Stephen Montoya
It’s been just a little over a year since North Texas native Kristin Cruz graced millions of spectators on America’s Got Talent season 17 with her rendition of the song “I See Red” by Everybody Loves an Outlaw. She walked onto the national stage a virtual unknown and walked off of it a star. Cruz racked up a unanimous yes vote from all four judges including the infamous Simon Cowell. But this was anything but an overnight success story for the young singer. Cruz has been in love with music since she can remember, beginning her stage career singing at an elementary school talent show. Now the 20-year-old singer has completed a series of original songs and is embarking on a tour to promote what she is most passionate about — music. But Cruz’s status in the pantheon of celeb doesn’t end there. She is also a social media star, with millions of fans from all over the world who watch her sing while she makes different coffee recipes and converses with her loving family.
Fort Worth Magazine recently caught up with Cruz at Ampersand, a coffee/lounge near the West 7th Corridor in Fort Worth, where she will be performing tonight (Feb. 24) around 8:30 p.m. With so much happening to this young singer over the course of this last year we thought we would ask her about how she got started in music, how she handled the pressure of performing on AGT, and her inspiration for writing her new single.
FW: Where would you say you love of music comes from?
KC: I grew up loving the beautiful music we would sing during the worship service at my church when I was younger. From there my love of music grew into me wanting to sing. Then there were some talent shows at my school I auditioned for and then I got into Rock Band and began writing music from there.
FW: Do you have stage fright, or is that not an issue for you?
KC: I still get nervous. I always say, ‘Do it nervous, do it scared,’ you know? Singing is something I really love but I would rather do it scared than to not do it at all.
FW: Where did you perform on stage solo for your first time?
KC: It was elementary school I sang “Someone Like You” by Adele and I remember telling my grandma and family to come. I remember I felt amazing after the performance. After that talent show I just felt confident that I was heading in the right direction with music. Shortly after this performance my mom introduced me to a singing coach, so we went to their apartment and he told us, after I sang, that we needed to go to another place to get lessons because he said he thought I really had a gift. We went to this place called Creative Soul and it was like a School of Rock kind of place. That’s where I started performing more publicly and they had these little showcases, where people would show off their talents and that’s when I began really putting myself out there. Even further back, I actually remember getting up on the coffee table when I was very little, and I would sing into the vacuum cleaner and it would be like my mic and the coffee table was my stage.
Stephen Montoya
FW: How did you get involved in posting videos to social media?
KC: My sister coxed me into getting on Tik Tok because she said everyone is on it. I thought Tik Tok was just for kids, but I gave it try anyway. When I got on there, I saw there were other singers, and I thought to myself, ‘I can do this too.’ So, one day I set up my camera in my kitchen and sang a random song while my mom was washing dishes and my sister was cleaning. That was like my first viral video. That’s when I realized that this thing called music is possible. This was an affirmation that my dreams can come true.
FW: What was the process for you to get on America’s Got Talent?
KC: I had been auditioning for all of the talent shows for years since high school and I would always get a no. I would do Zoom calls during quarantine, and it would be like weeks of auditioning and then I would get to the last round and then they would say no. I would be disappointed since I had invested all this time and it was emotionally draining. I actually put all of my efforts into social media because it was something I felt I could control instead of these auditions. Then after I hit 900k, America’s Got Talent reached back out to me and asked me to be on the show without having to do any pre-auditions. I had already told God I didn’t really want to do this anymore because its draining and after praying with my friends I felt compelled to this. When I hit the stage, I was nervous because it was my first time performing live in five years.
FW: What was it like being in front of those celebrity judges, Simon specifically?
KC: Wow, I was really scared. I mean a lot of people say Simon Cowell can be unpredictable about what he’s going to say. I mean even backstage before I went on, one of the producers was like, ‘OK, Simon’s asking really crazy questions, just prepare yourself.’ Right when I walked onstage, I felt like was having an out-of-body experience, like I wasn’t really there. It felt kind of like being in a video game. It felt like an episode of Black Mirror, like it’s not real. After the performance, I was so glad I didn’t throw-up or like trip on stage. I just felt like I could breathe.
FW: What can you tell us about the new single?
KC: I have just been writing and writing. We have a lot of new songs coming out this year. For a long time, I have been on social media and like sharing my personality and my life with people, but now I am excited to share my heart in music. Like my new single “Love Shouldn’t Be A Fight”. This song hits home because its about my break-up with my ex. I just felt like we were fighting too much, and I had a revelation that love is supposed to be kindness and doesn’t keep record of wrongs. There’s going to be arguments, but true love it isn’t that … it isn’t abusive. So, I just came up with the theme that love shouldn’t be a fight. It’s like being on a phone call and this person is holding all of these things against you and you don’t even know what you did wrong. It’s just fighting and contention and that’s not what I felt like I deserved. This song is the result of these emotions and trials. I don’t wish him any ill will; I just think we needed to move on.
For more information on Kristin Cruz click here.
