Kristine Mirelle is a Mexican/American singer/songwriter and pianist from Roswell, NM. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and actively performs five nights a week. Her work bears resemblances to the likes of Lilly Allen, Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Lana Del Rey.  Her genre of music can be described as Pop Retro Soul.  We connected with this multi-talented artist to find out what she enjoys most about performing live, how her DOPE video "Freakin Mess" came together and much more.

When did you first realize that you had a talent for singing and for playing the piano and were good enough to actually make a living from it? 

My mom started me in piano lessons when I was four years old and I immediately fell in love with it. I think for me there was never a question about whether I thought I was good enough. I think it was more of a decision to just practice every day until I was good enough. Everyone has the ability to be good at something if they focus and put in the time… I was just willing to put in the time every day to make sure I could do this for a living. 

Tell us about Lil Kristi's; how did your food brand come about and do you find it difficult juggling being both an artist and entrepreneur?

Time management is always important and vital when juggling a few businesses. Everyone has time for something that they love. I love music, business, and food and travel. :) You can get creative how to make those things work hand in hand. I perform inside Whole Foods stores that carry my brand “lil Kristi’s” so I end up promoting both my music and my Mexican food company. You can make all of your business work hand in hand and cross-promote. I think it’s more about creatively working out the details.

How can people who don't live in New Mexico get some Lil Kristi's chips and salsa?

Right now we just moved into Texas as well so in El Paso and many other West Texas cities where they can purchase. I am trying to come up with an effective way for people to order online. We’ve tried a few things but it’s a bit difficult because chips are fragile and so are jars of salsas. I’m currently working on it though!

What do you enjoy most about performing for an audience?

To identify and connect with people’s struggles and celebrations are the best feeling. I don’t talk about a lot of things… when I’m going through a hard time I’ve found it difficult to open up to people. But strangely enough, I can sing about whatever I’m going through to a crowd of thousands. I can sing to a crowd of people the same words I could never say to just one person. It’s my outlet and seeing people have a good time, or talking with people afterwards about how they identify is definitely the most rewarding. Also, people request songs I never fancied much in the past… but besides my original music that I write, I also learn popular songs because even if I don’t like the song, the feeling I get from seeing people excited when you cover their song, is worth learning it. 

Why is volunteering and performing for special education and AIDS stricken communities important to you? 

We all have to do our part. It’s our responsibility to give back to the world. I was given a lot of things I don’t deserve so I try to give love back. Sometimes in the form of volunteering in other countries, and sometimes it’s in the form of writing songs that have a purpose or good message. Helping people can be in the form of donating, giving food etc. Whatever it is, if it helps people, if it changes people’s lives, we should be focused on involving ourselves in that and using our gifts to leave something good in the world. 

We really enjoy your new video "Freakin Mess"; you did an awesome job with it. How did the treatment come together and was the shoot stressful at all?

I’m all about having fun. And when a camera gets put in front of me I suddenly feel like I’m on stage until it turns off. So I can become characters and take on personas that I would never take on in real life. I sat with Hitmakers Media and randomly said, “how about me and @sammythedwarf just ride around a city and light things on fire and kick over trashcans and wreck havock”. It didn’t quite pan out exactly like that, but we did just decide to be silly and do random things. Hitmakers media, Tribe Unity, and all the extras in the video,  went far out of their way to ensure a lot of the details from the power wheels cars, to the awesome bakery we held up, it was a big collaborative effort but I had an awesome team. There was a long planning out process and then the shoot lasted for three full days so yeah it can get a little stressful because we have deadlines and only so much sunlight etc, but over all I had a blast. 

Where can we see you perform live?

I perform many times a week mostly in LA and Las Vegas in few different locations. I like to keep my calendar updated at www.KristineMirelle.com since it changes each week but that’s where people can find the information.

Will we be getting an EP or full album in early 2017?

What’s funny is I’ve recorded about 3 albums worth of music this year and I am just not happy with it! I think we can be our own worst critic. I think by March or April I would like to go ahead and just stop being so hard on myself and put it out already. I have a lot of singles I’ve released online at www.KristineMirelle.com under “videos” or on my Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/KristineMirelle

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