FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 11, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 45
Photo by Jack Fluck Photo courtesy of Robyn Adele Anderson Photo courtesy of Robyn Adele Anderson Photo courtesy of Robyn Adele Anderson
Astoria singer stars in viral vintage covers of
modern hits with band Postmodern Jukebox
BY DANIELLE BRODY
Four years ago, Robyn Adele Anderson
starred in a YouTube video that launched
a music career she never expected.
Anderson, who had recently moved
to Astoria and was working at a local
immigration offi ce, had her life-changing
moment when she saw Scott Bradlee,
founder of Postmodern Jukebox, at the
Manderley Bar in Manhattan. He was
performing pop and hip-hop hits in vintage
and ragtime arrangements.
“I was amazed by this world set in the
‘20s and the jazz singers dressed up from
the era,” Anderson said. “I just thought it
was the coolest thing ever.”
Bradlee asked Anderson to sing a vintage
style cover of Macklemore’s “Th rift
Shop” for a YouTube video. Th e performance
was shot by a single camera in
one take in a Jersey City apartment.
“I had no idea what I was doing,”
Anderson said. “We put it on the channel
just hoping it would get a few views
and people would like it.”
Th e video ended up going viral overnight
and had a million views within a
week. Today, it has more than 14 million
views.
Anderson became one of the lead singers
for Postmodern Jukebox, a group
whose current tagline is “We take pop
music back in time.” PMJ started with
four people and has become an international
entity with rotating singers and
musicians.
Th rough PMJ, Anderson has made
several television appearances and has
traveled worldwide on tour, performing
at venues ranging from rock clubs to
3,000-person capacity theaters.
Anderson had always hoped to travel
for work, but she imagined she’d do so
as a foreign service offi cer. Although she
had a lifelong interest in singing — she
participated in band and choir growing
up and considered going to college for
music — she put it on the back burner
to pursue a political science and Arabic
major at SUNY Binghamton.
Aft er graduating, Anderson moved to
New York, sometimes doing karaoke and
working at ANSOB Center for Refugees.
Her chance meeting with Bradlee led to
a career switch, and she left her job about
two and a half years ago to pursue music
full time.
Watching Anderson on YouTube —
or better yet, at a live performance —
she truly takes songs back in time, until
you realize the words she’s singing. Th is
comes partly because she has embraced
the fashion, building a collection of
period-dresses from stores, including
Astoria’s Loveday31 and Diva Boutique,
eBay and other retailers.
Anderson said her fi rst love was
Broadway show tunes, and she had
always wanted to sing like musical theater
singers, but she has learned to
appreciate her own voice. She spent time
listening to the female jazz leaders of the
era — Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and
her favorite, Judy Garland — to distinguish
her own sound.
“I think my voice is a little too unique
sounding to do something as mainstream
as Broadway,” she said. “Now I
realize it’s not my end goal anymore. I
think this world is a better fi t for my particular
voice and style.”
She has had a huge response from fans
of all ages and nationalities. Th e bulk of
fans are in their 20s and 30s, but kids
and grandparents alike are among PMJ’s
online and live audiences, tuning in for
the songs and the vintage sound. Jazz
enthusiasts also make up the fanbase.
While PMJ has a large U.S. following, the
group is also popular in Brazil, Mexico,
Malaysia and southeastern Europe.
Anderson said the Czech Republic surprisingly
has the most “insane” fans.
When she’s on tour with PMJ,
Anderson usually performs her hits.
Some of her favorite songs to perform
include “Th rift Shop” — “Th at was my
fi rst one so it holds a special place in
my heart,” she explained — and Miley
Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop,” another viral
hit which she said helped PMJ get to
the next level. Some of her other covers
include a doo-wop version of Katy
Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” a bluegrass version
of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” and a
Klezmer version of Jason Derulo’s “Talk
Dirty.”
She said the group has spent a lot
of time trying to fi gure out if there’s a
“secret sauce” to hit songs. Th e more
ridiculous, the better, she said. Covers
of songs that everyone really loves or
hates, outrageous lyrics, drastic arrangements
or covers of “grungy” rock bands
are popular.
For the past two and a half years,
Anderson has been posting music on
her own YouTube channel, where she
sings contemporary songs in the style
of PMJ and tries other genres with a live
band. Working on her own channel, as
opposed to performing at PMJ shows,
gives her the creative freedom to arrange
her own music, improvise with the musicians
and, more recently, start writing
her own songs.
Anderson’s specialty for era-style performances
has led to other opportunities
in Manhattan. Anderson was part of
the cast of an immersive 1920s-era theater
production, “Speakeasy Dollhouse:
Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic,” in 2015,
and the next year, “Th e Flying Doctor”
by Molière, a play that infused modern
songs with text. In June, she performed
her hits with her bandmates
at Moonshine over Manhattan, a
Prohibition-style craft spirits tasting
event hosted on a cruise.
In the next year, she hopes to keep
working with PMJ and making her own
videos. Her goal is to be able to go on her
own tour next year.
When she’s not traveling, Anderson
enjoys relaxing in Astoria. She said
she tries to eat at every restaurant and
patronize local businesses. Her beauty
picks are Diva Salon for hair and
Rachel’s Nail Salon. While being home is
like a vacation, she said she’d like to perform
more in New York.
While catching her at a performance in
New York is rare, her next local show is
a duo with Von Smith on Monday, Dec.
18, at the venue where it all began: the
Manderley Bar. If you can’t make it, at
least check out some of the singer’s latest
uploads on her page — a Christmas song
and a Weezer cover.
buzz