BB Exclusive: Pepi Sonuga Talks Famous in Love w/ BB
Freeform will be debuting its new series, Famous in Love tonight, April 18 and we had the chance to sit down with, Pepi Sonuga and talk about the new series.
Pepi plays popstar, Tangey Turner in the series, which also stars Bella Thorne, Carter Jenkins, Niki Koss, Georgie Flores, Keith Powers and Charlie DePew.
In our interview, we talk the show, her character, Tangey, social media, The Fosters, what drew her to the role and so much more. Highlights can be found below.
On her show, Famous in Love: “It’s an insiders sneak peek at the world of fame behind the curtain and what not. It stars Bella Thorne, she is a regular college student, young girl, who goes on a cattle call audition and ends up getting the role of a lifetime in sort of like a Twilight series in our Famous in Love world.
She’s cast in this lead role and basically her character is now taken from normality to being famous and it’s about how she feels about that and trying to balance that with her friends and dealing with this new friend group of kids who are famous that she is going to meet.”
On her character Tangey: “She’s a pop star in this world and she’s also one of the people that Bella has to meet and deal with as she navigates this new life of hers”.
On if she was a singer before landing this role: “I wasn’t a professional singer, but oddly enough I went through a phase in my life where I wanted to be a singer. I recorded a whole studio album, I wrote and produced everything, but it turned out to be really horrible and I was like, ‘Wait, I can’t be a singer’. So it’s really ironic that now I get to play a singer and it’s getting me like in love with music again and maybe I might try it. I was 16 when I made the album, so maybe now that I’m 23 and an adult it might be better.”
The rest of our interview can be found below the jump. The series premier will air after the 7B premiere of Pretty Little Liars tonight, so make sure to tune in. After the episode, let us know what you thought in the comments below.
If you can’t tune into the premiere via your TV, the entire first season is available to binge digitally starting today!!
Photo source: Freeform/Nino Munoz
On if it was the singing aspect that drew her to Tangey or something else: “Absolutely. Honestly, when I got the audition the character isn’t prominent in the pilot, so it’s one of those auditions that when you read the pilot you really don’t know much about your character, so you really go off on what they tell you about her and what’s going to happen in the future. So, I didn’t have anything to make me fall in love with Tangey in the initial audition except for the fact that she was a popstar and she was bold and strong.
On how Famous in Love is different from The Fosters: “The Fosters was an amazing experience. What I will say they have in common is that Freeform just hires the best people or Warner Bros. has the best crew, I don’t know. Both sets have a sense of family and itys a sense of you’re home and you’re comfortable and relaxed and it doesn’t matter how many lines you have today, you’re an important part of our piece.
What is different is, I will say, The Fosters feels like walking down the beach with your closest best friends and everything is sunny, where Famous in Love the atmosphere is like driving in a limousine with your best friends. It’s definitely still family and everyone is down to earth, but even on set it’s glitzier because we have social media there constantly. People are taking photos of us when we’re not working. You always feel the sense of that you are on a TV show, while The Fosters was a little more laid back.
On how important social media is for their show: “Social media is actually going to become so important in our pitch. The show hasn’t even aired yet, but the fans are already so involved and not even in the storylines because they don’t know the storylines. They are involved in our lives. It’s crazy, they know my best friend’s name, it’s crazy!”
On what fans can expect from Tangey this season: “I think, aestically, she is very well put together, way more than I am. She will inspire your fashion sense and beauty, that’s going to grab your attention. But I think what is going to make you stay is really her heart. She is so strong and so relatable and I hope the fans see my heart through it. I really did put all my heart and soul into the character.
I wanted her tobe someone who everyone knew or felt they’ve been at some point. Honestly, you will just have to tune in. Tangey’s going to grab you from the second you see her. We have such a huge cast and it’s hard to give everyone screen time, but I am really grateful for our writers because even when Tangey is not there, when you do see her it is really magnetic. They gave me a lot of great material to work with.”