Actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld can hardly contain her excitement as she looks onto the parking lot that will be home to the iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards.
“So, this is it? This is where the stage is?” the 19-year-old asks with childlike wonderment. You can almost see Steinfeld imagining herself on Sunday, when she’ll don her pop star persona and join a troupe of the entertainment industry’s freshest faces for one of TV’s most energetic awards shows.
This year’s spectacle, to be hosted by model Gigi Hadid, will also include performances by Alessia Cara, Shawn Mendes, Tegan and Sara, Macklemore & Ryan, James Bay, Hedley, Desiigner and July Talk.
Big events like these remind Steinfeld why she finally made a wholehearted leap into music after years of starring in Hollywood films.
“My mom will tell you there was never a moment I was not singing or screaming in my house with a microphone — or a hairbrush,” she says.
“Music has always been part of my plan.”
But she knows plans can change rather quickly.
Steinfeld’s career started with the kind of bang most young actresses would only dream of: her cinematic debut in the Coen Brothers’ remake of “True Grit” garnered her an Oscar nomination when she was only 14 years old.
Within a short period of time, Steinfeld was lining up movie projects left and right. She starred in four films released in 2013, including the latest incarnation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet,” and racked up another four roles the following year.
“It kind of came along, swept me up and took all my time,” she says.
When she wasn’t on movie sets, Steinfeld often snuck into the studio with her friend and producer Chase Duddy to record covers. Gradually it gave her enough confidence to stand before a microphone and sing her own songs.
Telling the rest of the world about her side project was an entirely different challenge.
“Ideally I always hoped it would happen through a movie,” Steinfeld says. “It felt that would be the most organic way.”
Hints of Steinfeld’s musical aspirations began to peek through in her roles even as she was still experimenting herself.
As the daughter of Mark Ruffalo’s record label executive in “Begin Again” she had a scene playing guitar alongside Keira Knightley, and also appeared on the film’s soundtrack.
But it was an opportunity to star in a sequel to the sleeper hit “Pitch Perfect” which Steinfeld says truly marked her foray into music.
“I remember calling my agent, not even knowing if there was a part for me,” she says. “I said, ‘I would literally do anything I can to be part of this.'”
Her performance as a shy freshman helped Steinfeld attract the interest of Republic Records, which signed her and released the EP “Haiz” last November.
It was an accomplishment that she could only enjoy from a distance.
Around the time “Haiz” was hitting stores, Steinfeld was in Vancouver filming the upcoming film “Edge of Seventeen.” It wasn’t exactly the ideal time to tell the world she was taking on a music career.
“I’m the type who really wants to fully immerse every single part of me into that single thing,” she says.
“It’s a little hard to do that when you’re working two jobs.”
Many others have tried to merge acting with singing in the past with mixed results.
Actress Scarlett Johansson largely set aside her short music career after mixed reviews and underwhelming sales, while Zooey Deschanel’s indie duo project She & Him lives in the shadow of her full-time job on TV series “The New Girl.”
Others like Jennifer Lopez decided to put successful acting careers on the back burner for years to pursue a career of pop celebrity.
Steinfeld hasn’t quite decided on her direction, and when asked what she considers her priority, she chooses the diplomatic title of “entertainer.”
She’ll have a bit of time to focus on music, as filming for “Pitch Perfect 3” has been pushed from next summer to late 2017 because the script wasn’t ready.
Somewhere in that space, Steinfeld wants to put the finishing touches on her debut album.
“With film, what I’m used to, you sign on the project, you do the job and (then) it’s out of your hands…. I’ve been working on this album since I did the EP,” she says.
“With the music it just never stops.”
The awards show will air Sunday on CTV, Much Music, Much.com and French-language channel VRAK.