![\"M-34-karmin\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/M-34-karmin.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nCovers of songs by Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown found Karmin an Internet following and a record deal, and songs like \u201cBrokenhearted\u201d brought chart success, but it has taken the duo three years to produce an album. For the couple behind Karmin\u2014Nick Noonan and Amy Heidemann, both 28\u2014that time was spent developing a personality outside social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything happened so fast,\u201d says Noonan. \u201cWe\u2019d blown up on YouTube, viral videos\u2014everybody loved us. We had a hit song. Then life happens. You put out a couple of songs that aren\u2019t hits. You go back to the grind. Now we have to actually build a foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their full-length debut, Pulses<\/i>, is the product of a year in the studio as the duo forged their identity. \u201cDuring one of the first sessions we did the title track \u2018Pulses.\u2019 That shaped the rest of the album,\u201d says Noonan. \u201cWe wanted to make songs that translate into the live show and have more\u00a0of a duo in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to get Nick on there, singing more,\u201d says Heidemann. \u201cWe definitely butt heads with the label, but we need to do our thing. You can\u2019t just put us in a box of a Katy Perry thing. We\u2019re a duo, and it\u2019s got to be different and unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
What they consider unique is how the pair works together. \u201cNick will wake up in the middle of the night with a melody,\u201d says Heidemann. \u201cThe next day I\u2019ll listen to it and do some editing. He\u2019ll come back and fill in drums or change a chord progression. It\u2019s usually drums first and then melody. Then we spend time on the lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karmin teamed up with different songwriters and producers, including Claude Kelly and Emily Wright\u2014who worked on their hit \u201cBrokenhearted\u201d\u2014but they don\u2019t have specific criteria for their collaborators. \u201cWe thought, \u2018It\u2019s got to be somebody with hip-hop roots,\u2019\u201d says Heidemann. \u201cWith a few people we weren\u2019t sure what was going to happen\u2014like Martin Johnson, the lead singer of Boys Like Girls. We thought we\u2019d get a rock song and ended up with \u2018Acapella,\u2019 which is left-of-center hip-hop-pop music.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t really know what we\u2019re looking for,\u201d she adds. \u201cProbably the top priority is talent. We were lucky enough to work with everybody we respect on this one\u2014except Kanye West.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n