“Helicopter” has officially landed!
After weeks of teasing fans and followers on social media with behind-the-scenes pics, Christian Lalama‘s latest and greatest is finally here. And it’s the feel-good anthem you need in your life!
The 14-year-old Canada native — who’s currently touring the country with fellow fan-favorite artists Carson Lueders, Annie LeBlanc and more — never fails to wow us with his oh-so-smooth powerhouse vocals and jaw-droppingly perfect piano skills. He’s racked up hundreds of thousands of subscribers on his YouTube page, where he frequently fills our feed with goal-worthy cover songs, and now he’s making heads turn with his packed-with-positivity new music video!
Make sure you’re following our Instagram page (@TigerBeatNow) where Christian is taking over for the day, and keep scrolling to get the inside scoop on all things Christian: from his all-time favorite cover to his future album plans and everything in between!
What was the recording process like for “Helicopter”?
Christian: When it got played to me first, I said, “I want to record this one” right away. I really like that kind of music, when the base drops and it was really catchy. I recorded it in my studio, we have a carpeted studio in our basement. We have a mic and a whole setup. So, it took me a couple days to record it. After school each day I would come home and record the song a little each day!
Is there a message behind the song that you’re trying to express?
Christian: When you’re down, you’ve just got to get brought up, and that’s why it’s like, “once you’re feeling low, I’ll be your helicopter.” It’s a good news kind of song!
Do you have a favorite line of lyrics?
Christian: My favorite part in the whole song, “together we can take off,” right before the base drops, because it just goes all quiet and then boom. It’s dope! I like that one a lot.
How is “Helicopter” different from what you’ve put out in the past?
Christian: I’ve been singing slow songs like “Perfect.” That’s a really cool song to sing, and I’ve done a bunch of soul covers in the past, but I kind of want to start getting into hype, feel-good music a lot now.
What was it like shooting the music video?
Christian: It took us two days to shoot! We basically went to Miami and found a ton of cool spots. There was this golden elephant, we went to an arcade, a science center museum…it was sick! But the coolest part of the whole video was that I got to sing and go in an actual helicopter on its own landing strip. I got to play around with everything inside too. I’ve never done anything like that!
Would you ever fly in a helicopter? Is that on your bucket list?
Christian: We had no clue we were going to be able to do that for this video, so it was exciting ,but I don’t plan to go in a helicopter again because I don’t really like flying, especially in small planes. I think just sitting in one on the ground was about as far as I’ll go now.
You listen to a lot of rap. Would you ever incorporate that sound into your original music?
Christian: I actually really like to rap. I started rapping a while ago. I just performed the song “River” for the first time live in [Indiana]. It’s an Eminem and Ed Sheeran song. It starts pretty fast, and is kind of difficult rap to learn, but I did both parts and it was really fun.
Do you have a favorite cover that you’ve done? How do you decide what songs to cover?
Christian: It was either “Die for You” by The Weeknd or “Again” by Noah Cyrus and XXXTentacion. He’s one of my favorite rappers right now, so I did his verse, and I really like that cover…Sometimes I’ll go on the top 100 and look through and find the biggest songs. If I really like a song, I’ll do a cover of it.
Can we expect an album anytime soon?
Christian: I really want to eventually release a good, feel-good vibe album. And I also really plan on touring the world…Some big things might be coming pretty soon!
We’ve rounded up Christian’s all-time best work. From Taylor Swift to Charlie Puth: here are some of our can’t-stop-listening favorite covers by this totally talented teen!
