If you were to meet local singer, songwriter and fellow student at Wilfrid Laurier University, Kirstin Corbett in person, I think you would be most struck by her kindness and warmth as a person.
“I won a belching contest, I won an award for best hidden talent in first year at Willison Hall and that’s how people may or may not recognize me,” Corbett said.
Corbett is also becoming more recognizable for her singing and performances across the K-W region. In particular she often spends time singing at Wilf’s on open mic nights, The Boathouse in Kitchener and The Pub on King in uptown Waterloo.
“I love playing at open mics because you can always see new talent and play whatever you want with a really easygoing audience,” Corbett said.
Through the more relaxed form of open mic nights at various places in K-W Corbett has created a name for herself, proving to be a popular and often seen fixture.
I think many of us can relate to how difficult it can be to hone, practice and perfect a hobby. Whether it’s basket weaving or singing, a great deal of time can be put into things.
“I’m not too sure [when I’m performing next] but the people that I’m working with right now they just secured some festival space, so they secured some land in Doon, so we might be playing a festival which will be really cool,” Corbett said.
“I loved writing poems when I was younger and it was around Grade Seven that I was like ‘oh my god this is what I want to do’ and I started writing songs and then in grade ten I learned guitar and I put music to it and then I’ve just been playing ever since,” Corbett said.
Corbett especially challenges herself with the material she performs.
“Yes I write all my own songs, I don’t like playing covers,” she said.
“I have a hard time mimicking another artist’s sound and finding my own, so I find when I write my own music I already have my own sound.”
While Corbett has been exploring her musical talents for a great deal of her life, she hasn’t always done so.
“I took a really big break from it and I wasn’t playing for almost a year and a half during second and third year of university cause I got really overwhelmed and I was getting super depressed, so I when I started writing again and getting back into it, it made me a lot happier and better, I just felt better too. So it’s more of a therapy for me,” she said.
For Corbett, music is not just about what it does for her and how it functions as her own therapy, but for what it does for her audience as well.
“I like the way it makes my audience feel, and how when I have emotion in a song because all my songs have a meaning behind them that when other people listen to them and they can relate, it just makes me really happy and makes me like it’s the reason why I’m doing it,” she said.
“I’m not too sure [when I’m performing next] but the people that I’m working with right now they just secured some festival space, so they secured some land in Doon, so we might be playing a festival which will be really cool,” Corbett said.
Kirstin left our interview with a piece of positive and uplifting advice about singing and music in general:
“I would tell anyone who’s struggling writing music to just do it for you because it can make you such a better person, and make you so much happier and even if you aren’t getting recognized or getting money from it, at least you’re having fun.”
