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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Christina Milian and Devale Ellis said they related to how music brings people together in Meet Me Next Christmas, now streaming on Netflix. Milian plays Layla, who is trying to get tickets to a Pentatonix concert at which she's agreed to meet a man she briefly met on Christmas a year earlier.
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"That's always been my purpose when I did music," Milian, 43, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "People are happy, it makes you feel. It's a beautiful bond that music has."
Ellis, 40, plays Teddy, the concierge service agent who tries to help Layla find tickets to the sold-out show. While real-life connections over music might not be as cinematic, Ellis said music can be the basis for connections in one-on-one meetings.
"The vibe, the frequency allows people to find a joint commonality regardless of where they're from," Ellis said. "If people can bond over music, typically they can bond over other things."
As a singer/songwriter, Milian released three albums, an EP and several singles. While she cannot confirm any lovers reunited at one of her shows, she has met couples who connected over their mutual admiration for her.
"I don't know if I'd make a movie about it, but it's nice that I can bring some people together," she said. "I think this movie will do that, too."
Meet Me Next Christmas requires Layla and Teddy to dance to Christmas music, too. One of their attempts to win tickets involves competing in a dance contest.
Ellis said he tried to have fun dancing in a Santa Claus suit, and that he admired that Milian did not rely on her professional dancing skills to play those scenes.
"She made an important point that Layla's not a professional dancer or singer, so she doesn't have to be a perfectionist," Ellis said. "I thought that was a really good choice in saying, 'I'm not a professional. I'm just going to have fun with it.'"
Milian admitted she was worried fans might think she's lost her moves. However, she realized she would always be her own harshest critic, anyway.
"Part of me is like, 'They're going to judge me if I'm not Christina Milian,'" she said. "Christina Milian also has her insecurities about all that stuff, so I was like let's just be Layla."
Where Ellis felt truly out of his depth was in Teddy's concierge work. Teddy has as hard a time getting Layla to follow instructions, as he does to secure concert tickets.
"There's no way I could do concierge work, ever," Ellis said. "I would've left. I'm going back to the office and getting another client."
As a husband and father to four children, Ellis said he already feels like a concierge to his family. Filming Meet Me Next Christmas on location in New York reminded him of managing his family.
"It felt like one of those days where all the kids gotta be somewhere, my wife needs to be somewhere and I gotta figure it all out," Ellis said.
Milian has had previous success with Christmas movies like Christmas Cupid, A Snow Globe Christmas and Memories of Christmas. She produced Meet Me after producing her first film, Body Language.
Body Language is a thriller in which she plays a woman stalked in her home. Milian said she wants to diversify her career, but often has to take the initiative on such projects.
"I'm going to make it happen so that you can see it and visualize it because those opportunities don't come to me all the time," Milian said. "You just gotta make it happen for yourself."
Milian's next role is another departure. She is in the cast of the prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin, playing La Guerta, who became Dexter's police captain played by Luna Lauren VĂ©lez in the original series.
"What you dream about is just putting on different hats and becoming different people," she said of her three recent roles.
That does not mean Milian is finished with Christmas movies, either.
"I'll do another one," Milian said, but added, "We'll wait a few years."
For Ellis, Meet Me Next Christmas also was an opportunity to show the world his range. He currently stars as Zac on the Tyler Perry series, Sistas and Zatima, exploring the more intense side of relationships.
"I feel like there's a lane there where I can show people my ability to be comedic, but also be a leading man," Ellis said. "I play somebody who's very dark on a TV show right now, so it's like I have an opportunity to get an escape in playing a rom-com."
Ellis and Milian said they are looking forward to their real Christmas vacations. Both have exotic travel plans.
"We're supposed to go to Jamaica this year for the end of the year," Ellis said, adding that in-laws would be included in the trip, but "Christmas is going to be for the family at home."
Milian, husband Matt Pokora and their kids will spend the holidays at a chateau in France while their U.S. home undergoes renovations. Milian plans to indulge in the cuisine.
"Hopefully, I can get some good food to cook out there," Milian said. "We're going to set it up, make it look all pretty and drink hot wine because that's what they do. It's called vin chaud."
