Speaker 1: I've been a part of sharing the story of NBC's
The Voice since twenty sixteen, but they've been scattered across
all the digital platforms. Now all of those conversations are
in one location. Arro dot net a r Oe dot
net look for that voice. Trinity. Congratulations on this present
day journey, because you are in such an amazing place
and man, I just cannot wait to watch you grow
beyond where you were not even five six months ago.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, It's been very exciting for me.
Speaker 1: What is it like for your creativity, because that's one
thing that a lot of people don't put focus on
that it took that creativity to get you to this stage. Now,
how do you nurture that?
Speaker 2: I really just try to compete with my previous self
from the past round each time. I just try to
reimagine how can I actually push myself and make certain
songs my own even more than before.
Speaker 1: When you make a song your own, though, because if
there are many times my dad would turn around in
the car and look at me saying, stop, let the
original singer sing it, how do you deal with people
that are do you even get that look?
Speaker 2: I don't really get that too much. I really try
to make changes, but be tasteful about it. I don't
like to change certain things too much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got to ask you one thing about your question,
and Bill can chime in on this as well. There's
something about your voice that is absolutely magnetizing because the
way that you're delivering the air from your lungs with
your vocal cords, that is exactly what producers are looking
for when it comes to commercial copy and or just speakingly,
if you were to read a book on tape or whatever,
You've got something with your voice that is just amazing
your speaking voice.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you?
Speaker 1: Okay, So then where did that come from? Has somebody
sat down with you and said, okay, here's what I
need you to do, Trinity, When you deliver a thought,
you need to give me some pitch, volume and tone.
Where did that come from? Because that is a god
given talent that you've got.
Speaker 2: Oh I mean, I really didn't think about it too much.
I'm just talking, and.
Speaker 1: Yet radio people will spend years trying to develop that
kind of talk.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I probably got it from listening to the
radio growing up.
Speaker 1: Where does your connection with music begin?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 1: Because I mean, for so many people it's like it
could be listening to a song. It could be your
grandmother in the kitchen or just being outside in the
forest like freaky me.
Speaker 2: Well, I got it from my family. My family's pretty musical,
and I would just grow up listening to my aunt
sing I would listen to all the greats and they
would play like a lot of the classic people like
the Whitney, Houstons and Prints and just so many great singers.
I would grow up listening to Beyonceday, And I feel like,
when you're able to listen to the greats do what
they do, you pick up on that and it just
becomes a part of you. When you what it's time
for you to be creative in your own way?
Speaker 1: How do you answer that call? Because I mean, look,
I mean as a radio person of forty six years,
I mean I get that call at two three o'clock
in the morning, Get up, go to the studio, do
your thing, because when you wake up, it ain't gonna
be there.
Speaker 2: How do I instit the call in a way of life.
Speaker 1: And create trinity in cre Yeah? Because I mean, I
mean I may listen. I mean Lil Wayne will tell
you his best time to be inside that studio is
two o'clock in the morning. Well, what about Trinity.
Speaker 2: Oh, for me, if I have to get an idea,
I'll just I mean, I'm so glad we have our
phones now because I can just do the voice. Yeah,
it's so much better this way, and I just take
some voice memos, I come back to it at a
time where I can really do something about it, and
it's just been a lifesaver.
Speaker 1: I laugh at that only because in my early years
of locating music in my own soul, you went to
kmart because that was the cheapest reel to real tape
you could get, or you could get a thing called
a cassette tape recorder. Oh my god. So, I mean,
I'm so jealous of today's generation of just whip out
the phone. Let's let us lay this down right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty convenient. Wow.
Speaker 1: So that one of the things that I find so
inspiring about you, Trinity, is the fact that you are
committed to collaborations, and that has always been my game.
But I've written so much on iHeartRadio about the team
of one, and I hope and pray that you do
not become the team of one, and that you surround
yourself with people that will take your gift and it
will and you'll share it with the rest of the world,
because being a team of one is something that it
can be kind of lonely at times, but you seem
to be the one that's gonna go, ah, I'm moving
through and these guys are coming with me.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, When I look at all of our most successful
artists from the past, it was never just them. It
was never a team of one. You need people with you, you
have to collaborate, but it has to be you know,
of course the selection people who are on the same
level as you, and it has to be people who
have the same vision as you. So I really pray
that I come across my tribe with people who are
gonna do things the way I want to do them,
you know, or be able to show me a new
way of how to really be successful at you know,
having a great career and putting out great music and
you know, carrying myself a certain kind of way that'll
get me far. Don't know, I definitely don't want to
do a team of one.
Speaker 1: Don't you love those moments? So when you learn something
new and it's like your imagination doesn't want to let
it go because it's like you want to perfect it.
But in martial arts they say you have to do
it ten thousand times in order to master it. So
what about as a vocal artist with music, how many
times do you have to practice it before you know it?
And you basically you're you're not going through the motions,
but you're living it.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm I'm like a tyrant to myself. Not okay,
that might be like a bit strong, But when we
were gearing up for battles and knockouts, especially knockouts, I'll
say me and a few of the contestants would just
go and do like a boot camp situation like every
night and just run our songs and critique each other.
And that was really important to me because I feel
like you can be talented, but without the hard work
of actually exercising those abilities that you have, it doesn't
really matter. You know.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about those knockout rounds, and the reason why
is because I swear to you this was the first
season and I've been a part of NBC's The Voice
for decades, all the way back, and the thing is
is that those knockout rounds have been exciting, but I
don't know what it is about this year, Trinity that
I literally will remove myself from the sofa and sit
right in front of the TV. I think it's because
I want to get so close to what you are
guys are doing vocally as well as you know, visually,
because I mean, it's like you guys are doing something
different this season that I've never seen before on NBC's
the Voice.
Speaker 2: Really, So what would you say that you think is
different from other seasons.
Speaker 1: I think that it's about, you know, showcasing the individuality,
but at the same time, it's also showcasing a common
thread of creativity in the way of saying, let me
share with you how I do it, now, what is
your interpretation so that we can work together. I mean,
I see smiles between everybody who's singing. I see it,
even even with the judges. There's such a realm of
something that is happening this season during the knockouts, and
when you go back and watch it, I swear to God,
you're gonna feel it.
Speaker 2: I definitely have to go back and look at what
you're saying, because I haven't noticed it. I've just been
so present in the moment when I'm up there and
it's just usually so much fun and you don't even
notice how much fun you're having and you look back
on it and everybody's like beaming.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad that you said fun, because so many
people still call it a competition and I don't get
that vibe at all. I get that it's it's it's
even bigger and better than band Camp. This is an
opportunity for the future of music to have a place
to grow.
Speaker 2: I think so too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's talk about your hometown, Locke City, USA.
I giggled like a child when I saw that because
I love locks. Why am I not living in your hometown?
Because that's what I love in life, Locks.
Speaker 2: In Stanford.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's called Locke City, USA. And it just blows
me away when I find out little stuff like that,
because it makes me want to come there. Now.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny, I didn't even know that myself
been here for Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, I love Stanford.
People who are not from here don't or they haven't
been here don't necessarily understand why I love it so much.
And it's just like a such it's us a nice
place where it's kind of like city suburban. Yeah, And
people always like, oh, so where would you want to
live like after everything? And I'm like, I don't think
you guys have been to Stanford. I would study here forever.
It's really nice.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this question. Only because creative people
are attached to the atmosphere around them. Is it because
of the song of the bird. Is there something that's
happening in Stanford that is universal that is getting you
by the creative control and saying, hey, listen to this,
grow this were you there? In other words, the energy
of the city is using you as a tool to
embrace the rest of us.
Speaker 2: Funny enough, Stanford is not a very like artsy musical
kind of scene. Like there's not much of that here.
Like I really have to go to the city or
go further up Connecticut to get that whole musical feel.
It's really not the place that does that. But I
think there's some grounding about it for me because I
guess it gives me a break from that scene.
Speaker 1: No, I totally get that because you know, being here
in Charlotte of two point one million, what happens is
is that you know, if I were to go in
uptown Charlotte, it would drive me insane. But being out
here where I am in the city with this forest
and stuff like that, No, I totally get it. And
I think maybe that's the reason why I'm in love
with it with your town because it is you know.
I mean, you're thirty miles from New York City. That's
a place where you can go and just be yourself
and be creative.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it's so convenient. People think it's like so
far away, and I'm like, guys, I'm like an hour
car ride. It's not that serious. But you know, it
just gives me the right balance that I need to
turn it on and turn it off.
Speaker 1: So do you take the train into town? Because build
us your producer there, he takes the train in all
the time. So what is it like for you to
take that train?
Speaker 2: As a woman, I don't necessarily feel the safest on
the train, especially because if I'm doing music, I have
to travel later in the evening, so I will drive.
But you know, it's clol was enough to do either.
Speaker 1: Or please do not move. There's more with Trinity coming
up next. Hey, thanks for coming back to the conversation.
Let's check in with Trinity from NBC's the Voice. What
are your disciplines when you're inside that studio? Marvin Gaye
was known for grabbing a broom and sweeping the floor.
Bon Jovi was all about setting up the studio for
other bands. Is there something that you do as a
ritual that really does bring up that relationship between you
and that studio.
Speaker 2: You know a lot of people have these things that
they do, and I've heard about them growing up, but
I don't think that I have one yet, And if
I do, I don't necessarily realize it. I kind of
just go in. I lock in, and it's music until
it's time to go.
Speaker 1: How are you protecting that voice? Because my god, when
I get in there, everybody says, oh, I want to
hear you do a radio commercial, and it's like, oh,
this is going to cost me money if I blow
out a vocal cord. What are you doing to check
that voice?
Speaker 2: I just try to drink tea. I eat a lot
of soup. Right now. I think the weather kind of
has me with a little cold, but you know, we're
getting through it. So I just try not to I
don't smoke or anything. I just try to like stay
away from things I could hurt my voice.
Speaker 1: Do you make your own soup? Because I'm here in
Carolina where can get cold as well. In fact, this
weekend it's going to be cold up there where you are,
so there for me? Are you making soup?
Speaker 2: I do make soup quite more than the average person, honestly,
I just yeah.
Speaker 1: What did your favorite go to? Because I am on
this real big kick right now to reinvent hot and
sour soup that usually find at an Asian restaurant because
I believe it should be the main course and not
the beginning course.
Speaker 2: Well, I also I love Asian food. It's my favorite.
And yeah, I usually make like a chicken noodle soup
or actually I just started making egg drop soup. It's
pretty good.
Speaker 1: Nice. Nice. Now, when you're making the chicken soup, do
you go overboard on the pepper because you know it's
going into your sinuses and you got to clear that
monkey out. I do.
Speaker 2: I'm kind of like a pepper.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and people will come up and say,
why you got so much pepper in it? For me?
I'm so sorry that you're having your participating in your buddy,
it's for me.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: So at the age of twenty five. I know where
I was at twenty five, And the thing is, is
that to me, that was the jumping point. In other words,
it's like, get on with it, let's make it move.
What is it like for you in your stage of
life where you're on this gigantic NBC's the Voice, and
it's like, you're at that that one point where it's like,
what do I do for my next path? Are you?
Are you writing it out? Are you what are you
doing to plan for it? After NBC's the voice?
Speaker 2: WHOA that is a great question. I mean personally, I'm
very excited to work with new people so that I
could map that out, because I can be very honest
and saying that I don't know everything, and I think
that's the first step in success is knowing that there
are other people who know more than you that could
help you. And I'm very open to whoever that may be,
you know, in the future. So like, while I know
the artistic side, I don't know about like managing or
what it takes to handle all of those business aspects
and putting myself in other rooms. So I'm really excited
to see who I'll be working with in the future
that will make that come to life and care about
it as much as I care about my artistry.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting that you bring that up because in
my research of this conversation, one of the things that
I put on my paper in big letters, it says
she makes herself available. So in doing research, that's exactly
what I picked up on you, is that you make
yourself available. And I believe is the secret sauce to
making music. And I mean, you're wearing it people can
see on the outside.
Speaker 2: Wow. I mean it's so funny, like when you're you,
you don't notice how people are seeing you. But if
that's what I'm giving off, I absolutely love that. And
I am available, which is usually why things tend to
work out in a very positive way for me. So
I want to keep being this way.
Speaker 1: When critics call you an indie artist, I mean I
came up in the nineteen nineties on the air, there
were a lot of indie artists trying to do things.
I mean, the Vans Warped Tour, everything was all about
being an indie artist. What is that in twenty twenty five?
Growing forward?
Speaker 2: So I feel like with this access that we have
to the internet now we don't necessarily have to fit
one box because we've discovered so many audiences for so
many different things. So it allows me to be whatever
kind of niche that I want and know that there
will be support behind it.
Speaker 1: That is so true because I mean, look at Shaboozi.
I mean, come on now, ten fifteen years ago, Shaboozi
would not be on a top forty radio station. It
would be country, and even then people would be going,
what we don't have that kind of base beating country music?
But yet what is Shaboozie doing right now but breaking
down the doors? And so now here comes Trinity.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, funny you said Shaboozi because it brings
me to Beyonce, who has currently just been breaking down
doors and like basically showing people I can sing whatever
genre that I want to sing and you're gonna love
it every time or hate it. But I don't think
they hate comes from a technical place. But you know,
I really appreciate those kinds of people who really just
carve their own path, regardless of whatever the feedback is
going to be, and just do an amazing job at it.
Wow speak, I can't wait to do that myself.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Beyonce. Way way way back, there was there
were these three girls that came to Gastoni and North Carolina,
which is just up the highway, and they were gonna
do an outdoor performance as total nobody's and with them
they brought all of these fashions. They gave away the
clothes to the locals while performing a song. Beyonce did that.
That was her mother's designs when it came to clothing.
She was so into the community at that time. That's
why I mean, I was like, I got a player.
I got a player. She loves the community. I gotta
play Beyonce. What do you what do you see in
something like that when these invisible stories of the artists
that have made it, well.
Speaker 2: She's She's honestly one of my I would say she's
definitely a blueprint for anybody who wants to be great
at this. And one thing I noticed about her early
career is that she also made herself very available and
she worked so hard. And a lot of people don't
understand that because they just think, oh, Beyonce, she's perfect.
She has everything handed to her, and you know, just
because she didn't start off like struggling or anything, but
I think there's something to be said about somebody who
has come from a great background and a great family
and still decided to have that drive. And she would
do a bunch of shows like I know Destiny Child
has performed at like Mall's before, and like they just
they would just take any opportunity to perform and to speak.
And her work ethic is just so inspiring to me,
and it just lets me know, like even like as
another black female artist, and lets me know that if
you actually work hard at it, like even though certain
doors may be close to you, you are able to
bust those doors down if you just stick with it
and you actually believe in what you're doing. And that
has been true in so many scenarios on my own journey.
So I really do have a lot of respect for
artists like Beyonce, because I mean there's a lot of
things that I probably wouldn't be able to do if
she hadn't. Right, No, it's right, put that work in.
Speaker 1: Well, what do you think you're doing that is going
to inspire somebody that's going to be on season number
forty one on NBC's The Voice.
Speaker 2: I think that me just staying true to myself and
advocating for how I want to appear on stage, how
I want to sound, and really being grounded in my
own artistry and my own identity is going to well.
I've already been told like back home, like oh, you're
so inspiring to me, and like my little cousin loves
up to you. And it's a really cool thing to
hear back because I'm just moving through this thinking that
I'm fighting for myself, and whole time I have to
look at it on a broader scale and realize that
I'm fighting for other little girls that want to do
what I'm doing. Someday. It just makes me feel good
to know that, you know, like staking true to myself
is always going to be rewarding.
Speaker 1: That is very inspiring because you're absolutely right about that.
Because someone who's listening to this conversation right now could
be locked up in their bedroom right now or a
business office. They've got the skills to be a singer
or a songwriter, and the thing is is they don't
have someone like you to say just do it, just
do it. And you're the one that's stepping forward saying
just do it, just do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, like, just do it. And I
always feel that way, especially when I meet other people
that I think are super talented and doing the same
thing as me. It excites me and I feel like,
you know, there's room for all of us to shine,
and it doesn't take anything away from me to see
other people do well as well. So I hope that
I can inspire somebody, or that I am inspiring somebody
right now when they hear this.
Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about U, Trinity?
Because I want them to understand your entire journey. That's
the martial artist coming out of me, because we're all
about what what is today had to happen a different
time that creates this moment. So I want people to
really dive into your story.
Speaker 2: I think, uh, I don't really have much posted anywhere
about like my actual story itself. I think, you know,
we use social media casually and I'm starting to get
more into opening my personality up to people, and I
think through these interviews is actually a place where you
can find more about me, and it's making me more
comfortable to actually share myself.
Speaker 1: But you know, a little bit of mystique is perfect
because led Zeppelin, they always say, is the greatest mysterious
band of all time. And look at the group kiss
with their makeup. Oh would they have been popular without
that makeup? I'm not thinking so.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Wow, Trindy, you got to come back to this show
anytime in the future because I love being with those
that are appear on the show, because you've got the
guts to grow forward and that just inspires me.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, And it's been great like talking to you,
and honestly, you've had pretty like unique questions that really
excited me and like, okay, great, like I can dive
into something else. So just thank you for opening the
floor and give me the chance to speak on you know,
my journey and it's just been great talking to you.
So thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Would you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2: Okay you as well. Happy holidays.