Attention all New York Fashion Week lovers: mark your calendars for February 9, because Paradise Fun Factory, CirKiz is partnering with Teen Vibes Magazine to host The Teen Lounge NYFW Kickoff Party. Commemorating their 10th anniversary, the event will take place at Manhattan's HK Hall from 6-10pm.
With teen talent varying from actors and singers to models and influencers, this special event will be one to remember—and a great way to celebrate NYFW on a new level, emphasizing the next generation of young stars.
For all participants, prepare for an unforgettable experience including red carpet arrivals, press interviews, top-notch performances, music, and fashion. Moreover, there will be brand sponsors, Rile and Gyrt, as well as author Jahkil Jackson from Project I Am teaming up with Lilly Ketchman from Dance Moms to raise awareness through fundraising activities for the unhoused community.
The Teen Magazine had the opportunity to speak with some of the teen talent who will be in attendance, Sawyer Sharbino, Nevada, and DJ Alden Song, about their rising careers and the upcoming event.
Meet Sawyer Sharbino
Check out Sawyer Sharbino's music here & @sawyersharbino
Best known on social media with 3.6M followers, 17-year-old Sawyer Sharbino is making his mark as he hones in on his music career. Currently, his main priority is to combine two of his passions: music and content creation, involving the production of cutting edge music videos and song releases.
With the kickoff party coming up, Sawyer looks forward to performing, meeting new people, and overall, having a good time with his friends in New York. “I'm exited to share my new song ‘330,’ and it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm probably going to perform another unreleased song too,” he stated.
Speaking of ‘330,’ Sawyer constructed the hit with his producer Auggie: “He's absolutely amazing. It's a lot of fun making the beats together and writing creative bars that I feel like I really relate to. I love writing something and being like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s good.'”
Stream “330” on Spotify.
In Sawyer's songs, each one has a different message to it. With “330,” for instance, he remarked that it tells the tale of “classic relationship struggles” and the “little games that people play when they're in relationships.” Through the lyrics, he explained that he wants to let people know that “it's important to express your real emotions.”
“Just be yourself, and have fun with it.”
Although Sawyer believes that his musical style revolves around pop and indie rock, it's evolved as he's gotten older: “My first song that I ever made was made out of hate comments for a YouTube video, so I feel like we've come a pretty long way from the very humble beginnings.”
Now, he enjoys experimenting with genres and sounds to find what he perceives to “really fit [him] and what [he] really connects with.”
For the future, Sawyer has two unreleased songs, with the hope to do one song a month. “I have a lot of different musical goals—short term and long term. I'd love to get a song with 1 million streams,” he voiced.
“I feel like we're getting pretty close to that on ‘330’ and I'm really happy with it. So hopefully over time, we can get there. I would also love to get on the top 100 Billboard songs.”
Meet Nevada
Originally from Ukraine, Nevada moved to LA around one year ago, and began her rise to fame on TikTok as a part of the XO Team: “It was really fun. But then, I decided that I really want to do everything by myself and work on myself. So I left a couple months ago and started doing music and more videos on YouTube.”
Much of Nevada's content, she says, is very transparent, revolving around aesthetic videos and drama.
“My fans know almost everything going on in my life,” she explained. “People love drama, and that's why I have a tattoo on my body that says ‘drama starter.’ I hate drama in real life, but it plays a big part on my social media because it's fun."
With 16.1M followers and counting, she's been recently interacting with more influencers and exploring pursuits such as music video production, which she believes “completes [her] dream.”
“I always wanted to make music, but I was scared since it was something new. I've been on social media for a couple of years and I thought that music would be the next level."
February 9 will be an impactful experience for Nevada, because it will be her first time performing in front of a live audience. At the kickoff, Nevada will be singing her newest release called “Want Me Back," which she explained is a dark pop song about her ex-boyfriend. While she prepares, she disclosed that she feels many emotions surrounding what's to come.
“I'm honestly so nervous," Nevada admitted. “This is my first song and I'm a really shy person, so being in front of a lot of people singing makes me really excited and scared at the same time.”
Even so, being one of the performers isn't the only thing she anticipates: “I want to see my friends perform too, and I'm really proud of them. I'm also excited for all the feelings I'll have—which maybe sounds weird—but I just want to see how it goes and for us to support each other, like a small circle. A family.”
Meet DJ Alden Song
For Alden Song, he's continued to make waves in the music world as a DJ for 10 years and music producer for five. Slated to be a part of 2024's NYFW, this is not Alden's first; he's been DJing fashion shows for a long time.
“It’s always great to be a part of NYFW, but I’m especially excited for this event because I’m also a part of organizing it,” he voiced.
This time, at the kickoff party, he will be performing a DJ set at the end of the event. Nonetheless, it's set to be one for the books, as Alden will also be celebrating his 18th birthday: “I’m inviting a lot of people that I have met in the industry over the years, as well as friends from all parts of my life. It’ll be great to have everyone at one party.”
Rewinding to the start of his DJing career, Alden was introduced to it by his father, who is also a DJ and in the night club business.
“I started taking lessons when I was seven. It just grew from there, doing parties and doing fashion shows for New York Fashion Week,” he recalled.
In terms of music producing, Alden has many projects that are in the works: “I have a new single coming out very soon called ‘The Feeling is Right.’ I'm also working on a remix for Indi Star and one for Sawyer. So there's a lot of really cool stuff happening and I'm excited to put it out."
Shared Musical Inspirations
Given that the kickoff party will place a spotlight on music in New York, the teens shared their musical inspirations for what they do.
For Sawyer, he pointed out The Kid LAROI, Post Malone, and Dominic Fike: “I love The Kid LAROI's new song ‘HEAVEN,’ and ‘alright,' with EKKSTACY. Also ‘Beautiful Things’ by Benson Boone and ‘And This is Just the Intro’ by Tory Lanez."
On the other hand, Alden looks up to various DJs and electronic music artists such as Fred Again, John Summit, Martin Garrix, and Dom Dolla: “Their music really inspires me and the way that they do their DJ sets are also very cool.”
What to Expect at the Kickoff Party
As described, guests can expect to see a lot of red carpet features and influencers who are going to partake in the event.
“We're mainly going to be having a lot of really cool performances throughout the night. To name a few, my boy Sawyer is performing, as well as Indi Star and Nevada,” Alden shared.
“I'm expecting the turnout to be crazy. We're selling tickets and promoting the event with a lot of influencers and people coming. It's going to be fun and hopefully, it's going to be a packed room—we'll see.”
Purchase your tickets here.
