Laura Roppé Wants to Smell George Clooney

Within 24 hours of being uploaded to YouTube in mid-January, the video for Laura Roppé’s song “George Clooney” earned her over 20,000 views and an interview with Billboard Magazine. As of this writing, Billboard has ranked her number six in the world on their Uncharted Music Chart, a listing of Top 100 emerging artists demonstrating significant presence on the Internet.

“I wrote ‘George Clooney’ during treatments for triple negative breast cancer in 2009,” says the San Diego–bred singer-songwriter. “My chemo buddy and I were chatting about who we’d want in the movie of our lives one day, and I said, ‘Well, we need to find a part for George Clooney. You know, he’s so dreamy….’ That night I wrote the song, and I realized it was my bucket-list song [about] the life I would live when all of the cancer stuff was behind me. I originally thought it would be a hidden track, because it’s so weird. And then I thought, ‘Oh, well, I’m a weirdo. I might as well not try to hide it.’”

Doctors declared her cancer-free in 2009, although she’s not in full remission. She returned to the stage with a tour of England, where her single “Float Away” charted at number five.

Roppé released her sophomore disc, I’m Still Here, in 2010.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND?

“My music is an eclectic and organic blend of Americana, pop, rock, blues, country, even a sprinkling of bluegrass when the mood strikes me. It’s melodic...and typically happy and hopeful. Though sometimes a bit testy, if I have something urgent to say.”

WHAT’S IN YOUR MUSIC PLAYER?

1) Rx Bandits, Mandala. “From Long Beach, an incredible blend of alt rock, punk, reggae, and ska. Just the time signatures alone blow my mind.”

2) Brett Dennen, Hope for the Hopeless. “Man, that boy is honest and heartfelt.”

3) Eminem, Recovery. “Besides his lyrics being totally bad-ass, I learn a lot listening to the structures of his rhymes. I actually put a little itty-bitty rap in the middle of one of my new songs, ‘Making a Living.’ Because I think I’m all hardcore now.”

SONG YOU HATE TO LOVE?

“‘Your Love Is My Drug,’ by Ke$ha. I hate her, and I hate that dollar sign in her name. And yet her song is my drug.”

FAVORITE CONCERT?

“Duran Duran at the Sports Arena, when I was 13 in 1984. I’m not sure anything could ever compare to that feeling again. I desperately wanted to marry John Taylor. And then when I met him years later, I just said, ‘Oh, hey.’”

UNFULFILLED DREAM?

“I wanna smell George Clooney. I want to get right up close to that man and smell him. Just the thought of his Old Spice smell — I presume — makes me giddy. Can you help me with that?”

ANY FEARS OR PHOBIAS?

“Snakes. I hate snakes. And, of course, dying before I’ve done what I’m supposed to do on this planet. But snakes are a less-scary answer.”

FIRST PET YOU REMEMBER?

“My parents came home with a mutt from the pound when I was five…‘Clarence Darrow.’ I loved that dog, but I never warmed up to that name.”

WHO SHOULD PLAY YOU IN A MOVIE?

“Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock, because the movie would get green-lighted and make tons of money. I, of course, would have negotiated a back-end percentage.”

BRUSH WITH FAME?

1) “I knew Jack Black in Theatre School at UCLA.”

2) “During college, I worked as a valet parker at Hollywood parties, and when I returned Robert Downey Jr.’s black Porsche to him from the parking lot, he lavished me with attention like I was a starlet attending a red-carpet event.”

3) “Anne Bancroft came into the rare-coin store in Beverly Hills where I worked during college, and I walked smack into a wall, I was so star-struck.”

TOP TWO THINGS WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU?

1) “I practiced law for years, and the very day I was diagnosed with cancer I quit my job as a lawyer and never returned.”

2) “I can turn my tongue upside down and totally freak people out. ■