By John Pluntze
18-year-old singer-songwriter/actor and Oakland, New Jersey native Ali Brustofski landed her first professional entertainment job at the age of 10, performing alongside Nick Jonas for two months in a critically-acclaimed production of "The Sound Of Music" at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, before some 1,500 people each night. Not long after that, Brustofski landed a highly-coveted role as the voice of Piper O'Possum, host of "Nick Jr.," on the Nickelodeon network. Then in 2009, at age 16, Brustofski bested some 4,000 entries in the New York-New Jersey area to win the first-place prize ($1,000 and time in a professional recording studio) at the 2009 Young Songwriter Award Competition -- a joint project of the 19-year-old New York Songwriters Circle ( http://www.Songwriters-Circle.com ) and the teen fashion website http://www.FashionFantasygame.com -- with her original song, "Rewind."
Now, at age 18, Brustofski is one of the top finalists on the CWTV network's new nationwide talent-search series, "The Next" ( http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-next ), a series that debuted back in mid-August of this year, and one whose executive producers include David Broome ("The Biggest Loser"), hip-hop icon Queen Latifah, and Shakim Compere.
The show began with a nationwide search in New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Orlando, Dallas and Los Angeles for "the next" new singing superstar. Once the field was narrowed down to a handful of hopefuls from each city the show's talent scouts visited, regional finalists were then selected -- after which those finalists found themselves being mentored for some 72 hours by one of the show's four music superstars: pop icon Gloria Estefan (Brustofski's coach), country-and-western star John Rich, hip-hop star Nelly, and pop star/actor Nick Jonas.
When I talked with Brustofski recently, she was busy happily and eagerly getting ready to head to L.A., which is where the series' three live-audition, audience-voting rounds will be held ( http://cwtv.com/thenextvoting ) -- on Thurs., Sept. 27 (7-8 p.m. MST), Tues. Oct. 2 (7-8 p.m. MST), and Thurs. Oct. 4. (6-8 p.m. MST), after which a winner will be announced during the two-hour October 4 season finale.
"It's been a REALLY AMAZING and INCREDIBLY REWARDING experience for me ALREADY being on that show!" Brustofski said of "The Next" -- a show she clearly has every intention of winning. (The first-place prize is a recording contract with Atlantic Records, and the opportunity to be the opening act for her mentor: Gloria Estefan).
Brustofski, however, is not exactly a newcomer when it comes to being a highly-regarded contender in a very competitive line-up. In 2010, she found herself online auditioning with thousands of other hopefuls for season 1 of "Glee," after she performed a terrific rendition of Avril Lavigne's "Keep Holding On." Ultimately, the "Glee" producers chose Lea Michelle, instead, for the role of Rachel Barry -- but the experience of not winning THAT highly-coveted role certainly didn't dissuade or discourage Brustofski, who continued regularly making and posting music videos for htttp://www.YouTube.com whenever she wasn't in her high-school classes in New Jersey, or studying at home for upcoming exams.
"I've been singing since I could talk, but I started voice lessons and performing in musical theater productions when I was eight," Brustofski told me recently. "My dad did musical theater for years when I was little, and being around the environment really encouraged me to try performing, too."
With more than 119,000 subscribers and nearly 21 million video views to date, Brustofski is definitely an irrefutable nationally- AND internationally-recognized YouTube sensation now -- much that way that a number of other young, previously-unknown musicians have become via YouTube, both before and after they were signed with major recording labels (Justin Bieber and Zee Avi among them).
Brustofski's many covers include Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me," Kelly Clarkson's "Dark Side," Karmin's "Brokenhearted," Katy Perry's "Part Of Me," Taylor Swift's "Eyes Open," Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper," Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," Avril Lavigne's "Wish You Were Here," Selena Gomez's 'Who Says," The Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," Lady Gaga's "The Edge Of Glory," Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten," Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain," David Guetta's "Titanium," "A Wonderful Guy" (from "South Pacific"), and "Over the Rainbow" (from 'The Wizard Of Oz).
Among the many raved-about originals Brustofski has posted on YouTube are "Fall Back To You," "Let Us Go," and the aforementioned, prize-winning 2009 single, "Rewind."
Brustofski, who graduated high school in June, and who was accepted into a "bunch" of colleges right before graduation who have "really cool music business or music industry programs," told me that, irregardless of whether she snags the first-prize award on "The Next" a few weeks from now or not, she plans to put college on hold for the time being. "School will always be there for me to go back to at the right time in my life.... I plan on pursuing my love of music wholeheartedly. I know that being a singer is what I want to do in life, and if I don't really go for it, I'll end up regretting it for the rest of my life. So we'll see what happens!"
Brustofski added that she's been very busy this past year co-writing music with Tina Shafer, Craig Wilson, Charlotte Sometimes, Amanda Droste, Bart Migal, Kyle Paas, Johnny BLK, Kurt Wubbenhorst, Jeff Thacher, and Architekt Music, and shooting to get tracks laid down for an upcoming EP some time early in 2013.
Performing on-stage at a young age with Nick Jonas and Tiffany Giardina proved to be very good preparation for Brustofski when she began auditioning for shows such as "Glee" and "The Next." But being mentored on a regular basis by a veteran award-winning, world-renowned recording superstar such as Gloria Estefan is clearly something that will resonate through Brustofski long after the "The Next" announces its winner, on October 4.
"Gloria's already helped me on the show sooo much, but definitely the biggest thing I'm taking with me from that invaluable experience is to not be afraid of being myself on stage."
Citing, among her many musical idols/influences growing up in New Jersey, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine ("I have the biggest celebrity crush on him!"), Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, Green Day, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Madonna, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Pink, Jordin Sparks, Nicklelback, My Chemical Romance, Avril Lavigne, Spice Girls, Santana, Jay-Z and Sheryl Crow, Brustofski said that music has always been a very integral part of her life, and really can't imagine any scenario by which it suddenly wouldn't be anymore.
"Ever since some friends of mine in 8th grade started urging me to post music videos of myself singing in choir I've gotten a real, lasting excitement from sharing my music with others.... Social networking. like the internet, has really helped my career in in sooo many ways already. Through YouTube, especially, I've met and worked with so many talented people I would never have known otherwise."
When I asked Brustofski what her advice would be for other determined, young singers out there who likewise want to share their music with millions of other people on the planet, her answer to that question was perhaps the MOST enthusiastic of any of the ones she answered. "Follow your dreams!! If you have passion for music, work at it and don't get discouraged! I really believe that, if you try your hardest, your dreams will come true!"
Samples of Ali Brustofski's music can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/allisonbrustofski
http://bit.ly/HP5MKS (iTunes.com)
http://twitter.com/#!/AliBrustofski
http://alibrustofski.tumblr.com/ (Tumblr.com)
http://www.keek.com/alibrustofski
http://www.reverbnation.com/alibrustofski
You can also find her at http://www.Facebook.com/alibrustofski
