Aly & AJ Talk Their Bobbi Brown Campaign, Music Tour Beauty Routine and Going Viral on TikTok

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For music duo and sisters Aly & AJ embarking on their first beauty partnership with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics was a full-circle moment and gave them a sense of nostalgia, something that’s also engrained in their music career.

“Our mom always had [Bobbi Brown] in her makeup kit, so we would always go into our mom’s makeup kit and use her makeup at home when we were super young and not allowed to wear makeup yet,” Aly Michalka said. AJ Michalka continued: “It’s cool when you can lean on nostalgia as a form of excitement. I know a lot of our fans feel that way about our music, and for us, Bobbi Brown is a nostalgic makeup brand.”

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Bobbi Brown Cosmetics revealed Wednesday that the two sisters are the faces of its latest campaign celebrating the brand’s shade extension for its Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick, which Aly & AJ have been using while on their North American tour. Campaign images show the sisters applying the eye shadow and other Bobbi Brown products backstage before a performance.

Aly Michalka - Credit: Courtesy of Bobbi Brown
Aly Michalka - Credit: Courtesy of Bobbi Brown

Courtesy of Bobbi Brown

Aly & AJ have been in the music world since 2005, releasing their first album “Into the Rush,” which included their hit song “Rush” and a remake of the classic “Do You Believe in Magic.” The duo’s biggest song, “Potential Breakup Song,” came out in 2007 with their third album “Insomniatic.” After a 14-year break, Aly & AJ released their fourth album, “A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun” last year.

The sisters’ return to music after a long pause can be credited to “Potential Breakup Song” going viral last year on TikTok, with the song being featured in more than 2 million videos that resulted in more than 2 billion views. The resurgence of the song led to the sisters rerecording the hit, which ultimately won the MTV Video Music Award for TikTok Comeback Song.

“I don’t think we saw that coming,” Aly Michalka said about the viral TikToks. “If someone had told us that TikTok was going to be the reason we rerecorded ‘Potential Breakup Song’ we would have not been able to guess that, but I think it was a really fun way for us to remix the song and bring out a new version that still honored the original. It was just fun to see people’s takes on the song and their funny videos that brought us a lot of joy and made us laugh.”

Given how Aly & AJ went viral on TikTok, Bobbi Brown is celebrating their campaign by launching its own TikTok challenge where the sisters remixed and rereleased their 2007 hit “Like Whoa” to serve as the exclusive audio track. For the challenge, Bobbi Brown is asking TikTok users to create their own beauty looks and use the audio.

“I want to see fans create looks that we can then mimic and copy,” AJ Michalka said. “Every day is an experiment, like I never do the same makeup twice, but I usually stay in my same zone and I don’t really go online to look up makeup tutorials. It’s not something I’m really passionate about, but at the same time, I feel like we’ve initiated a challenge that I’m going to want to see what will help us.”

Aly & AJ explained their daily beauty routine is fairly natural, but they do experiment with bolder makeup looks for their performances. With the eyeshadow sticks, Aly Michalka stated she gravitates toward the earthy matte tones, while AJ Michalka goes for a smokier look.

AJ Michalka - Credit: Courtesy of Bobbi Brown
AJ Michalka - Credit: Courtesy of Bobbi Brown

Courtesy of Bobbi Brown

“We’ve been doing our own makeup on this tour, which isn’t normal,” Aly Michalka said. “Not all of our tours have been just us doing our makeup, but we decided to keep our bubble smaller than we have to because of COVID[-19], so we chose to do our own hair and makeup and we’ve literally been using the eye shadow sticks every night. The nice thing about them is they’re really easy to take off when you’re done for the evening, but it goes on really easy and stays on.”

The sisters, whose tour extends to the beginning of June, were candid about the hardships they’ve been facing on tour, like how a mass shooting in Sacramento, Calif. took place outside their performance venue, contracting COVID-19 and having issues with their tour bus.

“When we’re onstage, everything comes together, which I guess is all that really matters at the end of the day,” Aly Michalka said. “But all the little things leading up to it can affect your energy, positivity and mental health, so we try our best to not let those things affect us because we can bring that onstage.”

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