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The pressures of showbiz are nothing new to the three sisters in the band Everlife. The fact that they were just children when they started performing didn’t stop industry insiders from criticizing their bodies or from giving them wacky weight-watching advice. Now, as strong young women—with two huge tours under their belts—that negativity still rings in their ears, but they’ve learned to tune it out and listen more to the people who love them most and, especially, to each other. With songs like “What’s beautiful,” Everlife’s music caught our attention with its positive, hopeful message and sometimes painfully honest lyrics. In the middle of prepping for their next big tour, Amber, Sarah, and Julie chatted with us about their music, the fashion in Europe, and how—love them and hate them—your sisters can get you through anything.
We love the positive life view of your music in general, but we really connected with your song “What’s beautiful,” particularly the idea that there are many different kinds of beauty. Can you tell us more about your inspiration for that song?
Amber: We want to be as honest and open as possible [with] our music but mostly with ourselves. [Struggling with body image] is something the three of us are horrific at. We’re constantly self-degrading, constantly saying, “Oh, I wish I looked like this. I wish that would fit me. If only I could get to this place, I’d be happy.” It’s something we’ve struggled with all our lives, but it’s something we’ve learned to take control of, although it’s a daily process. There’s a line in the song that says, “I deal with this every day.” Our goal is to sing to our audience and sing to girls our age.
What’s that daily process like?
Sarah: This song is really personal to me because I struggled with an eating disorder when I was younger. It was definitely a huge issue because it eventually [took] over our lives. We realized that a lot of our fans struggle with the same things [we do]. We also realized that the negativity usually comes from your own brain, so we’ll do something like stand in front of the mirror and say, “Today, I really like the way my face looks.” If you talk positively about yourself, there’s a huge power in it. At first you don’t believe it at all, [but] when you keep saying it, it becomes real to you.
In the music industry, what you look like is really important. Do you worry more about what you look like because you’re performers? How do you balance that with your message?
Julia: We all started at a very young age, at the age when you’re growing into your womanhood. Amber was 13. I was eight. Sarah was 11. We were constantly in the public eye. We had record labels say, “Don’t eat potatoes. They’ll make you fat,” which is not even true. It did affect us, but the three of us support each other. A while back, my skin was really bad from a wheat allergy. I was always really, really upset about it. I would look in the mirror and Sarah would say, “I know what you’re thinking, but say the opposite.” So I’d say, “My skin looks awesome,” or “I love my hair today.” It really does help.
Sarah: The three of us really are our own support system. It’s really important that you have people who can show you the positive way of thinking. To have only your own [negative voice] in your brain is not good at all. [You need] to have a support system, whether it’s your mom or dad or siblings or friends at school. You have to have those people who can say, “I know what you’re feeling is real, but it’s not what I see.”
Amber: Whatever you’re going to do in your life, you need to have people around you who love you for exactly who you are. And they’re willing to tell you when you walk out of the bathroom and you have toilet paper stuck to your foot. People who are willing to tell you the truth, even when you don’t want to hear it.
How would you describe your look as a band?
Amber: Our look has completely changed over the past six years. When we first moved to Nashville and started out in the music industry, we would listen to anyone in the industry. We thought, they’re professionals. They know what’s going on. At one point, Sarah had every color of hair dye possible on her head. It was crazy. We’ve spent the last three years asking, “Who are we individually? Who are we as a band?” Lately, we all have our [natural] dark hair and we all wear a lot of black. Not because it’s the thing to do but because we’re on the road, and you don’t have to wash it a lot. [Laughs] It ended up being our thing. Our manager asked us to define our band in one color, and we said dark purple. We’re not really harsh or extremely dark, but we’re not all bubblegum-cheery either. We’re just trying to get through life loving the people around us. Julia has gotten really good with makeup, and, through her, we’ve learned that less is definitely more.
Do you dress the same offstage?
Julia: We’ve been doing 1920s and 1930s vintage with lots of sparkle and bright-red lips. But we keep it modern [by mixing] spandex leggings and an antique-looking dress. Day to day, we’ll sometimes dress up, but it takes so much work. [I have pants] that feel like PJs because they’re a knit, but they look like jeans. I wear them every day. If you need to feel good about yourself, get dressed up every day.
Sarah: Give yourself that confidence. If you can do that and be extremely comfortable, that’s the goal.
Julia: If I’m having a bad day self-esteem-wise, I’ll kinda go through the day and try to ignore it. Then, at night, I’ll make sure that I go to sleep feeling confident with myself. Sometimes, I’ll do my hair before I go to bed. When you go to sleep with an eased mind, it helps.
We know that you’ve toured Europe. Did you pick up any fashion inspiration from your stops?
All: Yes!
Sarah: We definitely did. We went to Europe in March of 2009, and we’re going back in March of this year. We’re so excited! We were there for 50 days, and we went to eight different countries. Especially in the UK, we were like, oh, my goodness! We already dress a lot like these people and we didn’t even know where it came from. We thought we were being original in the way we dressed, but they’ve been dressing amazingly for years. I feel like we in America are always trying to catch up because European style is incredible. They do a lot of the whole less-is-more thing, like Amber was saying. But it always seems so much cooler when you go somewhere else.
Amber: I saw these brightly colored high-top sneakers everywhere with skinny jeans, a cardigan, and a plain T-shirt. I was over the moon for those shoes.
Julia: One thing I saw that was common was the solid, natural-looking hair color, the less-is-more thing. They’d wear it with a black tank top, long oversized sweater, layered necklaces with a scarf, and boots right below the knees. Mostly flats and worn-looking, with that vintage feel.
Amber: When you’d look at a person, you’d notice one thing, like their coat would be their statement or their hat or scarf.
Julia: Their purse. I bought a bright-red purse. I would wear really simple things, but when I had my purse on me, it was this flash of fashion. The purse would bring it all together.
How do your personal styles differ?
Amber: Julia always says I have a classic look. I have an hourglass figure. I have curves so I tend to try and find stuff that’s cut to my shape. Even though I would rather wear a knit V-neck shirt and tennis shoes all the time, I know it’s not necessarily the best style for my body type.
Julia: I have a “bootay,” and I love my black skinnies. I wear them every day with everything. I’m kind Bohemian, though. I like mismatching things and oversized sweaters.
Sarah: I always have such a hard time with this question. My personality is really fun and happy and carefree. I’m really outgoing. I dress the way that I feel. Sometimes, I’ll wear something like Amber and be a little classic. Sometimes I’ll dress like Julia. I’m really short, and it’s hard to find jeans that fit, so I wear a lot of leggings and skirts. I wear mid-calf boots and tanks with sweaters over them. I do wear the most color out of all of us.
Is it ever difficult being in a band with your sisters? How do you deal with it?
Amber: At this point in our career, we’re like, “Yeah, we fight all the time. We’re sisters!” When people used to ask us [this], we’d be like, “Oh, we love each other. It’s awesome [working together]; we’re sisters!” But at the end of day, we’re still family. So no matter what goes wrong, we can’t just walk away. We still love each other, even when we don’t like each other. The main [problem] we run into is sharing space and clothes. For instance, we all wear pretty much the same shoe size, which is kind of a nightmare because we’re always like, “Can I please borrow these? You’re not going to wear them today so I think I should be able to borrow them.” Things like that can be big issues.
Sarah: We tried so hard for so long to be so different. There was one time when Julia got so mad because I started wearing black flip-flops. [Laughs] She was like, “Sarah! This is my style!” I was like, “Julia, most people in the world wear flip-flops. It’s not your style.” We look so similar. Our eyes are the same, and a lot of our facial features are the same. No matter what we wear, people say we look the same. We are sisters and we like a lot of the same things. We fought it for a long time, but now that we’re older, we’re like, whatever.
Is Everlife something you want to do forever?
Amber: We were just talking about this. We’re going into 13 years being on the road, being together writing music. It’s crazy when we start thinking about it. I don’t know if it’ll be Everlife forever, but I know it’ll be some kind of art. Whatever we do, we’ll be supportive of each other. This is all we know how to do. I don’t think we’ll ever stop writing songs.
What do you think Everlife’s music and style will be like in 10 years?
Amber: I hope we can tackle different genres. To be able to cross different lines so people can go, “Oh, that’s an Everlife song,” by the tone of our voices and by our message.
Sarah: In 10 years, we’ll have the best album out that we’ve ever done. We feel like we have a lot of things to say now. No matter how many years we’re writing together and Everlife is creating music, we’ll hopefully be defined by our message and our music. It’s such a passion of ours, and that’ll be conveyed to other people.