LMFAO will kick off its Sorry for Party Rocking summer tour in Columbus Tuesday at Nationwide Arena, but it’s Eva Simons, one of the tour’s featured artists, who plans to take over the crowd.
Simons, a Dutch-born singer, got her first big wave of recognition in 2010 with her electronic dance hit “Take Over Control” with Afrojack, and continues to gain momentum from collaborations in tracks with will.i.am, Chris Brown and LMFAO.
Simons will join headliner LMFAO’s entourage of artists on the tour.
“It is my first arena tour in the U.S.,” Simons told The Lantern. “It’s very exciting, because I’m going to get a chance to show America who I am. I’ll be performing ‘Take Over Control’ and ‘I Don’t Like You,’ which most of them might already know, but also four or five songs they don’t know.”
Simons co-wrote “Take Over Control,” which raked in more than 24 million views on YouTube. Her solo single “I Don’t Like You” released in March and is the first song from an album she’s aiming to release later this year, Simons said.
Having teamed up with LMFAO before, Simons said she’s excited to be in its company again, and to be back in the U.S.
“I love the U.S.,” Simons said. “You guys were the first that opened your arms to me with ‘Take Over Control,’ and then Europe picked it up too, but the U.S. is always a warm welcome.”
Simons is 28-years-old and comes from a classically trained childhood in Amsterdam with musical parents. She has been writing compositions and playing piano since a young age, but she said the electronic beats and dance music she makes today have always been a part of who she is.
“The electronic music scene has always been in my blood,” Simons said. “My mom had hits when I was younger and I always went to the club. I don’t understand why I like it so much. It’s like food, how some people like tea and chocolate, I love electronic music.”
Far East Movement, The Quest Crew, Sidney Samson and Natalia Kills are also set to appear at LMFAO’s Columbus show.
Adam Bernard, a second-year in business and employee at the Ohio Union, said discount tickets sold out fast.
“There was a big line,” Bernard said. “Probably a few hundred students showed up to get tickets.”
Nikki Villoria, a first-year in psychology, was one of those students.
“Yeah I got a ticket, but I’ll probably end up coming late,” Villoria said. “It was kind of a whim sort of a thing. There are a lot of openers for it, and I’ve never heard of Eva Simons.”
Simons has been compared to Rihanna and Lady Gaga, and her name hasn’t caught on as powerfully as her hits, but she can be easily spotted at Tuesday’s show by her signature mohawk.
“It started it around 2008,” Simons said of her hairdo. “I went to that part of Japan where they have Harajuku girls, and I thought their hair was so cool.”
Simons said she got the specific idea of the red mohawk from the coat of arms flag of Suriname, a country in northern South America where her mother is from.
Doors open at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for LMFAO and its crew of party rockers.
