Beats & Brains: Big dreams, little girl

By KATHLEEN REITER
When I was three-years-old I wanted to be Michael Jackson when I grew up. When I was 11, I wanted to be the lead singer in Destiny's Child (well really, who hasn't wanted to be Beyoncé at one point or another in their lives?). When I was 16 I thought I was meant to be a hard core rock star like Axl Rose. Well, you get the point!
The older I get the more I understand that those childhood fantasies we have, are really just to boost us in the general direction we want to pursue. My childhood idols are what first sparked my hunger for creative expression. From a young age I knew I wanted to be performer and write songs.
When I started working on my first album, I fantasized about how I wanted to be dark and mysterious and write songs about the boy who broke my heart - I call this the Adele syndrome. Isn't it ironic that in the past three years of living in Israel, I have come up with more song material than in my entire life!?
Each song is a piece of my story and my growth. Truth be told, a boy did break my heart and I had a lot to say about it. One of the mentors on THE VOICE once told me that pain sounds good. That's resonated with me ever since.
Working on on an album is like writing a book, it's really hard, it takes a lot of time and patience, and it requires a huge amount of self reflection and understanding. I had to really get to know myself, and that was scary at first.
This is what I've discovered.
There are many things that make up the person that I am. I'm mostly silly, sometimes funny, I'm quietly opinionated and disturbingly introverted; and once in a while, I let my freak flag fly high. In my music I can let all of those sides of me come out and play! I realized that imitation is nice but originality is great. I realized that that fearless woman who gets up onstage and sings is an exaggerated version of myself. It's who I wish I could be all the time. She's a woman, I'm still a girl. She knows better and I still have to fall flat on my face before I learn! She is strong and I am not quite there yet. She is sexy and I am so very self-conscious. She gets the job done and I procrastinate a lot. She's like a wild cat I let loose the second the spotlight comes on. She teaches me about being considerate and compassionate without being apologetic. She's also gotten me into a lot of questionable situations in my life. But that's part of the fun isn't it?
Being on THE VOICE gave me the chance to earn a living doing what I love. I am very fortunate for this.
What makes this job so thrilling is that I get to paint the picture of your wildest dreams. If I'm lucky enough, I  get to make you feel something powerful.