Once serving as a creative mind behind New York’s favorite rising indie acts, Carina Allen has now gone from behind the camera to in front of a microphone. Under the name rlyblonde, Allen has defined herself as Brooklyn’s favorite alt-rock songstress, creating a world that leans into divine femininity, queer love, and an ultimate fantasy. Not only is there rlyblonde, the iconic sweetheart, but Carina Allen — the passionate business owner — still remains, and in both worlds, she is often a “one-woman show.” By day, Allen is a full-time wedding photographer and the founder of her own production company, Hot Creative. By night, she’s your favorite indie popstar. Now, going into her second year photographing newlyweds, Allen admits that her Hannah Montana-esque double life is nothing short of on the nose for the character of rlyblonde.
“Who else gets to brag that their wedding photographer is a rockstar?” she asks.
THE BUSINESS
A wearer of many hats, there is never a dull moment in Allen’s life. Currently in the full swing of booking wedding clients, Allen is happy that after two years, she is able to expand and continue building up her network.
“I think every freelancer can relate to always craving some sort of stability,” she admits. “So this is kind of my option for that. And while I do, on a bad day, feel very frustrated by how much I’ve signed myself up for, it is kind of the thing that allows me to plan my calendar a year in advance and do all the other creative things that I want to do.” Outside of her full-time photography career, Allen is the founder of Hot Creative, an LA and NYC-based production company that offers photoshoots, creative direction and video production for other creatives. With Hot Creative, Allen can still fuel her passion for creating for other artists. “Hot Creative is sort of like a great hub for all of my other creative work that isn’t necessarily for rlyblonde, but also kind of all-encompassing,” she says. “But it’s just given me a nice separation between my artist persona and then who I am as a director and a creative.”
THE BEATS
Step into the musical universe of rlyblonde, and you’ll find a bubblegum pink alt-rock world full of romanticism and charming honesty. An artist in every sense of the word, every rlyblonde project is created through Hot Creative, where Allen has a hands-on approach to her visuals and music. “I feel like when I get a little too bogged down in ‘e-mail world’ or wedding photographer world, it’s nice to have a break and do a show where I get to do my full glam and be rlyblonde,” she says.
rlyblonde made her debut in 2023 with her Fantasy EP, which conveys the star’s yearning for her ultimate dream life. Currently working on her sophomore EP, Star of the Show, set to release later this year, rlyblonde exudes a heightened level of maturity, confidence and edge compared to her debut project. “The new project’s a little more indie-rock influenced, a little grungier,” rlyblonde says.
“I feel like Fantasy was very much a daydream of ‘this is who I could be maybe in another life.’ It was sort of this thing that existed inside my brain, thinking about identity and the performance put on for men, and I think I’ve really come into myself a lot over the past couple of years. It’s playing with the same idea of performance, characters and world-building, but it’s my real life now. I brought it from a place of a fantasy into real life, which is really exciting, you know?”
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