SPEAKER_01: 0:46

I have a powerhouse vocalist on the show today. She's a multiple billboard dance number one artist with a voice built for the spotlight and tracks that light up the dance floors around the world. Hey everyone, it's Randy Halsey with Backstage Pass Radio. Straight out of South Florida, she's worked with some of the biggest producers in the game and continues to dominate the music charts. You guys stick around and I will take you backstage with pop and dance sensation Kendra Erica when we return.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15

This is Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio, a podcast by an artist for the artist. Each week we take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite musicians and the music they created. From chart-topping hits to underground gems, we explore the sounds that move us and the people who make it all happen. Remember to please subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. So whether you're a casual listener or a die hard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melodies. Here is your host of Backstage Pass Radio, Randy Holsey.

SPEAKER_01: 1:55

Kendra, welcome to the show, and it's wonderful to see you.

SPEAKER_04: 1:59

Very nice to be here. Thanks, Randy, for having me.

SPEAKER_01: 2:02

Sure. Well, I thought uh there were a few emails back and forth, and I didn't know were we gonna reschedule or are we gonna are we gonna do this thing? So it's great to to have you in front of me, and I'm glad that we get to to chat.

SPEAKER_04: 2:16

As am I, I'm very happy that things worked out as planned.

SPEAKER_01: 2:20

Well, thank you so much for first of all for being here, and I guess a quick shout out to Kelly for hooking us up here. So kudos to her. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_03: 2:33

And uh shout out to her, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:35

Right on. So I I look forward to maybe getting a little bit of an education from you here because your kind of your swim lane where you prefer, you know, the music that you create is not my wheelhouse. Like I'm a rock and roll guy, I'm like the country guy, and you're pointing your finger like and doing all so you're gonna educate me a little bit today, but um my my my wheel goes like this, your wheel goes like this, but guess what?

SPEAKER_04: 3:07

It's like that's how they all turn, right? That's how the industrial revolution came about.

SPEAKER_01: 3:15

You got that right, you got that right. Um, so it's again great to have you here. And I think you know, you're what a South Florida girl.

SPEAKER_04: 3:23

Correct, yeah. And you born and raised in Boca.

SPEAKER_01: 3:26

And you no longer call Florida home, right?

SPEAKER_04: 3:30

I call it um, I call it my first home. Okay, my first home. My second home is LA, and now my third, my third home is Las Vegas. Okay. So I I've got a nice little delta, a nice little trifecta going on.

SPEAKER_01: 3:47

There you go. Well, I know that um I was out in Vegas not too long ago doing a couple of interviews, and I think it well, it was a while back actually, back when the race was in town. And um Were you there for F1? I wasn't there for that, but I came in to do an interview with a uh couple of artists there, and one was a performer in Cert du Soleil, and I remember they were just telling me it's like we can't go anywhere, we can't park anywhere. Like this city has become it's kind of like Nashville these days. Like the infrastructure just won't support the amount of people that are that are going there, right? Like it's very I know, it's a very hot place to be, right?

SPEAKER_04: 4:31

Well, Vegas right now has has welcomed, I think, everybody from the entertainment world because um as as much as I live here in LA um for the past five years, ever since, you know, the pandemic and then the fires and then everything else is that's just gone on with like, you know, the the political, spiritual, whatever you call it, um you know, movements that have been making, um, a lot of people from the industry have been affected in all in all sorts of ways. So they've been migrating to Vegas more for opportunities. And and I think you've I I just remember even as of 10 years ago, I know I just remember DJ friends, like DJ friends that I know that are in dance music migrating to Nashville for music. And I'm like, when when they told me they're moving moving to Nashville, I was like, um, when you play music, a haystack doesn't come out, you know. I was like, so what are you gonna do in Nashville? But, you know, I was uh sorely wrong, but um, and and a good, a good wrong at that, um, because I I've recorded so many great songs in Nashville myself. I've I've worked with great people in Nashville, and it's not all country now, it's like a whole mecca for like like hip hop artists.

SPEAKER_03: 5:57

They're like rolling up, they're like, they're like, yo, yo, yo. They're like rolling up in their in their john in their John Deere tractors, like, yo, we got this rap track going on. It's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01: 6:09

And there's a lot of rock and roll people that lived in Hollywood for the longest time that were huge in the hair metal scenes of Sunset Strip back in the 80s. They're all out in Vegas, or not Vegas, but in Nashville now. So it's it's it's it's kind of interesting how you do kind of think of Nashville as that's the country music mecca, but there's so many diverse things going on there. Tell me real quick, how how did Florida help in shaping your sound early on?

SPEAKER_04: 6:43

Uh early on, I think well, it helped shape the sound that I'm doing right now, which is more of like the classics and more of the um embodying more of like those like American Songbook and Jazz Standards. Uh, because when I was when I was 15, being that I I went through classical training to to reverse or to cure my tone deafness, but um I at by by that point I had won talent competitions and been involved in community theater and just productions overall. And uh Time to Say Goodbye became one of my one of my my my signature songs.

SPEAKER_03: 7:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 7:27

And I I got up at karaoke night at this Italian restaurant by the name of Renzo's. And I I was like 15 and I got up and I did time to say goodbye, and I got a standing ovation, and the owner, Renzo, comes comes to uh comes to the table with two glasses of wine from my parents and says, I have a proposition to make.

SPEAKER_03: 7:50

And um it was like it was very like it was very coppola, if you know what I mean. Like very, very, very coppola.

SPEAKER_01: 7:59

Yeah, very Italiana, right? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04: 8:02

Um, and so he he said it was so funny. He goes, he goes, so uh my son they sing uh she got the knocked up, and um, you know, I don't know if I can, you know, she she's out of a job. So if you would like to, essentially, would you like to take her position?

SPEAKER_02: 8:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_04: 8:22

And I was like, absolutely. So I got the um, so I went home and I was like all in like the high and everything. And then I realized I said I have to create a repertoire because I cannot just sing time to say goodbye on loop for three hours.

SPEAKER_01: 8:42

Of course.

SPEAKER_04: 8:43

Like people will throw not just tomatoes, but uh, you know, um, eggplant at me. Um, and that hurts even more. Um, so um, but I um I I then did a whole crash course and I created this whole repertoire of you know the American songbook, the good standards, like the Sinatras, the Doris Days, Elephant Strials, Billy Holidays, you name it. Um, and I and I had that gig for for almost almost like five, ten years. But while I was doing that performance and that gig, other restaurant owners would come in or hear about me, and then they would hire me for their for their restaurants. So I was so from starting from one day a week and then went to like two, three, four, five, five days a week. And then I was just building up a name for myself, and uh, I wasn't just secluded to the restaurant scene. I was doing like lounges and I was doing charity events, and I was doing this and I was doing that. So I was building up a great name for myself um all while doing like the classics, but also in tandem, while I had all these gigs, I was also writing and recording my own music. So then at these festivals and outdoor events and even opening up for like Cody Simpson and Jason Darulo and doing different club things, I was performing my my dance and pop hits for those for those venues. So it was just like this this ever-flowing organic process. And and I think the um Florida and Boger tone influenced though that that sensibility and that appreciation for the timeless the timeless stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 10:26

So well, the crazy thing is you sent an email to me today and it had a link, and I looked at it, and I think it was pretty much like your your resume, and you do a lot of things, right? You do a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04: 10:40

I'm like trying to keep the hats on, and I'm like, hold your head still.

SPEAKER_01: 10:45

But that's great, you know, that keeps you relevant, you know, when you're diverse like that, right? Well, do you remember what kind of drew you to music in the beginning? Like young Kendra, Erica, right? Like who who was who inspired you to even want to go down a music path if I forced you to think back that far?

SPEAKER_04: 11:08

Well, when I was growing up, when I was a kid, um my my my parents were were very social. They would always have dinner parties and have people over, and they just had a lot of a lot of circle like circles of friends in the community. So when they would come over the the music that was played over the speaker, like the the loud speakers through the house sound system was like you know, Phantom of the Opera and Andre Bocelli and Sarah Brightman and Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand and you know uh like uh well like Kenny G and all like the the Rippingtons and all that jazz stuff and all those those um you know the those iconic 90s names, um like the like Whitney and um and all of them. So and my dad also every time we would drive anywhere, he would have uh the Sinatra CDs playing in his car. So just driving to and from dinner, to and from the golf course, um, he would be playing all of that, and he and it's so funny because my dad is so insightful and he is and he knew what he was doing, and he at such a young age, he he was like, Kendra, you see, and he pointed out he see said you see how Frank enunciates every single word when he sings, and then he just left it off with that. But I knew that he was telling me, when you're doing your thing, you better apply the same principle.

SPEAKER_01: 12:49

100%.

SPEAKER_04: 12:50

Um, and now and now in turn, nowadays people have told me, you know, it's refreshing that I can hear what you're saying in your songs. And I was like, Well, I pledge allegiance to my dad for that. Um, you know, because we do live in sort of like a what is the like 60% uh comprehension rule in pop music where it's just like you know, and then you can't really understand anything. So um, so it's very I I felt fortunate to have those influences and those inspirations for me to be a connected artist. Sure.

SPEAKER_01: 13:29

So well it sounds like that was the you know, like this the the artists that you mentioned were heavily the heavy influence, and that's what you kind of grew up with and around. And it's funny because my kids all listen to the same stuff that I grew up listening to, but you know, in in my case it was 70s, 80s, 90s classic rock, right? So I'm curious, like, did you did you ever find yourself um I guess falling far from the tree when it came to those artists that you spoke of? Did you ever branch out? Did you ever become a rock chick or a country girl or anything like that? Or did you always stay in those lanes?

SPEAKER_04: 14:15

Um, I did branch out and I I didn't really become a rock girl or a country girl, but I did become a pop girl because growing up in the 90s, who was big? Brittany. Christina, Destiny Child, the Spice Girls. I mean, um, I uh I would and then Disney Channel came around and then I was looking up to people like Hillary Duff and Lynn and Lindsay Lohan and Raven Simone and the Cheetah Girls and all that, and I'm like, I want to do that, you know? But I was like I was this young the this this young thing. And so that's what I I took to the cultural influences of my of my generation, but I still I still had that foundation of what my parents played when I was when I was growing up. So I makes perfect sense. That that's what created like generated this um not this duality. I wouldn't say duality because that has like a negative connotation, but more of this like depth um and these different different layers. So that's what and I mean that's what created these um these simultaneous lanes of being being in the pop and dance world for almost 10 years, and now going back to my roots of and incorporating all that I learned while doing the dance and pop stuff, like the performing, the songwriting, the skill, the skill training, the the muscle garnering, like all of that. And now I can apply all of that to my roots, which is which I think is awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 15:58

It's wonderful, yeah. It's wonderful. Well, I know, you know, dance music, I think is is competitive, not that all genres of music aren't, but I'm curious how you first broke into the dance pop world. Do you remember how you broke into that?

SPEAKER_04: 16:18

Yeah, well, I um it's funny because I I was working with an artist development firm in New York when I was about in my early 20s. Um, and I was, and this was when I was trying to come out of that whole bubblegum pop uh image that I was putting out, and I wanted to be more like sophisticated, so and more like a Lana Delray, Ellie Golding uh type artist. And I was working with this firm and they were developing me, funny enough, as this Bond girl image. Um, because they saw that within me. And uh this firm that I was working with, most of most of the the songwriters and and creatives were were from Europe. So they had more of that like taste and quality and and elegance um in their artistry. So they were developing me as like this Bond girl from Fatale, Ginger from Casino, Michelle Pfeiffer from Scarface, that kind of image with this Lana Del Rey sound. Um and when I started just kind of hitting a wall with them creatively, like nothing was really was really flowing anymore. That's when um the uh the head of the of the firm, Lynn, she then uh she established a contact by the name of Jason Dowman, and she um introduced me to him and she said, you know, because I was her most producing artist within that firm, and she said, you know, you get first sibs on this guy. And I said, okay, cool. Um and I talked to him and um it just worked so well. And she and she said, I think your voice would lend itself well to dance music and more to that electro house um sound. Um and then I had a separate conversation with Jason, and just like in private, I I told him I'd, you know, things have run into a cold-de-sac with them. So and then he said, Well, why don't you why don't you not like cut it with them, but just why don't you just pivot and come out and work with my team of producers and and creatives out in Los Angeles? So then from going back and forth from Florida to New York, I then was going back and forth from Florida to LA a lot. And I was working with people like Damon Sharp and Luigi Gonzalez and Kevin Wilde and Chico Bennett and Andrew Lane. And um, I mean, the list goes on and on, and it wasn't just um LA, it was also Nashville too, that I worked with people. Um, but but nevertheless, the producers and the creatives that I was working with in LA were more geared in that dance genre because he was like the billboard dance promoter. So everything that he did was just dance, dance, dance, dance, dance. Like it was it was all about like remixers, like getting things charted on on the uh dance charts and doing club remixes and performing in clubs. So that's how I kind of fell into that because not because I was going off path, but just because I needed to keep myself moving.

SPEAKER_01: 19:36

Absolutely, absolutely. Did you always in did you always envision yourself as a dance artist or did that kind of just evolve for you over the years?

SPEAKER_04: 19:49

Um I I mean I I definitely saw I I saw it when I, you know, when you're in your in your 20s, you're like, yay, I can now go to clubs and actually perform at them, you know, and just have and just have fun. Just have fun doing it. And um and and creating these fun songs that you know that were that were like uh permeating dance floors like nationwide and everything. So I mean, I I definitely saw it. I I could pull it off, I did pull it off, um, but it's like I said, it's something that is a part of my evolution and and also because it's sort of like that particular path organically um, you know, quenched or satisfied that that like pop star dream that I had. So of being like the Britney and Christina and all that. So it's sort of like I got I got that fix or I quenched that thirst, but now I want something richer and more meaningful with some purpose. So that's why um I've transitioned into um a more a more serious role musically.

SPEAKER_01: 21:05

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Well, I want let me shift gears just for a second, and I wanted to chat with you uh about some of the accolades that you carry with you these days. Now you earned multiple Billboard Dance Club number one hits, with Billboard being probably the premier chart on the planet, right? What does that accolade and just accolades in general mean to you as an artist? Because I think some artists can can live with them, I can live without them. Some don't give a damn one way or another. But what do they mean to Kendra Erica?

SPEAKER_04: 21:51

For me, it shows um It's funny, I'm just drawing a lot of similarities right now, but I see it as as credibility. Um and I know that this may be like a controversial um analogy or comparison, but um because there are many different schools of thought on this, hence the word school, but it's it's almost like there are a lot of people that that are like, oh, you know, I don't need to take that test. Like, what is this gonna do for me? You know, I don't need to like what are the SATs or ACTs gonna do for me? Now, there are people that are for institutionalized learning and people that are for, you know, more vocational entrepreneurial ventures. But I will say, I will say that um that. Getting a good score on a test means that you understand the m the material. It means that you have a good grasp of the material and that you can execute it. Um and and I and I think and also because I I was on the dean's list in college and also in high school, it just show it just shows that like you you reap what you what you sow and and you and you are rewarded by the application of your work. Um and I just I I think what what I what I've done, it just feels good. It feel if it feels good because it feels authentic. It really feels like things that what that I have done, that's that's how you authentically achieve something, you know, because we can we can go into a whole like you know separate five-hour conversation about, you know, the the different well, because some of the some of the main o award shows, I mean, there's some there's some riggedness in there, but I think independently when you're winning these these different awards and and you're creating accolades for yourself, no one can really take that from you.

SPEAKER_01: 24:12

No, I agree. And and would you would you say that validation is a good word to use? Would you say validation of that you've done something right in your in your art? Uh the the accolade validates you as an artist, right?

SPEAKER_04: 24:33

Yes. Yes. Um there's some validation, but I think it's more so of the confirmation and validation.

SPEAKER_01: 24:47

Sure, okay. Yeah. What do you think if there was a magic potion, what the magic potion has been for your past consistency, uh, you know, for being on the charts, right? Is there is there something that that's that's a a Kendra Erica magic potion that nobody knows about? Or can you can I I think you understand my question, right? Is there some formula that you've used to be successful? Or does do you wake up still, you know, scratching your head like what happened here? Like I'm on the I'm number one on the charts, right?

SPEAKER_04: 25:27

Right. Um I still I'm still trying to figure out what my magic potion is because I'm trying to find in my kitchen cupboard and I'm like, where are you?

SPEAKER_01: 25:37

That would make life easier if you just could go drink the potion, right?

SPEAKER_03: 25:41

I I know, I know. Um yeah, drink the potion and everything will be okay. Right. And that's that's that's a that's a cross-clutching concept.

SPEAKER_01: 25:52

Right. If only it were that easy, right?

SPEAKER_03: 25:55

If only it were that easy.

SPEAKER_04: 25:57

Um, but it for the for the sake of the question, I would I would say I think just perseverance and consistency is the is is the magic potion. Yeah. And not and not giving up. Um and also staying staying true to who you are and also but also knowing that there's that there is some navigation too.

SPEAKER_01: 26:28

Um well said.

unknown: 26:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 26:33

Go ahead, finish your thought.

SPEAKER_04: 26:35

Uh well, I was I was just gonna say that, you know, so there are there are some people that are like, oh, I don't need this, I don't need to market myself, I don't need social media, I don't need to do any anything of that.

SPEAKER_01: 26:47

Nonsense.

SPEAKER_04: 26:50

If Marilyn Monroe was alive today, she would be on OnlyFans.

SPEAKER_01: 26:55

Sure, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_04: 26:57

Okay, if Ginger Rogers and Fred Astera were alive today, they would be they would be on the dance competitions and all the tweets right there. On TikTok dancing. They would be filling up your feed. Um, you know, if Rita Hayworth was alive, she would be uh today, she would be definitely on Instagram doing all those like beautiful shots, and you know. So there has to be there has to be a balance, and that's what I mean by navigation is stay true to who you are, but also um but also playing to your strengths and also and also um putting yourself out there in on every in in in every way, shape, or form.

SPEAKER_01: 27:47

Taking a chance, right? You have to take chances.

SPEAKER_04: 27:50

Taking a chance and and DIY and doing it yourself. Because and that's the beauty, and that's the beauty of where we are right now in this industry, is because the gatekeepers are losing their power every day. So it's uh it's it's on us now to to market ourselves. And I think and I think it it's gonna really be a positive change for the industry.

SPEAKER_01: 28:12

Sure. And I mean if you use a baseball analogy, it's all about the at bats. Like you you gotta go to the plate and swing the bat to get on base, right? You don't just get on base just because you're cool, right? You you got you gotta you gotta take chances and you you gotta do the work for sure.

SPEAKER_04: 28:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 28:29

I was wondering if there's maybe a particular song of yours in the past that surprised you with how it rose on the charts. Like maybe it was one of those songs that you loved and it just grew legs and it went up and up and up and became a number one song, and you're like, wow, I I guess I didn't expect that. Or have you always expected that every song that charted for you would be a charting song?

SPEAKER_04: 29:01

No, I I I never expected it. Um I think I think it's because I it's funny because I I originally went into all this like super confident, and then over um over the course of doing the process and paying the dues and all of that, um, the confidence wasn't eroded away by any by any means, but it was just um let's just say it was um more discernibly distributed. Um so even when when self-control went to number one, I was not expecting that. Um even when uh when Witchcraft won the Hollywood Independent Music Award, I was not expecting that. Um and then just this past year when Body Language won the Hollywood Independent Music Award for Best Dance Song, I wasn't even expecting that either. So I think I think the C the another secret potion is like not um not being too cockle-doodle-doo about things.

SPEAKER_01: 30:24

No, I agree. Well, there's there's a difference in confidence and arrogance, right? I believe. But where where do you think the confidence comes from for you? And I could I could pick up that from you that you're a confident person, and that's a great, that's a great trait to have. Where do you think it came from for you? Was that a mom and dad thing, or did that just develop? You woke up one day and you were confident. And that wasn't even going to be a question, but since you brought it up, like because I think a lot of people lack that confidence to just talk to people kind of like you and I are talking. We've never met before, right? And can carry on a conversation for a long time because we're intellectually, you know, sound, right? And we're confident that we can keep up a conversation. But where do you think it came from for you?

SPEAKER_04: 31:13

Um well, I I love the fact that you pointed out that confidence is being able to just have a conversation and being and being and being cool within each other's skin while while we're doing it. Um, and I think it came from I think it I well, I saw my mom being very, very strong. She's a strong businesswoman. My dad is a strong um athlete-turned um attorney. So I think and and also speaking to my parents' friends, and then being older and more mature and wiser, um, having that rub off on me too was an inspiration and an influence as well.

SPEAKER_01: 32:01

Yeah. I believe there's been some songs of yours featured in movies and TV, and validate that for me. I'm am I correct there? Okay. And it's how does that work? Like I so I I had a guest on my show a while, it's been a long time now, and he writes scores. He's he's in um Woodland Hills, which is probably not too far from you. Um and he he was with uh a band called LA Guns for a long time, and now he's an A-list producer in in um Southern California, and he's written scores for like Gene Simmons, Family Jewels, Family Guy, The Simpsons, like and and talking to Adam, that that's kind of like mailbox money for him. I guess there's some royalties that he gets from that.

SPEAKER_04: 32:56

Does that's so funny you said mailbox money. I call it lounge chair money. You can just lounge on the lounge chair and it's just collects.

SPEAKER_01: 33:03

Like I But it's a real thing, right? It's a real thing, right?

SPEAKER_04: 33:11

How many run throughs of the nanny are there? Like she could just sit on the lounge chair.

SPEAKER_02: 33:16

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 33:17

That's why Zach made her the the president or whatever. Because she's just like, I got this.

SPEAKER_01: 33:22

That's funny. But is that is that kind of how it works for you? Like if you if you have a song in a movie, does the does the movie have to like be played on TV for you to get catch royalties from it? Is that just generally how it works, or can you speak to that little aspect?

SPEAKER_04: 33:40

Um, well, the song, well, you get you get uh royalties from the song being played on that particular TV show or that movie. Um, I do believe in TV though, uh uh now that we're no longer in the cable age, but in in the in more the streaming age, in in the cable age, how many times that that rerun happened and your song was played in that show, you would get royalties collected from that. Now, I know that's from the the the old model, but for now like the Netflix and the Hulu and all that, I'm not really sure how that works. All I know is that I have I've had some some mailbox activity happen because of it. So um I just know of the of the outcome, but I just don't know the conversion between the um the the the streaming now and how that yeah and how you get you get paid based off of that.

SPEAKER_01: 34:42

Sure. Well I believe that you know speaking of of TV shows and whatnot, that you yourself are also an actress by trade, right? Yes. And is is the swim lane really music for you and the acting as a secondary thing? Or if you got the right opportunity, would you would the acting come to the forefront? Talk to the listeners a little bit about your thoughts around what I just asked.

SPEAKER_04: 35:16

Well, my primary focus right now is music. Um and the projects that I've done so far, I I've done a I've done theater growing up. I've also been in different acting programs, both for theater and for film, um, in like Miami and also in LA and New York. Um and I was also in a uh like a psychological thriller movie called The Groundskeeper that was filmed in Boston a few years ago. It's still in post-production uh because the investor tried to infiltrate on the creative big mistake, huge, pretty woman quote. Um, but uh and then I was in another palette called the cherry picker. Um, and then another pilot just recently we filmed it this past July in Florida called uh Burning Bridges by the same content creator as the Cherry Picker. Um and that's also a lane for me as well. But being being an artist and putting out different projects, I've I've had the pleasure of creating different characters and looks in the different videos. And I feel like just naturally I have a I have a knack for for acting and for that aspect of entertainment.

SPEAKER_01: 36:53

On the on the balance scale of justice, right? Do you prefer acting or music? Which way does the which way does the balance scale tip for you?

SPEAKER_04: 37:06

Right now it's it's music, that's the primary focus. Um and then for for acting, that's that's um that's happening in tandem and going to happen in tandem.

SPEAKER_01: 37:17

Sure. Do you I don't know what made me think of this. Maybe because I had a friend that she was an actress out in Hollywood for a while, lived out in the Simi Valley, and she had a lot of alter egos. And you know, like she she would she would tend bar, right? And she would go as the alter ego. And I'm it and Kirsten made me think, I should ask you that. Like, do you have alter egos too? Or is that a thing? Or is that a thing, right? Or is that an actress thing?

SPEAKER_04: 37:48

Or um I don't really have any I mean, I don't have any alter egos, but I do like to be playful. Like sometimes I like to use a little voice, or you know, a little. Like I like to play the Russian assassin, which works very well for a Bond villain or a Bond girl. Um, or can we say the Polish and have an English accent and create this? I I just like to play to play with it, but I don't let's just say, let's just say there's no Harley Quinn joker thing going on.

SPEAKER_01: 38:21

It's not hardcore, right?

SPEAKER_04: 38:23

It's not it's not hardcore. It's just it's just if someone wants to play around, I'm like, oh I can play a plant for sure.

SPEAKER_03: 38:30

Yeah. You know, like like like even talking in the French accent, I get smoker's gull, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 38:40

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04: 38:41

Like I I could just play around with it because and I think I think that's because of my my Gemini moon. I can I can do all of that. But um, yeah, it's I I just I don't have an I don't have an alter ego. Like I um I mean I was I portray poison Ivy in body language, but you know that was for the music video because I just thought it was a cool concept. But other than that, no, no ultra egos.

SPEAKER_01: 39:10

I got you. I thought it would be a fun question all the same. Um which of your songs I mean I mean, I guess it's safe to say, and and and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm maybe I'm putting words in your mouth, but is it safe to say that self-control was one of the most successful songs that you've had? Is that is that safe or is that not safe?

SPEAKER_04: 39:35

It's safe, yeah. It's safe to it's safe to say, yeah, because that one went to number one, and uh that was um that was such an authentic uh accolade for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 39:48

Yeah. Talk to the listeners about the song and why you chose it to remake. Now, did the song choose you or did you choose the song, right? Because I think it could go either way, right?

SPEAKER_04: 40:01

Oh my gosh. Um that's it's fun, it's fun to think about that. Uh I so I was working with this, with this producer, Fred Cannon, in Nashville. I was like 18 or 19, and this is when I was like doing my little pop thing, you know. Uh, and I was recording some pop songs with him. And back in the day, he worked for a French label called Carrera. And Carrera Records uh had an artist on there by the name of Raf. He was an an Italian pop singer.

SPEAKER_02: 40:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 40:42

And he was like the the, I would say like the Italian prince slash Harry Styles, if you will. Um and he and he originally recorded the song Self-Control. And I think I think he even was one of one of the co-writers on it, but he made that song big in Italy and in Europe first. And then a year later in '84, Laura Branaghan took the song and made it big in in the States.

SPEAKER_02: 41:09

Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 41:10

Uh and then I I I was fortunate to hear both versions because I I had heard I had heard Laura's first and then Raf's after like shortly after, but it I'd heard Laura's maybe once, so it was like super fresh, and then I heard Raf's like twice. So I I was blessed to know like the actual origin of it and to hear more so the origin of it. But then I I just I grew to love the song so much that when I was gigging in South Florida and doing all my my performances there uh later at night, um, when the when the crowd wanted something more upbeat and more of more like an upbeat set, I would always throw that in there. And I loved performing that. And um after racking up some billboard hits with Mr. Damon Sharp, uh I I brought to him the idea of doing a remake and we had been talking about it. And uh and and he he had also brought it up, you know, simultaneously as well. And we were just you know throwing throwing things against the wall with each other, and then I tossed him self-control. I said, How about we do this? And he said, that's it, let's do it. So then we we re-stylized it and uh I released it and it went to number one. And the cool the coolest story about this is that you know how a lot of people in the industry that follow industry standard, they're like, don't release anything around the holidays.

SPEAKER_03: 42:53

It's super dead, no one's gonna listen to it. So what I did and spied.

SPEAKER_02: 43:00

What I did, I did a little elf, but I defied gravity.

SPEAKER_04: 43:06

So what I did is I released it the week between Christmas and New Year's, where everything is frightfully super dead, and don't ever release anything during that time, God forbid. So I released it, and guess what? Because no, it was crickets on the rope.

SPEAKER_01: 43:25

There was nothing else to listen to but your song, right? There was nothing else to listen to. So what a genius marketing idea.

SPEAKER_04: 43:33

Yeah, so I released it and then it went to number one so easily because guess what? It was a path of least resistance.

SPEAKER_01: 43:39

Absolutely. See, you're smarter than the average bear, boo-boo. Thank you. That's that's great. Uh that's a great, that's a great story. And and again, you know, you can't you can't always follow the leader uh to be relative. You have to take you have to take risks, you have to take chances. Um you were you released quite a few singles last year. One of the songs was called GoldenEye. And this is yes, this is a nice jazzy vibe. So when I when I kind of went through and I was listening to your stuff, I went through and like, oh, that's cool, that's cool, that's cool. And then I get to this song, right? And it's like one of these things is not like the other, right? Those other ones were real dancey and upbeat, and this is real jazzy. Where so now I kind of get it. Like, I when I when I came up with my questions that I wanted to talk to you about, I didn't know your background was kind of influenced by. Some of the artists that you spoke of earlier, but where did the idea for GoldenEye specifically come from for you?

SPEAKER_04: 44:54

Well, the song uh I is the leading single off of the licensed to thrill album, and the stylistic approach was very um was very Chicago-like, almost a little bit um like cabaret-like, sure, but also having elements like Peggy Lee's Fever and having that very um uh swingy jazz club element to it. And Myron McKinley just hit out of the ballpark and producing this, and he really understood the assignment and where I wanted to take it. And because the original Goldeneye is very is very big and in your face, and you know, you have Tina Turner being bigger than life, you know, singing it. So I wanted I wanted to keep the keep the power in it, but also but also strip it down so that you could so that it has its own quiet power.

SPEAKER_01: 45:59

Wow. Do you write a lot of your own songs on your own, or are you a co-write kind of girl? Like talk talk to the listeners a little bit about just songwriting in general.

SPEAKER_04: 46:16

Um I've written songs with Damon, Luigi, Heaven Wilde, Andy Kirk, um you know, Chico Bennett, Mark Mangold. I've I've written um the majority of my discography is has been me a parting uh being a part of the the penmanship of the song. Um and then other other times there's been a co-writer, like with some of the songs I wrote with with Luigi, there like Ally J and Celeste and Dance of the Fire was uh co-written by Will Gittens. Um and with uh with uh Damon, my first song, Oasis, that was I had a co-write there in her um Giselle Paris. She she helped co-write that one. Um but mainly like the the maximum I will I would say like the maximum amount of co-writers I've had on a track, probably it's like me, the producer, and then maybe like two more, but that's that's about it. Um but I always I've I've always wanted to be a part of the the building process.

SPEAKER_01: 47:31

So the preference would be to write on your own than to co-write? You'd rather write on your own?

SPEAKER_04: 47:40

Um there there have been times where I've written on my own, um funny enough, but my song Hustler, um I wrote that with in like 20 minutes, and it was just because I was it was um it was like late at night, typical. It was late at night. Um, and and I was sitting there with with like a glass of vino, which means, you know, download juice. Um, and uh this song just came to me. Like I could, it was like um, it was like a scene out of Great Gasp, but you know, when like the when the opening credits come in and you just hear that little faint like, ain't we have fun? Like you just hear that in the in the ghostly background, the hollowness. And I was just hearing this melody just come through like the the corridors of whatever it was of the downloads, and I was just sitting there and I was like, Oh tell me, and you'll tell you, where's all that? And I reached for my phone and I said, and I just started voice memoing in, and then I was right, and then I did that, and then the lyrics came, and I was like, Where did that come from? But that's that's just how how that came to me, and it was I would say within 20 minutes the whole song was done.

SPEAKER_01: 49:17

Isn't that crazy how some of the greatest songs ever written um just come in that short of a time period? You you would think it takes years to write hit songs or months, but sometimes some of the best songs I can think of one Rich Girl by Hall and Oates, like Daryl Hall has said it a million times. That I I wrote that in like 10 minutes, and it was one of our biggest songs, right? It's like how you know you never know how they organically just grow legs and well that's how you know it's meant, it's meant to be.

SPEAKER_04: 49:52

Like, um, because I know, I know, I know you know we we've seen so many musicians just like they're like just trying to like make it happen, and it's like, guess what? It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01: 50:08

Trying to force a square peg into a round hole. It doesn't work for that.

SPEAKER_04: 50:12

Trying to force it. You're like you just have to let it let it flow, which is one of the things that I've I've learned to do being in my own preferences and my own um processional preferences, is that I don't I don't go into it's basically like don't go into a relationship with with tons of baggage, like I don't go into a sudo session with a big old freaking binder with like a bunch of notes. Like because you're not you you need to live in the moment and appreciate the the present and the downloads that are going to happen. Because I could come in here with like you know, with this scrap of paper flying out and this thing like hanging out there and post-it notes and all this, and I'm like, I'm ready. No, because you're walking in there already with all these preconceived whatever, so you're not going to appreciate what's in front of you. So I've always just sat with the producer or sat with the writers, and I've just had a conversation with them. I've just been doing like what we're doing right now, and then that's how we pull, that's how we pull the the ideas because I'm walking into that, not being espoused to anything.

SPEAKER_01: 51:31

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_04: 51:33

And that's my that's that's been my my my process. And um, you know, some some people are like, why'd you bring ideas in? And I'm like, for what? Like, yeah, I can bring in like little ideas. I could say, oh, I like to write a song about this, but sometimes that idea is made for another day, yes, for another song.

SPEAKER_01: 51:56

100% of it.

SPEAKER_04: 51:58

So I mean, what you gonna do when it comes for you, you know?

SPEAKER_01: 52:04

Well, thinking back to the song Self-Control, what what is it that you think that makes a song a great remix? Song, like why self-control and not nine million other songs that you've heard over you know, the last decade or whatever, right? Like why that what what's what makes a great remix in your opinion?

SPEAKER_04: 52:33

When the artist isn't trying to imitate the song, and when they're just when they're re-stylizing it, when they're appreciating the original, but then also um respecting their themselves as artists by by adding their own touch to it.

SPEAKER_01: 52:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_04: 52:56

So because it's not meant to be a caricature, it's supposed to be a re-stylization of it.

SPEAKER_01: 53:02

Yeah. Yeah, I like how you explain that because I think a lot of people wouldn't explain it just like that, but I like the way you worded it. And it it also made me think like for these these these dance songs, how important are the DJs and the clubs to your career? Can you speak to that?

SPEAKER_04: 53:28

Yeah, well, the the the DJs and and um and their and their traction and their and their visibility was very helpful because the Billboard Dance charts, how you get charte on the on on those charts, um, speaking to that, is based off of the amount of spins that the DJs play your song in the in the in the clubs and in their mix shows and their and their playlists. So having that rapport with them is very important.

SPEAKER_01: 54:05

How do they so this is just education for me because I of course I'm not in the clubs. Like when a DJ spins a song of yours in a club, how do they how do they capture that as a spin? Can you speak to that? Like, how does anybody know that they played a Kendra Erica song at one o'clock in the morning at the club down the street, right? Like how does it be a good one?

SPEAKER_04: 54:29

Well, I think I well, because they're there are uh DJs that um that that spin it, obviously, but the but the the panel DJs, the the DJs that are from the Billboard Dance panel, they're the ones that kind of have to take their job a little bit more seriously and not just play songs. I like if they're promoting a song, they have to tabulate or they have to count for how many times they've they've played it.

SPEAKER_02: 54:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 54:56

And then though, and then that tabulation or those results get them thrown into the the calculator.

SPEAKER_01: 55:03

That makes sense. What do you do to unwind when you're not making music? Any hobbies outside of just work, work, work, work, work that that you could speak to um to the listeners?

SPEAKER_04: 55:22

Well, I love playing golf. Um, that's something that my dad uh introduced into my life at such a young age. My grandmother was a professional in her day, and my family is just my dad's out of the family are just staunch and consummate golfers. Um my uncle played, my grandfather played, my my grandmother was a professional. Um, and I and I played on the varsity high school golf team myself. Um, and I was offered, I was offered a golf scholarship in for in college, but you know, I I respectfully turned it down because that's not where my passion lied. And also I knew college athletes who don't have lives.

SPEAKER_02: 56:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_04: 56:12

So I was like, I don't want, I was like, I don't want to be, you know, eating, sleeping, breathing golf. Because I I want to pursue other aspirations that I have. But needless to say, golf has been an integral part of my life. Um also hiking, working out, you know, staying in staying in good physical shape. That's that's where I'm that's where I get that's where I unwind. Um and yeah, and I I love I love to go out to like you know, just really refined yet, you know, cultured places, like vintage old places. Um and funny enough, I actually I like um I like visiting like beautiful memorial parks and seeing like where you know all the the icons and the grates are buried so I can get some some spiritual guidance.

SPEAKER_01: 57:25

So what is why is that a draw? Because it's kind of I find myself there there's something about that. Like I'll be on YouTube, I I always go down this rabbit hole on YouTube, and somehow there's this thing where they're taking you through a tour of a cemetery with famous people, and I'm like drawn to that, and I don't what's the fascination? Like, oh, there's Marilyn Monroe's, you know, mausoleum, and there's this person. It's like, why is that fascinating? Like, and you brought it up, and it's like, I thought I was weird, and then you just said that you do it. I'm like, wait, is this like a real freaking thing or something?

SPEAKER_04: 58:10

I too was like, I don't know if I should bring this up, but I just felt compelled to do so. I think uh God was just like, just say it. Just say it.

SPEAKER_01: 58:19

Um if you can't say it here, you can't say it anywhere, just so you know.

SPEAKER_04: 58:25

Um, I don't know. There's like yeah, there is a fascination with with that too. Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_01: 58:33

And I don't think and I don't think it's about I don't think it's about death per se. It's something about I I don't know. I can't, I can't put it it's odd because when I can't wrap words around something, people say there's something wrong with you, Randy, because you always have the right words to say. And I don't I really don't know how to explain it. Like what what the maybe it takes me back to a place in time in my mind. Like, I don't know, Kendra. I I really don't know, but it's just it's bizarre. And since you brought it up, it's pissing me off now.

SPEAKER_04: 59:09

Well, I think I think the reason why, and it's not necessarily like the death aspect of it. Well, I think as humans, we're all fascinated with death. We're all always like, oh, like what happens to you? You know, like where do you go? Um, but I think it's I I think for for people like you and like myself who feel like they were maybe born a little bit too late or in the wrong time period, it's almost like we that's our way of connecting with that time period that where our our souls could have thrived so easily in.

SPEAKER_01: 59:47

Yeah, okay. I'll have to think about that because I don't I yeah, I don't know. I and maybe I've never just given it any thought, but now I'm racking my brain now that you bring it up, it's like okay, so I'm not the only weird guy on the planet. That's that's a good thing that we share a common.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:04

Well, and and also I think I think it's because especially in um especially in in today's world, I think, because we're so starred for like excellence and iconicism, um, because everything has been so watered down lately. Um, I think just naturally we're like anything, anything to get closer to that, I think is what is where we're we're we're where we're trying to get to that exp explanative place.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:41

Yeah. And you know what? I was just thinking about this, and it's and odd enough. So in if my mom was here, and she's still alive, but I'm saying if she was in the room with me right now and she was listening to this interview while we're chatting, my my aunt actually it would have been mom's aunt, but nevertheless, so as a young boy, her husband died, and and my aunt used to watch me, right? Uh babysit me while my mom went to work and dad went to work, and the cemetery was very, very close to her house where her husband uh was laid to rest. And she had this, I I guess what do you what do you want to call it? She had this dedication to go to the cemetery weekly, if not multiple times a week, to make sure everything was the way that it should be. Like there were fresh flowers, the the tombstone was clean, like all of the things. And I, as a young boy, five years old, was with her in tow. And I spent more time at a cemetery as a kid than than probably any other kid on the planet. And I'm and I'm wondering if there's some tie to that. Like I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:03

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:04

I don't know. I'm I'm probably overthinking it, and I don't want to like go down in a rabbit hole, but it just made me think of that. It's like it's just so bizarre.

SPEAKER_04: 1:02:12

No, there has to be there, there's there's obviously some elements of that from your from your past that are that are drawing you to doing that now. And there there has to be a correlation, is what what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:26

Yeah, correlation's a good word. Well, just off camera, you I don't know, you can't really see it, but my my golf clubs are sitting right over there under the guitar.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:35

Right on.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:37

Big golf, big golf family, and and and it's funny because when I pulled up your um your bio or your resume, it said golf, 10 handicap. I'm like, what? Hush up.

SPEAKER_04: 1:02:51

Yeah, I was just playing my with my dad this past weekend. He came out here to visit me, and we had like this this father-daughter golfing weekend, and yeah, it was just so it was just so fun. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:05

Well, I mentioned to you at the beginning of the show that I try to get out to LA once or twice a year, and I stay with my friends in Studio City, and I said, you know, the next time I go, I think I'm gonna take my golf clubs and I'm gonna play somewhere in in Southern California, LA, or whatever. And they're not golf people, but it would it would give me a break to just go out on my own. Now I know who I can call to to meet me at the golf course, right? I got a golf buddy.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:34

Presents.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:35

Right, right. Well, what keeps you what keeps you motivated in slower times? Like when things slow down for you, if that's even a thing, is there anything that keeps you motivated?

SPEAKER_04: 1:03:48

Um, well, I like I like to do like charity work. I'm involved with the Rotary Club, the the LA5 Rotary Club, and uh just doing doing a lot of that, giving, giving back because that's um not just during the the slow times, but it it just allows me to reconnect and get re re rooted. And um my mom, um my mom grew me up with the Rotary Club because she she was a part of she was a part of the Rotary Club in Boca Tone, Florida. So I I grew up with all of that with giving back and going going to this event and that event and you know, even lending my voice to sing the national anthem or do a performance and just being involved in the community. That's that's what keeps me um in in motion in that um in that like philanthropic way.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:42

Yeah. Well, and I think everybody should do that all the time in some capacity anyway, right? Whether it's animal shelters or just giving five dollars to a a hostess that seats you in a restaurant, like it's just the thing that we should do as humans at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_04: 1:04:59

Correct. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:00

Is there one thing that fans of yours may be surprised to learn about you? Like, is there something that you would share with somebody? Like, if everybody knew, like I had this one habit, right? Or the I do I have this weird little intricacy. Like, does one thing come to mind that you would share with somebody? I thought it would be a fun question for you, right? And maybe you maybe you plead the fifth, I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:29

But well, I mean, I do my own, I do my own eyebrows. I don't get them waxed, I do my own eyebrows, but um uh one thing that's I don't know. Um, I think the one thing that people find weird is that I remember birthdays. Like you, if you tell me your birthday, I'll remember it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:48

I like my daughter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:50

So I have like that that savantism or rainmanism, whatever you call it. Um, but if you give me like a jar of toothpicks, forget about it. I can't, I can't tell how many toothpicks are in a jar.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:04

All right. Well, we're gonna see how good you are because I'm gonna give you January 30th. It's right what um 11 days from now is my birthday. And I'm gonna and I'm gonna see, I'm gonna see if I get a text or an email from you. So we're gonna see how. Oh, okay. January 30th. Check out. Challenges on, challenges on. From a new music perspective, is there anything the listeners can look forward to in 2026 from you that you can talk about right now?

SPEAKER_04: 1:06:36

Well, in uh February 13th, I have a new album called License to Thrill, and it's a 0007 James Bond tribute album. Along with a debut show in Las Vegas on February 15th at The Space. That's what I'm really looking forward to right now. And a lot of what my energy has been dedicated towards. And I'm really looking forward to the release of this album.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:04

That's so awesome. And are there other shows lined up to support that as well? Or is that kind of the main one right now that you can speak of?

SPEAKER_04: 1:07:13

That's the main one right now, but I do have um I do have another one before that in February 9th. That's like at Max and Jazz in in Vegas. That's more of a jazz, uh, more of like an American songbook. Uh I call it Double O standards. Okay. Uh kind of a playlist and show that I that I have also um I will be uh featured on the Marco Tool show on February 4th in Sun City Anthem and near Henderson and in near Las Vegas. Um and then uh this this week or on Thursday, I will be at um the South Point Hotel and Casino being uh featured on the Dennis Bono show out in Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:02

That's super cool. And and it made me think like going out to Vegas and playing the the shows, is there a band there for you? Talk talk to me a little bit about that performance. Is do you take a band with you or musicians with you? Can you speak to that?

SPEAKER_04: 1:08:19

Uh well currently, well, up into this date, um I've been mainly working with with DJs and giving them my tracks. So now that I'm in this segue or making this movement into more of the classics, uh having a band that has really been um a uh like a an orchestra or an um what's it called, a new um a new sonic introduction for for me. Um so I do have a band that will be playing with me on the 15th. Um and there's already a band at the Marco Toole show and also at Dennis's show as well. So all I have to do is just give them my music charts and then they they play they play whatever from the from the album. Um and then the the one at Max and Jazz will be, I think, just primarily tracks, but you know, jazzy tracks that I'll be performing too.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:25

Isn't it cool how good musicians can just read charts and just play?

SPEAKER_04: 1:09:31

Oh, I know. I know. I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna call you a USB.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:36

All right, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03: 1:09:38

I just I just plug you in and you just go. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:42

And when I don't want you anymore, I just unplug you, right? Yeah. Do you have a dream collaboration that is still on your wish list, other than being on backstage past radio, of course. But is there is is do you do you have that dream collaboration? If you could just have one, is who would it be? Who do you think?

SPEAKER_04: 1:10:08

Dream collaboration. Um, I would love to do a duo with Andrea Bocelli. Love that. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:18

Speak it into existence.

SPEAKER_04: 1:10:21

I know, I know. I will that that would be that would be epic.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:27

That would be amazing. Yes. Do you see and your sound has evolved, of course, from the dance to going back to the more jazzy Bond type stuff, but over the next couple of years, right? Do you see it evolving again, or do you see yourself doing this for a long period of time, the more Bondy, jazzy side of of the music?

SPEAKER_04: 1:10:55

There, there's um there's definitely a a runway for a long runway for the for the jazzy Bond sound. Um, and I do have two two upbeat tracks coming out this year um that are more in the that are like a combination of dance mixed with Bond. So it's it's it's very double-O upbeat. Double O upbeat, I love that. Um but I because I don't want to forfeit all the all the identity that I've created for myself in the dance, the dance world. Um but the currently right now, like I said, it's a long runway for this blondish uh standard jazzy sound. And then I I mean I'm very open to evolving with other with other genres. Um, it just has to happen within the right time with the right kind of team and with the right kind of messaging behind it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:01

Yep, as they say, the stars just have to align, right?

SPEAKER_04: 1:12:04

They do, for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:06

Where can the listeners find you um on social media?

SPEAKER_04: 1:12:13

You can find me on Instagram at Kendra Erica, also Facebook at Kendra Erica Music. Uh, you can find me on YouTube and TikTok. Um, and also uh you can pre-save the album. The link is in my bio on both my TikTok and my Instagram. And uh you can pre-save license to thrill. Uh that will be available February 13th on Spotify and Apple Music and all the all those trusty platforms. And just stay tuned for everything that's coming out and also just stay shaken and not stirred for February 13th's license to thrill.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:58

You heard it first. Um, just real quick, off the record, do you do and I'll strip this out before I go um before we post it. Do you manage your own socials or does another team do that for you?

SPEAKER_04: 1:13:16

I do that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:16

You handle it? Okay. Yes. Okay. Um, how about just a couple of quick fire questions for you before we wrap up?

SPEAKER_03: 1:13:24

Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:27

Is there, and and not calling any of the babies ugly, but is there a favorite song that you love to perform?

SPEAKER_04: 1:13:35

I know you're gonna say, yeah, because I I I'm always like, I can't, I can't disclude one. Um, we'll skip that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:45

All right, we'll skip that. We'll skip that one.

SPEAKER_04: 1:13:48

About but no, I I uh okay, so um on a on a previous interview, they they asked me, is there a least favorite? And of course I'm like squirming. I'm like, oh my god, this question, why, why, you know? Um I'm like, because I don't want them looking at me like with like a forlorn face, you know, like the babies that you're talking about. So but I did, I did say um uh Song of Hope was it's a beautiful song. It's a beautiful song. Don't get me, don't get me wrong. Um, I just felt like I was kind of kind of forced to write something because it was written during like the COVID times and it and I just felt because there was so much polarity going on and so much, you know, uh um purporting and propaganda and division. Um I just felt with the team that I was working with at that time, who also I didn't align with, they were like, we need to create a song of hope and bring people together. And I'm like, you can't force Kumbaya. Like, and I just felt like I was writing I was just writing something, just and it just felt it felt forced, but it also felt just not um was it genuine? Yeah, I would say it was genuine because I'm like, yeah, I want there to be hope, but still I I just felt like it, it just wasn't the the right time to to write something like that. You we we just needed to just let all the let the chaos take its course, sure, let the dust settle, and then we can approach writing a song about that. But yeah, I just felt like they were trying to make in the words of Mean Girls, make fetch happen.

SPEAKER_01: 1:15:35

Yeah. Well, it's it's it's sound like I mean you can look at that as kind of like, you know, that's a really shallow, dumb question, but I I'm asking that question more from being an artist myself. Yeah, like like there are the songs that I don't know, they just seem to move us a little bit more. Like, like all the songs are great. I love playing all the songs, but there's that, there's just that one that just does it for like that's the one that I bond with the most. And maybe I should have rephrased the question and not like favorite song to perform, but I didn't know if there was a one song that you've ever performed or written that just I don't know, it's just your song, like that's the one, right? Because Dan Fogelberg said a long time ago, if I didn't write any other song, leader of the band, if I could only write one song, it would have been leader of the band. That was his song, right? And all the rest of them could go away if they had to, right? But that would be my song. So I didn't know if that would if there was one for you that you gravitated to.

SPEAKER_04: 1:16:57

I think Avalanche.

SPEAKER_02: 1:16:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 1:17:00

Avalanche, yeah, that was the one that signified that I had some chops. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:11

I I like I like asking that question too, because then I can go back and listen to that song in a different way. Like I've listened to a lot of the stuff in your catalog, right? But talking to artists and and we haven't really got into, and I'm not going to get into the meaning of some of these songs, but sometimes those questions come up to the artist, and it's it's good to kind of know what they were thinking when they wrote it, because there's one that I can think of where I had a country, a country artist on my show, and he wrote a song called Three Bottles and She's Gone. And on the surface, you're thinking, Oh, Jesus, so cliche. It's another country song about drinking whiskey, right? But what you don't know, if you didn't listen to my interview with Kyle, you would have you would have found out that he and his wife are foster parents, and they had a little girl that they made three bottles for and put them in the refrigerator, and that was just enough milk to feed her until the mother came to pick her up from them, right? So three more bottles and she's gone, right? So the the questions, you know, it it you never know, right? You never know what you're listening. And that's why I like to hear like the behind the stories of the music, and then I like to hear like what song moves you, because then I go listen to that a little bit differently than I might not knowing those things. So anyway, early bird or night owl for you. I think you've already answered this question.

SPEAKER_04: 1:18:44

Uh night owl. Night owl.

SPEAKER_01: 1:18:46

Okay, all right. Well, you're how is that? I mean, golfers get up early in golf, so you can't be a night owl and play golf early in the morning, right?

SPEAKER_04: 1:18:54

Well, I mean, Dean Martin played till I don't like three o'clock in the morning and then he was up at seven for his tea time. Fair enough. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:02

You have you have a point. Um favorite outside of dance pop, favorite genre. If if every genre went away and you could only keep one outside of that. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna rephrase my question. Jazz goes away, dance pop goes away. What's your next what's your next favorite genre of music that you gravitate to?

SPEAKER_04: 1:19:29

I'd say classical. Like that's what that's what I listen to to Unwind, and I think it's I think it's um Yeah, like dance is awesome, jazz is awesome, but uh classical, like that's the foundation for all of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:51

Studio or stage for you.

SPEAKER_04: 1:19:56

I'd have to say both. I'd have to say I'd have to say both, but I I'm leading I'm leaning more towards stage, but I do appreciate the the studio, so if we're gonna round everything up, stage.

SPEAKER_01: 1:20:16

What do you think the best advice is that you've ever received?

SPEAKER_04: 1:20:27

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. That's from my dad.

SPEAKER_01: 1:20:33

Yeah. Nicely stated. Kendra, this has been uh so cool. Um it's been cool chatting with you. I'm so glad that I stumbled across you because I admit, like I told you before, um I I'm not versed in the the pop dance world at all, as you could probably look at me and tell. Not that you could judge a book by its cover, right? But I didn't spend much time in the dance clubs and all of that growing up. And uh, you know, so this has been great. And I that's what I love about this show is it it kind of pulls you out of that comfort zone to talk to people that have similar passions, but just in different, I guess, categories, right? And and and and so it's cool to learn that. So thanks for that, and I wish you continued success in 2026 and beyond, and look forward to seeing your name on more charts. And uh, if you have a another big announcement coming up in 26 or 27, I think you probably know where to find me, right?

SPEAKER_04: 1:21:37

Absolutely, and January 30th is your birthday.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21:41

I didn't see you write it down, so you must have remembered it. So that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03: 1:21:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21:46

Well, you guys make sure uh to go out and follow Kendra on all of her social media platforms and on her official website at www.kendraerica. That's with a k e-r-i k dot com. And I also ask the listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at BackstagePassRadio, and on the website at backstagepassradio.com. You guys make sure to take care of yourselves and each other, and we will see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:26

Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some new insights into the world of music. Backstage Pass Radio is heard in over 80 countries, and the streams continue to grow each week. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us and helps us bring you even more amazing content. So join us next time for another deep dive into the stories and sounds that shape our musical landscape. Until then, keep listening, keep exploring, and keep the passion of music alive.