Month: July 2016

If you aren’t familiar with Hailee Steinfeld yet, you might be living under a pop-culture rock. Besides the fact she’s already been acting for nine years (including lead roles in the “True Grit” and “Romeo and Juliet” remakes), Steinfeld rocketed onto the scene last year when she showed off her pipes in “Pitch Perfect 2,” became a regular member of Taylor Swift’s ever growing “squad” and released her debut EP “Haiz.”

“It’s two completely different ways of expressing yourself,” she says by phone from Albuquerque, N.M., on a rare day off. “With music, there’s more sort of an immediate reaction to things you do and choices you make. With acting, I can express myself through the look and the life of someone else.”

Steinfeld is in the middle of touring with female-empowerment icon Meghan Trainor as the opening act for her “Untouchable” tour. The tour started July 14, around the same time the trailer for Steinfeld’s upcoming film “The Edge of Seventeen” was also released.

“For this film, I play someone trying to make it through not just school, but just their teenage years, as am I,” says the 19-year-old. “I was home-schooled and a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you skipped right through all that drama.’ But I didn’t. I dealt with my own things, and it’s nice to have those outlets to express some of those things that I’ve been through. I’m honored to be a part of telling [this story].”

The film — due out in late September — sees Steinfeld opposite industry veterans Woody Harrelson and Kyra Sedgwick. Young professional that she is, pairing up with big names is something she’s been doing since she was 13, and her budding music career only creates more opportunities for collaborations with other rising names in pop. Continue reading “Hailee Steinfeld: Music, Music And More Music”