern University Songwriting Workshop! Here I go again with the exciting news! I have been selected out of hundreds of submissions to participate in the week-long songwriting workshop at the Northwestern University! From what I understand, the handful of selected writers will be completing various songwriting challenges and performing their top new songs at a concert at the end of the week. Think Bravo's "Platinum Hit", only without any of the unnessesary drama. Stocked! 05.11.11 - "Top Down" is nominated for the Hollywood Music in Media Awards! Exciting news, guys! My song "Top Down" has been nominated for the HMM Awards in the "Best Pop Song" category! The awards will take place in November, there will be some great performances going on, lots of food, drinks and fun! Can't wait to hop onto that red carpet! More info: http://www.hmmawards.org/ 04.18.11 - "Kissing Tree" is on "Songs of Love for Japan" compilation! My song "Kissing Tree" has been chosen to be on a great compilation "Songs of love for Japan", alongside Sara Barellies, Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos, Josh Ritter and many other great artists! Help support the disaster relief by buying the compilation here: http://www.solfj.org/. 100% of proceeds will be donated to help Japan! 04.16.11 - FREE COPY OF ALINA's EP! Please, join me on *April 26th at Cafe Was in Hollywood at 8pm* for a night of GREAT music! Featuring well-known LA artists like Shawn Hlookoff, Kathryn Ostenberg and others - this is going to be an awesome show! Bring 2 friends with you - and get a FREE, limited edition of "Alina Smith EP", signed by me! There are only 100 of these CDs, produced exclusively for the music industry - so this is your only chance to get one! :) Hope to see you then! RSVP here Alina Details: $7 cover- this is an all ages event! Cafe Was is located Just North of Sunset on 1521 N. Vine St. 323.466.5400
04.09.11 - ALINA SMITH EP is DONE! I'm so happy, I could dance ballet (and that's not something anyone wants to see)! Finally, after months and months of hard work my EP is completely done! It's not for sale yet - before releasing it, we're going to first shop to record labels - but feel free to listen to all of the songs here on my website! By the way, which song is your favorite? Please let me know with a comment below!

04.01.11 - NEW INTERVIEW WITH ALINA I have just given an interview to Talent Spotlight Magazine, discussing everything from my favorite brands of chocolate to world peace! Oh, and of course, MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC! Read the interview here: Alina Smith Talent Spotlight Magazine Interview Alina
03.18.11 - NEW MUSIC, FINALLY! What a month! The work on my album is finally drawing to a close, and I finally have a brand new song to share with you guys - "Hanging in the Rain", the first one of the bunch! I've produced this song and also arranged the strings for it. It's been amazing, taking control of my sound, arranging the vocals and the instrumental parts and editing them too (ouch, the top of my head STILL hurts from where the headphones rubbed it raw)! I'm so happy to finally let the world hear it! Big thanks to: Josh Sulfaro (guitar), Marty Fitrzyk (engineering), Tina Guo (cello), Paul Cartwright (violin), Alex Platt (drums), Alex Romero (bass), Shannon Haley (vocals), Cazz Brindis (vocals), Olajideo Paris (string programming) On a different note - I have the pictures from my latest photoshoot with Don Adkins! Check them out below! Alina Smith
Don Adkins Photos Alina Smith by Don Adkins Alina Smith by Don Adkins Alina Smith by Don Adkins Alina Smith by Don Adkins Alina Smith by Don Adkins
02.20.11 Hey there, Internet ppl! It's 2am I'm just sitting here trying to rest my eyes up from all the mascara. It's been kind of crazy lately - I've had three music promo photoshoots this week! My photographer friend Ali and I did some very spontaneous and fun pics (that involved me traipsing around in mud in high heels and getting sprayed by sea water) and Don Adkins and his wife Joelle had me 80's-dancing to Van Halen for their photos. It's been definitely fun and we got some great pictures in the process! Click Below for some of Ali's stuff and I'll post Don and Joelle's pics when they're done playing with them :). Alina
Ali Murtaza Photos
02.19.11 Hey guys! Well here it is - the official Alina Smith website! I know it's been a while coming (at least I didn't have one of those "under construction" animations with a little animated road worker), but hey, it's done now! I made it all by myself - had a lot of fun putting those carvings on the tree bark in the background (it's for my song "Kissing Tree"). Please feel right at home and go click around the site, and, if you have any thoughts, suggestions, bugs to report etc. - please send me an email here: alina@alinasmith.net Alina
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