Kristina Lachaga has been in the spotlight since she was 9 years old. Stage fright? Not a problem, natch. She’s got a sunny, sweet personality, but make no mistake, Kristina, 20, is a boss—literally—she’s her own manager. She works hard every day to put herself out there and create opportunities. Just this summer, Kristina performed at Girls’ Life Magazine and iHeartRadio's Z104.3's One Direction Pre-Party before the band’s concert in Baltimore, MD, and opened for Heffron Drive (featuring Big Time Rush’s Kendall Schmidt). Take a look inside the life of an up-and-coming pop singer—the glory and the struggle—below.
On spending 7th grade on the road When she was 12, Kristina, who’s from New Jersey, didn’t spend the school year sitting in a classroom. Instead she was on a bus traveling the country, performing in the national tour of the musical Gypsy as Baby Louise. “I traveled to 48 states and Canada for nine months… My mom was with me—there were seven other kids on the tour, each with a parent or guardian, and the rest of the cast members were adults.” There was a tutor on the bus, and Kristina and the other children were homeschooled. She says her dad came out to visit whenever he could (Kristina’s an only child). “I really enjoyed being on the road and exploring the country.”
On "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words…" Kristina says in an anti-bully YouTube video that in fact, “words hurt and so do rocks.” Before Kristina went on the Gypsy tour, back when she was in 3rd grade, she was on the playground when a bunch of girls started throwing rocks at her. “My grade was super cliquey and there were only about 15 girls to get along with—the rest of the 30-ish kids were boys!” she says. “Sometimes we were friendly and would get along and other times they would pretend I didn’t exist—it would go back and forth. It happened on the playground and was a one-time thing. All of a sudden, they just turned on me and threw the rocks at me from behind. It hurt my back and legs a little, but nothing serious; there were a few stings here and there, but I was more in shock than anything. I didn’t tell anyone at school that it happened and that’s one of my biggest regrets.”
The experience stuck with Kristina. So when she was invited to join a nationwide concert tour in 2013, which focused on spreading anti-bullying awareness through performances at middle schools and high schools, she jumped at the chance. (By this time, Kristina had made the move from theater to pursuing a career in pop music.) The tour allowed Kristina to reach fans in all different cities across the U.S. Each performer on the tour shared their personal stories of when they were bullied, and how they overcame it. This is where her "Sticks & Stones" message came into play. “Kids could really relate to my story,” she says. “They would say to me, ‘Wow, you were bullied? If you got through it, then I can too.’ It creates this bond between me and my fans.”
On #followyourheartsdream Today, Kristina has taken on a new positive message to connect with her fans (she calls them #heartbreakers). “I’ve been trying to incorporate my #FollowYourHeartsDream message a lot into social media and my events,” she says. “It’s about setting goals and trying to make whatever your heart’s dream is come true.” When she meets fans in person, she’ll ask them what they want to be when they grow up. “When I talk to kids and teens [and ask] ‘what’s your passion?’ or ‘what are you excited to pursue in the future?’ it’s really interesting, because a lot of them get a little bit shy. Maybe they don’t like to talk about it, it’s kind of a sensitive subject, because it’s really putting your heart on your sleeve and saying, ‘This is what I want to do,’ and saying it really confidently. So it’s about getting them thinking as early as possible about what their passion is and to start being confident in following their heart’s dream.”
On how she became “The Girl With the Big Pink Heart,” i.e. The Justin Bieber Story Kristina’s fans know her as “The Girl With the Big Pink Heart.” And it’s all thanks to Justin Bieber. “I was at Justin Bieber’s concert on his first tour in 2010 in New Jersey and throughout the entire concert, I was holding this big pink heart sign,” Kristina says. “At the end of the concert (it was his last song, an encore performance of ‘Baby’), the lights went on in the entire arena, and he says, ‘Who wants to be my baby?’ And he points over to me, and I was like, ‘Me?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, the girl with the pink heart.’ I was at the top of the lower level. I was thinking, ‘Should I go on stage?’ But I didn’t. So I basically stood on the chair and I held the big pink heart sign loud and proud and really high up, like ‘Yeaaah!!’ It was cool. It was… very magical [laughs]. On the way out [of the concert], everyone was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s the girl with the big pink heart, that’s the girl he sang ‘Baby’ to.’ Completely separate from the experience of that happening—it was absolutely unbelievable to get noticed by someone who you love as a performer—‘the girl with the big pink heart’ really describes my personality. It was kind of really fitting and very serendipitous that that happened.”
On being a go-getter “I have a notebook and I leave a sticky note on it with a list of things I need to do each day. I’m on my computer a lot, sending a lot of emails, on the phone a lot. Something that many people don’t realize, no matter what career you have, is how hard you have to work. I think a lot of people think that in the entertainment business things are just kind of handed to you. ‘Oh, I can sing, so I’m going to get on [a competition singing show].’ It doesn’t really work like that. I’m constantly making phone calls, following up, doing a lot of things to get on events. It’s a little difficult because I’m balancing the creative side with the business side. It’s a lot of planning and being organized. I’m really proud of myself because I’m basically creating opportunities and opening doors for myself. I saw [singer] Rachel Platten on ‘The View’ the other day and one of the hosts asked her, ‘When did you finally get your big break?’ And Rachel said, ‘I don’t know that I did get my big break, I think I made that break.’ When I heard her say that, I was like, She understands the struggle! It was really cool to hear about another artist who’s been working her butt off. It’s an inspiration.”
On her song cowriter “I would say overall in my life and in my career, it’s definitely my mom,” Kristina says, when asked who her mentor is. “She is literally the most dedicated and devoted person ever [Editor’s note: Kristina says, “Oh, she’s going to cry,” since her mom is there with her during out interview], she drives me everywhere. She’s always there, raring to go. She’s my biggest supporter. My mom also cowrites with me on my songs. It’s a really cool mother-daughter pairing. You don’t see that very often in music. When I tell people that, they’re like, ‘Really?’ She was a copywriter, she’s fantastic with writing, and I definitely got my writing from her. She’s really awesome.”
Check out this exclusive clip of Kristina’s new single, “R.S.V.P,” which will be available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon this fall. “‘R.S.V.P.’ is about celebrating the true value of friendship,” Kristina says. “The first lyrics of the chorus (‘Waves crash, but we last’) came to me months ago, before the project started and coincidentally, they fit perfectly with the song’s message! It’s a feel-good song and I’m so excited to perform it!”