The sun may have set on Rising Star season one, but one of the show's contestants, Sonnet Simmons is just getting started. Best known on the show for her performance of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," Simmons is a musical chameleon, blending together the worlds of commercial music, opera and jazz artistry and a falsetto that resonates for days.
Though her voice is hauntingly beautiful, Simmons comes from her own haunting past. As revealed on Rising Star, she was born in Athens, Greece, into a cult, though she escaped with her mother as a young child. Simmons has carried that past with her for years, pouring herself into music (and eventually becoming an inspiration for Rising Star judge Kesha's "cat cult").
Though Simmons was eliminated from the competition after three live performances, Music Times spoke with her following the Aug. 24 finale of Rising Star and touched on what happened behind-the-scenes on one of television's most experimental reality competitions, her own musical and personal past and hopes for the future.
Music Times: Were you at the finale on Aug. 24? How was that?
Sonnet Simmons: Crazy! Kind of bittersweet to be saying goodbye to everybody and not be singing onstage.
MT: Can you walk me through your musical life up until Rising Star?
SS: I've always been singing. Even before I was walking and talking, I was singing. It's always been my form of getting through – my childhood was a little bit up and down. I went to a performing arts high school before going to college for opera, but then I changed to jazz. I knew I wanted to sing but I didn't quite know what I wanted to do with my life.
So, I tried a lot of things. It wasn't until I started songwriting that it all came together... the first song I wrote got placed in a Coca-Cola ad. It was an interesting thing for me as an artist and it started me on that path of writing for other people.
MT: How did you get on Rising Star? What was the process to get onto the live auditions?
SS: There were a lot of rounds of auditions. You auditioned for the producers and they went around the States. Then there would be a couple more weeks and you'd get called in for another round. Then there would maybe be another couple of weeks and you'd get called in for another round. So there was a lot of me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear if I'd made it to the live auditions.
MT: Rising Star is very live. I can only imagine standing on that stage and seeing the big voting numbers and if the wall is down you're very aware of how you're doing with the audience. How did you not let that pressure get to you?
SS: I think you have this sort of survival mechanism that kicks in. It was just like, "I'm going to do this because I love to do it, and everything else tunes out. You can't think about "Oh my gosh this is going out on live television." You just have to remember that this is what you love to do and just go out there and do that. That mindset kind of leads the way. Now, leading up to walking out there, you're thinking about all of those things. I don't know how we survived. It's kind of that survival mechanism of keep your head up.
MT: As a viewer I just kept thinking, "How are they not sobbing onstage?!" I couldn't deal with it.
SS: I came close a couple of times.
MT: What was your normal week like as a contestant on Rising Star?
SS: We all stayed in a hotel together. We had early mornings and then we would work all day long. We met with a vocal coach who helped us arrange the songs, match them with our voices and then also help us work through it so we were comfortable and continue learning. Every week you're learning a new song so you don't have a lot of time to know the song and play with it.
Halfway through the week we'd go in and record the iTunes version –– we'd had the song for about two days at that point. That was a really fun experience because you got to truly make the song your own but you're also kind of in rehearsal. So, you're rehearsing for the show while putting it down for everyone to hear forever on iTunes. Leading up to the show there was a lot of B-roll with them shooting our story and creating our packages that allowed the audience to get to know who we are as people.
There was a lot of building relationships, singing songs and going back to the hotel to go to bed early. The competition was what we were all focused on 100 percent. I think one of the challenges was staying mentally focused.
MT: How much interaction did you have with the judges and Josh Groban? Did you work with them a lot?
SS: I didn't have too much interaction with the judges. We got to sit with them for a session in the afternoon when we were kind of finishing up with the song, and they gave us feedback. That was super helpful. One, they're judging you that week so they can take the lessons they apply to you and show that you've actually listened. And also, their advice was very straight-on for me.
MT: What was some of the best advice they gave you?
SS: For me, it was them wanting me to be even more connected to the song. Even in my life I have this tendency to put my walls up. I've kind of needed to do that for a survival mechanism as a child but it's not the time to put your walls up when you're onstage. They reminded me it was not the time to put my walls up, you need to tear them down to connect to the audience. It was good advice that I need to work on both musically and personally.
MT: You've been through a lot in your life, from being born into a cult to being deaf in one ear. How has that affected you both as a person and an artist?
SS: I think as a person it's given me a lot of opportunity for growth. It's what I've been learning the last couple of years: the things that hurt me at the time, being the new girl or the weird girl, that those things don't hurt me anymore. I so just wanted to be normal.
But as an artist, I can really embrace who I am as an individual, and that's what makes me different and that's what gets me offers. That definitely comes out in my songwriting. I can show the depth of my story and the struggle on how I try to stay connected. It took me a while to figure that out because I just wanted to fit in for a really long time and sing normal songs that everyone sings, but I found my voice and it really helped me embrace being different.
MT: It's always so interesting how what is painful or different as a child helps make you become a better artist. I feel like that happens so often.
SS: Yeah, you have to be willing to go there. You have to be willing to look at what makes you different, own it and share it. Rising Star was the first time I publicly announced I was born into a cult because I didn't want people to know when I was a kid... it was too different. But now, it's like, yes, this is who I am and it's a part of my story.
MT: This was a thing that took off on social media. After you announced that on TV, Kesha noted she was very interested in cults and had a "cat cult" of her own. How did that make you feel as someone who went through that traumatic experience?
SS: Well, I did feel a little awkward about it but I did recognize it's a thing of intrigue for people. I got a firsthand, well, secondhand experience of it because I wasn't in it for long. I was young when my mother took me out. But, I understand that it's intriguing and it's interesting. I prefer that over someone being really weird and awful and not want to talk to me. I much prefer it to be interesting.
MT: They kept mentioning it and playing into it. I remember thinking, "Oh, I hope Sonnet is okay with all of this!"
SS: It kind of took its own form, the Kesha cult thing. After a while it wasn't even about me or my life.
MT: Now that Rising Star is over, what's next for you?
SS: So many things – there are so many balls in the air. I'm working on a record and looking to start writing for other artists. I have an EP coming out and some live shows I'm planning around the States a little bit. I'm just connecting with the people I've met and building a career and staying true to my art.
For more information about Sonnet Simmons, view her YouTube page, Twitter and official website.
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