God works in the most unique ways. It was the second day of school ( a few weeks ago) when I was sitting in my web design class. Our teacher instructed us to create a G mail account as part of an assignment. I already had a G mail account so I just went ahead and logged in. Since coming back from my mission trip to Mexico I hadn't checked my email. I got caught up with work and other things and just forgot about it. Well little did I know that when I opened up my account I would find an email that would take my breath away. As I opened my first unread message the first line read "Hi Sofia,
Wanted to check in on Tricia, former Superchick lead singer and artist extraordinaire. Would love to do a Q&A interview with Fashionably Faithful blog that talks about fashion and her music." In that moment everything stopped. I instantly had a flashback to my 12 year old self blasting the radio and dancing around my room to One Girl Revolution (a song by Superchick) and my more mature 14 year old self pouring out my heart to The Lord in worship through the song Crawl ( another Superchick song). "This can't be who I think it is," I thought. There is no way that I'm being asked to interview a person who's music has been apart of my life since elementary school. But I was wrong. It was exactly that. I was being asked to interview Tricia Brock. I couldn't believe it. I felt nothing but pure excitement "How did this even happen," I thought. I thought Fashionably Faithful was just a small blog that my family and friends viewed. But I was wrong, God had something bigger in mind. So now I sit here a few weeks later and with a sheet of paper and recorder in my hand ready to interview. I've never had to interview anyone like this before. I mean yes I'm on the yearbook staff so I interview people all the time, but this is on a different level. I am nervous and giddy. I have no idea how to act or talk, do I make conversation with her first? What do I do! Then my phone rings and I know who awaits me on the other line. I take a deep breath and answer the phone. "Hi Sofia this is Tricia." these were the first words she said to me. It's hard to explain but after I started talking to her I felt a peace and confidence. So enough about me let's talk more about Tricia. For those of you who don't know Tricia Brock is the lead singer of the Grammy nominated group Superchick. On August 13th her (amazing) debut solo pop album Radiate was released and she talked with Fashionably Faithful all about her new music, her faith, and of course Fashion!
Q. Your new album Radiate just came out how would you describe it to Fashionably Faithful readers?
A. "It's a really fun and energetic album, with a bit more pop and dance ballads. Where Superchick was more on the rock side this album is a lot more upbeat and fun."
Q. Why did you choose Radiate to be the albums title?
A. "Picking out the title is usually a tough decision we knew it had to be the name of one of the songs and I thought the word Radiate said a lot. It's all about not letting bad days get you down. Shinning. Throwing on your rain boots and taking out your umbrella when it rains and not letting things steal your joy. Basically having joy even when things aren't going great. I felt like that's a big message of the album."
Q. Your music is fun but at the same time lifting up The Lord. What is it like to know that your music effects the hearts of people everywhere?
A. "I was just at a bible study breakfast with other Christian singers and we were talking about how it can be a really difficult industry. You have your highs and your lows. But I think that as long as I'm making music that can help people and make them smile when they're having a bad day is really awesome and I'm very grateful for that."
Q. Why do you choose to make music that's Christian based and not mainstream?
A. "It's what God has called me to do. As an artist I write my feelings and a lot of my feeling have to do with God, so I think my music just naturally comes out that way because I'm a Christian. I like to be a light in the dark and as a Christian I think it's challenging to write a song without being spiritual. But at the same time I have music that if you're not a Christian you may think it's a love song or something, but really it's a song that's worshiping God."
Q. Okay lets talk fashion. How would you describe your style?
A. "My style has been shaped a lot by touring. In high school I was kind of preppy and conservative and then right after high school I started doing Superchick. I started realizing that on the road I could do crazy things like with my hair or wear way to much jewelry and do crazy makeup and it was totally acceptable because I was on stage. Through this experience I've really evolved. Sometimes I feel like wearing a really pretty dress or throwing on my cowboy boots, I love cowboy boots they go with everything. And I love Rock' n Roll especially on stage I tend to dress more edgier. I think I'm a mish- mosh of all the different sides of me. Like when I'm home being a mom I put on a little Summer dress. It's fun to keep people guessing like having my friends say "Oh I haven't seen that side of you before."
Q. Where do you get your fashion inspiration from?
A. "All around me. I'm a people watcher, so a lot of my inspiration comes from people. I'll see girls trying things and then I'll just take it and make it my own. I'll on and off look at fashion magazines and pick out ideas from it that I like. I have a few fashion icons. I think Gwen Stefani is awesome. She totally has her own style, there's nothing to sexy about what she wears she's just really cool. I just love to see what people like her are wearing and take elements of it and make it my own."
Q. Okay lets talk fashion. How would you describe your style?
A. "My style has been shaped a lot by touring. In high school I was kind of preppy and conservative and then right after high school I started doing Superchick. I started realizing that on the road I could do crazy things like with my hair or wear way to much jewelry and do crazy makeup and it was totally acceptable because I was on stage. Through this experience I've really evolved. Sometimes I feel like wearing a really pretty dress or throwing on my cowboy boots, I love cowboy boots they go with everything. And I love Rock' n Roll especially on stage I tend to dress more edgier. I think I'm a mish- mosh of all the different sides of me. Like when I'm home being a mom I put on a little Summer dress. It's fun to keep people guessing like having my friends say "Oh I haven't seen that side of you before."
Q. Where do you get your fashion inspiration from?
A. "All around me. I'm a people watcher, so a lot of my inspiration comes from people. I'll see girls trying things and then I'll just take it and make it my own. I'll on and off look at fashion magazines and pick out ideas from it that I like. I have a few fashion icons. I think Gwen Stefani is awesome. She totally has her own style, there's nothing to sexy about what she wears she's just really cool. I just love to see what people like her are wearing and take elements of it and make it my own."
Q. Do you have any fashion or beauty tips for our readers?
A. "I think the main thing is to be confident. I think what it comes down to is to stop caring about what other people think. Learn your body type/shape and then learn to dress flattering with that. Even if you're great at putting cool outfits together, if it's not going to flatter you then it's not going to make you feel confident. So dress for your body type and be creative. Style with confidence, if you walk around in something you feel insecure in you're going to look awkward to other people. So whatever you do you gotta rock it. Let your personality reflect what you wear, be unique."
Q. Your song "Mirror Mirror" talks about loving the image we see in the mirror. Where do you think true beauty comes from?
A. "I struggled through high school I had really bad skin and I was insecure about it. We all have that thing that when we walk by the mirror we're like "ugh I have another zit today", or some girls struggle with weight issues or something else. We're all insecure about something. Some things will never change, you are who you are. We can't really change our faces or certain body parts. I think the biggest thing is learning to accept it. Learning to go "I am loved, and beautiful and unique to God, the one who created me." Be confident in who you are. Spending time with other people and reaching out to others really helped me forget about my insecurities. My zits didn't seem like such a big deal compared to the girl who was suicidal. It's important to do this because when we focus so much on our insecurities we kind of become self-absorbed which leads to selfishness. There's so much more to life than that insecurity. We are so much more than our image. What's important is who you are inside. How you treat others. That's what people remember. That's what beauty is."
Q. You've toured the country, sold millions of albums, and inspired people through your music. What lesson of faith have you taken from this whole experience?
A. "You can have different degrees of success. You can feel you've done something worthy of the accomplishments you have, but relationships are what really matter. How we treat people, how we love people. With Superchick we were really able to connect with our fans. We built relationships with them. We got to talk and pray with them and really show them who we are. I feel like no matter what I do from hear on out, how much longer I get to do music and all that stuff, how I treat people day in and day out is the most important thing. Having a family, God wants knowing how we need to treat people to be our priority. I'm raising a life now so showing my daughter who I am to her and who I reflect God to be to her is really important. Day in and day out we don't have to be perfect, we just have to walk through the doors that God opens and do our best to become more like Him. Ultimately we are gonna mess up, we are going to hurt people and people are going to hurt us but no matter where you are how you treat people will affect you more than anything else. I look back to the last 15 years on the road and feel so honored to do this and to be in this industry. To be able to make music that can change people's day. I just thank God, He can use each one of us, no matter where we are or what job we have, we just have to let Him."
Well there you have it. My very first interview with any musician or person of famous caliber.I have to completely thank God for this. He opened up the door for me to have this opportunity and has blessed me with it. Tricia gave me a lot of good advice from fashion to having faith in God and what is truly important in life. Thank you Tricia for your wisdom and amazing music that has been making a difference for me over the past five years. I hope you all enjoy this interview just as much as I enjoyed writing it and giving it!
Here's her music video for a song off her album Radiate
For more info about Tricia visit her website here.
http://triciabrockmusic.com/
