Sunday, September 25, 2011

Black & Blue

Happy Sunday everyone! I know this blog is called The Boudoir Memoirs and I haven't gotten as deep into the MEMOIRS aspect of the purpose of this blog as I would like.  Today's post is called Black & Blue as those are the colors for the look of the day, but I wanted to take that idea a little further.  The purpose of this blog is also to take you behind-the-scenes of the music business, what I have done and what I'm working on now.  Navigating the music business will certainly leave you a little black & blue! For me, one of my favorite quotes comes from one of my icons, Coco Chanel.
  Here was a woman who stayed true to herself, her passion, and was unafraid to break boundaries, and henceforth, revolutionized women's fashion in the twentieth century.  The same can be said about the music business as it will do all it can to mold you into SOMETHING rather than let you be SOMEONE.  For those of you that don't know, my big break came when I was handpicked by David Foster to perform with him in concert during his David Foster & Friends Tour in Chicago.  He was someone I always dreamt of getting the chance to sing for one day and what an incredible opportunity to perform with him at the start of my career?! It was an incredible experience and helped catapult me to Los Angeles and resulted in people in the music industry luckily starting to take notice of me.
 
All of these reality shows such as American Idol, The Voice, and now X-Factor have taken over and people always say to me, "Why don't you audition for some of these shows? You would make it for sure!" People assume (as I did in the beginning too!) that if you can sing then it's a no brainer and you will make it on the show. (All the ads for these shows feed that thought to you as well by saying "This is the BEST talent in America!")  I remember I auditioned for American Idol in Omaha, Nebraska years ago and sang Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." The audition was in a huge stadium and when I finished singing, the crowd actually gave me a standing ovation! I was completely taken aback but also so excited because I thought, "That's amazing! Now the producer of the show will see that I have people rooting me on and I'll go through to the next round!" (The first few days of auditions for these television shows take place in front of the show producers and casting directors. NOT the judges!) But guess what? I didn't.  I stayed after to ask the producer why she didn't let me through. Her response: "Oh well you have an amazing voice! We're just looking for something different this year..." So there you have it! 

I also auditioned for The Voice this year.  I thought to myself "Finally here's a show where from what I heard and read, you're supposed to be judged SOLELY on your voice. Perfect! So I went in and sang guess what? The same song that made David Foster handpick me out of hundreds of others to perform with him in concert: "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.  Judging from their reactions when I started singing I took it as a good sign.  Then I also sang a Stevie Wonder song "Lately." Again, a good personal reaction.  In my group of 10 people, there were some very talented singers and musicians. I took note of who I thought would go through in the group and none of them did! (And neither did I) Believe it or not, the girl with the weakest voice in the whole group got through to the next round for the show called THE VOICE!!! Unfortunately that's just the nature of the music business and so many other businesses or situations.  At the end of the day, they're casting a reality show and regardless of your voice, if you do not fit whatever other specific criteria they're going for that year (specific stories, specific look, you don't resemble Justin Bieber, I should have worn cow udders like the guy next to me that got through to the next round, etc haha) then it may not be your lucky day.

When Coco Chanel first came out with her designs doing away with what was popular and feminine at the time: complicated corsets and lace in favor of simplicity and menswear-inspired fashions, people thought  she was crazy and that her designs would never take off.  I get the same.  "Oh you're a singer. But what's your back-up?" People have a very hard time supporting that which is different (Some of my own family even!).  So I leave you with one last quote that I love:
So wear your black & blue proudly even though typically wearing those colors together in the fashion world is a faux-pas! Wear it proudly, live bravely, and the world will eventually catch on to what you already know :)

Bisous, 
EF xo




4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the inspiration girl! You look so beautiful in the dress! xoxoxoo

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  2. Nice dress. It looks good on you. The shoes matches fabulously on your dress.:)

    Much love from the SABO SKIRT girls!
    SHOP: http://www.saboskirt.com
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  3. I really love the heels, and the way you belted that dress.

    - Puck
    ONEOFPOINTS.com

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