“When you travel you gain different inspiration from
different places,” she said. “Before I left here, I said to
myself, I’ve had my time with the inspiration of the sea
and the ocean. I needed to go somewhere else.” On that
journey for insight, the young singer was able to write a lot
of new music, network with notable industry insiders, and
even delivered a spontaneous performance at a Broadway
show. “Those two months felt like… two years worth of
knowledge,” she recounts.
Taking a break from working on her new music Kristen
granted us a one-on-one interview at her south coast
home. Greeting us with the beaming smile one comes to
associate with her, we sit down for a chat. Kristen is her
usual relaxed, witty, and vibrant self - perfectly personifying
her childhood nickname ‘Kris Irie’. This alias was bestowed
upon her due of her love of the beach, and the huge
influence reggae has made on not only her music, but on
her as a person.
While setting up, she periodically uses the front lens
of her cell phone as a make-shift mirror to make sure that
everything is in place before the cameras start rolling.
50 | BIM ROCK | MUSIC ROCKs
Hair is good? Check. Make-up is good? Perfect. “Should
I look over there?” she asks as she motions towards the
videographer for direction. Ok, ready.
Image is everything to the songstress. As we recollected
on her beginnings as an artist, she confessed, “I’ve never
had an ‘A-ha I could sing’ moment”. After pausing for a brief
moment, she reiterated “I didn’t have an ‘A-ha moment’
but I had like a ‘Wow! I love performing for people’.”
This epiphany occurred when she was in first form at
The St Michael’s School. After some encouragement from
her best-friend Marina to sing in front of her classmates,
Kristen blew them away with a rendition of Livvi Franc’s
“Bliss”. From then, her love for the stage, and her confidence,
grew exponentially.
Being around music for her whole life, she accredits her
musical DNA to her father and his side of the family. Singing
for as long as she could possibly remember, Kristen recalls
gathering family and friends to hold impromptu concerts.
At the tender age of 12 she started taking vocal lessons to
hone her raw talent.