By Kate Quesada
Many teens use music to express their feelings, but Valrico resident Karinna Crespo has taken it a step further writing and recording an original song that she hopes many others will relate to.
Crespo, a 13-year-old student at Mulrennan Middle School, released her song Blurry in late August and it is now available to purchase online.
“When I got the idea to write the song, my initial goal was to pass on a message to other kids with insecurities, the main target being teen aged girls,” said Crespo. “It seems like nowadays society creates these invisible little boxes which are filled to the brim with standards for beauty and personality. If people don’t fit into those boxes, they are considered weird or ugly or imperfect.”
The song Blurry is Crespo’s answer to this problem.
“I want to show people that make-up and fancy clothes are not what make a person beautiful,” she said. “We are so much more than just materialistic puppets controlled by what the world deems are perfect.”
According to Crespo’s mother Yadira Talamantez, Crespo began singing in first grade and sang in her school choir, a USF choir and the Entertainment Revue in Tampa. She was also featured singing in a Super Bowl commercial.
“Karinna has always had a talent for writing stories,” said Talamantez. “When she was in seventh grade she went through that tough phase that most girls go through when they are trying to figure out where they belong. She was pretty down about fitting in so I encouraged her to get more involved in our church. She started to then sing in the choir there. We did a lot of positive encouragement and one day she decided to put her feelings into words.”
Although it only took Crespo a day to write Blurry, she feels that its release would not have been possible without her friends Charles Kossivi and Damon Idomiz Curtis, who have both released music themselves.
Crespo, whose dream is to perform on Broadway, is currently working on writing and releasing additional songs and hopes all her music will be available for purchase on iTunes and Spotify in the near future.
For information and to listen to or purchase Blurry, visit www.karinnalanee.bandcamp.com. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Karinna Lanee.
