Good NEWZ Girls

American pop vocal group Good NEWZ Girls were assembled by a pair of A&R reps in partnership with the Nickelodeon television network. With a set four strong teenaged voices and universal appeal in mind, they recorded their R&B-injected debut EP, Winter Getaway, in 2021, releasing it in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Formed in 2021, Good NEWZ Girls was the brainchild of Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith and Jay Brown, who had both worked with Rihanna in addition to many others, in roles spanning musician, arranger, producer, or A&R. Inspired by the idea of a next-generation Pussycat Dolls or Fifth Harmony, they teamed up with Nickelodeon to find a diverse quartet of triple threats (singer/dancer/actors) with positive attitude to spare for their project Good NEWZ Girls. They found their lineup in Queens, New York's Mikaela Astel, who had competed of the 16th season of The Voice (2019); Californian Nayah Damasen, who was already cast in the 2022 TV musical Monster High: The Movie; Teaneck, New Jersey's Isabel Gonzalez, formerly of Acapop! Kids; and Upstate New York student athlete Baylee Morrison. As a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Astel was considered the heart of the group from the start. The girls were all either 16 or 17 years of age when they released their debut EP, Winter Getaway, in November 2021. Conceived as a music project within the Nickelodeon universe but without their own TV show, Good NEWZ Girls' first music video, "Let It Snow," premiered on the TeenNick and NickMusic channels.
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