AylaBrown.com - Forum

A date with destiny?
Spotlight grows brighter for Ayla Brown
By Craig S. Semon TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Let's set the record straight.

Ayla Brown is available. She is available as a single or five-track EP on iTunes.

The former “American Idol” contestant and current Boston College women's basketball star released her third studio effort, “Circles,” a week after her father, Scott Brown, won a U.S. Senate seat (and said she was “available”).

As for the fatherly faux pas heard around the world, the 21-year-old communications major said, “It was definitely funny. It was definitely innocent. That's so my dad. He loves to joke around and I love him for it.”

The fallout from the infamous, off-the-cuff comment came in the form of strangers coming out of the woodwork (and World Wide Web). Reportedly, she received more than 1,500 friend requests and 300 inbox messages before tightening her privacy settings on her Facebook profile.

“It's very flattering and I appreciate someone who takes the time to write to me but, at the same time, it makes me wonder who I can trust,” Ayla said.

One thing she can trust is her ability to win over a crowd with her wholesome good looks, sparkling personality and persuasive pipes. While she certainly inherited her hoop ability from her dad, Ayla might have also been blessed with a singing voice because of him also.

“My mom (WCVB-TV reporter Gail Huff) doesn't have any musical talent. My dad definitely can hold a tune,” Ayla said. “He sang to my mom's tummy every night when I was in there, and he would sing like the ‘ABCs' and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.' He claims I got all my singing talent from him, which could be true.”

While it was a given that the offspring of Cosmopolitan's “America's Sexiest Man” (circa 1982) and the bikini-clad babe in Digney Fignus' “The Girl with the Curious Hand” video (from 1984) was going to be good looking, Ayla said there are certainly other characteristics that she inherited strictly from her mother.

“I think I got my really loud and obnoxious-almost laugh from my mother, as well as my deep journalism sounding voice,” Ayla said. “So I definitely have qualities from each of my parents.”

Groomed on a diet of Disney animated musicals, Ayla, when she was 12, was asked to sing “The Star-Spanled Banner" at a high school girl's basketball game. Not only was this her professional debut, it was her first paying gig and she was thrilled.

“I was so excited because I received a check for $12,” she recalled. “And I remember, thinking to myself, if I could do this for the rest of my life and get $12 each time that I sing, then, I could make a living.”

“The Star-Spangled Banner,” which she has gone on to sing for all of Boston's five major league teams (Boston Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and N.E. Revolution) was the only song she ever sang in front of a crowd until she auditioned for season five of “American Idol.” She finished in 13th place, which is actually more impressive than it sounds when you consider the competition that year included Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, Elliot Yamin and winner Taylor Hicks.

Ayla and Double Deal Brand Records decided to release her latest “Circles” as a five-song EP because the days of people buying a whole album has been replaced by buying and downloading singles online.

“We figured, let's put out five good singles,” Ayla said. “It's cheap. People won't really have to dig in their pockets. It's only $4.95. It gives a good reason for someone to buy the whole album.”

Ayla said her favorite song on “Circles” is “No More,” a mid-tempo breakup song that she had a hand in writing. She said the song comes from the heart and is based on a true experience. She also had a hand in writing the time-warping love song “I'm So Happy,” which shows the past, present and future of a relationship, and “Tonight,” which chronicles the first time she went to a nightclub. Rounding out the EP is the heart-wrenching ballad “Pick It Up” and a fun cover of Vanessa Amorosi's “Absolutely Everybody,” which has been a staple of her live act for years.

Ayla, earned a full athletic scholarship to play for the Boston College Eagles women's basketball team. She is hoping for a two-on-two showdown against the commander in chief and a player of his choosing. When asked if the father-daughter team of “Downtown Scotty Brown” and “Downtown Ayla Brown” would wipe the court with President Obama, the 6-foot-tall guard let out a hearty laugh and said, “I think so, but who knows.” One thing for sure, Ayla would beat Obama in a karaoke contest.

As for her father, Ayla knows he certainly has made it in the annals of pop culture when Saturday Night Live spoofed him in a sketch. On Jan. 30, “Mad Men” star John Hamm played Sen. Brown, who stumbles upon a private meeting with the likes of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, who take turns having hilarious fantasies about the new senator.

“I think they did it in such a light-hearted way that there was nothing that offended me as his daughter,” Ayla said. “We had a good laugh as a family when we saw it together.”

And by now, we all know that Scott Brown drives a truck. So what does his first daughter drive?

“I actually don't have a car. I did have a 1983 Crown Victoria and it had an 8-track player in it,” Ayla said. “It was an old classic but this summer my teammate rear-ended me at an intersection, accidentally, and I have no car.”

When asked if it was difficult for her to go out on the streets since her father's win, Ayla said, “To be honest, I haven't yet.” She's been so busy with basketball practice and her studies, she really doesn't have the opportunity to go out and be a regular college kid, she said.

And while all the attention seems to be on Ayla and her dad, she said her sister Arianna is getting her share of attention, too.

“Arianna said the first time she was back at school in Syracuse, the whole night people were knocking on her dorm room door trying to meet her,” Ayla said “Although there are no cameras in her face, she is still getting the attention. In the same respect, she is not the one who is, quote, ‘available,' so I think not as many guys were running for her.”