Her name is Julianne Hough. That’s pronounced huff, as in “huff ‘n’ puff and blow your house down.” And boy, is that storybook imagery fitting. In fact, big bad wolves can just slink away in shame right now. Because this petite and personable 19-year-old, best known for her graceful turns as a two-time Dancing With the Stars champ, is obviously determined to keep going until she (nicely and politely) blows everybody away.
The dancing princess came by her notable talent naturally enough: her grandparents (on both sides) were dancers, and her parents met in a ballroom dancing team in college. Growing up as one of five song-and-dance siblings, Hough, at 3, was already cutting her performance teeth, singing in the family’s country band and beginning to dream her windy dreams.
“We were kind of known as the blond Osmonds,” Hough said in a recent Associated Press interview. “It’s kind of embarrassing now. But we were in these bold spandex and black cowboy boots and black fringe vests and black cowboy hats,” she told Country Music Television. “I think when I was 8 years old, I even set the goal that I would be a singer by the time I was 19—which is crazy.”
Get to Work, Kid
Crazy or not, Hough’s plans were right on schedule when, at the ripe old age of 10, she was dancing competitively as a seasoned pro. But then her parents divorced, and the family struggled to find its emotional footing. Julianne and brother Derek were sent to a performing arts school in London. There, when the kids weren’t hitting the books, they were hitting the boards—training in gymnastics, jazz, dance, opera and musical theater.
Now that would be a pretty full slate for most tweens. But not for Julianne. At 12 she was carrying a full class load, sweeping through dance competitions again and showing up on U.K. television with her brother in a little pop, singing and dancing group called 2B1G. At 15, however, that old dream was still calling to Julianne, and she decided it was time to get serious.
“I knew if I stayed in London, my whole life would be dancing. I’d won almost every major title you can. I thought, ‘This really isn’t my passion. I really want to sing,’ and I knew I wouldn’t be able to if I stayed there.”
Stay the Course, Girl
So she finished her education back in the States and immediately started pursuing a music career in Los Angeles. Of course, it was the dancing that got her noticed, earning her a spot on the touring version of Dancing With the Stars. Then it happened:
“My music manager that I have today saw me on the tour and he was, like, ‘Who is that girl? She is kind of standing out to me. I wonder if she sings,'” Hough said in her CMT interview. “So I went and sang for him in a back room of one of the venues, and he was like, ‘OK. Let’s do this.'”
Hough was soon welcomed onto the official Dancing With the Stars TV set. And Americans simultaneously sat up, dropped their bags of chips, and started cheering as the pretty blond tripped the light fantastic. She spent two seasons making her partners—speed skater Apolo Ohno and IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves—look like they were born to dance.
And she put together her all-important first album.
“I didn’t want to get pigeonholed as being a dancer,” Hough told the AP. “And then when I start in music people think, ‘Oh, just because she got this exposure, now she thinks she can sing.'”
Sing a Song, Lady
For the record, this multitalented performer doesn’t just think she can sing. Hough’s self-titled debut showcases her surprisingly seasoned vocals. And critics have been heaping on the praise.
“It is a perfect country music voice, complete with a Southern intonation and a note of laughter in the vocals,” opined reviewer Alexander Hutt on the A ‘n’ E Vibe Web site. And country music news site That’s Country glowed, “She has a warm, textured voice that is equally suited to feisty up-tempo tunes and contemplative ballads, both of which can be found on her debut.”
Even better—and despite that feisty bounce and smoky country twang—Hough stays, for the most part, out of the boozy honky-tonks and steamy backseats, places other country music sirens like to frequent. The songs range from her first hit single, “That Song in My Head,” with its cheery take on youthful summer attraction, to “Help Me Help You,” a musical theater-sounding ode to sacrificial friendship. And in “Jimmy Ray McGee,” Hough recognizes the wisdom of resisting sexual temptation.
There is one sensual tune on the CD called “Hide Your Matches,” where the young songstress compares her physical passion to smoldering coals and a burning cigarette (“It ain’t gonna take much/ … Once that fire gets going/There’s no way to slow it down”). But even that somewhat overheated ballad keeps the imagery strictly metaphorical.
Sexy … in a Family-Friendly Sort of Way?
Not only does this young songbird keep her music PG rated, but she points to the family friendliness of her day-to-day life, as well. “I tried to go out and mingle with people in the industry and date people, but I felt I was different than most of them,” she told CosmoGIRL! “I don’t drink, smoke or do drugs, so those things immediately separate me.”
And that’s where her family support system makes a big difference. In her words: “My dad, who I am very close with, will text me, ‘Are you doing the right things, in the right place, at the right time?’ And it’s usually when I’m someplace I shouldn’t be. So I’ll call him and say, ‘Thanks, I needed to hear that.'”
Her Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints background also factors in, especially when it comes to keeping her choices on the straight and narrow. “I feel I have a good head on my shoulders, and it’s based on my family and my beliefs growing up as a Mormon,” she said in her CosmoGIRL! interview. “It’s hard to say no when you’re young, but [saying yes] could hurt worse later. My thinking has been to try not to think about instant gratification of the present, but to think about the joy and happiness that lies ahead for me.”
