"No one put their neck on the line in 2012...I am real!"Glamour Magazine meets rising pop star Kryztal
Kryztal says it's time someone put their own stamp on the music industry in 2013As a writer for a fashion magazine, you often get asked to speak to many of the brightest young stars in any number of industries about a range of topics. Talking to an up and coming film star about the latest red carpet fashions, or speaking to a young all-American gymnast about why the leotard just won't make it into the mainstream, and one thing will shine through more than anything else; respect.
Most will talk for a while on the subject you wish to discuss before they move on to the topic of their own career, and it won't be long before they're gushing about the biggest and best in their industry, and how they hope to emulate Angelina and have their own leg-at-the-Oscars moment, or to see their own smile shine as they collect an Olympic gold medal, a-la Gabby Douglas.
Now, music stars are something completely different. For all that a young actress will be humble and unassuming, an up-and-coming pop star who has just put pen to paper on her new record deal, barely allowing the ink to set on the checque of her first cash advance, will be as brash, confident and cocky. It's something you learn to live with, and you expect it to happen before such times as you've even met them. So that's where credit has to go to my latest interviewee.....KRYZTAL.
I was asked to visit the rather upmarket and spectacular Four Seasons Hotel at East 57th Street in downtown New York to have a chat with the new Chaos Records signing on what had started as a pretty average Wednesday morning, reportedly at the specific request of the label's boss Scott RH (way to get a girl's heart beating). So I went there with a coffee in one hand and my Chanel handbag in the other – it's important to look the part after all – but little did I know what I was about to come face to face with; arguably the most confident, brash and flashy young star I've ever met. Oh, and she's got an attitude that'll knock most of today's stars clean off their feet.
Walking into the room in the Four Seasons, the first thing I'm struck by is the fact there are two bouncers. Who is this girl? She's literally just signed a contract yesterday, and she already has two bodyguards here to look after her.
The teen sensation has been backed for big things by Scott RHIn a room strewn with all manner of designer handbags and shoes, I struggle to find somewhere to sit as I look around, but there's no need; all of a sudden I find myself ushered into the bathroom. There's no time to feel confused though, as I walk in to the room I'm greeted by the heavenly smell of roses and lavender before I see her at last. Sat in the bath shaving her legs, her curly blonde hair a mass of style and personality, I lay my eyes on Kryztal for the first time.
That she is wearing sunglasses in the bath, and the fact that they still have the tag on them, shouldn't surprise me, and it doesn't. It's only when I see an iPhone float past her in the water that my face must contort into one that looks a little confused.
"I got a new one," she says to me, before she turns her attention back to her right leg, lifting her left hand, razor free as it is, as if to tell me my turn to talk has yet to arrive. Who is this chick? What sort of person is able to become a diva in such a short space of time. My question is answered when her (new) phone rings a minute or so later.
"Yeah?" She asks whoever is at the other end sarcastically. "Oh, my actual God! Just put it on my father's credit card, grunch!" She says, before suddenly turning to face me, a smile spreading across her face, displaying a row of pearly whites, aside from the one gold tooth just to the right of centre; it glitters, it's fancy, but it's also out of place. "It's amazing," I think inwardly. "This tooth IS its owner."
When Kryztal smiles, I'm sure to smile back. We're always told that the stars are the stars and we're not. She holds a hand out to me, and given the way she has acted so far, I'm unsure whether I'm expected to shake it or drop down and plant a grovelling kiss on the back of it. I go for the former and she gives me an exaggerated peck on each cheek as I continue to sit aside the tub, slightly shell-shocked still by what is going on all around me.
"No one really put their neck on the line in 2012; if they're really honest with themselves! No one!"
The scene has changed. It's now about ten minutes later, and we're sat back in the main part of the hotel room, which, in truth, is larger than my entire apartment if I were to knock down all the walls. I'm perched on a small gold loveseat, while Kryztal is half lounging across the bed. She smiles at me occasionally, but mostly she likes to stare nonchalantly out of the window as she speaks. She really has perfected the glitz and glamour and the way to make herself seem important.
"It was the perfect time for someone to step into the limelight in 2012. Stephanie Fierce and Vanity – and I love them dearly - were both quieter than usual, and Nadia Berry is getting old so there was a chance to step up and make a statement, but no one did it.
"Sure," she continues, as I realise I am hanging on her every word. This is only an interview and she has already nailed the notion of being a performer so well that I feel like I'm watching a one-woman show I perhaps should have paid for. "Sure, there were people who topped the charts, and there were loudmouths coming out and shouting about how great and awesome they were, but it's all hot air.
"What's the point in saying something if you haven't got the goods to back it up? It's why I've waited until now. I had to have the claws to back up my roar, and I've developed them better than anyone else could ever wish for. I am a star, I will reach the top. I've told Twitter already, but I hope everyone takes notice; 2013 is the year of Kryztal...you don't get signed to a major label for nothing after all..."
But who is this enigmatic girl? Where does she get this confidence from? I've toyed with calling her a goddess a good few times in this article, because that's what it feels like. In fact, at times her confidence and power was so overwhelming that I felt I, a strong willed woman with a very good journalism degree, should drop to my knees, clad in a bikini, and start feeding her grapes.
Kryztal has reportedly signed a five album record deal with Chaos RecordsThis description wouldn't be too far from the truth for Kryztal though. As I question her on her past, she feeds me little morsels of food that keep me on my toes and begging for more like the obedient little pet that I am. She controls the interview like a veteran performer, a star before her time, to the extent that she seems like she has been coached. I daren't ask if she has been.
What I manage to garner from her short replies is that she was born and raised in Hollywood, California. Her father works in oil, and her mother is a bitch (although I'm not sure if that's an official job title or a description.) Kryztal's life seems to have flirted with the scripts of all those girls we love to hate. Mean Girls, Cruel Intentions, any other cheerleader-inspired popular girls you love to hate, she's been there.
The 19-year old has an edgy toughness about her as well, and I learn that although she has always had money, she has never just sat back and accepted who she was. This girl has been learning how to sing since she was five years old, and dancing since she was able to walk.
"I was born for stardom," she tells me. "But that doesn't mean I didn't want to push it that little bit further. Any old slut or princess can be a star these days apparently; but I'm going to rise to the top. You know, the cream always does."
The flick of the hair tells me that's a matter of fact, and I leave it there. It's surprisingly not until I dare ask about her influences and who she wants to be like in the industry that I'm first met with a snort of derision that I later learn is going to become her trademark.
"If I wanted to be like someone else I'd be as worthless as everyone else out there. I could have waltzed into some Star Factory audition and sucked off all the judges like Aubrey Mikkell, or I could develop some butter wouldn't melt attitude like so many of them, but I don't want to be someone else.
"I'm real."
She hangs on that notion for a while, a statement so profound and obscure at the same time given all of the airs and graces I have already experienced this afternoon. There are more hair extensions in this room than in Layla Raine's house, but oddly when this girl tells me she's real, I at least believe that she believes it. I nod slowly, the notion of reality still hanging thick in the air, and am ready to pose another question, when her mouth opens again.
"People are too busy trying to create a persona to worry about being themselves. It's all so fake. It's all "look at me, I'm a bad bitch," or "awwwww aren't we cute? We're five guys who have been friends for years." All I'm saying is that it's funny how two of the most famous lesbians in the world of music are now shacked up with guys and a kid. I'm not Katie Coyle, I'm not Andrea Mason; I don't need to fake controversy to get myself where I am going to be by the end of 2013."
It's another surreal thought. Everything she is feeding me is laced with controversy. Her very nature is more than enough to cause countless controversies, yet she claims not to want them. She puts the oversized sunglasses on the bridge of her nose again and turns to me, peering over the top of the rims.
"And don't even get me started on the flip side of that coin."
I don't need to.
"People who annoy me are plentiful, but none come more annoying than the likes of Isabel Merjos. Is she going to sit there and pretend to be all holy and perfect? Bullshit. I've been to more parties this week than she claims to have been at in her life. It's a gimmick, and I'd be shocked if she's not backstage knocking back lobotomy strength painklillers night after night just to keep that up.
"Whether it's real or not though, it's real sad. She needs to get a life either way. This year, I'll show little miss Tiara what it means to be a real pop artist. It's not all rainbows and marshmallows after all."
The singer said she doesn't want to be like anyone else in the industryWhen her rant concludes, I try to push her once more on the sort of artist she does like, and I'm met once again with that dismissive snort as she pushes the glasses back up her nose. I seem to have lost her attention, or respect, it's almost impossible to tell. She looks away either way and clears her throat.
"I like that Pixie girl. And Vanity. These are people who genuinely don't give a fuck what people say about them. They just get on with it. Anyone else who claims they're being true to themselves is a liar. It's almost impossible to care about other's opinions, unless your flawless.
"And I am."
She laughs a cackling little burst again before looking over at me. "I also can't stand kiss-asses. Chanel Devine and Nevaeh Martinez should get a room. It's like "What? You are grown women, stop bigging each other up on every tweet!" Oh, you produced a song? Let me try to give a fuck...no, I can't. Come back to me when you're Rick Rubin."
I'm left smiling awkwardly at this. I have met Ms Martinez on more than a few occasions on the red carpet, and I can't say she's ever been anything but very very pleasant. I nod at Kryztal and let out a little laugh. She is the star after all, and my agreement seems to placate her momentarily again.
The first time I see a true smile come across her lips though is when I enquire about her dreams. This is, I came to realise, a girl who genuinely wants this. I've seen in my life a great number of pop artists for whom fame is more important than the success of their music, or for whom money is the deciding factor in all their decisions. The sparkle in Kryztal's eye when she talks about her music though tells me that she has a real appetite for success.
"I want it all. I want hit singles, I want number one albums, and I want to be remembered. Money is something I've always had, but it's not something I've ever yearned for. I don't want to be a run of the mill person, destined to live my life and die in some peaceful demise.
"I think it's important to me that I get remembered. I want people to know that I made an impact. I want them to smile at my memory and sing my songs to each other. If what you achieve in life has some sort of long-lasting impact, then it means you can rest easy in death.
I ask her if emulating the career of Vanity, someone she has already told me she loves, someone who so epitomises everything she seems to value, is something she would be proud to achieve in the next few years, and before I have a chance to even think about what I've just allowed to escape my mouth, I realise it was a mistake.
At that, she storms off. I'm promised she'll come back. Being mad makes her face red, I'm informed.
But it appears not the case. I wait for a while in the lavish room, among all the pomp and circumstance; the high ceilings with their rather glorious designs, the thick carpet which feels more expensive than my car, and the three bodyguards who are stood there still, as if guarding a queen or a princess, rather than some 19-year old diva who has simply been afforded more money than she could ever dream of.
It's around 25 minutes later when notice comes from hotel management that Kryztal will not be rejoining us for the rest of the interview. She's at the bar enjoying a glass or more of champagne. I tut, trying to look as if I understand, and then I'm ushered out of the room by a guy with hands almost as big as my head.
I nod politely at the bodyguards once more before I make my way back outside. I sit back in my car and start the ignition of a possession that now seems rather meagre compared to the glorious luxuries she has been afforded in her very short time as a "pop star".
Kryztal is a Hollywood girl with a big attitudeI find I'm smiling to myself, though. In spite of the fact she was very brash, confident, and at times, in my face, she was rarely genuinely rude to me. Yes, even though she was every bit a diva, a journalist's worst nightmare you might say, I actually found myself thinking that I actually quite liked her.
My own perceptions of Kryztal will not be overly relevant to other people however, and this article will give everyone a notion of what they think she is like. I can't help but think that no matter how confident she is, she has a lot to prove to people after this; and I think she really, well and truly relishes the challenge of making everyone sit up and take notice of who she is and what she is going to bring to the world of pop music.
Will 2013 really be, as she claims, the year of Kryztal? You know what...it might just be.
