Speaker 1: Pushkin. Your shyness is something that can be worked through
Speaker 1: for people that are listening that are singers that have
Speaker 1: stage fright and are shy. It's not something that necessarily
Speaker 1: has to stop you from doing what you're passionate about.
Speaker 1: It's an opportunity for you to grow from that. That's
Speaker 1: Camila Cabayo, the artist behind hit songs like Havana, Never
Speaker 1: Be the Same and Don't Go Yet. And if you've
Speaker 1: heard her sing, she certainly doesn't sound shy. Just listen
Speaker 1: to her in the most stream song of twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Her duet was Shawn Mendez Senoritas. A lot of singers
Speaker 1: I work with grew up really loving being in the
Speaker 1: spotlight and performing in public, but not Kamila. I've heard
Speaker 1: stories of so many great artists being like, you know,
Speaker 1: when I was little, I would put on shows from
Speaker 1: my family, and I would go around my house and
Speaker 1: whoever was willing to listen to me singing, I would
Speaker 1: sing for them. I remember hearing that, especially when I
Speaker 1: was younger and kind of feeling a little bit of
Speaker 1: imposter syndrome or like I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I don't have that. Does that mean that I won't
Speaker 1: be able to achieve or do as much as they did.
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson or Beyont. They're like singing since they were little,
Speaker 1: and they don't look shy, and they love it and
Speaker 1: they want to do it in front of people. And
Speaker 1: I was not like that. I would get so embarrassed.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I would start crying. I was so shy. This
Speaker 1: is backstage passed with Eric Vitrow, and I'm Eric Vitro.
Speaker 1: I have to say I love my job because I
Speaker 1: get to coach some of the most talented and famous
Speaker 1: singers working today. On this show, I talked to them
Speaker 1: about their lives, their craft, and how they overcome the
Speaker 1: anxieties and insecurities to so many of us experience. I
Speaker 1: actually auditioned for the chorus in school when I was
Speaker 1: in fourth grade. I got so nervous. I forgot the
Speaker 1: words too. I think it was my country. Tiss of
Speaker 1: Thee was the audition song, and I just kind of
Speaker 1: like froze, and my teacher was like, it's okay. He
Speaker 1: did a great job. And I looked next week at
Speaker 1: the list outside of my homeroom class to see if
Speaker 1: I'd made it. I didn't make it. The first person
Speaker 1: that really made me feel like I could sing well.
Speaker 1: Was my drama teacher when I was in seventh grade,
Speaker 1: because we had this thing where you had to audition
Speaker 1: for the school musical, like it was like part of
Speaker 1: your assignment. You couldn't not do it, and you had
Speaker 1: to do a monologue and sing a song of your choice.
Speaker 1: And however, this was in private, so it was just
Speaker 1: you and a teacher, So my shyness slash stage fright
Speaker 1: wasn't a thing because it was just me and the teacher.
Speaker 1: And so I sang Listen by Beyonce. I was like
Speaker 1: in seventh grade. I was like thirteen, and he was like, wow,
Speaker 1: like you can really sing, and he knew that I
Speaker 1: was shy and like I wouldn't voluntarily do something like that.
Speaker 1: It was part of my grade. And he was like,
Speaker 1: if I give you like a large part in the musical,
Speaker 1: will you do it? This is how bad fear can be, guys.
Speaker 1: I was like no, and he gave me a smaller
Speaker 1: part in the musical. And I just like had that
Speaker 1: shyness early on in school. And it was really through
Speaker 1: like growing up and kind of adopting the mentality of like,
Speaker 1: you know what it can take five seconds of bravery
Speaker 1: to change your whole life. Her five seconds of bravery
Speaker 1: came when she auditioned for the singing competition The X Factor.
Speaker 1: I remember when I auditioned for X Factor. My family
Speaker 1: was like, this came out of nowhere, because I didn't
Speaker 1: even sing for my family, So they were like, how
Speaker 1: are you going to sing for the first time ever
Speaker 1: by yourself in front of an audience of a few
Speaker 1: thousand people. Then I just pushed myself to do it.
Speaker 1: My knees were shaken and I'm sure my voice was cracking.
Speaker 1: I remember seeing black dots. I felt like I was
Speaker 1: going to pass out from nerves. But I felt proud
Speaker 1: of myself because I pushed myself to do the thing
Speaker 1: that I was afraid of, and those five seconds of
Speaker 1: bravery really paid off. Her performance on The X Factor
Speaker 1: led to her joining the popular all girls singing group
Speaker 1: Fifth Harmony. I remember like work from home when I
Speaker 1: was fifth in Fifth Harmony, and I had this one
Speaker 1: high note like in the last chorus that was this
Speaker 1: ad lib? What was it? You ain't gotta go to work?
Speaker 1: And I did that ad lib in the studio. But
Speaker 1: then when I would get up on stage and do
Speaker 1: it in front of people. I remember we had to
Speaker 1: perform in front of the Billboard Awards. I would get
Speaker 1: really nervous and crack on the note and miss the note.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't until I started working with you that
Speaker 1: we were like, okay, you have you know, the front
Speaker 1: and back support. You open your mouth, you don't tense
Speaker 1: your throat, and then I was consistently hitting that note.
Speaker 1: I actually remember saying, I want you to enjoy doing it.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to fear it totally. I remember
Speaker 1: being on stage and when that note would come up,
Speaker 1: I would be like, oh my god, it's coming, It's coming,
Speaker 1: and you were like, instead of doing that, just be
Speaker 1: like all right, here we go, like I'm ready. And
Speaker 1: it's crazy because it's like all of your thoughts have
Speaker 1: a physiological response. So when you're saying, oh, the note
Speaker 1: is coming, the note is coming, my throat would tighten
Speaker 1: and my mouth would tighten, and that's why I would
Speaker 1: crack because I would tighten too much. What's that thing
Speaker 1: you said to me recently? You were like loose but focused. Ye.
Speaker 1: That whole mentality definitely change things for me a lot.
Speaker 1: And I actually I bet that that happens to a
Speaker 1: lot of people that are singing too, is that they
Speaker 1: sing in their room and they are so comfortable and
Speaker 1: having the best time, and then they get in front
Speaker 1: of a lot of people and that kind of stage
Speaker 1: fright comes with a physiological response and then they're like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I don't sound as good as I
Speaker 1: do when I'm in my room. And that's like a
Speaker 1: whole other craft's performing in front of other people and
Speaker 1: being able to like to do it well. Yeah, our
Speaker 1: motions take over and that's one of the things we
Speaker 1: have to learn to deal with. But that's what techniques
Speaker 1: all about. And you know, I feel like people need
Speaker 1: to hear. Yeah, you might get nervous now and get scared,
Speaker 1: but you can overcome that. There are techniques you can
Speaker 1: learn to use, and there's mental techniques as well as
Speaker 1: vocal techniques. As you're saying it, I'm thinking back and
Speaker 1: I hadn't really processed this in my mind before. But
Speaker 1: I used to see you get nervous and you would
Speaker 1: always say to me, I'm really nervous, and so we
Speaker 1: would do things like the breathing exercises in your dressing room.
Speaker 1: But it's so strange now I'm realizing that I never
Speaker 1: really was that nervous about you and your anxiety about performing,
Speaker 1: because I always knew somewhere inside of me she's gonna
Speaker 1: get on stage and she's gonna kill it. I've always
Speaker 1: had like a really really vivid imagination, and I think
Speaker 1: that that's really good but also incredible fuel for anxiety
Speaker 1: and nerves, because your mind is just like, here are
Speaker 1: all the scenarios that can go wrong, and suddenly your
Speaker 1: body is living it and you're nervous and your knees
Speaker 1: are shaking. I do remember when I was younger seeing
Speaker 1: Beyonce say something that I was really affected by, where
Speaker 1: she was like, actually, if I'm not nervous, I'm worried
Speaker 1: because it means I don't care as much. So if
Speaker 1: I'm nervous, it means I care about this. My heart
Speaker 1: cares about this, and that nervousness, which is just energy,
Speaker 1: actually just becomes fuel and it makes me hit the
Speaker 1: dance moves with more hunger. It makes me hit that
Speaker 1: note with more hunger. And I hundred percent applied that
Speaker 1: to me, especially an X factor and like in Fort
Speaker 1: Harmonia and still now I kind of say this thing
Speaker 1: in my brain like where I'll feel nervous and I'll
Speaker 1: be like, you know what, great, I want to be
Speaker 1: more nervous, Give me more nerves. I mean, it's honestly
Speaker 1: so crazy how much performing is a mental game. After
Speaker 1: the Great, Kamila talks about the big performance where she
Speaker 1: was able to reframe her anxiety into something positive. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to backstage pass. So when Kamila and I sat
Speaker 1: down to talk, I was curious to hear when things
Speaker 1: changed for her, Like what was the first performance where
Speaker 1: she really felt like she came into her power as
Speaker 1: a singer. The two times that I most remember feeling
Speaker 1: like that were both at the Grammys, especially Havannah. I
Speaker 1: remember for days before that, just like mentally preparing, because
Speaker 1: I would kind of have these little bursts of thoughts.
Speaker 1: That was like before I was meditating, and my what
Speaker 1: if thoughts kind of still had me by the balls,
Speaker 1: and so I would have like these little thoughts of like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, what if I forget my dance break movements?
Speaker 1: And I would just be like I would just kind
Speaker 1: of return it back to gratitude, like I'm so thankful
Speaker 1: that I get to do what I love today, my
Speaker 1: mission and my personal intention for that performance was this
Speaker 1: is for my team, because it was kind of like
Speaker 1: the end of that first album cycle and felt like
Speaker 1: my team and I had just like worked really hard.
Speaker 1: I remember saying to myself, this is a celebration. It's
Speaker 1: a celebration, and just like giving it a new context
Speaker 1: as opposed to, oh my god, I'm opening the Grammys
Speaker 1: and this is so nerve wracking, just changing it to
Speaker 1: my personal mission. And I remember at that time too,
Speaker 1: using that philosophy of like, you know what, great, I
Speaker 1: want to be nervous. I want to be nervous. Give
Speaker 1: me more nervous energy. The more nervous energy, the better.
Speaker 1: And I remember really being present when I was on
Speaker 1: that stage. I find that when I'm really nervous, like
Speaker 1: what helps me too is just taking it one second
Speaker 1: at a time, one note at a time, and before
Speaker 1: you know it, you're at the end of the performance.
Speaker 1: But you can't be thinking about that. You have to
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, it's the first few seconds of the song.
Speaker 1: I'm going to open my mouth, use my breath support,
Speaker 1: focus on this note. Now, I'm going to focus on
Speaker 1: this note. Now, I'm gonna put my emotion into this sentence.
Speaker 1: So if you just take it like one second at
Speaker 1: a time, you just have to trust that that carries
Speaker 1: you over. When you don't have the right mindset, it's
Speaker 1: like you can practice more than anybody and your mind
Speaker 1: won't let you even enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Speaker 1: If you look at it emotionally, you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: and there's a bunch of people, But objectively you're like,
Speaker 1: I literally have done this a million times. I've done
Speaker 1: this song with Eric like a million times. In the beginning,
Speaker 1: I didn't hit all of these notes. Now I know
Speaker 1: exactly how to so now it's just like, just do
Speaker 1: it and enjoy it. I've bombed performances and cracked on
Speaker 1: national TV. I did the best with what I could
Speaker 1: at the time, and then I FaceTime do the next day,
Speaker 1: and then we worked at it, and then next time
Speaker 1: I didn't mess up anymore. Everybody messes up. Everybody has
Speaker 1: had stage fright, everybody's nervous before. Everybody let their nerves
Speaker 1: get to them at some point. That's not failure, that's
Speaker 1: just a part of living. A huge part of becoming
Speaker 1: a singer is dealing with nerves, but another big part
Speaker 1: is finding your own voice. I'd never had voice lessons before.
Speaker 1: When I first met you, that's the first time I
Speaker 1: really was introduced to the technique of singing, and that
Speaker 1: completely changed my life because before I feel like I
Speaker 1: had like stylistic stuff that I liked and that I
Speaker 1: integrated into how I sang, like from other people like
Speaker 1: Demi or Justin Bieber. But I definitely feel like I
Speaker 1: incorporated a lot of the stuff they did stylistically from them,
Speaker 1: Like I know, like Demi used to do when I
Speaker 1: was younger, like decays a real decais me, like kind
Speaker 1: of do this breath thing at the end of words
Speaker 1: like me, and I do that still like I've always
Speaker 1: done that. So there's kind of like different inflections that
Speaker 1: I feel like I've taken from those people, Like now
Speaker 1: I'll be like you babe, and I'll like do that
Speaker 1: like breath thing, because I learned it from her. That's
Speaker 1: just like how I grew up singing. I feel like
Speaker 1: I couldn't say that that's all me because I feel
Speaker 1: like probably so many people influence to me and like
Speaker 1: keep influencing me. You taught me, like really the technique
Speaker 1: on how to you know, make my voice sound less
Speaker 1: nasally and more clear, or be able to have like
Speaker 1: a longer range of notes and be able to hit
Speaker 1: high notes consistently and not hit them because I was nervous.
Speaker 1: I look back at, you know, some of the songs
Speaker 1: that I sang, especially when I was younger, and it
Speaker 1: was like more nasal than I wanted it to be.
Speaker 1: And I told you that. I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I would be like and I would be like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to sound that nasal. And we worked on
Speaker 1: that to the point where now in that part of
Speaker 1: my tone, I took that out and I don't feel
Speaker 1: like I sound nasal anymore. Like the technique of singing
Speaker 1: really changed how my voice sounded, and I remember liking
Speaker 1: how my voice sounded so much better. And it's crazy
Speaker 1: how you can have, you know, like a seed of
Speaker 1: like a talent or whatever, but the technique is truly
Speaker 1: like what makes you grow a craft? Do you have
Speaker 1: a favorite vocal exercise? My favorite vocal exercises are just
Speaker 1: the very simple, stretchy ones like he or just like
Speaker 1: the simple ones that you start me out with, like
Speaker 1: what's like that, Mama that we start out with, Mamma, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's my favorite one. That's my favorite one really, Mamma, mamma.
Speaker 1: Love it. Just stretchy, simple, nice, feels like a little
Speaker 1: massage on my vocal chords. I like that. I like
Speaker 1: that a lot. So if I played this, that's the
Speaker 1: one you would like. Love that. Sing it. Let me
Speaker 1: hear you sing it. We love that. And that's so
Speaker 1: funny to me because I always think of you as
Speaker 1: someone who loves being challenged, and you always say to me,
Speaker 1: challenge me, challenge me. So it's so funny to hear
Speaker 1: you say you really enjoy that one. It's such a
Speaker 1: simple one. And yet I guess I shouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: because so many people have said the same thing. I
Speaker 1: love being challenged. The whole philosophy of stoicism I love
Speaker 1: and like one of the things about stoicism is the
Speaker 1: obstacle is the way, Like whatever's challenging you, whatever you're resisting,
Speaker 1: whatever's making you afraid, that's the way, Like that's what
Speaker 1: you have to do. So I do love being challenged
Speaker 1: because I know that, you know, with the ear training
Speaker 1: and like with the you know, the complicated patterns, or
Speaker 1: with the notes that are minor and a little bit weird,
Speaker 1: I know that's going to change my ear in good
Speaker 1: ways and probably going to change my songwriting and the
Speaker 1: melodies that I come up with. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: that's the way forward. However, the most relaxing, nice thing
Speaker 1: for me are definitely the simpler ones, but I know
Speaker 1: the challenging ones are the ones that I have to
Speaker 1: do more right, So we keep a balance of both. Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: I was trying to think about it the other day.
Speaker 1: Do you know how long we've known each other? I
Speaker 1: found a photograph of you and I that dates all
Speaker 1: the way back to twenty thirteen. That's insane. I mean,
Speaker 1: you are one of those once in a lifetime teachers,
Speaker 1: like in all ways, not just vocally, but just like
Speaker 1: as a person and your soul that you come around
Speaker 1: and you like really change lives and you improve the
Speaker 1: lives of all of your students. I mean, you've literally
Speaker 1: seen me go from nervous wreck to less a little
Speaker 1: bit less of a nervous wreck, way less of a
Speaker 1: nervous wreck. Your shyness is something that can be worked
Speaker 1: through for people that are listening that are singers that
Speaker 1: have stage fright and are shy. It's not something that
Speaker 1: necessarily has to stop you from doing what you're passionate about.
Speaker 1: It's an opportunity for you to grow from that. If
Speaker 1: you don't do what you're afraid of, that thing suddenly
Speaker 1: has power over you. That thing suddenly has a hold
Speaker 1: on you. And that's something that I carry that helps
Speaker 1: me a lot in my career nowadays too, because I
Speaker 1: think that a lot of people don't realize, like in life,
Speaker 1: it's not like you do the thing you're afraid of
Speaker 1: and then you're never afraid again. Your whole life, you're
Speaker 1: going to be afraid of things. And I think what
Speaker 1: makes the difference and how I define successes pushing myself
Speaker 1: to do those things that I'm afraid of and proving
Speaker 1: to myself, not for anybody else, but proving to myself,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to let this thing have a hold
Speaker 1: of me, and you know what, I'm going to go
Speaker 1: out there and feel the fear and do it anyway.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned and we'll be right back with our vocal
Speaker 1: tip of the week. I think probably the most familiar sound,
Speaker 1: the most familiar musical exercise that everyone has heard at
Speaker 1: one point or another in their life. When someone is
Speaker 1: practicing the piano or practicing their singing is scales. Everyone
Speaker 1: has heard a major scale like that at least once
Speaker 1: in their life, but there are many variations that are
Speaker 1: valuable when you want to stretch yourself and reach your
Speaker 1: full potential. I'm going to show you one of those
Speaker 1: variations today. It sounds like this. I would recommend practicing
Speaker 1: it and holding the top note, sometimes with vibrato and
Speaker 1: sometimes without, so that you get used to being able
Speaker 1: to do either easily. Bases, baritones and tenors. Why don't
Speaker 1: you start on a sea below middle C? Sopranos and
Speaker 1: alto's A good spot for you to start would be
Speaker 1: on a B flat right below middle C. That's it,
Speaker 1: nice and simple. If you want to share how you
Speaker 1: sing your scales, I'd love to hear you. Use the
Speaker 1: hashtag Backstage passpod on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or wherever you
Speaker 1: like to post. I can't wait to see your videos.
Speaker 1: I'll see you next week maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe. Backstage Pass with Eric Vitro
Speaker 1: is written and hosted by me Eric Vitro and produced
Speaker 1: by Morgan Joffee. Katherine Gerardo is our showrunner. Emily Rosstek
Speaker 1: is our associate producer, Kate Parkinson Morgan as our editor.
Speaker 1: The show is mixed and mastered by Ben Holliday. Additional
Speaker 1: engineering help is from Jacob Gorski and Martin Gonzalez. Mia
Speaker 1: Lobell as our executive producer. Our development team, Litl Mulad
Speaker 1: and Justine Lange helped create the show. Thanks also to
Speaker 1: Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fame, John Schnarz, Carl Migliori, Christina Sullivan,
Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Daniella Lacan and Royston Deserved.
Speaker 1: The original theme music is by Jacob and Sita Steele
Speaker 1: for Premier Music Group. We record at Resonate Studios. Fred
Speaker 1: Talkson does our videography and the photography is by Ken Sawyer.
Speaker 1: A very special thanks to Michael Lewis for his inspiration
Speaker 1: and the best guidance anyone could ask for. Backstage passed
Speaker 1: with Eric Vitro as a production of Pushkin Industries. If
Speaker 1: you like the show, please remember to share a rate
Speaker 1: and read view it. I mean that really, share Radia,
Speaker 1: review it, and if you love the show and others
Speaker 1: from Pushkin Industries, consider subscribing to Pushkin plus Pushkin Plus
Speaker 1: is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and uninterrupted
Speaker 1: listening for four ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin
Speaker 1: Plus on Apple Podcasts subscriptions. To find more Pushkin podcasts,
Speaker 1: listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts.