Stars At The Shore: Aubrey O'Day
By Veronica Dudo
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (CBS) --With her feisty personality and creative ideas, Aubrey O'Day quickly became a front-runner in Donald Trump's reality TV competition, "Celebrity Apprentice." O'Day made it to the final three but was ultimately fired by The Donald. Before battling it out with her fellow celebrity cast mates in the boardroom, O'Day had a stint in P. Diddy's all-female singing group Danity Kane. Now, the 28-year-old is concentrating on a new solo album.
Over the weekend, O'Day hosted a party at the Pool After Dark inside Harrah's Resort. During her visit to Atlantic City, O'Day talked about her time on the Celebrity Apprentice, her new album and why she was talking smack on Philly!
You were on Celebrity Apprentice. What was that experience like?
Hectic and really fulfilling.
You made it to the final three and you really wanted to win. How were you feeling?
I never really thought that I wouldn't get it; I knew I was the strongest player there. I thought that if it didn't happen, it was probably just a matter of politics.
What did you learn working with the Trumps?
I learned that it's always good to remember that you're playing a game, and I'm more of a business person. I take things very seriously and I always believe that your work should speak for itself, and unfortunately, that's probably about 20% of what really matters in this business. [Laughs]
Can you talk about your new single?
Yeah, my new single's called 'Wrecking Ball,' and it was written by Pia Toscano from American Idol and produced by David Hodges, who's responsible for great tracks from Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry…He's amazing, and it's a great summertime just-left-your-man or left-your-girl, you're ready to handle life and be the world's wrecking ball.
What other projects are you working on?
Right now, I've just been recording. I'm in the studio every night, and I'm working on releasing a solo album.
What genre are you focusing on now?
Most of my music is pretty consistently R&B/Pop. Same type of sound that you heard with Danity Kane--a lot of R&B, base, drums and a lot of pop hooks. And I go all over the place. I've done a dubstep track all the way to a rock track, and I've played the gamut of the things that my voice is capable of doing.
What musical artists inspire you?
This year, I would say Adele obviously was an amazing inspiration for everyone, last year coming into this year. This year I've always loved Calvin Harris, Keri Hilson is great, Wale--I love him. I listen to a lot of weird underground things; I don't really listen to mainstream pop music.
Do you ever get the chance to visit Philadelphia?
I haven't, but my Celtics just played the Sixers, so you know I was talking a lot of smack on Philly, so [laughs] I got to probably apologize for that right now. But I'm a big Celtics fan! I'm not from Boston, but I love basketball and I love the team, and I've been a pretty strong supporter of the Celtics for about seven years now. I've been at all the play-off games; I'm going to the play-off game tomorrow. I was at the play-off game yesterday, so I'm all over. I love it--I love basketball--and I think the Sixers have a great team, but they couldn't stand the beat-down from the Celtics; it was hard for them!
Veronica Dudo is an award-winning journalist covering everything from breaking news to red carpet celebrity interviews. Follow her on Twitter @VeronicaDudo and Facebook
