We know how hard it can be to walk in the footsteps of family members who have left a mark on the community. So we could only imagine the pressure of breaking out into the music industry as a solo act and having to live up to the demands of fans who recognize family members who are in the industry. But for Kristinia DeBarge, she’s not worried about it. She’s just pursuing something she’s wanted to do for a while and actually makes it look effortless. But don’t think the daughter of DeBarge member, James hasn’t had her share of media and peers trying to Sabotage her debut career. If it isn’t nosey reporters asking her time after time if she’s Janet Jackson’s long lost daughter or simply hating on her because she bares the last name ‘DeBarge,’ Kristinia is living proof that through it all you can look adversity in the face, hold your head up high, brush your shoulders off and move along! What people don’t realize is she’s putting in her dues just like everyone else in the industry and though her last name is infamous for good music, Kristinia is doing it all on her own.

 FULL BLAST Magazine affilate, ThePrinceOfAllMedia.com,  had the chance to talk with her back in August of 2009, while she was on her first touring experience ever as the opening act during the second North American leg of The Circus Starring Britney Spears Tour. At that time, she had just completed the first show in Hamilton, Canada and was on her way to Ottawa. Since then Kristinia has completed her share of the tour and received raved reviews for her performances of Future Love and Goodbye off of her debut album, Exposed and has even become one of the faces for Baby Phat. This interview is special to me because I got the chance to chat with “Kristinia from Pasadena,” who was humble and grateful for the opportunity to tour after her album had only debut a month before. Kristinia and I discussed our addictions to shopping & Twitter, how she picked singles to make into videos, and her enjoyment of connecting with her fans. DeBarge may be her last name, but Kristinia has made it clear she can sustain the crowd on her own.

FULL BLAST Magazine: You released Exposed in July and already you have been touring as the opening act for The Circus Starring Britney Spears Tour. How did you come about this opportunity and are you excited about being apart of it?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: Absolutely, I’m actually here on the tour right now. We just started and I did my first show in Hamilton. We were in Canada for the first stop and it was an amazing show last night, it was tons of people there. I got a rush from the stage last night, before I went on the stage I got a rush. I felt really good, I just went up there and had fun and I’m going to continue to do that on the rest of the tour. I’m excited; we’re actually on our way to Ottawa right now.

FBM: Being that you have the chance to tour with Britney, have you been taking in this tour as a learning experience?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: Yeah, absolutely! I mean this is all a learning experience for me, I think every part of it. I’ve never been on tour before, so I’ve heard that it’s really tiring and that your pooped after the tour, but I am making sure that I get a lot of rest. Like, I would love to watch her show every night, but I would like to get to mine’s too, so like last night I was feeling really tired so I went back to my hotel and slept and just tried to get as much rest as I can, because I know that they really work you hard on these tours so I’m definitely looking at this as a learning experience and I’m learning so much already even though it’s the first day. It’s really interesting.

FBM: How did you come up with the concept for the video Sabotage and will there be a video for Future Love?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: I’m not sure if there’s going to be a video for Future Love, I have to see, that’s still in discussion, but I’ve definitely written a treatment for some other songs. But I came up with the treatment for Sabotage when I was just at home, I was on my computer and I was with my mom. She kind of helped me. I was like “you know what, this is what I want the purpose to be,” and I thought it would be really dope to have a piano scene, some beauty shots in there. I would have loved for the story line to come out more but we kind of just decided to focus everything more on Kristinia’s performance – it was like a performance video, just kind of a girl who’s figuring out who she is. She’s talking about it and expressing it through her eyes and her mouth and her body movement. It’s showing me finding myself throughout that whole video but kind of the bad girl taking over at the same time. It’s a very interesting concept of how we came up with it and how it morphs into that. I just kind of told the director which scenes I wanted in there and which scenes I thought we could do without and we went from there.

FBM: Is it harder to pick singles off of a completed album or is it harder to come up with the concept for videos?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: I would say it is harder to pick the singles because the singles… there’s so many good songs, and when you have a lot of good songs it’s a good thing but it’s also kind of hard. Your like, “what are people going to respond to the most?” I definitely love Future Love and I really wanted that to be the second single. I had a part in all my songs and I’m happy with the decision that was made on Sabotage but I would have loved for Future Love to be the second single. I know how much my fans are responding to it, I see how much people love that song. It was in the top one hundred on iTunes so it’s definitely hot. We made the decision that we made and everyone still loves Sabotage which is great, and we’re just going to promote it as much as we can and do the best that we can with the singles. But it’s definitely hard especially when you have your heart set on a particular song that you love and you know in your heart that people are going to respond to and people are going to love.

FBM: Being a ‘DeBarge,’ and the musical history behind that name, did you feel any pressure to make sure you lived up to the family name in putting together an album such as Exposed that would deliver on the same level as family members before you?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: You know, a lot of people ask me that question and I tell them the same thing every time that ‘no,’ I feel like if anything having that name is a bonus and it’s a blessing. My family – they’ve never put any pressure on me so therefore I’ve never felt any pressure and they’ve always made me feel like I’m going to go out there and be all that I can be and that’s enough and I thank God for that. Cause when you have so much pressure on you and people are in your face telling you that you need to be this and you need to be that, it’s not fun anymore. So thank God that I have a family that’s very supportive and they don’t put any pressure on me.

FBM: Speaking of your family, your uncle Chico DeBarge recently released his sixth studio album, Addiction around the same time your album Exposed was released. Would you ever consider doing any collaboration with your uncle?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: Absolutely, I would love to do a song with my uncle, Chico. I think that it would be really dope that if he and I wrote a ballad together and maybe if he was playing the piano and I was singing – we just jamming – that would be so dope. And maybe we could do a couple shows together, that would be really cool. I envision that so you know, it will happen one day.

FBM: Who have been some of your musical influences?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: I’m inspired by everybody! I love Gwen Stefani, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Minnie Riperton, Janet Jackson, AC/DC, Guns & Roses, Led Zeppelin, Queens of the Stone Age, Janice Joplin, Michael Jackson… the list can go on if you want (laughs).

FBM: Now WE read some publication a while back that you came to the Mall of America in Minnesota and you shopped for hours. This leads US to believe that you’re a bit of a shop-a-holic.

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: (Laughs)

FBM: What’s the longest time you’ve spent shopping and what’s your favorite store?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: I would say about six hours.

FBM: Six hours?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: Six hours! (Laughs) I don’t think that’s that long. Six hours is not that long, I mean if you really want to go all out, you can spend about ten hours. But six hours is probably the longest because I don’t usually have that much time, but when I have an off day and I just want to chill – and I’m not completely shopping that six hours like straight, I’m doing other things like eating, taking breaks, I’m chillin’ for a minute. See if I’m shopping for six hours I’m good for like another month, you know what I’m sayin’?

FBM: Right!

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: I’d say that’s like the longest and my favorite store is Free People. Some people know about the store, some people don’t. It’s a pretty pricey store, but I love the store because they have a lot of cute stuff in there and I feel like it defines my style perfectly. Like every time I go in there they have something that its so me, it’s like “that me, that’s who I am, I would wear that,” and I pretty much go crazy in the store (laughs) but I love the store, they have a lot of cute stuff.

FBM: We also read somewhere that you have a suto-addiction to Twitter (twitter.com/kristinia).  How often do you tweet?

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: Oh my God! Okay, can I tell you that since I’ve gotten here that I haven’t been able to tweet because first of all I’ve been having issues with my laptop and Internet at the hotel I was at. Apparently the Internet was down over there or something, so I couldn’t go on the Internet, and I definitely can’t go on my phone for some reason because when you’re out of the U.S. its weird – I guess the data roaming charges are crazy expensive, I don’t know. But I haven’t been able to go on the Internet since I’ve been in Canada and that’s been driving me CRAAAZZZZYYY! (Laughs) So uhm, I’m definitely going crazy right now because I haven’t been able to tweet that I’m having a ball and I’m here in Canada, so I’m definitely addicted to Twitter.

FBM: These next two questions are fan questions via Twitter!

KRISTINA DeBARGE: Oh cool!

FBM: A fan said they saw you in a recent copy of People explaining how you are not Janet Jackson’s daughter and how people believed you were. The fan asks why you felt the need to speak on that.

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: Well, people ask me all the time and I don’t bring it up unless someone else does. So that’s why I spoke about it. I spoke about it because someone asked me and if no one asks me about it I’m not just going to bring it up, but if they ask me about it, I’m going to be honest and truthful and I’m not going to lie. It’s funny because my dad (James DeBarge) and Janet were married way before I was born (side note: James & Janet married in 1984 & annulled in 1985, Kristinia born in 1990). So uhm, it’s a little silly but I can understand why people would make those assumptions because my dad and Janet were married and they had a very close relationship and still do till this day, and there were a lot of assumptions back then that she was pregnant and it was all over the newspapers and there was a whole story and what not. But I definitely have a mom (laughs) her name is Kristine, and I have pictures with her in the hospital so I guess we’ll put those out on YouTube or something you know, we’ll do what we gotta do! (Laughs)

FBM: The last question also from Twitter, a fan wanted to know how you deal with negative commentary. The fan said they read an article from a writer by the name of Ryan Brockington with the New York Post where the title of the article was “Kristinia DeBarge: Nepotism at Its Best.” A quote in the article was “one lucky little nepotistical lady.” They just wanted to know how you deal with negative media.

KRISTINIA DeBARGE: (Laughs) that’s funny! I think it’s funny honestly because I take it as when someone doesn’t know you, and their being negative and their pointing the finger or their pointing out all your flaws, its because their insecure, that’s how I look at it. I’ve never talked bad about anybody because I’m very confident. I mean, everyone is insecure in their own way – but I’m not that type of person where I need to bring someone else down or bad mouth someone else – and that’s what it pretty much shows me so that’s why I laugh, I think its hilarious, I just kind of feel bad for them. That’s how I look at it.