Twin sensations

Cute cover duo hits Bangkok

By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb
and courtesy of Carnival International Sport Group

Australian twins Janice and Sonia became online sensations when formed their singing duo, Jayesslee, and uploaded some videos to YouTube. With their tuneful singing, their beautiful acoustic guitar playing and genuine personalities, the 24-year-old girls have attracted more than five million views to their YouTube channel.

Jayesslee also gained a huge following in Thailand, and their recent concert in Bangkok completely sold out in just 40 minutes.

Student Weekly recently met up with the girls at the press conference held to promote A Beautiful Evening: Jayesslee Live in Bangkok. The friendly stars sang the Wonder Girls' song "Nobody" for the press, then told us a bit about themselves.

Question: How did you develop your great singing skills?

Janice: We've never had any formal musical training. We just do it as hobby, but we play every day. We have fun playing music, and I think people enjoy seeing us have fun.

Question: How popular would you like Jayesslee to be?

Sonia: We want to be as big as we can, because we have music and messages to share with everybody. We've been through a lot, and music encourages people not to give up when they face difficult situations.

Question: Sonia, how did you manage to teach yourself guitar?

Sonia: I learned from watching YouTube tutorials. I don't really feel that I can play guitar like a professional, but when I started learning, I played for three to four hours a day. The important thing is to love what you're doing.

Question: Is your concert in Thailand part of an Asian tour?

Janice: This time we're just performing in Bangkok. We've travelled to different places in South East Asia, like Malaysia and Singapore, but this is my first time in Bangkok. Sonia has been to Chiang Rai before. We'll probably do a full tour of Asia sometime in the future.

Question: How did you feel about the warm welcome Thai fans gave you at the airport?

Sonia: We were really overwhelmed. We didn't expect that many people to be there! [Laughs.] I think we got lots of Thai fans after we covered the song, "Dare You to Move," which we dedicated to people affected by the Thai floods. We also had bad flooding in Queensland, Australia, so we know how devastating it can be. We received lots of comments in Thai when we posted the song. I tried to use Google Translate to read them, but the translations didn't make sense.

Question: Do you plan to release an album soon?

Janice: We've always wanted to have our own CD with our faces on the cover. It's our dream. We can't give you the exact release date, but we're working on it. Hopefully it will come out soon.