- Yo, what's up?
It's Alex Aiono, I'm here with BuzzFeed,
and we're gonna talk about my firsts.
My first nickname.
This is actually a good one to start with because
technically, my nickname is Alex
because I was originally born Martin Alexander Aiono.
My dad's name was Martin, and he didn't want me to be called
the same thing.
Like, I don't know, my dad wasn't,
1996 was a weird year I guess.
But he wanted me to be named after him,
but didn't want me to be called the same thing
so that there was never confusion, so they called me Alex.
So I guess technically, my first nickname is Alex.
My first big singing gig.
We gotta define big I guess.
For me, like singing in church was big as a kid,
but then also, I was in musicals as a kid.
I remember in second grade, I played
one of the barbershop quartet in Music Man,
so that was pretty big in like the school play.
I remember talent shows in first grade
where we did, me and sisters did a lip sync to
Hey Ya by Outkast, so, let's just say I've
booked and blessed since, you know, 2001.
My first cell phone.
I think my first cell phone was just like,
you know when you go to Verizon
or whatever phone service place you go to,
and they just give you the phone.
My parents weren't like, it wasn't a nice phone at all.
I remember you could text this way
and it was like the number, like the dial texting,
or you could turn it sideways and like slide it up.
It wasn't a nice one.
It was definitely the one that you get for like hey,
like a congratulations phone.
Like hey, here you go.
If you want a real phone, get these ones,
but this is the one you can definitely have now.
And that was it.
First celebrity that followed you on social media.
Bella Thorne was the first celebrity.
I remember I'd just moved to LA,
first year I'd lived here.
I was working in Babyface's studio
and I remember they were working with Bella,
and Pia Mia actually, but it was mainly Bella
and she told me I looked like Taylor Lautner,
and she followed me, and then tweeted a picture of me
and was like, "He was looks like Taylor Lautner."
If you can find this, BuzzFeed,
and you put it in the video, go you.
But it was like Disney Bella Thorne still,
so very very like, young and innocent, and like,
and before she became the sick wicked human that she is now.
My first pet.
The first one that I remember is Taj,
which was a Great Dane.
Big old dog, and I loved him.
First time I realized, I was recognized in public.
I actually remember exactly when it was.
It was on Rinaldi in Granada Hills at the In-N-Out.
I had just finished filming season one
of this Awesomeness TV show that I was on
called Royal Crush.
And I remember I went to In-N-Out with my,
with one of my best friends in the whole world, Dylan,
and one of his homies.
And his homie was like, "Oh Alex is gonna get recognized."
And I like, laughed.
I was literally like, I'm not gonna get,
that's not a thing for me.
I remember we went to In-N-Out, and we walked in.
I swear to you, it was me, Dylan, his homie,
and then two girls.
That's it, the whole In-N-Out, just us and these two girls.
The two girls came up and they're like, "Are you Alex?"
And I was like, what the heck?
So big shout outs to Sam.
Literally manifested me getting recognized
for the first time.
My first Instagram post.
I don't even know.
Let's figure it out.
I think I've deleted a lot of posts since the first one.
Off the top of my head, I think my first Instagram post
was Pillsbury Crescent Rolls literally on a countertop.
Not cooked yet either.
Like raw Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.
We're gonna find out.
While we swipe, tell you about the next one.
My first job.
If we don't count music, which I don't ever count
because I actually do really enjoy it
even though it is work,
but I don't think of it as like, a job.
My first job was when I was 18 years old.
I worked at AllSaints, the clothing store,
and I worked there for about three weeks.
Then right after, it was right when I booked
that Awesomeness TV show.
And I ended up just doing that instead, so.
The only job I ever worked outside of making music.
I did enjoy it.
I remember I got a girl's number,
and I ended up hanging out with her.
Took her out on a little drizzy date.
That sounds like a Drake date,
and I don't know what a Drake date's like.
Okay, so I got to the bottom of it.
And this definitely isn't the first post.
I must've deleted older posts for I don't know why.
But the first post that I have was opening up
for Bridgit Mendler.
It looks like New Jersey's Six Flags.
I think it's called Great Adventures,
Six Flags Great Adventure.
First song I wrote, first song I wrote.
It was called Always Yours, I believe.
I remember the chorus was.
♪ Take my time and ♪
♪ Take my love, baby ♪
♪ What is mine is ♪
♪ Always yours ♪
Always Yours, oh that would've been so cool
if I would've had it.
I don't have it.
First embarrassing moment on stage.
2013.
I played a mall show, and I had a wired mic, and it was,
no, it was wireless mic.
I remember it actually now.
And I don't know if I was jumping or whatever,
and I completely threw the mic offstage.
Like full-on gone.
Like I Tom Brady launched that bad boy into the crowd.
And had to like, be like, can I get that back?
So that was pretty embarrassing.
First CD I ever bought.
I feel like the first CD I bought was probably
one of the Now compilations.
Like Now 17 or Now 10 or whatever.
I do vividly remember getting an iTunes gift card,
my first iTunes gift card, and I bought The Carter III.
My first mashup, on man, what is my first mashup?
Back to the phone.
We're using the phone a lot on this one.
It is a mashup of Katy Perry's Wide Awake
and Rihanna's Where Have You Been?
Hey guys, Alex Ono here.
Hold on, time out, I didn't even say my last name right.
Look.
Hey guys, Alex Ono here.
Ono? Alex Ono?
No wonder nobody says my name right.
I don't say my name right.
It's Aiono, it's literally Aiono, and listen.
Hey guys, Alex Ono here.
Those are two different people.
That was probably the third or fourth video
I ever put on YouTube.
First one was like a trick shot.
Second one was I was in a flash mob and I filmed that.
And then the third one was like a regular straight-up cover
of, I just saw it, Secrets by OneRepublic.
And then that mashup.
My first celeb crush.
Probably would be Jessica Alba as
the Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four.
Oh, oh.
You kidding me?
Are you, that's insane.
I think about her right now, and I'm like wow, chills.
My first musical inspiration.
John Legend for sure.
I remember my parents went to a John Legend concert
and came back with the CD.
And they played it, and I was just like,
absolutely enamored by the level of soul and like,
raw emotions and feelings and the musical ability
that I just saw and I could feel
through the music was insane.
So definitely still one of my biggest inspirations
and one of my favorite memories in life
will always be when I got to work with him and write.
I think the first time I wrote with him and met him,
I was very like, shy and timid and couldn't really,
I didn't care about what I had to say.
Like I didn't care at all what I had to say,
and so that was definitely,
I don't even remember necessarily the song that we did
on that day, but then I wrote again with him at his house
maybe like a couple months later,
and that's when we worked and that's when we wrote
the song Young & Foolish together.
I remember his energy being just like super positive.
Like it just felt like I don't even remember
writing the song.
I just remember finishing the song and recording it.
But I do remember also, he put me on the spot
because my manager told him that I'd play
a cover of Ordinary People.
And he literally made me play him the cover
of Ordinary People in front of him
on his piano at his house.
It was so nerve-wracking, but I did it and it was tight.
I did not meet Chrissy.
I want to, ah, she's such a queen.
And the last one.
We're empty now.
My first kiss.
The one we've all been waiting for, the juicy one.
My first kiss, it was summer of seventh grade,
and I kissed her in her mom's bathroom.
And that I think speaks for itself.
I kissed her in her mom's bathroom, and
it's the day the dog was born, you know what I mean?
It's the day I became a man.
And I manned up and I close-mouth kissed a girl.
Oh gosh.
(laughing)