The very busy and inspiring dance music songstress, Kristine W, will be releasing her new single and album, both titled “Out There,” A dramatically theatrical song with a powerful message: “to appreciate life as a journey and never give up, as the thing you most desire is likely closer than you think.”
Hailing from Pasco, Washington, this artist has a genuine love for music. After entering the Miss America Pageant, and winning the talent competition, she headed for Vegas, pursued an education and eventually headlined her own show, winning, “Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year.”
She was a blast to speak with, very relevant and authentic, humble and candid. “Out There” was released on iTunes on June 24, as will the video to accompany it.
I’m just in love with your song, “Out There.” I feel like it has a strong message.
That makes me feel good. What a concept these days.
I’m wondering if “Out There” serves as a lifeline to fans that you will never meet.
I love that too. That’s true. There are so many people that are “out there,” that maybe you’ve touched with your music, and that’s wonderful. I love that.
I think that song will touch a lot of people.
That’s the power of music. It gets you going.
The music industry is such a difficult industry. Besides being beautiful and having an awesome voice, what made you choose it?
I felt like it chose me. God gives everybody a gift. If I didn’t use my gift, then I was not honoring my purpose. It was really hard, and I wanted to give up a thousand times. I actually went to school to get my degree in broadcast journalism. My stepdad was really hoping that I would be an Oprah Winfrey type or something. He wanted me to do talk shows. It wasn’t my passion; it wasn’t what I I felt that I was supposed to be doing. I think I was supposed to put out positive messages, and put out positive songs, out there. Even in such a tough industry, I think I was suppose to do that.
So you feel like you were born to do music, like it wasn’t even a choice?
That was my path. I did try to do other things that I thought I might make more money at, or have more success at. I explored those paths, and I probably could’ve made a lot more money doing something else. I don’t know, it was just the calling, and we will have a mission. If you’re willing to deal with the challenge.
So how do you in the music industry make money?
It’s really, really hard. That’s why everybody is running around and doing shows, because it’s really the only immediate money that you make. Everybody’s coming up with these great ideas, but it seems always a worse idea for the artist. It’s horrifying. But, what are you going to do with the economy and all. We just got to get up and get out there, no pun intended. It seems like that phrase “out there” kept popping out of my mouth, and everyone else’s mouth. I thought, “My God, I just have to write a song.”
That’s everyone’s favorite phrase: “I’m gonna put it out there.”
Right! It’s just crazy! I just had to write the music, and I just had to get it out there.
When you perform live, is there a special song or thing that you like to do in front of an audience?
When I perform “One More Time” with my saxophone, and just watch people’s eyes bulge out, because most people don’t know that I’m a long-time saxophone player, and they kind of go, “Wow, where did that come from?” If they haven’t seen a live show before, they don’t know I play the saxophone. I’ve played the saxophone since I was nine years old. I’m pretty good.
That’s a strange instrument for an EDM girl.
I know, but I’ve just always been into jazz music. For me, when I was little, I just liked jazz. There were great saxophone players that I admired. I was in the school band, and I just kept playing and playing, and here we are, and I’m still playing. I was in the marching band, and I was in the band since grade school.
Where are you from?
Washington state. I grew up in a little farm town. It was not very big.
It must have taken a lot of everything to get to where you want today.
Yeah, it was really, really difficult to get to Vegas and to figure out how I was going to get scholarship money. So I won my local pageant, and the next thing you know I was competing for Miss America. So I won the scholarship money in the talent competition. It was a pretty good scholarship there. That was amazing. If it wasn’t for that, it would’ve taken me a lot longer to get to Las Vegas.
Well, Vegas is a big deal.
Yeah, but it was really, really difficult. I got my degree there. As soon as I got to Vegas I started auditioning for all kinds of bands. I sang in every different style that you can imagine. I did a big band one night, I did country one night, and the next night I would be singing Chaka Khan.
You should write a book.
I think I’m going to have to write a book. Music was always my passion, and Donna Summer was my hero when I was a little kid. I was in the church choir growing up with my mom; she was a 12 string guitarist. My real dad passed away when we were really little. All four of us kids were little, maybe ages one to six. So music just saved our family. My mom was able to perform in supper clubs. She would play happy hour, which was 5 o’clock till 10, and then the band would take over. She didn’t make a lot of money, but she made enough money for us to survive. I wouldn’t say my mom really enjoyed music like I love to perform music. I think she enjoyed the people part of it. My mom is an amazing person, and she’s got a really cool voice. It’s funny, I love the performance part, and she could really talk in the microphone. I mean, I got a lot of that from her too. She’s an amazing woman.
If you could go back in time and give the young the Kristine some advice, what would you say?
I would definitely listen to my own advice more than others. I would definitely not be so swayed by outside sources. At the end of the day, I think my intuition was pretty on point.
You write your own songs, correct?
Yeah. I sing everybody’s songs, but I’ve written a ton of my own.
What inspires your song writing?
At different times it’s different things. I have a stack of papers with choruses, verses. I would say conversations with people, or a lot of times my fans will have stories that they are going through. Everybody seems to be going through the same situation at the same time.
Is there anything else that you wish to say or tell your fans?
I think everyone will love the new album and the new single. I’ll be in a lot of different cities this summer, and I hope to see everyone out there. I’m really proud of the video, so I want everyone to check out the video. It’s really cool. It kind of takes you on a trip around the world, through the art of green screen, and different effects. I’m really proud of it.
