Today we’d like to introduce you to Adria Kim
Hi Adria, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
As a little girl I always loved singing. My parents couldn’t afford singing lessons, so I grew up with this dream of being a singer. Originally from Brazil, I moved to the States when I was 14 years old. I started middle school but that first year was extremely difficult as I couldn’t speak English at all. A year after that I started high school, and that’s when things started shifting for me. I made new friends, learned good enough English to get me through, and before I knew I was part of the school chorus, I started participating in all school events where music was. If the name was music, I was there. I’d come home and spend hours on singing exercises, until I was happy with my singing. Slowly I found myself being invited to join singing groups and even bands. I loved Jazz and Bossa Nova (as a true Brazilian), and the two genres are like bother and sister, so it was perfect. It wasn’t yet what I wanted to sing, but I was so happy to have music in my life. Years went by and I had the opportunity to return to Brazil to sing Axé Music, a genre that screams Brazilian Carnaval. That was always a dream of mine. So far I’ve had the opportunity, not only to participate in various concerts with my very own band, but I also met numerous artists that are stars of the genre in Brazil. Music is what keeps my soul burning, it has to burn right? After all “theres nothing special about lukewarm”.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, no, no! Did I say no? Well, it has been rocky just like Rocky road Ice cream. But just like it too, there has been its sweet side. Not knowing English at first took away many opportunities from me. In school and everywhere else. I didn’t understand what I was doing, and how the system worked. When I really started making sense of it all, I was almost graduating high school. After that, I knew I’d have to find a job and do the best that I could. I just never settled for less than I deserved, so I kept on pushing until I got a bit of a spotlight on what I was doing. The songs I was writing were quite special to me because they talked about what no one was seeing. I was fortunate enough to record my favorite song in Brazil.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Well, brace yourselves! I am a mom of two beautiful boys and wife. My family is everything to me, they have my heart. I work fulll time and I am a part time nursing student. The artistic side of my life has what’s left of some of my free time. I am a proud singer and songwriter of Axé Music. But you must be wondering what really is Axé Music. The genre is the star of Brazilian Carnaval. The word Axé means “positive energy”, the genre was born in Salvador, Bahia – Brazil in the 1970’s when the very first Trio Elétricos (huge trucks with speakers all around it and a stage on top) also were built. Back then they were practically just a prototype, but they were put on the streets and it changed the history of Brazilian carnaval forever. Now you can paint a beautiful picture of what Axé is. I am mostly proud of never giving up, despiste de patchy parts of life that consistently had me thinking about stopping chasing my dreams. I am not quite there yet, but what I’ve experienced so far has already made it all worthwhile.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Practice does make perfect, but persistence is really what makes it all happen. Don’t listen to the negatives, because you’ll hear lots of you can’t s and wonts, but your mind and heart know it all, let THEM guide you, be a brat about your dreams, make giving up get scared of you, and you’ll get there, I assure you! That’s the recipe to making it in life!
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