Latest / Just & Joyful with Kristin Carver Smith / BONUS EP: Behind the Scenes of LIGHT THROUGH

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BONUS EP: Behind the Scenes of LIGHT THROUGH · Just & Joyful with Kristin Carver Smith

• Kristin Carver Smith: Hello and welcome to another episode of Just and Joyful with Kristin Carver-Smith. I am your host, Kristin Carver-Smith or KCS as people often call me. And today I have my partner in crime and the executive producer of this podcast, Angelina Burkholder here with me for a very, very exciting conversation. Angelina: It feels a little bit like I'm having deja vu because we've been having so many of these conversations about what we're going to be talking about today. And so I'm like, wait, have I been here before? I have been here before. But now people get to listen in. And I'm so excited to have this conversation today. Do you want to tell folks what? So on the day that you will be listening to this, something very special will be happening tomorrow. Kristin Carver Smith: Mmm. Yeah. Yep. Uh-huh. Yes. Hmm. Yes, yes, so April 17th, tomorrow, April 17th, light through part one officially drops. Like we're not gonna bury the lead here, we're just gonna jump right to it. ⁓ It drops and that just feels, like it feels so surreal. ⁓ To say that, yeah, what a treat. Angelina: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And for people who maybe don't follow you online or haven't been following this part of your journey, what is Light Through? Part one. Kristin Carver Smith: So Light Through Part One is, it really is the first part of my debut album. And it's for me, this project, this album has been a progression of light, lyrically, sonically, visually even. what an honor to be able to share it with the world and hopefully, you know, Angelina: Hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I think with part one, part one is a little moodier. ⁓ As I said, like it is a progression of light. We don't necessarily start off on the brightest note, so to speak. I'll just be like, we'll just go ahead and throw it out there and just say that. ⁓ But I'm so excited for people to hear and to follow along that journey with me. And, you know, I've always wanted to... to do this, to record music. And I've been singing for as long as I can remember. I feel like that was really like my first, you know, format medium of communication. And, you know, to think about, you know, little Kristen ⁓ with her karaoke machine. And I'm laughing of like, somehow I've still ended up with a microphone ⁓ in front of me even today. But like thinking about little Kristen with her karaoke machine. Angelina: Hahaha. Kristin Carver Smith: belting these songs out. Leigh-Anne Rimes, Whitney Houston, Shania Twain, Mary J. Blige, all of these powerful, powerful singers and just feeling so akin to them as a child. And then now getting to do this is, yeah, it feels like a homecoming of sorts. No pun intended for one of the songs that's actually on part one. Angelina: you Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Before we get really deep into the album and the songs and the stories behind everything, I'm wondering if you would be willing to share a little bit about your musical journey. ⁓ know, I there's a lot of history here, like you said, you know, you've been singing since you were a child. And I'm wondering if you could tell us about. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Mmm. Mmm. Angelina: how that progressed and then what it looks like for the years where maybe publicly it looked like you weren't doing anything with your singing and then to this phase of your life where you're returning to that gifting. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Yeah, no, it's such a great question. And I'd be happy to take listeners kind of through that journey because I also hope that, you know. through sharing my own journey through this world. Again, particularly the music space is that listeners would be encouraged that there's patience, there's timing, there's grief in the thing that you love and you wanted to do that it's not happening as soon maybe as you wanted it or when you wanted it. So yeah, so like I said, Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: singing since I was a kid. mean, you know, for me, and I, you know, was laying next to my husband last night and sobbing both tears of joy, but then also just like tears of like, ⁓ my God, like, it's such a vulnerable thing to put your art out into the world in this way. And, you know, ⁓ I was just telling him of like, I Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: you know, having to come to terms with like, I sing for myself first and foremost. Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: Right? And then it's like, I've always done that for me. It's always given me so much joy and happiness and all of those things and having to like sometimes, you know, not necessarily compartmentalize that, but really just like anchor yourself in that I think is so important. So anyway, it's like, from the time that I was little, it was like, I was singing for me. I was just having a blast. There's no like judgment around what, you know, quote unquote notes I'm hitting or not. you know, I feel like I was like entertainment or at our family reunions singing around the pool, you know, and, quite frankly, I just was bold. Like I was bold. I was sassy. I was, and some of those things haven't necessarily changed, but I do think that I was the first person to like walk up with the microphone and be like, let me sing to you. My voice is so good. Like, you know, just do all of that. Like there was just, there was no shame. Angelina: Yes. Kristin Carver Smith: totally shameless. And, ⁓ so I took voice lessons as a as a kid. I sang in the Nashville Children's Choir when I was, you know, what 10, 11, 12. And then I eventually, in high school, middle school, sang with the praise band at the, at the school that I was at. And that would be like, you know, essentially like performing every Thursday and Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: so fun, what a treat to get to do that. And I didn't go to college though, set on like I'm going for music, I'm going for performance, I'm not going to study that. And that was for a lot of reasons, like I was navigating a lot of trauma and a lot of things at the time. And quite frankly, I wasn't sure that that was gonna be a viable Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: air quote that a viable path for me. And I've had conversations with my mom about this too, because my mom is, you know, has this sort of like unique career. ⁓ You know, where she's worked with a lot of individuals in the music, entertainment, sports industry and things like that. And, you know, I think she and I would have conversations about not wanting me to lose myself in that industry. And I think Angelina: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: right with some of the artists that we grew up with. Like we saw that happen often. Like it kind of felt like this was like, it was a little bit of a trope. Like it was a little bit of like the normal, the like the narrative that we would see in media most often. I think it was also at the same time where it was like the rise of tabloids and all of this sort of stuff. So it's like, you kind of have these things running parallel where I'm like, you know, it's also obvious by looking at me that I'm not like a tall white blonde woman. Angelina: Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: And at the time, again, I'm watching like, I'm watching the Brittneys, I'm watching the Paris Hultons, like I'm watching those folks and man, I was hanging on to Mary J and to JLo. Like I'm like, okay, these are the folks that I feel like I identify with. ⁓ And so anyway, all that to say, I didn't end up going to school for music. I went for comms and... Angelina: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: You know, I think the older that I've gotten, the more that I'm like, yeah, that's really music is, is communications. And so it was part of me that, you know, when I got to college, it was like, I would sing, but I was doing that for me. I was doing it in the shower. I was doing it for fun. something, somebody happened to overhear me singing was like, oh, wow, you're, you're good. What are you doing? Oh, I don't know. Like, I'm just, I'm here. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Hahaha Kristin Carver Smith: ⁓ I'm here. I'm not really sure. You know, I feel like I was just like, I would shrug it off. And I think there's probably a lot of people listening who have felt that, right? Of like, let me just shrug off the thing that's as easy as breathing for me. Cause it's not, it's not that big of a deal, but like pay attention to that. It's so important to pay attention to that. And so when I graduated ⁓ from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Go Vols, ⁓ Angelina: Yeah. Mmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I had my sights set on becoming Director of Communications for the White House. And I never thought that I was going to be an entertainment publicist, but I found out last week at the White House internship, that sort of final round that I didn't get it. so instead of going to DC, I went home to Nashville with my tail between my legs, wondering what I was going to do with my life. And then I met some Angelina: Hmm. Mm. Kristin Carver Smith: incredible mentors and leaders in the PR community who really took me under their wing and taught me a whole whole lot and part of that journey was working with musicians and working with, know, Grammy award-winning artists and I remember feeling like this weird tension of like I'm working with these people. Am I ever gonna be these people? Like am I gonna be this person? Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: And kind of feeling sometimes like I had this like secret of like, like I kind of have this like, like almost like a party trick, you know? Because I mean, it's a reaction that I've gotten so many times when I do sing because it's not quote unquote something I've been known for. ⁓ People are like, what? That came out of you? And I'm like, yeah, it did. And so that was a really interesting time of... Angelina: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. you Kristin Carver Smith: feeling like this is the thing that I want to do. Am I like ready for that? Do I share that with anybody? Do I tell anybody about that? And, and then along came the voice. Angelina: Along came the voice. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah, so, you know, my brother has been my number one fan from, you know, the moment he arrived on this earth. And ⁓ I feel the same way about him. ⁓ know, him and my now husband had convinced me, I think you should try out for the voice. I think you should. I really think you should. And I was like, do you know what that looks like? That looks like standing in long lines outside. ⁓ We've seen it on TV, like not dissimilar to the, you know, to American Idol. ⁓ And I'm just, and then also like in the back of my mind, if I'm really, really honest, was like, what if I stand in line all day just to get told no? What if they tell me I'm quote, not good enough? Like, what if they say something that reinforces the things that I've like, wondered about myself? Angelina: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: And they're the experts, right? You know, do I know? ⁓ And so we went to Atlanta and we did that. I remember the first time, because they ended up talking me into doing it again. the second time, was just, ⁓ spoiler alert, second time I ended up making it to the second round, which was nice and fun and interesting and all the things. But the first time. Angelina: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I remember we stood in line all day in Atlanta and you know, you go in groups of four in front of, you know, a couple of different judges and you know, I go up there and there's this like surprise once I share. ⁓ And I think at that point I was like, I sang like a Bonnie Rae, like, I can't make me love you. ⁓ And you know, I remember singing that and them kind of looking at me for a minute. Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: And they're like, sing something else. And so I'm just like, okay, let me quickly go through the Rolodex of all the, you know, songs that I could possibly whip out here. And I remember singing like several songs and kind of getting like the same sort of like puzzled expression. And I remember, you know, gosh, like it was, it was many songs later and you know, one of the judges was like, you know, I'm I'm not gonna put you through, but I don't think this is the only path for you. Angelina: Hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: And I was so, honestly at that point I was just pissed. I was like, I'm just pissed. Like, what did you not hear? Or like, did you not hear something maybe in the first song or the second song that told you like, all right, she's, nah, we're just gonna go ahead and stop here. But like to drag it out and give me hope, like possible hope, right? Or like, what was it, you know? But now I look back and I'm like, thank you. Absolutely thank you. Thank you. Angelina: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: Um, so that was a, that was a, I think, you know, going through that particular experience, I had sort of made a decision. You know what? Like they've told me I'm not good enough. I'm going to put my head down. I'm going to go back to the thing that I know that I'm good at, which is PR. And I never stopped doing PR while, you know, I was doing those things, but like, I'm going to keep representing other people. I'm going to keep telling stories. I'm like, Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I'm gonna keep building relationships. I'm gonna keep trying to influence the stories that we see and hear and all of that. I don't know, maybe one day mine will be important. Angelina: Wow. And here we are. I think it's also, you know, this is ⁓ perhaps a rabbit trail for another day, ⁓ or maybe not, because, you talk about the album being kind of non-traditional. And I think, you know, I think about that a lot of just the rise of streaming and. even if you look at the writing world, self-publishing your books, there's all of these avenues that have opened up where it's, before there were all these gatekeepers that could tell you, like you sit in front of these judges and they said, nah. ⁓ And at the, yeah, yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Mm-hmm. I was a gatekeeper. I think about that with publicists. I'm like, we served a gatekeeping function. And in some ways, we still do. And oftentimes it's presented through the quote unquote protection of the talent that you're representing. if we're honest, there's also been a lot of power dynamics and power currying and all of that sort of stuff in that space. So I mean, you're not wrong with the. Angelina: for sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: There was like, I feel like there's like a, there was a gatekeeping and also a mystique around it as well. Angelina: Mmm. Like you say more about that. Kristin Carver Smith: I mean, I think this is, I think, I feel like this has been true with a lot of different industries that you and I have both seen as a result of this work that we do, right? There's sometimes that I feel like there's such a mystique around Hollywood. You know, how do you get in? How do you make connections? How do you, you know, how do get things sold? How do you get projects greenlit, right? There's such a mystique around that. I feel like it could. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I think about the earlier days of media, it was very much the same way, right? There was a mystique around, well, how do I get featured in the New York Times? How do I get included in this print magazine? How do I get on Good Morning America? And it feels like there was this some crazy formula that nobody knows. And if you could just put your hands on, That that's what would happen. And there's so many factors that go into that and so many factors that still go into it, but... Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I think it was the same thing for me with music is that I would just sometimes look at like the industry as a whole and be like, I just, there was like a, I was naive too. And so there's, there is a part of when I think about that judge and me now saying thank you to that man, there's such like a, sometimes I think about who I was at 16, 17, 18 years old, or even at 22, 23. And I go, man, if I had walked into this world and Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I don't know, let's say that like, you know, I think about some of the people that I've come across who experienced like virality, right, who have gone viral. And, you know, what if I had walked into this world and that would have been my experience? Like, would I still be me? Like, would my soul still be intact? Would the like, human that I am still be intact? And so there is such a, when I say thank you to that man today, Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I think about it more from the standpoint of like, God, I'm so grateful for who I am now. And then I can walk into this world that is shifting and crumbling and changing and innovating and all of these things. And I can do it, ⁓ you know, with, I can do it for myself and I can do that with, you know, my integrity intact. And I'm not saying that everybody who walks into this industry sacrifices that, but we've Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: We've heard about a lot of it. And so to be able to do it and do it on these terms, ⁓ cause like, you know, full transparency, it's like, we, you know, I'm not with a label. I am, you know, funding it myself. I don't like all the marketing, everything that you all see is, is KCS, right? And so it's like, I don't have an investor. I don't have a backer. I don't. Angelina: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I don't know that I'm like even interested in those things right now. I'm still, I think I'm, I'm in a place of like curiosity and just focusing on like the, the quality of the art, right? Angelina: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, because it's, we one of our previous conversations we talked about it. When you bring people in on it, it can change. And there's, know, there's all these other perspectives to consider the more hands that you have on a project, which can be a good thing. ⁓ I also think when you're, you know, looking at this as your first full album, once, you know, both parts are released, it. Kristin Carver Smith: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Angelina: getting the creative control that you've been able to retain over this, ⁓ I think is so impressive. There's still, you know, a ton of collaboration that's happening between you and Skylar, your producer. ⁓ But I think that that's, you know, that's something that a lot of artists don't ever get to experience. You know, they they they put in years of hard work, then they get picked up. And now the label. Kristin Carver Smith: Mmm. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Angelina: or the agent or whoever's telling them, well, in order to sell, you gotta sound like this or you gotta do this. And you're getting to choose, what do I actually want? And returning to that of, I'm doing this for me, so what stays true to myself in this art? Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. And Skylar and I can fight like brother and sister. Like we'll both, we'll be the first one to tell you that like, you know, it's not always rainbows and butterflies between us. Like sometimes like, you know, I want to die on a hill and he wants to die on a hill and then we're figuring out, we both going to die on this hill? Are we doing it together? Are we doing it separately? Is it happening at different times? ⁓ And then it's like, that's just such a great opportunity for us to, and again, I think so much about communications. Like, Angelina: you Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: There's a lot that I'm so grateful for a career in comms because it's helped me as I have tried to figure out how do I communicate my vision for this art? How do I communicate like where I'm like, no, I would like actually want to hold the line on that thing or I won't be changing that lyric because I love that part, right? Like, and then where is it like? Angelina: Mmm. Thank you. Kristin Carver Smith: actually the idea is better. Like, you're right, that's better. And how do I, you know, how do I communicate that back to you? How do I say sorry? Right? Like, you know, all of those things. there's, when I think about it now, when I look back at it now, it feels, it does feel divine in a lot of ways of feel really prepped for this. Angelina: Mmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. So take us, take us kind of back to, we kind of talked about this with Bloom when we did the behind the scenes conversation around the single that you released. ⁓ But take us back to how Light Through arrived for you. And you know, what inspired the name for the album and this kind of journey or progression of light that you're taking us through? Kristin Carver Smith: you Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, if you want the real real, which I'm sure listeners do, because this is why we tune in, right? I mean, the real real is I was, I think I was probably a week or two weeks into intensive outpatient. And ⁓ I remember on one of the breaks actually stepping out of ⁓ IOP and going and sitting in my car and. ⁓ You know, I think I was obviously in my feels, but also just in this place too, where I was like, gosh, this work is hard. Like, and I think the particular place that we were in with that work was ⁓ radical acceptance. And ⁓ I was really, I didn't want to, I remember, ⁓ you know, one of the therapists at that point talking about how you don't have to like that it happened. Angelina: Mm. Kristin Carver Smith: You don't have to like ⁓ what you've experienced, but there is power in accepting that it happened. And I remember sitting with that in the car and you know what that meant to just instead of trying to like reject it and you know all of those things of just to, okay, like yeah, what happens if I do accept that? And you know, I'll never forget, I had my journal, you know, in my lap and... ⁓ Angelina: Hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: My car was kind of parked under these trees where the sun was, the sun was kind of like filtering in and out. And the way that the light was like hitting my journal, I actually have a video of this that I'm going to share. ⁓ But it was like the light was dancing through the darkness of the leaves on my journal. And it was just like, it hit me like a ton of bricks then. And again, I just, I'd like to believe that it was just some sort of divine download. ⁓ Angelina: you Kristin Carver Smith: of light through and I literally wrote it in cursive. It is the same cursive that you see like that actual light through that you see on the cover of the album is my handwriting. It is the writing from me putting that down in the notebook of saying light through and don't and what that meant and what that means to me is don't miss the moments where the light does come through. Angelina: Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: in the darkness where it flickers and it dances and where it coexists with both of those things. And, and so now I feel like, you know, I've, I've sort of, I make it a point to capture those light through moments, whether real or, you know, emotionally, mentally, ⁓ I've got a million of them on my camera roll. And that's really where, that's really where the album was birthed. Angelina: Mmm. So it was this this visual experience before it became an auditory or even like lyrically. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Yeah, and it's been like that the whole time because, you know, I'll say that it's not like, it's not like after that moment that all of a sudden 12 songs, 13 songs came, it was, I had a few before and, but man, then they started really pouring out after that. It was wild. And, and then the order for them sort of came where, but the visual component has been my guiding light, no pun intended. Angelina: Yeah. Yeah. Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: throughout this process because oftentimes for me, my writing process is cued up by visuals or it's like, I'll have this picture in my head of what, of like the scene of the song. Like it's like, I very much like operate like movies in my head for many things. So I mean, no like surprise that I would end up in like TV and film work too because of that, but that's how the songs ran. Angelina: Mm, fascinating. Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: is like, I would have this scene and I would then go into Canva, shout out Canva, I would then go into Canva and I would find like, I would create these like visual cards for each of the songs and then I would take that into the studio. Like I'd have the lyrics and everything, I'd take that into the studio, which you know, by the way, for a lot of people is like really quote unquote backwards. ⁓ that you would have like a melody, song lyrics, all of that sort of stuff baked and have no instrumentation to it and, you know, be coming into the studio and saying like, here, now we got to put music to this, right? But that's what I would be doing with Skylors, taking that sort of like visual card in and saying, this is like, it's got to sound like this, it's got to feel like this, it's got to be the emotion of it too. And that would be our guide for instruments. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Interesting. I love that because it, ⁓ you know, for me thinking about being able to listen to the music, I... You know, and of course, I've I've I have gotten to see these images ahead of time, but I think it it deepens the experience. It's not it's not just a song. There's a real story here that's being told. there's, ⁓ you know, you can like you said, there's this progression that happens through the album. And I just think it's ⁓ such a gift for people to be able to wherever wherever they are in that journey. ⁓ Kristin Carver Smith: Yes. Yes. Yeah. Angelina: that there's a song on there that can meet them where they're at. And even just to, know, when you look back at something that's happened in your life, if you've had a similar experience to Kristen or you, you you've had, maybe it's not similar, the arc of the journey has ⁓ similarities that there's now this sonic experience that you can have that walks you through. Kristin Carver Smith: Hmm. Yeah. Angelina: the journey. yeah, I'm really fascinated by the story that you're telling with the album. And so I wonder, you you've shared a little bit about how intentional it's been that you've how you've put this together. But I wonder if you could just give us like a sneak peek of what we can expect tomorrow when part one drops. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Mm. ⁓ that's good. ⁓ I think it's really, it's not just gonna be ballads, I will say that, because I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised by how part one ends. ⁓ Yeah, I'll just say that. Angelina: Mm. Okay, okay. And is there, ⁓ you know, when you think about part two coming out later this fall? ⁓ Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Angelina: Is there anything that you want to say in terms of setting up, okay, this is the experience that you might have in part one and this is the other half of the experience? does it feel kind of ⁓ like two different views of the same experience? how would you define part one versus part two? Kristin Carver Smith: Mmm. I think I've thought of the album the whole time as a sunrise and a sunset, right? And then, and night through that too, like, right? What does like a 24 hour light cycle actually look like? That's really what it's been. And so I think with part one, you know, I feel like you're gonna end and it might be like midday, you know, ⁓ early afternoon and ⁓ Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mmm. Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: You know, by the time again, by the time you get to the end of it, ⁓ it might start at like 1am though. I'll be honest. I'll be honest. Might start at like 1am. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. But I think with, I think with part two, you know, let's just say that also I was like, was, you know, I am and was, you know, such a big Prince fan. Angelina: Okay. Kristin Carver Smith: And there's a heavy influence of that in part two. ⁓ And so, yeah, I'm excited for people to hear that later this year. you know, I will say the idea of even splitting things into two or looking at like, you know, instead of dropping an album in its quote unquote, like entirety from start to finish, you know, there were a lot of like, Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: considerations that went into that. There was a lot of like, obviously, there's the financial piece and the sustainability of it. I think that's a huge one. And I want listeners to like take that note away from our conversation today that it is okay to like, buck the norm, so to speak, because you're you're thinking about, like, how do I sustain this financially, emotionally, you know, physically, Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: you know, mentally all of those types of things. And so I loved that as I was going through this process and making all these sort of considerations of like, okay, what all is going to actually go into part one, what's going to go into part two and like, is there a case for just doing it all together and all of those things that we had Bridgerton season four drop and it was split into parts and it was just a little bit like, okay, got it. Like Roger that. ⁓ Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: So, you know, I will say that there, like I said, there was a lot of thought of, do we keep this? Do we make it one compilation? And, you know, I think the sustainability was a big part of that, but also think that I just really felt in my gut, like people needed some of the messages that these songs carry now. And holding it, Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: forever until everything was complete, which could be another year from now. It just kind of felt like I was like, it was like I really had to battle with like my perfectionism of like, well, no, but I want it to be just like this. ⁓ And don't get me wrong, there's like, Skylar and I are perfectionists. So there's like, there's a lot of that in part one and part two, but. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's high quality. It is high quality. Kristin Carver Smith: Yes, yes, but yeah, I just really challenged myself on that. It's like, I have an opportunity to like soothe myself, but then also like soothe others. Why wouldn't I? Angelina: Hmm. Ooh, I love that. OK. ⁓ You know, you've you've talked about even just that having being able to make that decision. ⁓ It looks a little bit different, like you said, from the norm. ⁓ And I wonder if you could just share a little bit more about. Why like the benefits of of doing it this way? Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Angelina: in terms of not just the part one versus part two, just every aspect of your musical journey, I feel from watching it as your friend and as ⁓ a co-collaborator on other projects, like getting to see that it's, and you call it non-traditional. And I just wonder if you could just speak to that a little bit more, because I think that's something that also transcends the specific experience that you're talking about. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Angelina: all of these norms in every facet of life that we're told, you know, work needs to look this way, marriage needs to look this way, art needs to look this way, but there's all this opportunity to play. And I think sometimes it's not even an option in our heads because we're so, we're just fed the norm all the time. And so I just wonder if you could speak to that a little bit more. ⁓ Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, well, and I know we have like lot of listeners that are business owners or who are, you know, ⁓ entrepreneurs or again, who are also like working in corporate spaces too, who are like, my gosh, like I'm so sick of the old ⁓ and I'm trying to figure out like, what does that new look like for me? And so I think like some of the, you know, norms that I had to tackle with this was, ⁓ you know, I think, Angelina: Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: the creation of the art was so atypical of like, it wasn't that I said, okay, you know, I'm gonna take this six months and all I'm gonna do is be in the studio every Friday and this is what it looks like. And I didn't get to work on that like this, right? So it was, had to find time and I had to make time. And also, you know, I have a, I run a business and, you know. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: I'm a wife and I've got friends and I got family and also I want to live. So it was figuring out like, again, sometimes I would wrestle with, gosh, sometimes I do feel like if I would, I would be so much more quote unquote productive if I could just like block this time and just record for an hour and record for hours and hours and all of that sort of stuff. And that's just not how it, you know, it was going to work. And so I sort of worked around my schedule, even if that took longer. ⁓ Angelina: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mmm. Kristin Carver Smith: We'll see if that gets to be the, know, if I got to do that in the future or if I do get to like time block some things. So, you know, permission to evolve and shift. So I would say that's one. ⁓ I would say the other is the marketing piece of this, right? So again, you and I are marketing PR comms world. you know, this has been really challenging on that front because when you've looked at like, ⁓ quote-unquote like typical music release like you can see a sort of like rhythm and pattern even as a consumer even as a listener right ⁓ and for me that has had to look like so you know I have speaking engagements I get invitations to you know different rooms and stand on different stages and I I really went like what if I take a different approach with the music what if I Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: weave music into the experience that I bring to the stage every time I'm asked to step on stage. Wow, and actually like that has, it's an incredible opportunity to expose the music to like a locked in audience. And, you know, and then also like the pay for speaking engagements is so different than perhaps like, Angelina: Mmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: my strategy being like, you know what, let me see if I can partner with the venue and like we split ticket sales and my job is just try to get people there. And there's, you know, I'm not saying that that's not a viable path. I just had to look at like, how could I do this differently? How could I do it with more ease? How could I do it with more sustainability, more intention? Cause it's a noisy world out there. So I would say whenever I show up in a room, I want to sing anyway. Why wouldn't I just work it in? You know? So I would say that would be number two. ⁓ Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: I also had to travel quite a bit to get into the studio. ⁓ And so that really took a lot of dedication. also took, I mean, it takes money. Like I'm just gonna be real, like it takes money. I'm not gonna just be out here and lying to y'all and being like, this doesn't cost anything. Cause it costs, it costs what it costs. But I, yeah, I've made, I really made a point with this album that I wanted to pay. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: great humans, talented humans. so, you know, every instrument that you hear is, that's a human being. And I'm really proud of that. Angelina: Mm-hmm, as you should be. Yeah, that's beautiful, because I think there's so much, like you said, there's so much permission to figure out how to weave all of these elements of your life together to make it, to make the art sustainable so that it doesn't become just another job. ⁓ So I just really appreciate you sharing that. ⁓ Kristin Carver Smith: Yes. Yep. Well, and I would, the other thing that I want to say about that too is that, you know, I'm not walking into this world and Angelina, you and I have this, have had this conversation recently, privately, but I'm not walking into this world and like have a million relationships or connections or all of those things, like in a way, you know, and again, I'm gonna be really honest with y'all. It has been humbling. because I may be like, I may be an expert on the PR side, I may be rocking it over here at this other thing that's happening on the TV side. Like it's like those things like can be doing really great. And then man, this is humbling. Because it feels like I'm having to start from zero. And I know that's not the truth, right? But it's just that. Angelina: Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: It's because I have not been telling my story for many years. I have, but it's like I've been telling my story through the story of other people. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Kristin Carver Smith: but it feels like a fresh start. And so in a lot of ways, I kind of feel like I'm at year zero, ⁓ you know, a sort of as an entrepreneur again. ⁓ you know, I just like, want to encourage listeners who have done a lane change, a pivot, a shift, an addition, like added on a different, you know, stream or talent or service or whatever that like, I'm right there with you that, Angelina: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: it might take a minute and you might be going like, am I helping anybody? Like, what am I? And for me, it's not am I screaming into the void? Am I singing into the void? So yeah. Angelina: Hahaha Yeah. Yeah, like you said, it takes the time it takes. ⁓ Yeah, so, you when you look ahead, before we wrap this up, I'm curious what you see in the future. Because, know, right now you're in the thick of putting this all together, getting it out there, sharing the story of Light through and the musical journey that you've been on. But have you given yourself time to think about what comes after? Kristin Carver Smith: It does. Hmm, that's a good question. I think, I don't know that I've given myself a ton of time to think about what comes after. think I, knowing that I've written so many of these songs with scenes in mind, like I absolutely have ambition to see these songs placed in shows and in films. I also think that part of me Angelina: Mm-hmm. Kristin Carver Smith: performing these songs live, whether that's on a stage that I'm invited to or that's a stage that I'm creating myself or doing some events around the country right now where we're having conversations around mental health. ⁓ That's really important to me with this too, is that ⁓ the album be used as a jumping off point to talk about. Angelina: Mm. Kristin Carver Smith: mental health and to expose audiences to resources that they may not know of otherwise or that they maybe would be nervous to consider for themselves. So and looking for, you know, great partners to team up with for that. Angelina: Yeah, mmm, juicy. Well, I'm so excited for part one to be out. Again, it'll be out tomorrow, wherever you stream your music, right? Kristin Carver Smith: Mm-hmm. Yes, any and everywhere. ⁓ Yeah, just like I said, that feels surreal. And I'm just and thank you so much for being on this journey with me. Y'all. ⁓ I've sent Angelina so many like voice memos and like I feel like Angelina, you've gotten to see like a track from when it was like guitar and vocals to or even just lyrics. Angelina: Mm-hmm. Just what even just, you you're bare, you're just you with the melody before it. ⁓ I remember some of the songs when it was, hey, this just came. ⁓ So, yeah, it's been a treat to be along for for the full journey. And I know that you'll probably be sharing some of those stories more on social. So if you don't already follow Kristen on Instagram ⁓ or Facebook, find her there, Kristen Carversmith. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Angelina: and ⁓ you'll get some more behind the scenes and maybe that beautiful video of where the light through first appeared. Kristin Carver Smith: Yeah, absolutely. No, I can't wait to share that. And maybe folks will even get some snippets of there are some, you know, I'd like there's, there's a song on the on part one that I listened to a voice moment memo the other day of like, when we first wrote that. And God, it's so different, like, lyrics, melody. And yeah, so maybe folks will even get the chance to see how some of those things have evolved. Angelina: Mmm. Mmm. Yeah, I love that. Kristin Carver Smith: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for this conversation today. And to our Just and Joyful listeners, we cannot thank you enough for all of the love and the support and the messages. Thank you for cheering us on. We so appreciate you all. Angelina: Mm.