Interview of NEST performer: Sandrine Adap

I sat down this week with Sandrine Adap (junior, computer science and math studies) to talk about the NEST event that happened last week.

So you performed this week at NEST! What did you perform and why did you choose that song?

We sang “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” by Stevie Wonder, with a spin to it: we added “She Was Mine,” by AJ Rafael, near the end. We chose the first song because we wanted kind of a chill, old-school song for a nostalgic kind of vibe, and ended up adding “She Was Mine” sort of by accident. We were just playing around with it, and we ended up finding that the AJ Rafael song works out really well! Also we’re Filipino, and so is AJ Rafael, so we liked that his song added a little spice to it.

You sang with your cousins, right?

Yes! Me and my cousin, Chloee, have been singing together since we could talk. I started singing with my younger cousin, Caitlin, a little bit later. I really love singing with her because our voices are really similar in tone.
Tell me a little bit more about your relationship with music.
I think a lot of my music can be credited to three main things: first off, my parents – mostly my dad – have always really been into music. He went to Andrews and was a part of the praise team, played a lot of guitar, that kind of thing. Second off, I watched a lot of musical TV shows growing up and sort of fell in love with music from watching the characters there. The third thing would be church; my parents let me use my music in front of church pretty often and I got to practice there a lot.

It sounds like you have some experience performing with crowds, have you ever performed in front of a crowd that was as big as the one at NEST?

I did take piano and voice lessons before I was fifteen, so I have done some recitals. They were pretty large — the teacher had something around 100 students, so I performed for them and their families.

Do you write music as well?

I do! Sometimes I need a way to process my emotions in a way that doesn’t involve talking about it, and having my feelings written out in music lets me do that without putting it on anybody.

What is the relationship between the music you’re writing versus the lyrics you're writing?

I generally write lyrics first, and then I write the tune based off of the lyrics of the music. Since I usually write music when I’m trying to process emotions, the melodies tend to be more mellow or soft. But I do have some songs that I wrote to try to encourage myself, and so they ended up being more upbeat.

How did you feel about this last performance?

I was really excited for it, and I was really looking forward to what my cousins put together. It was also really nerve-racking, though, because performing in front of strangers is different from performing in front of people you know. It was also hard because I was playing the guitar at the same time, but it was fun! I like the thrill of performing.

If you were to give tips to someone who was just starting out and interested in writing music or performing, what would you tell them?

I think the first thing I would tell them is to do what is true for you. Myself, for example: I write to process my emotions. That means that I don’t always show my music off to an audience, and that’s okay, because that’s what makes me happy. If someone wants to show their music off to an audience, then go ahead! Just be true to yourself and do what you like. Second off, listen to different types of music. There’s a lot of stuff you can learn from different styles, genres, and that kind thing. Listen to yourself, listen to music, and listen to other people. There are a lot of really talented people on this campus, and I know that I have learned a lot of things from people on the campus – mostly guitar techniques – and it has helped me a lot.