Lorine Chia shares secrets for a happy life.
From the magazine: ISSUE 90, Feb/March 2014
To celebrate our favorite publication for and by ’90s babies, our Newsprint and Style sections this issue are guest edited by Rookie Magazine.
Twenty-year-old Lorine Chia is a Cameroon-born singer with a complex voice and a gaggle of bass-centric jams about keeping insecurity in check and spreading love to your people. We’re so hooked on her recent EP, Naked Truth, that we asked her to share the top five things that keep her happy, motivated and ready to take the world by storm. Here are her most prized essentials, in her own words. You might be surprised by just how powerful the unexpected combination of meatballs and ketchup can be when you’re trying to create a music empire.
1. Snacks
I get the big bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the family size, and eat it all myself, and then I STILL want more. The best part is that you can still lick your fingers and get all the orange dust off of them, and only when you’ve done that are you finally finished! And I’m way too obsessed with ginger ale. It’s one of the best beverages in this whole entire world. Every time I go out to eat, I have to order it, and if a place doesn’t have it, I’ll be like, “You gotta get some ginger ale in here, what’s goin on?!” Like, I will throw down for ginger ale! It’s essential to my well-being.
2. My sisters
I’m obsessed with hanging out with these two adorable angels, who are 11 and nine. The youngest one loves to make music. She writes songs, so we play the piano and the guitar together. We wrote this one track called “Meatballs and Ketchup,” which is one of our favorite dishes to eat together. She sings and I play the guitar on it. It’s a dope little jam; we’re totally gonna make it into something.
3. Travi$ Scott’s Owl Pharaoh mixtape
This dude is an amazing artist, for real. He’s one of the few new rappers whom I actually love. The production on this mixtape is dope and he knows how to use his voice as an instrument. I listen to it everywhere; in the car, everyone gets mad at me because I’ll play the whole thing through like three times. My favorite song on the mixtape is “Bandz” featuring Meek Mill—it’s so crazy good.
4. Cell phone chase games
I’m a Temple Run purist—I only like the first one. I can’t get down with the sequels. It’s like, why did you have to go and change a perfect thing? The only other game I like that’s like it is Subway Surfers. I like that it’s for bad skater kids. They’re always getting in trouble and the police are chasing them, so they’ve gotta get away from the cops.
5. Sleep
Some people exercise or read to keep themselves sane, but all I need is eight hours a night and I’m straight. It’s hard when I’m on tour, because I can’t sleep in cars or on trains, but if I can get a full night, I know when I wake up that my day will be amazing. If not, I get mad at the smallest things. You don’t want to be around me after a late night.