Sisters take their music to new heights via YouTube

Step aside, Jacksons, Braxtons and Osmonds. There's a new sibling group in town, and they're taking their music to new heights via YouTube.

Sisters Dani, Lauren, Amy, Lisa, Katherine and Christina, aged between 13 and 22, go by their last name Cimorelli, and have been going from strength to strength since finding fame through their covers of pop hits like Demi Lovato's Skyscraper, One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas.

Last year, their cover of Justin Bieber's Boyfriend for Ryan Seacrest's Bieber-off contest got them on Billboard's Social 50 chart, which ranks the most popular artistes on social media sites like YouTube, Vevo, and Twitter. Speaking to LOUD over the phone from Los Angeles last Thursday, the girls said they "don't really feel pressured" by comparisons to the sibling groups that have come before them.

"We're very different from any other group that has been around," said Amy, 18.

They certainly have an interesting backstory.

Cimorelli come from a family of 11 children - they have five brothers - and the girls said they teamed up without the boys because of the vast age difference between the brothers."The boys have quite a big gap. Our oldest brother, Michael, is 24, Alex is 17 while the other three - Christian, Nick and Joey are 11, 10 and eight," said 15-year-old Lauren.

"So it's a bit harder for them and plus they're not into that pop girly thing that we do. And Michael loves music too, but he likes rock and metal and stuff so we're quite different."

Though the brothers aren't involved in the group, they support their sisters enough to know every word of their songs - even though they pretend not to be interested.

Lisa, 20, said: "Sometimes they pretend they aren't.

"Nick, for instance, I've seen him at our shows and he'll be mouthing every word of our songs and they will even sing our song around the house every once in a while by accident, but they try to keep it on the low, you know?"

The group first started in 2007 with the five oldest girls because youngest sister Dani, then seven, was deemed too young.

In May last year, Cimorelli won a contest by US producer and host Seacrest called The Bieber-Off, a contest where they covered Justin Bieber's hit single Boyfriend. Two months later, the all-girl group were nominated for Choice Web Star at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards, though they eventually lost to young British YouTube stars, cousins Sophia Grace and Rosie.

The girls recently released their fourth EP, titled Made In America, comprising four original songs.

SUPPORT FROM PARENTS

Now that the girls have broken into the industry, they say they'll never forget the support they had from their parents.

Said Christina: "You know those parents that try to get overly involved, boss you around and yell at you? Our mum isn't like that, even though she used to be a musician.

"She would come to all our shows to support us but at the same time, she'll let us do our own thing. But if she did do that (boss us around), I would have quit because that would just be really annoying."

Their newfound fame hasn't changed their family dynamics - especially when it comes to petty sisterly arguments.

Eldest sister Christina, in whom all of the other Cimorelli girls confide, said: "Myself, Katherine, Lisa and now Amy share a car, so we'll have silly little arguments about who is taking the car.

"I'll get a call from any of my younger three sisters with licences saying, 'You can't just hog the car, I get to take it today, blah blah blah.'"

She added with a giggle: "So those kind of arguments still exist, as it does with most sisters sharing a car."

When asked if they would be visiting Singapore any time soon, Christina took the lead and said: "We just want to tell all our fans in Singapore that we appreciate their support and that we really want to come to Singapore to meet everyone.""

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