What does an Extra correspondent, Diddy’s son, and a tech trade show have in common? Um. They all helped contribute to one of my life goals…a conversation with Justin Bieber (maybe not a LIFE goal, but at least something that 13-year-old SK would think was really dope.)

The trade show? CES in Las Vegas. I was there to do coverage of all the latest gadgets and unveilings for the tech show I host for Sony called “SGNL.” I was done taping on Tuesday but I asked to stay til Weds because I jokingly told the network that I wanted to stalk Justin Bieber the next day during his appearance at the TOSY booth for some robot unveiling. OK maybe it wasn’t exactly a joke. And maybe it wasn’t stalking. Either way. I admitted that I was a sucker for the 17-year-old heartthrob,  and that I shouldn’t leave Vegas without trying to have a moment (Especially since the week before, unbeknownst to me, Biebs was at the Laugh Factory for an 8pm show, and I was two doors down at Coffee Bean hanging out with a friend, who’d be doing a spot on the 10pm Laugh Factory show that same evening. Needless to say, I held hanging out with said-friend against him because I felt he kept me from Bieber.)

PS I guess I forget how crazy regular America is when it comes to celebrities, because I went to the event 20 minutes early thinking I’d be fine. Wrong. Chaos. Tons of people. Yeah. Even at a tech trade show dominated by middle-aged men in suits, there were Beliebers. Or at least, parents of Beliebers who wanted photos with him to get validation and autographs to buy their children’s love.

Even techies <3 Bieber

Anyway I maneuver my way to the front of the side area crowd so I’m on the edge where the velvet rope was (because I’m a badass like that and make myself appear important so people move when I say I need to get through. Too bad this approach does not work when trying to cross security.) Security doesn’t care that I have a press badge. In fact… he stands in my way, blocks my view, is basically kind of a jerk.

As I stand there and wait, I see Scooter Braun. If you don’t know who that is, you’re not a real fan (and for you non-fans reading this that want to know, he’s the guy that discovered Bieber on YouTube years ago, and now acts as his manager.)

I ask Scooter if Justin is available for interviews. He says he’s not doing anyway. I ask if  he knows what Biebs’ favorite app is, and said that he definitely couldn’t answer that, as his name is attached to too many brands. Anyway. We chat more. He’s super nice, so I figure since I wasn’t gonna blog about Bieber, I could at least have a solid Scooter Braun story. Obviously, a blog requires a picture. So then I say “This may be a weird question, but then again, you probably get it all the time – can I take a picture with you?” He said it was definitely a weird question, laughed, and posed anyway. We chatted again later. He asked if we just walk around CES and are given free stuff. Not really. I told him Biebs could do that, but not me.I establish that I host a tech show for Sony and I could probably get Bieber Playstation stuff, before I realized he probably already gets all that stuff. Scooter reassured me that yes, indeed, Biebs gets a lot of swag. Observation of Scooter’s dopeness? Canadian lady nearby chats w scooter. Scooter brings her back a signed Bieber picture. This middle-aged woman eeeks over him. This is when I realized Scooter is the nicest person ever (maybe not EVER. But you know what I mean.) As an industry profesh working for someone as big as Bieber, you have the status to be a jerk, and he isn’t. This alone is reason for him to be my new temporary crush (Plus, I like guys who wear hoodies, don’t know why. Think it’s that whole Eminem appeal. Swag.)

SK & SB

Anyway. Since I had maneuvered my way to the front of the side area blocked off by a velvetrope, I was positioned in such a way that, even though I couldn’t really see too much, there were swarms of people behind me, thus making it impossible to exit. Keep in mind, I don’t wait. I don’t wait in lines ever. Call me spoiled, call me impatient, really… I just think I can spend my time in better ways. Plus, I’ve been fortunate to someone get access to things just through friendships and random connections (khannections? Ack. I try too hard to be clever.)

So here I am thinking, “Wow, yeah…13-year-old SK would have def waited through all of this for a Timberlake sighting, and here she is now… over a decade later…waiting for the OTHER (possibly more talented) Justin.

Baby Belieber

And as soon as I think that…the connections start working. A dear friend, Adrianna Costa, who is a correspondent for Extra, is there covering the event. She and her producer spot me and we hug/chat. Security now eases up because the people of Extra have essentially validated me (Vegas/LA = image. If you appear to know important people,  security folks become nicer) – and now security allows me to hop the rope and get into the VIP press/area.

As I’m standing there, I see a guy who I know. I’m like, wait…is it Quincy?! So I text my friend Deepa whose home I had met Quincy at the previous month, asking her if Quincy was friends with Bieber, and if he’s a skilled photographer (all I knew about him professionally, until this point, was that he’s a musician from a talented music family that includes Diddy. Yes, Diddy, of  White party fame.) She responds with yes. So now that I’ve gotten access over the rope, I approach Quincy, give him a hug, remind him that I’m the reason he had such a delicious dessert at Deepa’s housewarming/holiday party, and that he owes me Bieber (okay I didn’t say it with that much sass at all, it just sounds better that way. Really. I was happy and friendly, excited to see Quincy, and asked if I could meet Biebs.)

So… Quincy introduces me to Bieber.  We shake hands with our right hand. He’s as adorable in person as he is on tv/tshirts/internet/magazines/everything-else-with-his-face-on-it. He asks how I know Quincy. We explain the connection. As Bieber is signing a photo for me,  I observe that he’s left-handed. Of course, I’m left handed, so I tell him this. I then tell him something to the effect of “You’re left handed, it means you’re a creative genius.” Which I then follow up with “wait… you probably already knew that.” He laughs. His publicist laughs. He then asks me, “Wait, are you saying you’re a creative genius?” Of course, I say yes (I mean really, have you seen my blog/twitter/hung out with me? Brilliance.) He laughs. I respond by telling him you have to have confidence. Publicist gives me props for it, saying she likes it. I nod, start talking about how we’re in the exclusive 11% of the world and something else that leads me to use the word “swag”… and then…I leave.

So yeah. The lesson of the story is…whatever your goals in life are, whether it be to take over the world, be incredibly successful, meet your life partner, or um, meet a 17-year-old popstar who you are pretend obsessed with, as long as you know what you want, you can make it happen. As Bieber’s 3D docu-movie’s title suggests, Never Say Never.

What happens when two brown girls walk into a Far East Movement party?

It’s like a blizzard.

Okay, not really, but I wanted to incorporate the lyrics of the group’s most popular (albeit lyrically confusing) song, “Like a G6.”

Anyway. Far East Movement. In case the “Far East” part of their name didn’t give it away, they’re Asian, and so is a majority of their fanbase. Not the Asian that Brits refer to as Asian (those would be my type of people), but rather the boba-drinking, fast-car-loving, is-this-post-getting-too-stereotypically-racist-for -ya? kind of Asian. Needless to say, we stood out…

At least, until we spotted a 6’11″ black man in the corner (who of course stands out in a room whose dominant ethnicity isn’t exactly known for being tall, minus a Yao Ming here or there) who we immediately recognize as early 90′s basketball star John Salley.

It turns out, he recognizes us too…immediately asking our ethnicity, specifically if my friend Hibah is Punjabi (an ethnic group in India/Pakistan.) She states that she’s half-Indian, half-Pakstani (same as myself…yet for some reason John Salley decides to hear that I’m half-Indian half-white instead… which I’m okay with since that mix tends to always be attractive anyway.) He then tells us that he’s actually part Indian, and that his great-great-grandmother was an Indian indentured servant during the days of slavery…making him like 1/16th Indian. As he says, it’s the reason he  ”loves sex and has no ass.” Anyway, this discovery that John Salley is part Indian immediately creates a bond, and we continue chatting for the next 30 or so minutes (because like we learned in college, if you’re brown and I’m brown, we’re by default friends or something.)

Highlights?

• He’s been to India, traveled a lot, took an old Canadian girlfriend who was Punjabi to India for the first time and explored the country with her
• He’s vegan. He started out vegetarian for health reasons, then became spiritual in a path that involves Jinn and Buddha and self. He elaborates and tells us that the leaders of the world didn’t eat meat, and claim that Jesus and Muhammad and Buddha would have never taken another life to fulfill their own (not sure what the Bible or Quran says about this…)
• As he’s encouraging us to explore the vegan path, Hibah tells him that she can’t live without her sunny side up eggs. He then makes some reference to eggs being the result of a chicken’s menstrual cycle (which we had never really thought of til that moment.) Needless to say, Hibah still totally ate eggs the next day.
• Speaking of menstrual cycles, let’s move on to the topic of intimacy. Or as John Salley refers to it, F—ing. He tells about the four daughters he has, one as old as 24, and the advice that he gives his girls. “If a guy calls you at 1:30am and it’s not from jail, he wants one thing… don’t go there for him, go there for you. You do the Effing.” (Obviously, this is NOT his 1/16th Indian side speaking… my ethnic parents would never say such a thing.)
• We eventually talk business, specifically, what we do for a living. Once he finds out I host a tech show for Sony, he tells me how he’s a big techie, and that he’ll be at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in January in Vegas…(yes, I’ll be there, and yes I will be looking for him. He promised if I searched and found him, he’d remember me.)
• Mr Salley and I then sorta bond over this whole TV/hosting business, and the fact that we have a mutual former boss in current Reelz Channel and former TV Guide Network executive Matt Singerman (who apparently just recently cancelled Salley’s Reelz Channel show, thus making the mutual friend a slightly awkward reference.)

Awkwardness aside, the conversation was fun, I got a photo and a Twitter friend out of it, and most importantly…a blog post. I may never eat eggs again but, hey, at least I have a decent story to explain my reasoning.

(DISCLAIMER: I’m not racist but for the sake of this blog post it may appear that way.)

OK, not anatomically, but at least in interests. I grew up playing video games, having Power Ranger action figures, and watching basketball on the reg (a fan since the 94-95 season, I became obsessed with the Orlando Magic in the finals and would adopt Penny Hardaway as my fave player/crush of choice.) I would read the sports section daily, specifically to check the scores, player stats, and team standings (I woulda killed Fantasy Basketball if they had it back then.) I rocked basketball jerseys (I had the blue Penny jersey, my brother had the black one.) I even chose my favorite numbers based on players (1, 8, and 23… Penny, Kobe, Jordan. I still claim these numbers as favorites to 14 years later.) When Michael Jordan made that final shot in game 6 of the 1998 Finals over Bryon Russell? And it was obvious that the Bulls had won? Yeah….I cried. Like, a lot. I could care less that my older brother graduated from UC San Diego that day… what mattered to me was the fact that the Bulls had just played their final game of the season, and I knew in my heart that my favorite player, Michael Jordan, would be retiring from the game (well, um, sort of. There was that whole stint as a Wizard that everyone seems to overlook.)

JM & SK

So since today is sorta a big deal in the Jordan world (the “Concord” Air Jordan XI shoes came out today, and apparently widespread violence along with it to cop a pair), I thought I’d share that story of my boyish childhood, as well as share details on a shoot I did back in May with a diehard MJ fan (heck, the guy’s name is Jordan Michael. Coincidence? Hardly.)

Here’s a quick overview. Jordan Michael Geller, a diehard sneakerhead, built a 9000sf museum-like shrine to Nike. TWO-THOUSAND SHOES! I visited. He gave me the rundown of Jordans since 1985, the way pop culture inspired shoes (from beer to the Simpsons to Elmers Glue and more), and yeah. Here are the associated videos. I demand that you watch. And educate yourself. At least the first one. It’s really cool. (Just Do It.)

History of the Jordan Sneaker

Overview of the ShoeZeum: 2000 Pairs of Nike, 1 Warehouse

And if you’re too lazy to sit through many minutes of dope footage and interviews and knowledge, here are some photos I took that day of some of my favorite sights:

M&M-inspired. Not to be confused with Eminem-inspired…

…Eminem-Inspired. Literally.

Eat my shorts! Or um, shoes.

…Because you "dunk" Oreos in milk? Eh? Maybe?

With great power comes…shoes designed after you.

I <3 cookies

Why not put Denver Broncos shoes on a Bronco truck?

Their soundtrack = my first CD

Original Jordan XI's

Nintendo & Playstation shoes

Shoes can fall under "school supplies", yeah?

Shoulda been more futuristic?

1996 Olympics, anyone?

Personal favorite. Final Photo. Bye, Bye, Bye.

At first, I wanted to write you to say thank you (it’s later, right? I’m guessing you expected gratitude once you released the followup to your debut album, Thank Me Later.)

You see, your music has been heavily featured in the soundtrack to my recent life. Whether it was 2009′s “Best I Ever Had” (which, by the way, turns out is only temporary and should be renamed “Best I Ever Had…Until I Change My Mind”) or tracks like “Make Me Proud” feat. Nicki Minaj and “Take Care” feat. Rihanna off your latest album, I’ve always felt like you were telling me exactly what I needed to hear… especially with the song “Take Care.”

Let’s look at a few of the lyrics:

I know you’ve been hurt
By someone else
I can tell by the way
You carry yourself
But if you’ll let me
Here’s what I’ll do
I’ll take care of you

Wow. OK it’s not the most lyrically complex or deep but still…Makes your heart skip a beat, right? At least, anyone who’s been broken because of someone else’s actions can relate. 

Of course the song is enhanced with the Drake-esque lines & rhymes that paint the picture of the story of the girl and the pain and… your role of patient superhero. Creates a fairytale romance that could liken it to hip-hop’s equivalent of a Taylor Swift song (which by default, becomes a song I’m obsessed with.)

However. This picture-perfect fairytale perception of Drake, the “knight in shining armor,” came crashing down yesterday, when my dear friend Carmen told me that “Take Care” was NOT your original.

Yep. “Take Care” is indeed…sampled (which of course you know because, well, it’s “your” song.)

Look, I understand that the hip-hop industry samples all the time. But there was something about this song, the weight I put on it, the value it held, the way I truly believed in all things you said and the way you just understood pain and emotion and yeah… to discover that a guy named Mark Lanegan is the one I should be swooning over is just disheartening (especially since that can’t happen. I google image searched him… he’s not my type.)

So, I’ve sadly discovered you’re kind of a fraud. You cheated me. I don’t even know what’s real and what’s fake anymore. Heck, I may as well call you Aubrey (your REAL name) at this point….it might be all the truth I have left to hold on to.

-Samia

PS for readers who are interested, the Mark Lanegan version is below, followed with Drake’s version below that.

I look evil.

I have an interesting bucket list. Many of the goals are childhood dreams that now, because I live in Los Angeles and work in the “industry,” are somewhat attainable, including:

• Being a part of pop culture significance to the point where I get referenced in a rap song
• Meeting all the members of NSYNC (I’m 2 for 5… and given that no one has heard from Chris Kirkpatrick in years, I figure if I meet Justin and Lance, then I’ve met all of them)
• Being in a music video
• Specifically…being in a rap music video, WITHOUT being a video vixen (aka scantily clad booty-shaker aka… whore)

So that last bulletpoint wasn’t a childhood goal – rather, a modified goal inspired by the visit to Soulja Boy’s “Pretty Boy Swag” music video shoot (long story short, I “investigated” by talking to the staff, discovered what it would take to be a “video girl” and concluded that one day, I would be in a rap music video without being one of THOSE girls. Oh and in case you’re wondering, they look for girls who are “ethnically ambiguous.”)

Anyway, my good friend DeStorm (who just won an American Music Award by the way, super dope) just collaborated with hiphop legend Talib Kweli on a song called “Finally Free” …so when he was looking for people to be in his video, I obviously knew… THIS WAS MY MOMENT!

So…I went to the shoot, taped a lot of behind-the-scenes footage, interacted with some fellow guest stars (like the super cute 6-year-old kid in the video whose mom when at craft services (for those not in the industry, its the catering area) refused a sandwich because… her son doesn’t like carbs), and shot my scene!

The experience can best be explained through this vlog that I posted a few days ago, teasing the upcoming video:

Anyway. Now that you’ve seen that, today is the big day… the release of DeStorm’s video collaboration with Talib Kweli, and the day I can officially cross “Being in rap music video WITHOUT being a whore” off my bucket list. Watch, and enjoy?

Justin Timberlake does a lot of things.  He sings. He dances. He acts. He hosts. He jokes. He runs a record label. A clothing line. A tequila line. Probably has done other lines (yes that’s a reference to cocaine.)

Anyway…. for the most part, I’ve supported all these endeavors since I decided in 1998 that he would become the crush of my lifetime (or well, half lifetime, since there was a time before JT.) I’m a very loyal girl. Don’t screw me over and I’ll be by your side for better and for worse.

And well, since the word “worse” has been brought up, I must address something that has bothered me over the last few weeks, in regard to the usually amazing and talented Timberlake.

Let’s just say that JT is trying to be JZ (Jay-Z actually, it just visually looked better written like that when trying to make the comparison.) What I mean by that?

He’s…. rapping.

Yes, rapping. As in, speaking words at really a rapid rate while rhyming, most commonly done successfully by black people, Eminem aside.

Now before I show you the video, where JT joins his Tennman Records artist FreeSol in the song “Role Model” – I’d like to break down some of the lyrics.

First off, he claims to “ball like a Laker.”

Yo Justin, this may have been a great reference in 2010, but this song came out in 2011. I don’t know if you know this but… the Lakers sorta dropped the ball this year. And got swept. So, in your defense, I hope you meant “bawl like a Laker”… as in shed tears over the fact that rapping isn’t your greatest talent.

He also tells us “I’m going hard like the opposite of soft” – I see no brilliance in this. Honestly, I just feel like if you’re gonna rap, it’s gotta be clever genius like Drake, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye, even Weezy…  but, this is straight Diddy (which means Justin will be more successful in rap if he just manages other rappers careers.)

I will say the one time I smirked is when Justin says “Oops did I take it too far? Superbowl!” and then pulls his shirt to the side. That was a reference to the CBS drama when he took the Superbowl stage with Janet Jackson and well, had the “wardrobe malfunction.” Way to call yourself out and admit to the crime, JT. #7yearslate

Anyway, I’m not gonna analyze every line because….well, then I’d have to think of clever things to say about everything, and writer’s block is setting in. So please, just watch this video for yourself, and make your own judgment on JT’s rapping skills.

PS. Viewer Discretion advised… (Side Effects include: shock, horror, a decrease in attraction, a mild case of amusement,  and an occasional laugh.)

PPS When it comes to rapping, clearly… THIS Justin does it better:

Insert Paula Cole song here

If there’s anything I’ve learned from junior high school television, it’s this:

DO NOT have a creek named after you.

Some of you may be puzzled, as having a creek (or anything for that matter) named after you seems like a pretty legit accomplishment in life.

But hear me out. You see…Dawson had a creek named after him (Dawson’s Creek.) And well, where is Dawson now? His co-stars like Joey and Pacey and Jen are doing great.

Joey (aka Katie Holmes aka Mrs. Cruise) has attained the ultimate celebrity status – famous for just being famous, meaning we care about her personal life relationship, what she’s wearing, what her kid is wearing (I seriously know way too much about Suri) – and she gets cast in major things. She most recently starred in Jack and Jill opposite of Adam Sandler, and more importantly, she was also in Batman Begins (if yo star in a comic book film, you’re by default successful.)

Pacey (aka Joshua Jackson) is aligned with the great JJ Abrams and on a hit show called Fringe. I mean, he’s become part of Comic-Con royalty. I believe that is a win. (For the sake of this blog post, please disregard his altercation with a security guard at a hockey game in 2002.)

Jen (aka Michelle Williams) well….aside from being the pseudo-widow of Heath Ledger (they were broken up at the time of the death but had a child together), had noteworthy roles in films like Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine.

As for Dawson (aka James Van Der Beek?) I recall an MTV high-school movie about football… but that’s sorta it. And even that film, Varsity Blues, came out while his Creek show was still on the air.  He was also named one of People’s 50 most Beautiful….once again, during the Creek era.  Post-Creek? He starred in a the flop of a movie, Rules of Attraction, did some stuff OFF Broadway, had some one-offs guest star roles on TV, and most recently, was featured in Ke$ha’s video for “Blow” (as in, his career relative to the rest of the DC cast….blows.)

So in conclusion, all I know is that if you have a creek with your name attached to it, be prepared to peak in high school…and then drown.

There’s no question about it…I’m addicted to the Internet. More specifically, social media (I’ve been with Facebook for 7 years, Twitter for almost 3, MySpace…irrelevant since I was never a girl wHo tYPeD LikE tHiS!)

Anyway. When it comes to social media, there are some unsaid rules that MOST people know and follow. The problem? The few that don’t. Yes, there is such a thing as Internet etiquette, there is such a thing as what is “post-worthy” and what is not. And while the post-worthiness can vary based on the degree of dopeness (ie funny joke, you’re doing something cool, you heard some breaking news and have some added perspective), there are some things that are well, better left untweeted (or status updated for those of you not yet on the Twitter bandwagon.)

1.  Passive-aggressive updates, whether sad or angry. I think an old high school friend, Paul Harris, said it best: “”Something horrible happened to me today. It was probably extremely trivial, but I won’t say what it actually was in the post so that you can all respond asking “aww whats wrong”, to which I still won’t actually tell you what happened, since it was, in fact, extremely trivial.” Fact: I actually had someone on my FB newsfeed write a status about suicide. I almost wanted to “like” it, but then I thought I may end up being tried as an accomplice had she actually gone through with it. (PS you may think I’m a horrible person for that last statement. Keep in mind this is digital Samia speaking. Real SK would never condone such actions.)
2. Baby Overload. Yes, this means taking over newsfeeds with excessive photos (as in like 50 photos, multiple albums) of your child. While we’re talking about children, excessive amounts of statuses dedicated to them are also unnecessary. I understand first words and steps, but a status update about their sixteenth word is a little odd. If you really need to do it, create them a separate Facebook page (and don’t add me.)
3. Drunken statuses/wall posts, or posts about your upcoming intoxication. You’re partying, you’re going to Vegas.  Blah blah blah. We get it. You’re having more fun than us. Similarly, Twitter follower and social media maven Natasha Khan mentioned her dislike for albums with titles of song lyrics about getting wasted, filled with photos of you getting wasted, only to be topped by next week’s follow-up album of you getting…wasted. Seems like such a…. waste (of my time.)
4.  Serial Retweeters. No, you don’t have to retweet everytime you get an @reply. Why? Because this is how we perceive what’s going on in your mind: “OMG someone laughed at my last tweet, MUST RETWEET @REPLY! SHOW THE WORLD THAT PEOPLE LOVE ME!” Sorry, but I don’t care that @PartyGirl42 just said “haha” or “ur cute.”
5. Promo whore. Since we’re on the retweet subject, as old coworker Taylor Zeinert points out, if you have a Twitter and manage another accounts Twitter, don’t retweet everything from your business account. It was a separate account for a reason, all you’re doing is clogging up our feeds.
6. Hashtag fails. OK, I understand that hashtagging was originally intended for trending topics on Twitter. But let’s be real, we all just hashtag to appear funny/clever/ironic. That being said, if you hashtag and fail to make me smirk, I will judge. As producer Nick Robinson points out, “Excessive, unironic hashtagging is the worst thing I can think of. #sadbuttrue #fail #funny #omg” …. #cantthinkofcleverhashtagbutfeelslikethispointneedsone
7. Tweeting/Facebooking about Foursquare. I don’t care where you’re the mayor of. I didn’t vote for you.
8. Digital deception. Okay perhaps I’m making this sound far more intense than it actually is, but as my dear journalist friend Zach Franklin tells me, he can’t stand people who are funny online and boring in real life. He refers to this as “Jekyll and Hyde personalities” when using social media and stresses that people “stop stealing quotes from Dane Cook.” (Though, I’d like to point out that many in the comedy community are not a fan of Dane Cook, so that’s another fail altogether.)
9.  One word: Farmville.
10. To follow-up on the previous point, social media games in general. As my dear friend Priya points out, “it’s just taking up my newsfeed – I don’t care about how many cows somebody owns” (PS this statement says a lot. Priya is from Bakersfield.)

Anyway. I was getting “stalked” by a monster, and instead of running away like a normal person would, I decided to call my stalker out… and then interview him on camera (this should explain the dark & sadistic title for this vlog post.) So if you have 1.5 minutes to spare, I encourage you to learn things only monsters know… like what humans taste like. (PS shoutout to up-and-coming ESPN analyst and former Stanford basketball star Rosalyn Gold-Onwude for her amazing shooting skills. Video shooting, not basketball. Though she’s good at that too.)

Meet Nisha Asnani.  Singer/Songwriter. Carnegie Mellon grad. World-traveled (has lived in Nigeria, Mumbai, London, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Paris, and now, NYC.) And perhaps most importantly (at least when it comes to bonding with a fellow 80s baby), an *NSYNC lover.

Yes, we’ll get to how Nisha survived Crohn’s Disease and explore her musical style (even John Leguizamo is giving her standing O’s) – but first, I must explain the importance of the boy band connection.

You see, if you’re a girl who was anywhere between eight and 16-years-old in 1999, you were more likely than not a boy band fan. And if you were serious about it, you could only truly love one (yes I know there were like a dozen that came out back then, but for the purposes of this blog let’s negate the BBMak’s and LFO’s of the world.)  So who did it  for Nisha – Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC?

Quick disclaimer: No, I don’t just ask people this question randomly. But when Nisha told me about how she recorded an EP with Veit Renn (who worked with BSB and *NSYNC, and likened Nisha to Esperanza Spalding…yes this year’s Grammy winner for best new artist) I of course had to inquire… to see if we could really be friends.

The result? We both loved the same boy band, and the same member: Justin Timberlake (um, can I just say that we win? Successfully picking the one boy band member of the late90s to actually do something with his life.)

Anyway. Bonding aside, we talk serious business. Her business. Music business.

Nisha is a recording artist whose sound is difficult to pinpoint, so I’ll just call it “eclectic jazz/soul.” She and I met a few summers back when she was in LA. It turns out, after performing all summer, she developed Crohn’s Disease (basically had an overactive immune system) was hospitalized for 3 months, got surgery and now lives to tell the story (part of me thinks she HAS to cover “I Will Survive” at some point.)

Thankfully, all is well now and Nisha is being a badass in New York City. Vanity Fair tweeted that one of her shows was the place to be, she has her own Pandora channel, and she’s been doing gigs all over town – with her biggest set to date scheduled for this Saturday at 92YTribeca.

She’s working on new music now, but in the meantime check out a couple of tracks below from her EP On and Off. She doesn’t like to liken herself to anyone, but others have compared her to Adele…(yes, creator of the ultimate heartbreak album of 2011.)

LISTEN: Nisha Asnani – “T-Shirt”

WATCH: Nisha Asnani – “Love Me Anyway”

PS She claims to do a great Billie Holiday impression when she’s intoxicated, so if you do get a chance to check her out live,  get her a drink and you may be lucky enough to get a second show.