Bonus Episode 10 | Musical Journey From Tone Deaf to Top Charts with Kendra Erika - Mick Unplugged

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Gunplug, where we explore stories of inspiration, creativity, and passion.

And today I'm excited to chat with a talented singer and songwriter who's making waves in the music industry with her soul for voice and powerful lyrics.

Everyone, please welcome the powerful, the dynamic, the mesmerizing Kendra Erica.

Kendra, how are you doing today, lady?

Wow.

Very, very lovely adjectives.

It's all true.

It's all you.

Well, thank you.

Very, very happy to be here.

Thanks for having me.

How are you doing today?

I am wonderful and I have been waiting for this podcast moment for a long time.

Why don't you tell people about your journey, Kendra?

Like, how did Kendra Erica get here?

So I was born, but I was born tone deaf and

being that where I am today,

it just shows that with tenacity and also with perseverance and with just like conviction all around,

you can overcome something like that.

But I was introduced to a professional opera singer when I was around eight years old.

And he was able to really

get in there and do the groundwork and lay a classical foundation for my voice, as well as curing that tone deafness.

So from there, I was able to then fully participate in community theater and other theater productions and so on and so forth and doing talent competitions and doing other local shows and singing in restaurants and then the writing bug hit me in my early teens and I wanted to then start writing and recording my own music because up until that point I had just been doing covers and I wanted and I was fascinated with the original songwriting process so I wanted to really try my hand at that and I was working with producers in in Miami and then those producers then led to producers that I was working with in New York and then from there then that brought me to the team of creatives and collaborators out here in Los Angeles that I've been working with and then from then on, I've had five top ten hits on the Billboard Dance Chart.

And I've opened up for likes of Jason Gerillo, Cody Simpson, and I've also had national tours that I've gone on.

And I've collaborated with some of the most seasoned in this industry.

And I've really been year by year just elevating my game.

So, and now I have now I have a lot of, a lot of music under my belt and a lot of music that I have released so far.

And it's been, it's been an evolving journey.

There's so much that I want to unpack and unplug right there.

You know, starting with you saying you're a tone deaf, right?

And a lot of people, a lot of people that can't sing or amateurs will say, oh, I'm tone deaf, right?

But then they keep going anyway, just to prove the point that they're tone deaf.

You actually took that, I'm going to say disability and turned it into a strength, right?

What was it like for you to master, I'm gonna say the little things and being tone deaf, explain to the audience what that really means as well?

Well, at that age, I didn't know

because when you're when you're that young, you don't have the wherewithal and you don't have the sensibility yet.

So, when I would sing, it would just be very atonal.

Like, there's actually footage of when I turned, I think, three or five.

I think it was three, but I was singing happy birthday to myself.

And it was, it was just like jaw-dropping to see myself then and then compare it to me now, you know, singing the likes of Andrea Bocelli and singing all these dance songs with very, with very wide range.

When I was singing happy birthday to myself, I was like, happy birthday to you.

Like, I'm not joking.

If I bring up the, the video you'll see what I'm talking about So that's the kind of tone deafness that I was that I was working with and working through and working on trying to demolish

So what steps did you take to to overcome that once you realize that oh yeah, I am tone deaf that's the thing I didn't

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Realize I was because I would perform for my parents and their friends at their dinner parties and my parents would have to bring out other like extra bottles of wine in order to tolerate it was like oh kendra's performing bring out the other bottle of cab you know here she goes again but i had the confidence just the skill set was not in place yet but it it became in place is what i'm saying all right so so what inspired you to sing and when did you know that it was a thing you could do and pursue professionally.

What inspired me originally was

like any parent, my parents would sit me in front of the TV and they would pop the Disney VHSs in and I would watch these movies with musical numbers and the, you know, the princesses would sing and do all that.

And there's just something about that that just really like, that's what I want to do.

Like it was just an instant draw and an instant like magnetism that I had for wanting to do something like that.

So and then over time my my preferences and my taste buds evolved.

And I then started getting into, you know, the Brittanys and the Madonna's and the Destiny Childs and Spice Girls.

And then I grew out of that.

Then I was more into, you know, Lana Del Rey, Ellie Golding, which I still am.

And then I started getting more into the old timers like Frank Sinatra and the Great American Songbook.

Because at that time, starting in my teens, I started singing at different restaurants in the Boca Raton area.

And if you know anything about Boca Raton, it attracts a lot of those New York, New England, or not even just that, just

around the country retirees

that have an appreciation and have an affinity for those types of songs.

So I had to really build my repertoire with that in mind.

And I started singing a lot of Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Connie Francis, and also I was doing Andrea Pocelli because a lot of these restaurants were Italian so I had to add that flavor and touch in there as well.

So I established and I rooted myself in jazz as well, which then flashed forward.

I did a remake of Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra with Ralph Johnson and Myron McKinley.

And that won the Hollywood Independent Music Award.

And now I just did a stripped down version of my song A Deeper Love, which charted on Billboard Dance, but I also stripped it back and did a jazz version of that as well.

And that has not been released yet.

That is, that is forthcoming in this year.

Ooh, do we know when?

No.

If I know, then you'll know.

Okay.

You let me know and we're going to let the world know at the same time, right?

Yeah.

One of the things that I love about you, Kendra, is your perseverance, right?

Like for people that don't know, the music industry isn't easy, right?

There's a grind and there's a lot of hoops to go through.

And the best isn't usually at the top, right?

Like I learned this professionally.

Best known beats best, right?

You can be the best at something and nobody really knows who you are because best known is what wins.

Walk us through or talk us through your perseverance in the industry.

Like what challenges have you had to overcome and then how did you overcome them?

Because again, for those that don't know, the music industry is a grind.

It's not all glitz and glamour.

Correct.

Yeah.

Well, starting off fresh out the gate, being tone deaf was like the one obstacle that trained me and that really set the stage for what was to come for me.

One of the struggles that instantly comes to mind is, as you know, most of the mainstream artists that we see have had lots of

help.

Yes.

For those that cannot see, Ken just doing the give me money symbol over there.

Yeah, Yeah, they've had a lot of financial help.

Either it be daddy had $8 billion

or, you know, grandpa had $4 million to invest.

My parents are very hardworking individuals.

And I've said this before in other interviews, and I've also posted about it as well.

But my parents taught me the way to be successful, not the way to be famous.

And there's something to say about that because, and also back to my point, a lot of the artists that you see, they've had financial help.

It's not that they're, oh my God, mesmerizing, it's just that they've had that financial help.

And so

my parents, like I said, are very hardworking individuals.

I have experienced a level of support from them, but then the other the other majority of that portion of that battle lied within me to push forward.

And the wealth of work ethic and spiritual wealth has also really propelled me as well.

And I think it's not not just thing, but I really do believe that that is what's, especially in this day and age, in this year, in this great awakening that we're in, is really going to advance me.

So that's been one of the struggles because when I was growing up, I would see certain people that were at the top and I was like, but they only have like one octave range.

But then come to find out as I got further along and deeper into the industry, and I started hearing from more experienced people that this is what's actually going on, then that actually then fueled me even more.

I was like, oh, I'm gonna paradigm shift this into my favor.

And then another

struggle that comes to mind as well is when you think differently than most of the industry, you then become the black swan or the black sheep.

And what can happen is that if you have different viewpoints or different opinions than the industry, it's then up to you to really stylize that and navigate that.

Because if you're not thinking the most popular way, then that can either hurt you or put you at an advantage.

And over the course of time and maturity and observation, I've been able to use that as an advantage.

It used to be a disadvantage for me, but now I've been able to really strategize it in a way that puts me at a copious level, at a very like in a position of gain.

So those are just one of the struggles that come to mind.

And also not willing to fit within the mold because we're not baking cookies.

So I don't have to fit into the cookie cutter ways because we're not baking cookies.

We're making history.

And especially in this day and age, there's a lot of mold fitting.

Like as you've seen with Nikki Minaj, Cardi B, Ice Spice, Sweetie, it's like they're all the same person.

Uh-oh, I like it.

I mean, you have Selena Dualipa, Demi Lovato, Camilla Cabello, like Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Cardi, they're all the same person.

And when you have someone that stands out in this day and age, people are like, we don't know what to do with that.

But at the same time, if you look back in the day, who are the people that stood the test of of time madonna david bowie share whitney right it's because people that you can't replicate people that you can't replicate but in this day and day and age there's a lot of cloning going on musically and stylistically So I felt that I want to take the approach of what has worked so magnanimously into the future and so gravitational into the future and what I'm doing.

So that's why I said I'm now using the black sheep or the black swan approach to my advantage strategically, because those are the icons, the ones that push the envelope, that went against the grain, and that quite honestly went against establishment.

I love it.

One of the things that also makes Kendra stand apart, and one of the things that I truly admire about you is you are a freaking amazing songwriter.

Talk to us about what your creative process is when you get ready to start the process of writing a song.

Because, you know, back in the day, I was a little songwriter too.

So I know that there's a process, right?

Like you just don't wake up and, oh, here's a song I'm going to write.

What's Kendra's process to songwriting?

It varies between the, varies on the collaborator or the producer or songwriter that I'm working with.

But how I like to conduct my sessions, if you will, is I always like to have a deep and meaningful and almost philosophical conversation with whomever I'm collaborating with.

Because from then, by doing that, that breaks down the four walls.

And we're not coming from an obligatory place.

We're not having to placate or obligate to anything.

So that breaks down the four walls, and it then elevates us to come to a place of inhibition.

And so from there, then we can start really

pulling concepts and then penning them and sculpting them into what then becomes the the song that's lyrically and then melodically it all depends on on the track because the track is what inspires the the melodies the harmonies and all the musical accrouchement I love it that's a that's amazing and that's a great insight for people to understand that process to me that's that's very deep and and I love and admire you and the process that you have in songwriting because I do think and these are the words of Mick and mick only one of the top five songwriters that we have out there is miss kendra erica just so that everyone knows well thank you i appreciate that so a couple of things i'm gonna get you out of here kendra so what's next what's your three to five year vision of yourself in this industry in this space well currently this is a doing a shout out currently i have a residency at sur in west hollywood every tuesday night so i'm i'm there performing i'm there creating a nice a nice vibe a nice lane And I have a release party coming up for the video that I did for Self-Love Symphony.

That's a collaboration that I did with Dave Auday and Olivia Newton John's daughter, Chloe Latanze.

So we have the video releasing May 1st, and there's a whole release party that we're doing in West Hollywood.

It's gonna be fantastic.

That's next week, May 1st.

And then after that, I have more music I'm releasing, more videos to shoot.

I have a performance, I have have two performances in mexico city and in guadalajara in june and then from from then on i'm going where the wind takes me and i'm embracing and soaring on the wings of the opportunities that come my way in the horizon so if you could make the wind go anywhere you wanted it to go like if you had control of the wind where would you take yourself in the next year year and a half I would take myself to an elevated version of what I'm doing now.

Love it.

All right.

Rapid fire with Kendra.

You ready?

Sure.

Top three favorite artists of all time.

Dre Sinatra, Kylie Minogue, and the third.

You can say yourself.

You can say Kendra Erica.

Kendra's in my top three.

I'm pointing to my

KE.

There you go.

KE.

Number three is KE.

Love it.

Love it.

Oh, gosh.

See, it's okay.

You can be a fan of yourself.

You should be.

I am.

Just that inner guilt trip of don't be conceited, don't be conceited.

It's not conceit.

You should be a fan of yourself.

If you are in your top three, you should be in your top three.

Darling, I am a fan of myself.

There we go.

I channeled my inner lives with Minelli.

Darling.

Love it.

If you had to sing one genre of music for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Jazz.

Love me some jazz.

Love me some jazz.

It's still rhythmic, but then you can also incorporate that legitimate style of singing, that very legato way of singing.

So you kind of get the both worlds of classical and dance, and the mediator is jazz.

So you just had the most amazing day of your life.

It's late in the evening.

What's your happy song?

What's the song you're belting out to end that amazing day?

The day just ended.

It was very victorious.

I'm trying to put myself in that setting.

The sunlight is going down.

You're on Santa Monica Beach.

You're on the pier.

Everything's perfect.

What's the song that's coming to your soul that you just want to belt out?

I have no idea because

there are quite a few that come to mind.

I have Sweet Dreams by Annie Lennox.

There's a song out right now.

I forget who it's by.

It's called like When You're Alone Tonight or something like that.

I forget.

But oh my God.

Oh, I can't answer this question.

It's just,

it's too situational, too subjective.

And I'm like, I tried to narrow it down.

I tried to give you the scenario.

I get it.

I know.

Yeah.

It's like bringing me into a gelato shop.

It's like, good luck.

Yeah, you'll be here for like three hours later.

Kendra's still like sampling everything.

You know?

There you go.

All right.

I'm going to get you out of here on this one, Kendra.

What's your advice to anyone that's trying to come into the music industry now?

So for the young in their mind up and comer that's like, I want to get into the industry, what's two pieces of advice you'd give them today?

Something that my dad always instilled in me and that's hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

That's one of them.

Also speak up for yourself because everyone else is out for their own interests and you have to be the one to speak up for yourself.

Also don't sell out.

Protect your soul.

And how you do that is not being predictable.

Don't be predictable.

That's how you protect yourself.

That's amazing.

Well, Kendra, I totally appreciate you taking a little bit of time with us here today.

You know, I'm going to come out to Sur since you have residency there.

I'm making a West Coast trip later on this summer.

I'm going to stop by and I'm going to spend some time.

listening to Kendra Live because I've listened to hours upon hours of you, but I haven't heard you live.

So I'm excited to hear Kendra live and to get the true Kendra Erika experience.

I appreciate that you call it an experience.

But thank you.

It's been wonderful speaking with you today, and I can't wait till you come out and we'll spend some time.

There you go.

There you go.

Ladies and gentlemen, the great, the electrifying Kendra Erika.

And remember, you're because is your superpower.

I'm Lisha.

Thanks for listening to Mick Unplugged.

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