Before we begin with this read, I’d highly recommend checking out my recap post of the 102.7 KIIS FM Jingle Ball in LA on November 30th.
I am currently in my bed, still resting up after what was probably the most lucrative weekend of my life. While most people my age were finishing up finals, hunting for Christmas presents, or enjoying December Nights back home, I was all the way on the other side of the country for the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in New York.
It all started when I was on my way to LA for KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball. My parents were going to drop me off at The Forum, and as we were passing Oceanside, I got a call from an 845 area code. I figured it would be another one of those robocalls, but I always pick up no matter what because I’m always like *omg what if I won a contest*. When I answered, it was a lady from iHeartMedia asking me if I remember entering the Capital One Ultimate Fan contest for New York. (If you guys know me, you know I try to be on my game when it comes to contests). I was very confused at first. When she said “you’ve won, you’ll be flying out to New York next week” I was so thankful that I wasn’t the one behind the wheel at the time thought I was being punk’d. Literally. Out of ALL the people that entered this nationwide contest, they chose ME.
Just try to imagine what was going through my mind when I was at The Forum having the time of my life, knowing I was going to get to do it all over again a week later in New York.
I was going to get to see G-Eazy, Cardi B, Camila Cabello, and so many more of my favorite artists twice within a 7 day span. This just didn’t feel real but it was VERY real.
GETTING READY TO RUMBLE
My flight left San Diego the first thing Thursday morning. I landed in NYC around 3PM, and was met with very cold wind! A town car took me to my hotel in midtown Manhattan, and it took about two hours to get there from JFK. I don’t think I’ll ever complain about San Diego or even LA traffic at 4PM ever again.
Once I settled into my room, I wanted to hit the streets! I’ve been to New York before, so I wasn’t really up to doing “touristy” things that involved spending boatloads of money that I don’t have. I mainly wanted to visit the LINE Friends store in Times Square, especially because I haven’t been to the one in Hollywood. Things were a little expensive, but cute and well worth it!
Times Square is iconic. I’m the type who wants to get from point A to point B as soon as I can (especially when there’s tourists around) but it was fun to just stand around for a few minutes and enjoy this place that thousands and thousands of people from all over the world visit daily, and millions more dream of visiting. PLEEEEASE don’t get it twisted – I loved every second of it, but I wouldn’t have spent all night down there. I feel like it has seen it’s share of better days and it’ll only get more worn out… just like the Vegas strip and even the Hollywood walk of fame.
After a good night’s sleep, it was time to get up and start getting ready for THE most legendary day of my life (besides the day I was born).
CRUNCH TIME
I had my own personal stylist to give my hair a few curls and do my makeup. I really wanted to look glam, but at the same time natural since I’d say most of the time I go with nude tones.
If there’s one thing to be said about New York, it’s the fact that the days go by quickly. If you blink, you’ll miss something. My first stop of the day was the Z100 Pepsi All Access Lounge at the Hammerstein Ballroom – the official pre-party for the Z100 Jingle Ball. Although the doors opened at noon, my intentions were to not get there so early. Time flew by, and I ended up getting there a little after 1:30PM. The venue was only a block away from my hotel.
PULL UP TO THE FUNCTION
The 2018 Z100 Pepsi All Access Lounge lineup featured lovelytheband, Madison Beer, Bryce Vine, Lauren Jauregui, PRETTYMUCH, Monsta X, the cast of Anastasia The Musical, Heffron Drive, Logan Henderson, and a special guest appearance from Normani.
Just like the Jingle Ball Village in LA, the All Access Lounge features cool activations from the show’s local, multi-market, and national partners. There were tons of giveaways, opportunities to meet the All Access Lounge performers, and it was the last chance for fans to try to win tickets to the main show at The Garden. There was so much to see in so little time!
The hands down coolest activity at the All Access Lounge was Pepsi’s mirror cube video booth! You got to step in, dance, and feel like a star.
Out of all the performers, I really wanted to meet Bryce Vine and PRETTYMUCH. I love Bryce Vine’s voice, his music is so chill to me and I knew that I was unfortunately going to miss his set at the event because I needed to head back to the hotel to drop off all the free swag I accumulated at the event. If I had the opportunity to meet him at least, I thought that would’ve been so cool.
As I was about to step out of the cube, I was asking the guy taking the videos if he knew how I could get meet and greets with the artists. (I mean, I’m a California girl… I didn’t know how ANY of this stuff worked). Before I could even finish, a girl came in and handed me a card for Bryce’s meet and greet! I was so happy.
I went into the audience to watch some of the show, and a girl handed me another card to meet PRETTYMUCH at their meet and greet. My life was MADE, but things were about to get even more awesome!
PRETTYMUCH’s meet and greet came first. I was so excited to see my boys after a whole year. Everyone was so hyped up, and the girls in my photo group were so kind. Austin has always been my favorite member, so I wanted to go stand in between him and Edwin.
After the meet and greet, I got to watch Madison Beer perform. She sang hits such as “Fools”, “Dead”, and “Hurts Like Hell”. Then it was time to head back downstairs to meet Bryce Vine.
Part of the sweepstakes I won to come out to New York included the opportunity to introduce an act on stage at the All Access Lounge. When I found out that act would be PRETTYMUCH, literally my favorite boy band (that is currently together/NOT on hiatus), I squealed for a straight 10 minutes. After my meet and greet with Bryce Vine, I got to hang out side stage with Medha Gandhi and Danielle Morano from the Elvis Duran show. Being able to stand in the wings like that was one of the coolest things ever. Then I got brought up to talk about the contest I won and to bring out PRETTYMUCH!
One question I’ve been getting asked a lot is if I was nervous. The answer is NO! There wasn’t much room for error, and I’ve never been someone who would get stage fright. This would probably be a slightly different story if this had been in San Diego or LA and I knew there were people in the crowd that hated my guts.
Having Nick Mara run past you as you walk off stage is sweet. I got into the crowd as quickly as I could to jump around to “Real Friends”, “Solita” and a few others. My boys did awesome. PRETTYMUCH have so much energy, and it was the perfect warmup for me before heading over to Madison Square Garden!
AN ICON LIVING
At first, I thought my seats were going to be 12th row on the floor. Me being the silly goose I can be sometimes, I misread my ticket – in reality I was second row. HOLY HEART ATTACK. G-Eazy was really going to see me now! In order to get to the floor seats, I had to go up a flight of stairs. It’s interesting how the arena wasn’t on ground level.
As soon as the usher walked me up to the seats, I realized that second row in this section was actually FRONT ROW. I was sitting FRONT ROW at Madison Square Garden to see my favorite people. It doesn’t get better than that. That’s literally something you read in a fanfiction.
PERFECTING THE LOOK
Now let’s talk about what I wore! It was important to dress for the weather. Enough people told me to wear layers, so I definitely took that advice. I also wanted to look festive, so here’s what I came up with.
Dress – Lauren Ralph Lauren Sequin T-Shirt Dress from Macy’s
Jacket – Celebrity Pink Juniors’ Double-Breasted Hooded Peacoat (in Lipstick Red) from Macy’s
Styled with a black scarf (that you can literally find ANYWHERE), black leggings, my white “front row boots” (if you don’t know what those are by now then… I’m sorry) and a candy purse from Forever 21.
IT’S SHOWTIME, BABY!
Monsta X opened up the show at 7pm with their hit song “Shoot Out”. Although it was the only song they performed, they definitely brought the energy and the guys did not disappoint at all! I thought it was a huge deal that a Korean group got to be a part of this event and the tour, and hopefully this opens up the door for other K-Pop artists to perform in the future.
Bazzi was up next, and since this is New York, the grand daddy of all Jingle Balls, he brought out Camila Cabello to sing their duet version of “Beautiful”. Miss Cabello contributing her powerhouse vocals to the song provided for a very exciting performance, which was just a sampling of what was to be expected later on in the night.
Right after Bazzi’s set, I was taken on a backstage tour. I got to see the red carpet area, the gifting suite, the artist social stop (which was a set that was supposed to look like a subway) and caught Normani dancing the night away with the Waffle Crew. I passed by several artist dressing rooms, but of course I didn’t have access to those. I also ran into PRETTYMUCH again, and we all waved at one another. Other sightings included the Backpack Kid, Ryan Mckenna (aka the Selfie Kid)… and hundreds of hard working individuals and their children roaming around. That’s about it! The backstage areas at venues are very busy areas and there’s usually not much to see. I think iHeart does a great job at making the backstage areas at their events a really cool zone for people to be social on and off the screen, especially at the most famous arena in the world!
Once that was done, it was time to race back to my seat to catch Shawn Mendes. I don’t even need to explain how magical it was seeing Shawn Mendes from the front row. Shawn opened up his set with “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back”, and also sang “Treat You Better”, “Stitches”, “Use Somebody”, “Lost in Japan”, and “In My Blood”. This was also a very special performance for Shawn and all his fans because that very morning, he received TWO Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.
Camila Cabello is truly a performer to be reckoned with. She offers the complete package – singing, dancing, the ability to play instruments, and she has the power to make a sold out arena feel like they’re in a living room with her hearing her sing her stories.
The true highlight of my night – and possibly the part many of you guys have been waiting to hear me talk about, was when G-Eazy took the stage. Let me “Rewind” to before he came on stage. Actually, let me start off by reminding everyone that I’m NOT a screamer. I go “wooooo”, but my body will not physically allow me to scream… because then I’ll start coughing and feeling light headed. I guess my body went into fight-or-flight mode, because when the screens said “Coming up next, G-Eazy” I let out a blood hurdling fangirl scream that no one has heard come from my system in YEARS.
Gerald opened his set with “Me, Myself & I”, minus Bebe Rexha. MY IDOL WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. The young, talented, charismatic rapper cranked through his set and did not leave any room for a dull moment. No matter how many times he ran around or jumped on stage, the stack of $2 bills in his back pocket didn’t slip away. WHEN YOUR IDOL MAKES EYE CONTACT WITH YOU AND YOU’RE ON THE VERGE OF TEARS BUT YOU HOLD IT IN AND HE SEES YOU GOING HARD AND HE SMILES AT YOU is something that stays with you for so long.
Gerald also brought out Marc E. Bassy to sing “Love Her Too” and “You & Me”. It’s also important to note that Gerald threw out the $2 bills during “No Limit”, and I caught two of them!
Calvin Harris kept the energy going with his set, playing crowd favorites from his catalog such as “Feel So Close”, “We Found Love”, “Summer”, and his latest single “Promises” featuring Sam Smith. I’ve been a fan of Calvin Harris for so long and I totally got my fix! I can’t wait to catch him in Vegas when I’m 21.
Khalid was next up, but unfortunately I missed his set because I had a meet and greet with Normani. One of my pet peeves about these types of events is that artist meet and greets will usually take place during the show, so you’ll be bound to miss a performer.
But it was worth it, because I got to reunite with the queen herself 🙂
After the meet and greet, it was time to run, and I mean RUN back to my seat to catch the main event… CARDI B! It’s not every day that you get to party with Cardi, but when you get the opportunity, you MUST take full advantage of it! It was so much fun being able to dance along to all her hits, including my personal favorite, “Bickenhead”.
Cardi is unarguably one of the hottest artists of 2018, and her prescience created an energy inside of the arena that would be pretty challenging for any other artist to recreate. With five Grammy nominations, her and the Bardi Gang definitely had a ton to celebrate!
Cardi wrapped up her set with Bodak Yellow, a very solid ending to a long night of powerhouse performances. That’s when I realized… I may never be that close to Cardi B ever again. But I still had the time of my life and no one can take that memory away from me. NO ONE.
LESSONS LEARNED
As “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” by *NSYNC played when everyone started to make their way out of the arena, the first thing that came into my mind was “I’ll be back”. I wasn’t expecting to end up in New York in December. If someone had told me towards the beginning of the year that I would be flying to New York to live it up as a VIP at an event I have been dreaming of going to for years, I don’t think I would’ve believed them. Anything is possible, but the way this played out was so surreal… ESPECIALLY because I kept telling my mom (and a few friends) after I purchased my ticket to the Jingle Ball in LA that I would have a larger than life opportunity after I attended. It happened. And this won’t be the last time. MSG is such an amazing venue, and this wasn’t the last time I’d step foot inside.
If you know me even the slightest bit, you know that I’m studying marketing and that I don’t see myself working anywhere except the entertainment industry. There’s no plan B at all. I wouldn’t say I have anyone really holding my hand in this journey except for God, but sometimes I feel really lost. I feel like no one has my back, even if they say they do. I wonder if I’m going to be accepted for who I am. Sometimes I feel like my short term and long term goals are irrational.
This whole experience gave me all the validation I’d ever need to know that I can indeed take on everything my heart desires. From my interactions with other fans, those working the events and even my contacts for the trip; being able to spend a little time in production areas, seeing people create and curate content for Z100 and iHeart’s social media channels, getting to see firsthand what goes down backstage at these events, even reuniting with some of my favorite artists and creating content of my own made me feel more comfortable and confident than ever. I was born for this, and this is where it begins.
If I ever have kids, I want them to know they can be anyone they want to be. They can identify as anyone they want to identify as. But if they ever want to see their favorite artists live and meet their idols, I will do whatever it takes for them to do just that. I saw a lot of young kids just chilling out backstage, getting the opportunities to watch the show from exclusive areas and meet some of the performers. I want my kids to be able to do the same exact thing. I want them to have the opportunities I would dream about and write stories about in my pink fuzzy diary, wishing they’d come true someday. If they EVER want to work in the entertainment industry, I want to be able to guide them through it and be their mentor.
It doesn’t even stop there – I’m SO blessed to have been able to have this opportunity, and I want people to see that if a biracial girl from Chula Vista went to New York, had fun, came back, and then took over the world… they can too.
I WILL meet G-Eazy someday.
Most importantly, next time I’m in New York, I’m going to make sure I eat more hot dogs and pizza. I had two hot dogs and only one slice of pizza. WEEEAK.
Thank you so much to iHeartRadio, Capital One, Pepsi, and Z100 New York for the experience of a lifetime. It’s go time, Team WIFI!
UPDATE – JANUARY 17, 2019
It’s been over a month and I’m still not over this trip 🙈 I found the following two pics on Getty Images
Way too cool, right? Alright – I also turned the comments on, so let’s talk!
Not only did the event look absolutely spectacular, but I have always wanted to visit New York and take in all the sites. This is like a dream trip, I’m glad you had the opportunity!
What an incredible experience. This looks like so much fun. Being in this vibrant city during this time of the year never disappoints. There is always something exciting happening in the city that never sleeps!
OMG!!! You just brought back so many memories. I used to go to the Z100 Jingle Ball almost every year when I was younger. They always had such great lineups…I may have to head back to the states and go next year 🙂
Omg!! What an awesome experience you have shared. I feel like I was there enjoying it with. Reminded me of my college years.