Never one to be shy about locking his place down in the scheme of things, Christian Berishaj, AKA Christian TV is making his presence known in a hurry. His inaugural single and video for the label, the sizzling “When She Turns 18,” already has hearts pounding and tongues wagging, with Entertainment Weekly’s online pulse-takers calling the scorching hit a potential ‘smash,’ – ‘…this could be one of the songs of the summer,’ wails the mag.
As for the vid – another online temperature-taker hails it as a sultry, suggestive masterpiece… ‘Anything but saintly.’
The video for “When She Turns 18,” alone, asks the question – straight up – are you ready to turn your daughter over to…well…Christian TV. /Living in detention, she’s gotta get away…girls do just wanna have fun/ go the song lyrics. But we were warned. The artist/producer has been gaining a robust head of steam with bloggers and online followers of club music the past year for a crackling array of self-launched club and digital hits, including “Naked,” “Drop Dead Gorgeous Jaimie,” and others.
All in a day’s work for the charismatic Christian, who has already garnered a sizeable digital and youtube following thanks to preceding homemade videos and other digitally-savvy missives creating the unique mystique that surrounds the 24 year old dance music prodigy.
What he will ‘fess up to is his Detroit City roots. He hails from gritty East Detroit, in fact, growing up in a forgotten city with shields down but antennae up. You have to imagine a hyper-scanning, teenage Christian rolling with a passion for music and pro tools – “born ready,” as he puts it – “right off 8 Mile, there. Right by Shady Lane Bridge,” dropping the historic destination in your lap, and then discarding it as he talks about his desire – even then – to shake off some of the rust from the economically ravaged burgh and head for wide-open Los Angeles. He is just as quick to add, however, that Detroit’s unshakable musical roots are always firmly in place. “There’s no doubt that my music celebrates the idea of ‘escape,’” he says. “I want it to be fun, I want it to be all inclusive. But I also like to point out to people I’m bringing that Detroit grime to pop music. It’s not all pretty, if you know what I mean.”
In the past few years, Christian has delivered his signature production and remixing talents for several notable artists and production entities, including Rihanna – “Rude Boy” (which was embraced by top DJ’s around the world), The XX – “Infinity” (which reached #2 on Hype Machine),“Vampire Weekend” – Horchata, Miike Snow – “Animal,” and Orianthi – “According to You,” and others.
