Today we’d like to introduce you to Katriz Trinidad.
Katriz, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My earliest memories of singing started when I was 5 years old. It’s kind of a funny story because I didn’t start as the “singer” in my family it was actually my sister who was enrolled first. Being the “quiet” child I always tuned into my sister’s vocal lessons, sitting at the top of my staircase of my home until one moment my sister’s vocal teacher heard me hum for the first time and asked if I could sing something to her. In that very moment was when my gift was discovered & I hadn’t stopped singing ever since.
I joined a lot of singing competitions in my early career, my first one being outside of Seafood City where I won 3rd place and I was so stoked I kept joining so many of them I eventually became known for prolonging a champion winning-streak. I’d also participate in a lot of school events where I’d sing in my school’s talent shows and one of the performances I uploaded on YouTube singing “Girl on Fire” by Alicia keys is what led me to being scouted by one of the producers of NBC’s hit TV Show. I landed on Team Pharrell & had the opportunity of working with artists such as Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift. This lead me to perform for NFL, NBA, and MLB games and opened a lot more opportunities for me. I am now working on putting out my first debut album.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. There’d be a lot of moments where I questioned if this was the career I wanted to pursue, not knowing if I was good enough and all the insecurities that come with being your biggest critic. I realized in my later years, as much as I thought I loved joining singing competitions, I think a big part of me loved winning that it became a big part of my ego. it affected me a lot as an adult because I couldn’t overcome the need to fail and I never gave myself the option to do so but this was the only way I could see growth within myself. I give myself a lot of grace for it now because I was so young and I didn’t know any better but this mindset became my biggest disadvantage because I wanted to so badly connect with people. but I didn’t even know how to connect with myself and sing from a place that felt authentic. This hurdle even affected me during my “The Voice” days. I remember after the judges had watched my blind audition where I had gotten a 3-chair turn, Gwen Stefani being one of the judges who turned around for me had described my performance as if I “was on stilts” & that I had reminded her of a “porcelain doll” in which I agree with so much now. It didnt hit me as much then because I didn’t know how to surrender to the music or be in the present moment but I was very fragile and I fixated on what I thought were the most important things, such as the vocal technicalities of my performance and having some choreo to go with it. It was really hard to break through this toxic relationship I had with perfectionism and took me years of having to unlearn. What really helped the most was building my relationship with God, especially when both my grandparents had passed away. Experiencing all types of pain, grieving but also being grateful for the happy moments, I found a way to tend to those feelings and channel all of those emotions through music. I now choose to surrender to the music more than ever and it has been the most healing thing for me and I can’t be anymore proud of myself for challenging myself in that way (despite if the result may not always be perfect).
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m still working on making my dreams come true so I have juggled a lot of different jobs to be able to support my professional singing career. I’ve worked restaurant and retail but I’m currently working on getting my real estate license to follow in the footsteps of my mom. Something about me is I love human interaction and connecting with people & helping them. I think it’s one of my biggest gifts, wearing my heart on my sleeve and wanting to create memorable experiences and I hope I can also provide that sort of service through my music where talking about my personal experiences, people feel seen and find ways to resonate with it.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I don’t know if this is necessarily surprising but I feel the most inspired to write and come up with ideas when I’m driving. A view always does it for me and I feel I’m able to feel less nervous about it when I’m im in that sort of flow state on the road. I’ll just hit the play button on my iPad and will mess around with different beats I find on YouTube or I’ll just sing acapella and create lyrics from an internal place of what I’m currently experiencing in life.
In terms of personality, I honestly wear my heart on my sleeve and am an open book. Some people on social media might not know how goofy I am, but when you meet me in person it’s quite apparent LOL I’m just a big people person & I love making connections any way that I can!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskatriztrinidad?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@katriztrinidad?si=khJei8s-dxYkqwLu
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1qu2xcQj03FbbWkwKhisTF?si=9L3cKXs_TI-SImnNrKukig&utm_source=copy-link
