
Pop culture is often defined and evolved by the music
it creates. In turn, music has the power to influence
those within a culture. Teens and pre-teens often
think they must bow to the standards of the crowd to
have the respect of their peers. The members of Aurora
hope to show them a different way. With their
infectious, beat-heavy pop music, twins Rachel and
Racquel Smith and their slightly (by 11 months) older
sister Lauren are capturing the hearts, ears and feet
of listeners everywhere with their self-titled debut
on Red Hill Records.
With a sound that is reminiscent of those dominating
the modern pop scene--Britney Spears, The Backstreet
Boys, Christina Aguilera, and the Latin-influenced pop
of Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin-the music of Aurora
is similar to what many teens are listening to right
now. But it's the words of Aurora that will set them
apart.
"We know how difficult it is to grow up in today's
society and resist a lot of negative influences," says
Rachel, 21. "Through our music, we want kids to
understand that they can stay away from some of the
things their friends may be doing and still have fun.
That's what the song 'Different Drum' talks about."
"We have been fortunate to grow up in a Christian
home," says her twin, Racquel. "Not everyone is as
lucky as we were. Learning about Jesus, knowing Him
and following His example from a young age has
definitely impacted the choices we have made. One of
our goals is to reach out to the kids today who aren't
aware that there is someone who cares about them at
all times - whose love is unconditional. Some of those
kids will be in the church and some won't. We just
want to go where God is leading us and share that with
our peers."
The tight harmonies of the Georgia-born members of
Aurora are homegrown. Lauren explains, "When we were
small - the twins were four years old and I was
five--our mom used to sit us on the counter in the
kitchen to keep an eye on us while she was cooking. To
occupy us, she started teaching us harmonies. She
would sing low harmony in the ear of one of us, high
harmony in another, and then lead in the last. As we
grew, we just kept it up."
All of the girls were busy with activities in high
school, from cheerleading to theater and sports. Since
all three girls play instruments - (Racquel plays the
piano, Rachel plays the guitar, and Lauren also plays
piano)-- they lead the praise and worship at their
church for several years. Eventually, they began
performing in churches in and around their hometown.
Even though they were raised with Christian values,
each girl says that at one point early in her teens,
she recognized her faith was a relationship, not a
bunch of rules. "I was in a gym class in fifth grade,
walking around the track outside, and I really started
noticing how beautiful everything was around me - the
trees, the grass, the sky," says Lauren. "I spent the
whole class period praising God for everything that He
has given us. I felt His presence then like I never
had before. That was a turning point for me."
The twins both say the realization was more gradual
for them, but they learned that their faith was a
daily thing, not something that they just did on
Sundays. "I started to realize that it was something
you had to put effort into, like any relationship,"
says Rachel.
As they began singing together in churches, the trio
felt God was leading them towards using their talents
on a full-time basis. They did an independent project
and decided to send it to several labels. "We prayed
over each package we sent out," says Lauren, "because
we wanted God to make it very clear to us whether or
not this was a path He wanted us to go down."
After hearing back from several interested companies,
the sisters prayed some more and felt like Red Hill
Records was the direction that God wanted them to go.
"They are very ministry focused, and that's what we
were looking for," explains Racquel.
From the memorable hook of "Mercy Me" to the
Latin-tinged "Loving Me Like You Do" and the
rhythm-heavy 'Forget Me Not," there are plenty of
tunes to groove to. "With this project we feel like
God's given us an opportunity to use all of our
talents-- combining singing and dancing with our
experience of being on stage. And at the same time, we
get to affirm the values that we feel kids today need
to know are important," finishes Lauren.
With Aurora, kids will know that having fun with God
is definitely the most fun that can be had.