Photo: Retna

What can we say—gingers are so hot right now. With Disney’s newest flick Lemonade Mouth debuting on DVD today (win it here!), we couldn’t be more excited to spotlight 18-year-old actor-slash-songwriter Adam Hicks, who plays Wen in the movie. Hicks dishes on rapping (obvi), high school, and the coolest date he’s been on, which is actually pretty awesome (we took notes). Check out our Q&A below!

ELLEgirl: You’re credited as a writer on some of the songs for the soundtrack of the movie. How did that come about?

Adam Hicks: I’ve done music videos before for Disney, so when I was auditioning they said we would love for you to do the music, and I was like “Yeah, this is awesome!”  When I heard that I was literally freaking out and screaming, running through this restaurant I had been at when I heard the news—people must have thought I was crazy or something. They sent me the song Determinate with temporary vocalists just to give the feel of what they wanted, and I just wrote to the whole idea of the song, and I did the same thing for Breakthrough. I ended up writing them in one night and recording the next day—they turned out amazing. I’ve been doing music for so long, and I’ve been acting professionally for a while so just being able to combine my two passions into one project was amazing.

EG: Sounds like you’re really into music! Who’s is your favorite recording artist?

AH: I have so many…David Bowie, Biggie Smalls, Big L. I’m an all around kind of guy. People think that just because I rap, I bump only rap music, but growing up with my Dad I listened to the classics and I still love all kinds of stuff.

EG: We love that you rap. How’d you first get started with that?

AH: I started when I was really little. When I was in 4th grade I did a rap for a talent show, and I grew up in Vegas which is a big hip-hop culture. I just really like words and being able to put words together in new ways. I mean, I have red hair and freckles, come on! Immediately people are hating on me, but I love the element of surprise. All I do 24/7 is rap!

EG: The movie’s characters meet in detention. How much trouble do you get into in real life?

AH: Nah, not a lot of trouble. I’ve had a couple of troubled moments, but nothing too big. I did go to detention one time, and it was detention it kind of sucked.

EG: If you could do anything without any repercussions, what would you do?

AH: Wow what a good question! Hmmm…I want to go base jumping off the Stratosphere in Vegas. There’s a lot of people who would do that. Not too bad until I got to the bottom.

EG: The movie is filmed in high school, but you graduated recently. What do you miss about it?

AH: Man, I miss high school so much! I met all my best friends there. I loved it. I was involved in drama, theater, and music and just being a part of the school community is awesome. Lemonade Mouth has so many good morals as far as high school goes. I remember all the politics and how kids weren’t getting their voices heard—the movie talks about that.

EG: Tell us about the best or worst date you’ve been on.

AH: I went on a date one time—the best of my life—this girl told me that we were going to dinner at a place on the strip and then see a movie. She picked me up and we are driving and driving and pass the strip and everything and eventually she drives me to a canyon in Vegas and takes me white water rafting. That was the best date I’ve been on—just the surprise was awesome. The worst, well, I was in this nice restaurant, trying to impress this girl. I was leaning back in my chair and fell completely backwards and hit the person behind me! The whole restaurant goes quiet and there was even music playing so I don’t even know how that’s possible! That was the worst date and my most embarrassing moment ever.