Mylin's Interview
***from GrooveAsia.com***
Mylin now lives in LA, although she's been through several states before settling in the home she bought for herself in July of 1999. Born in the Philippines (11 June 1975), she left at the age of two and spent her childhood in the suburb of Midwest City, Oklahoma, a city with a population count of just over 50,000. Although she never learned to speak her mother tongue, Tagalog, in retrospect, "I really wish I had." The child of an American Navy father and Filipino mother, Mylin is the manifestation of excellent upbringing. Speaking of her seventeen-year-old brother, Dustin, she says warmly and with a smile, "he's the shy one," and the one that needs to tell Mylin to quit pestering him about his new girlfriend. Her other brother at twenty-one, Raymond, is also musically inclined like his sister, but as a rapper. Seeing the warmth with which Mylin pronounces of her family, elder brother's got a shot at MCing on his sister's next LP, unless LORD G. (renown for his sets at NY's Sound Factory) returns for another effort with Mylin, as he did on "Over and Over" from her second LP.
The close relation between Mylin and family is akin to her relation between producer, Joey Carbone, and manager, Michael O'Connor, nicknamed "The Professor." "It's such an amazing opportunity," says Mylin of her trips to Japan, yet, "the only thing I can't stand is the twelve hour flight!! Talk about going stir crazy." Here's where The Professor comes in to help his star, as friend and friend engage in conversations to ease the passage of time. And when off the plane and in Japan amidst her leisure time between rehearsals and shows, she watches movies, "even if they're terrible," to pass time. The arduous demands of travel are trials of fortitude. Mylin, however, is well prepared as she gives credit to her brothers from whom she "learned patience." And she can credit herself for teaching me the ParaPara phenomenon of Japan.
The family has sacrificed much to support Mylin's musical passion; her father, Kent, in particular gave up his job in order to gather the family in Florida, where at the age of fourteen Mylin landed a spot on "The Mickey Mouse Club" in its third season, by way of good reception of her print-media, which she had been actively involved in as of young.
The Brooks are a close-knit unit, a Christian family, but they are physically separated, situated at opposite coasts. Mylin's family still resides in Florida. Surprisingly they have never seen their daughter/sister perform live. So Mylin carries a camcorder with her at all times, sending her concerts back home.
"The Mickey Mouse Club" was a training ground exercising all the prerequisite skills necessary for position as pop star. Her childhood dream was to become "a runway model or an actress." And as quoted from the Mickey Mouse Club, Mylin's prized possession at the time was a waterbed with a fish tank headboard. After three seasons, she left, thinking it best to move on as she matured. In the process, she left some innocent delights behind: Twenty-nine episodes into "MMC"'s fourth season Mylin welcomed fellow first-year Mouseketeer, Dale (cast member of Jenny McCarthy's "Jenny" sitcom on NBC in 1997), with an accidental hit to the body while singing to "Everybody Dance Now." However, she now dances with the ease of a tried entertainer, and her back dancers are simply such—accompaniment to the flying melody.
Upon leaving "The Mickey Mouse Club," Mylin took up position as waitress at Johnny Rockets, or "the usual" route to entertainment success as Mylin remarks with a gesture of predicament, but without regret. Although anonymous for the most part, she tells me of a time when a table of customers could not help but notice her as a once MMC member.
Mylin continued accordingly with "the usual" route, leaving Johnny Rockets, scoring roles on the small screen in sitcoms and commercials. She played Tia's friend in a 1997 episode of "Sister, Sister." Yet most absolute was her role in "The Steve Harvey Show," as an Asian character notwithstanding the role was strictly written for an African American. So it was changed. Changed specifically for Mylin.
However, Mylin's mixed background did not always work in her behalf. As a little girl classmates often teased her of her biracial appearance—neither distinctly American nor Asian. She would claim herself as Indian-American to silence classmates who reacted to her with exclamations of, "Eughh," as Mylin recalls. Sylvia Pedraza Brooks, Mylin's mother, reprimanded her daughter when she discovered her child had concealed her true heritage. Now twenty-five, matured beyond and deceptively younger than her years, Mylin recognizes the beauty of her cultural blend. (And in the many trips to Japan, has also come to respect the people and love the country.) When asked whether she sees herself as Asian American, self-assuredly, she "considers [herself] Filipino Caucasian."
Mylin seems the father and mother's dream child: caring, loving, respectful, and inspired. Even her full name embodies both parents' surnames, Mylin Pedraza Brooks. While maintaining a 4.0 GPA, she was a member of the school chorus and vice president of the student body. Mylin was also a procrastinator—and attained top grades in art classes, even though she describes herself as not an artist by nature.
At the end of High School, an uncalculated, spontaneous decision lead Mylin to New York City, accompanied by a furthermost friend (more of an distal acquaintance) from the same graduating class who asked Mylin if she could come along—so it was just the two girls in the Big Apple for some time.
"You don't need a degree to be a pop star," she says with a spark of revelation in her eyes. Mylin is right. Only a minute 5.8% 3 of California residents, in the age range of eighteen to twenty-four, have an educational attainment of a Bachelor's degree or more. What they have to show for is a framed piece of paper that many other people also have, and a vague prospect.
But Mylin, newly twenty-five, has a little more to boast: Since landing a contract with Avex in 1998, she released the #1 album of "CD Countdown Groove" in 1999, performed at the famous Velfarre three times, sang the national anthem at a November 1999 NBA game, shot some grooves into the usually stale Saturday night L.A. Club SOHO, amassed musical exposure outside of Japan (Philippines and US to name a couple), worked with Murayama Shin (Hikki composer and arranger), landed the CM song for Gunze's 'Purie' with her single "Fly Away," wrapped up a successful Spring tour in Japan earlier this year, guested on numerous radio programs including Bay FM and NACK5, been printed in over ten magazines, appeared in the $100 million budget Starship Troopers (albeit a fleeting role), appeared in several nationwide commercials, and has her own ride.
Mylin did it her way, and had some fun along the way. In her downtime, she boxes to relax (where she is the only girl in the gym), plays tennis, enjoys writing short stories, sets aside quiet time to read the Bible, and of recent, moving her furniture around. Had she not become a singer, she would have wanted be an "interior designer." Presently, she is rearranging and remodeling parts of her abode. She plans to color her living room a sunset yellow, throw in a red sofa, and have a white accented kitchen. During this creative shuffling, it's likely the TV is on, even though she may not be watching it; she does not like silence, the voice of the TV is a comfort. Or she may turn on her stereo to some pop, jazz vocals, or drum and bass. Although an accomplished individual, she continues to challenge herself. She's picked up the piano, again, studying classical, jazz, ragtime, and theory--this after giving up when she was younger. Earlier this year, she released her second album in Japan, beautiful….
Listening to beautiful… there is a sweet repose, swift handling of production. There is the presence of a voice that flows ever so comfortably through moods of bittersweet yearning and socially disposed candor. Although she evokes the apt affections, Mylin sounds forever composed at the same moment—worries and troubles seem inefficacious. Joey Carbone returns as producer and arranger, Michael O'Connor as executive producer, and Mylin singing groove based tracks, sometimes sounding like a brew with some stripped down MAW (Masters at Work) and a little Lisa Stansfield sprinkled on top.
The entertainment industry creates its own rules and conditions, hence rendering a college degree futile. After all, a pop star in his modality is fresher and wiser than the rest. Time in the recording studio is more pragmatic than time in the dorm reading how to work the recording studio. Thus in hindsight, Mylin's "usual route" was the right route.
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