America’s Next Pop Icon! On this week’s episode, we interview Swedish musician Michelle Shapa. You can find her on Instagram @!
On Iconic News, we got some super juicy info as usual. We learn that Dr. Dre has survived a brain aneurysm, wow! Also, Trey Songz of “Bottoms Up” fame got into a physical altercation with a police officer at a KC Chiefs game…yikes. On a less violent note, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton drama alert! Apparently, Gwen thought that Blake was going to break up with her, when he was actually just going to propose. How relatable…she’s just like us!
Interviewing Michelle Shapa was a dream. Calling all the way from Israel, where she is currently writing some new music and shooting new music video content, we got the scoop on what’s been up with her. Michelle’s vibe is pop & R&B, although she comes from a house music background. We learned that she composes and writes her own lyrics, and the inspiration behind her single “Mind Games.” Written in the middle of the night in Berlin, Michelle was inspired by the city lights. It definitely shows in the sultry music video for the track, which we got an exclusive look at!
This week on our singing tips segment with Lisa Marie, we got more great tips and tricks for singers! Tip #1 – focus on what’s going right instead of wrong! As artists and humans in general, we tend to be super hard on ourselves and focus on the negative – but it does your psyche good to focus on the positive, and helps your art too. Tip #2 – want to lessen tightness and cracking in your voice? Well, Lisa Marie gave us one of the hottest tips in the industry to combat this, and it’s to use…a straw? No, that’s not a typo. Lisa Marie educated us on Straw Phonation, an exercise where you put your tongue over a straw and say “eeeee.” This helps to reduce the tension we hold in our tongues, which is one of the biggest contributors to tightness in the voice.
Well, that’s all for now folks. Don’t forget to tune in on Sundays at 8pm PST on americasnextpopicon.com!
