Sugar, Spice, & Popstar Vibes: Cristal B.
It feels perfectly serendipitous that I am writing to you about Cristal on this particular week. At this point in time, The Renaissance Tour and The Eras Tour are fully in swing and boosting the economy, the Barbie movie just had a record setting opening at $155 million, and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer league is currently kicking ass. Right now, the feminine power that’s flowing through the air makes me feel like I could walk through walls, Kool-Aid man style. I love women! And I love when I come across a musician that is not weighed down by the scarcity complex that the industry tries to force us into. I love befriending women that actively pursue community, collaboration, and creation. It feels so right to be writing about Cristal in the middle of this cosmic feminine moment we’re all experiencing, because she embodies all of the best characteristics of your new favorite artist.
The Origin
Cristal began performing and writing music at 10 years old. She went from singing Selena songs at karaoke with her family, to performing in musicals, to writing her own music. Music is Cristal’s connection to her Columbian culture and to her father, who has always encouraged her exploration into creating her own music (She taught herself to play guitar at age 13 to impress her Dad! I’m gonna cry!). At 17 she recorded her first demo, but found that the result wasn’t what she wanted for herself as an artist and shortly after that, she found herself beginning college. She decided to work towards a future in nursing, establishing herself in the Oncology field. Then in the tale as old as time, the pandemic exploded across the globe and Cristal found herself a little lost. That is, until good old Dad introduced her to GarageBand and she started to unearth new parts of herself.
When I say that Cristal has a superhuman kind of determination, I mean it. She discovered she could write and even produce some of her initial songs, so she dove straight in. She took producing courses, started co-writing with other people, and began building a network and community of other musicians to learn from and support. (And, reader, she works full time. My. God.)
Her music talents aside, I find this characteristic of Cristal to be the most impressive. She is someone that actively pursues what she wants, she’s not afraid to be vulnerable with other people, and she doesn’t hide her art or herself from other people. So often we see people in music operate from a scarcity complex. They don’t extend help, or look to cultivate anything other than themselves, because that’s what they’re taught to do. Cristal has never operated that way. She created a group chat full of musicians also trying to make their own music, where they can all reach out with their latest songs they’ve released, or with questions they have about the newest Spotify updates. She’s constantly hyping up her fellow community of musicians, sharing their songs and offering support. She is always looking to better herself as an artist by collaborating with other people, and that is a special kind of bravery and vulnerability that will truly only make her a stronger musician and writer (and it’s just so goddamn refreshing).
The Music
Cristal has mastered the ability to write precise pop lyrics, perfectly accompanied by the most intuitive pop vocals, all intricately sewn into incredibly cinematic and theatrical songs. The 9 songs that Cristal has released so far each showcase an incredible range not only as a songwriter, but also as a singer. She oscillates between powerhouse vocal stylings, like Adele or Florence Welch and the bubbly, glittering popstar vibes like Taylor Swift or Rene Rapp, while also occasionally leaning into a musical theatre or pop-folk flair. For any other singer/songwriter, these leaps in style and genre would be too vast, but somehow Cristal has found a way to dip her toes into each and make them all sound uniquely hers.
In 2021, Cristal released “My Therapist” which has a flirty jazz inspired vocal line that opens up into an explosive, shadowy chorus. I love the second verse, where the lyrics sing “I know I should sleep, but what if I never get up, Just stuck in my dreams”, because the percussion turns into an ominous midnight ticking clock and the background vocals are slightly edited to sound a little like the haunting demons that plague the song. It’s an impressive 3 minutes that I would absolutely petition to be on the soundtrack of some moody CW TV show.
“Broken Heroes” is another 2021 release and was written to/for the essential workers of the pandemic (of which Cristal had first hand experience). It opens with a regal horn fanfare, and becomes an endearing homage to “We are the Champions” by Queen, while also presenting a really interesting theatrical vocal line that is a strong leader through a heavy bass line, horns, and a militant piano.
2022 began and Cristal started to dip into a bigger kind of singing. “Bittersweet” could have been on a B side of an Adele album. It’s a flawless execution of a pop power ballad with a slight 90’s flavoring. The melancholic piano drives the drama of the song, and Cristal’s vocals on the chorus are near perfect. “Do You Regret It” is another cinematic song that has a haunting piano, romantic strings, and opens into a really impressive chorus with stacked vocals (again, someone please get this girl to be on a soundtrack somewhere). “Happy Instead” is a punchy song that is light on it’s feet. The dreamy background vocals tease the listener throughout the song in the best way, and the upbeat percussion is such a nice dynamic shift for Cristal.
“Twenty Eight” is my favorite song Cristal has written. It features an acoustic guitar, and I am a goddamn sucker for an acoustic guitar. But in Cristal’s case especially, it was so smart to write this intimate look at getting older and still feeling lost with an acoustic guitar. Up until this moment her comfort instrument has been the piano. The acoustic guitar immediately establishes a new kind of vulnerability. The lyrics present being unsure of yourself, “I’m twenty eight And I never feel like I know anything”. The vocal melody directly reflects this uncertainty in how it flips upwards on the ends of phrases, it creates a rocking motion in the song that feels comforting, but unsteady in the most relateable way. My favorite moment is when Cristal sings “Am I living or just alive?”(also my favorite lyrics) and the song blossoms into a brief almost howl-like, out of body sonic sequence with the piano sneaking in. I think this song is really the culmination of all of the best things Cristal offers as an artist. It’s incredible.
This year, Cristal has released three new songs (so far). “Better Off” goes back to her piano ballad roots and Cristal just solidifies that she can write one hell of a chorus. “Happy Endings” is like “My Therapist”’s older sister. She’s more dramatic, with a sweeping bass line and suspenseful strings, with the now signature jazz vocals. It sounds like the next song to be featured in a James Bond film.
“Airport Codes” is the most recent release from Cristal. It’s a clever song about struggling through long distance, living in coded messages and hanging on to airport codes between visits. The energetic bass line, crisp percussion, and maybe the most assured vocals Cristal has given to date make this another example of Cristal’s solid mastery of the pop genre and how to build a successful pop song.
The Future
With nine released songs under her belt, all spanning vast stylistic choices, and a consciously cultivated community surrounding her, I truly feel like Cristal is just going to keep rising and meeting new thresholds of potential. I think one of my favorite parts about Cristal is that every song, every performance, every new lyric is something that she celebrates. Just like in the Barbie movie, when the Barbie’s are accepting their awards, rather than downplay their efforts to their achievements they say “I worked hard for this and I deserve it” and that is exactly how viewing and listening to Cristal feels. If she’s releasing a new song, she’s posting about it and counting down the days till it’s release. If she’s performing at an open mic, she’s telling you to come and check it out. If she’s writing new songs and wants input on it, she asks. She is so excited about music and she doesn’t take a single part of the process for granted. She absolutely deserves every bit of whatever success is coming her way.
You can listen to Cristal’s music on Spotify and Apple Music.