“I’m counting my blessings for sure,” Brooke, 27, tells PEOPLE.
Ahead of the holidays, the singer catches up with PEOPLE on paying tribute to her idolSelena Quintanilla, her plans for the holiday and her recent work with theLeukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“I’ll definitely eat lots of tamales, make lots of queso and Mexican food,” theFifth Harmonyalum says. “I also love to make Christmas cookies with my dad [Jerry] and my little cousin so definitely still doing that.”
Ally Brooke.Ally Brooke/Instagram
“My dad has thousands of lights on the house already,” she adds. “It looks like a winter wonderland and just being together, watching movies, spending time, cooking, baking, that’s what’s so special for me.”
“I was so honored to pay tribute to one of the most magnificent humans to ever grace this Earth,” she raves about Selena. “She was such a beautiful soul and just brought so much light to everybody she encountered. She did things from her heart. She was real and genuine and full of love.”
Brooke cites Selena as her biggest inspiration. Over the past few years, she’s covered her songs on tour and during televised performances and evendanced to “Dreaming of You"duringDancing with the Starslast fall. In her memoir, Brooke even revealed that Selena’s sisterSuzzetteonce told her that she reminded her of the late Tejano singer.
“I just dreamt of meeting them, but the fact that they’re now friends and they’ve been so supportive of me is very surreal,” she says of Selena’s family. “I have to pause sometimes and think about it and just say a little prayer of gratitude. They’ve inspired me to chase my own dreams so it’s definitely something that I take as a gift.”
2020 was a year of firsts for Brooke. Along with her first Christmas song and memoir, Brooke briefly disappeared from social media before revealing that she filmed her first film,High Expectations, where she plays the role of Sofía.
“That was definitely a moment in time I’m going to look back on and always smile and cherish it because we filmed a movie during a pandemic,” she says. “It was such a beautiful story and the crew was like family. They took me in like I was their own and it was so special. To bring [my character Sofia’s] story to life and to see how she is a light in her own way in this film is something that is really wonderful.”
And after a year of EDM-tinged collabs — such as No. 1 “All Night” and “What Are We Waiting For?” with Afrojack, “Feeling Dynamite” with Joe Stone and “Dance It Off” with Laidback Luke — Brooke says she’s ready to “hopefully” drop her debut album in the new year and go back on tour.
“Those records really get me pumped and energized, and I’m going to definitely continue to do touches of that, but you’re going to see different versions of pop music from me,” she says of her own music. “I’ve done a lot of collabs, but my own solo music is definitely going to lean more pop. I’m super excited about my new songs.”
“I was so moved and inspired and we were so connected because we had so many similarities,” she says about meeting Caitlin. “She said that Fifth Harmony’s music got her through and that was something that was so powerful and so beautiful. It was such a beautiful blessing to surprise her, to make her smile. she really touched my life.”
“I cannot imagine what it’s like to go through that, but with the LLS, you’re not alone and they really root these patients on,” she adds about the organization.“I was lucky to get to know Caitlin’s story and her bravery and strength.”
Learn more about theLLS' Light the Night campaign here.
source: people.com
