Make Life Richer

I think many of us take a look back at the previous year around this time, and I have to say I am so excited with all the amazing things that happened here at KJE.

We completed Juggernaut, had an HMMA nomination for This Life, had the first experience of hearing my music played on the radio, got great media coverage with more coming, and have had Juggernaut songs heard by people in at least 101 countries so far.

Things keep moving forward. We are working on creating a show to bring life to the music, looking forward to announcing live appearances soon, and are already playing with new songs ideas for the next album. With all that's happened in 2009, I am truly excited to think of what's to come in 2010.

But the best part of everything that has happened thus far is being able to share it all with those closest to me, part of what makes any experience special being able to share it with someone else. Without that it’s almost a wasted moment.

So I think for this New Years it will be my new goal, and I invite anyone else to try as well, to make sure to involve those closest in every special moment. It makes life that much richer.

Peace to all in 2010,
Krys

Check out Krys's website, hear him on free online radio, Friend Krys on MySpace, Download any Juggernaut album tracks or the entire album from iTunes or Amazon, and check out Krys on YouTube.

Music That Moves You

So earlier this month I talked about Real Work and being told that making the music was the easy part and once the album was finished the real work would begin. I never truly knew what was meant by that until now, so here's another blogpost on it having moved from album creation to promo and show development - fun but hard work.

This week we met with choreographers to start to bring the music to life and give breath to what I have envisioned all along as the visuals to my songs.

It is extremely exciting for me personally because I am curious to see how a professional choreographer interprets my music into dance moves and how the music moves them.

At the same time we are also debating which song from the album we should be creating our first video for. I am leaning towards All Night Long but Not Stoppin', and Dream Your Life Away are contenders too. Maybe even This Life since it's so different from the others. I would love to hear from you... which do you think?

By the way, the photo is me being interviewed on the red carpet at the HMMAs last week. Totally unrelated to this post but just what else is going on!

Happy Thanksgiving and Peace,

Krys

Check out Krys Justice website.

My First Time

No, not that! I'm talking about Friday morning when I was headed over to the studio to work on show prep and a friend texted me and said 'hey you're on the radio!' San Diego's Star 94.1 played All Night Long from the Juggernaut album and then had listeners call in. They were the FIRST to play me on the air, and for a recording artist it's like, well, you know ;)

I texted my manager Grant who was already at the studio and grinning ear to ear when I got there. After two years of pulling something together like Juggernaut from nothing, it meant an awful lot to me getting AJ, Hula, Geena and Delana's feedback and hearing listeners call in saying they liked it.

I really took the the team's feedback to heart - AJ's right on the pan flute being in the intro, and hopefully he'll also like other album songs like Dream Your Life Away, This Life and Juggernaut that aren't about girls and clubs; I'm glad All Night Long brought Delana to her feet like I hope, say, CTTC (Cut To The Chase) will; Hula made me feel like I was on Oprah (how cool is that?); and Geena was right on about the intro that's already being reworked to be even more radio play friendly.

I'm headed to the HMMA awards in Hollywood this week for This Life and working hard pulling together my show to support the album - and feeling great thanks to my awesome fans writing to me from all over the world and now Star 94.1. Thanks guys!

Peace,
Krys

Check out Krys Justice website.

Fan Questions

A couple of conversations with fans lately made me think about things.

On the lighter side, I was asked today by a fan in Minnesota about the Juggernaut cover photo and what it means. Mostly it's just a play on the definition of the word 'Juggernaut' but some say it's Superman, and sure it's a play on that too. I welcome opinions cuz every one of them will be right! As for whether it's 'me' (ya, it's actually 100% me), the other way to answer this is that there's probably this hero character in all of us. But the photo for This Life, say, is probably just as much who I am.

Speaking of heroes, I was inspired by someone else yesterday, one of our nation's defenders who happens to be from San Diego, too, but is in New York now preparing to go to Afghanistan to help protect us here at home. He said to me "I'm under a lot of stress... but just like your song said 'so many questions inside, what do we do with this life'. Well I figured out what to do with this life and that's fight for this country." I don't know whether This Life will play much on the radio or in clubs like All Night Long, Not Stoppin' or CTTC, but his words are much greater reward. Keep safe, bro, and thanks for what YOU do.

Peace,
Krys

Check out Krys Justice website.

Real Work

For a recording artist, they say that the real work begins once the album is completed. Well I can tell you first hand this is no joke. Creating the album, although difficult in itself, seems easy now compared to everything else. I will admit every step is as exciting as the last and with every new achievement the momentum keeps building and building.

They also say “the calm comes before the storm”, and if this is the calm than there is a colossal storm coming. With the HMMAs this month on the heals of a great interview with DYSMD emag, and the launching of Krys Justice singles on online radio (Krys & Top Artists - Free Online Streaming Radio Channel) with growing fan support I'm truly honored by, I know it is the foreshadowing of much more to come.

And I know with the help of my management team at KJE, Inc. and all my amazing fans around the world Mr. Justice aka Juggernaut is up for the challenge. So stay tuned cause the show is just getting started.

Peace,
Krys

Check out Krys Justice website.

Summer Flew But JUGGERNAUT Coming!

Wow, where'd the summer go? Fortunately the beach never really goes away when you live in San Diego, if I can only find time for it! August was pretty much focused on finishing out the Juggernaut album and this week I'm working with the guys at Capricorn Studios who do a great job with the final mixing and getting the levels right. Can't wait to have the album launched!

I'm also jazzed about an interview I did with DYSMD.TV emagazine that's out today. How cool is a "digizine"? I'd met up with Tania Hormozi from the magazine in the lobby of the Hyatt last month and she had the fun challenge of trying to distill an hour long interview into about 500 words! Check out page 26 for yours truly: http://www.dysmd.tv/mag/sept2009/index.html. And check out the whole magazine for what's going down in Daygo, there are some great articles about cool people making the scene happen!

Peace,
Krys

Check out Krys Justice website.

The Death of Auto-Tune?

In this age of instant gratification, it seems artists have become lazier and lazier when it comes to honing their craft. In rap, instead of developing a unique style or sound they quickly use plug-ins to enhance vocals. Now don’t get me wrong, even though my singing doesn't happen to need pitch correction (This Life is about as raw as it gets), I'll still use it myself for what I hope is a subtle artistic effect, like in All Night Long. But I believe in doing it in a tasteful manner to enhance my style and not have it become my style.

If you’re not sure what I am referring to Auto-Tune is a program now widely used in studios since Cher first did in 1998. You might know it as the "T-Pain sound". Ever since his explosion onto the scene with I’m in love With a Stripper, everyone and their mom is using Auto-Tune to make an “instant hit”. But has it all gone too far?

Well, mogul rapper Jay-Z seems to think so with his new track D.O.A (Death of Autotune). But what’s interesting to me about this track is that who helped produce it is Kanye West, an artist that just made his entire album using Auto-Tune. Now I see no problem with an artist expanding their craft and pushing the limits, but at least they should stay consistent with their messages.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your feedback so hit me up. Until then I’m not stoppin til it gets poppin, ya’ll.

Peace,
Krys

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Flat Stomach for Summer

It’s that time of year again, especially here in Cali when peeps decide to get up off that thing and shed the winter lbs (as if we have winter here). Now my last post talked about when I do cardio, before or after weights (after is better). So what else to do to get a chiseled six pack? Well, diet is THE largest factor in this equation. WHAT exercises you do decides how the muscle will look once you shed that winter coat, but diet uncovers your abs.

But as for exercises, many people think a bunch of sit ups and crunches is all they need to do. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with crunches or sit ups (if done correctly). It’s just that for the average person who sits at a desk or in their car all day this just exaserbates tightness in the hip flexor area which leads to lower back discomfort.

So if you are in an office cube all day sit ups and crunches are a NO-NO. What you need is to work on core strength and stability. Your hip flexors already over dominate and actually need to be stretched out (along with your erecter spines: lower back) and your glutes and abdominal muscles need to be strengthened. Here is an exercise you can do every day to achieve that much desired flat stomach:

Plank Exercise:



If you do this excercise every day for a good two weeks you will start to see results. And by the way, you actually CAN work on your stomach all day long. That old saying of not to suck your gut in is the exact opposite of what you want to do. As often as you think of it, try constantly squeezing your stomach and glutes that will help tighten those areas so your belly does not hang out.

Let me know how it’s going for you!

Peace, Krys.

Click here to return to Krys Justice website.

iTunes

This was an exciting week for the Krys Justice camp, my first two singles Not Stoppin’ and All Night Long off the upcoming JUGGERNAUT album went live on iTunes, the last of 13 online stores my music is available worldwide. Totally stoked! This further cements the realness of things for me and the KJ momentum building.

To all my amazing fans, be sure to hit up iTunes for the download, and set your alerts for Krys Justice because my next pre-release single This Life is already on Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, Lala, Shockhound, and IMVU and will be up on iTunes any day now.

So for now I ain’t stopping til it gets poppin, Peace!

Krys

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Workouts done Justice!

I have a confession to make; I am a bit of a work out fanatic… if you hadn’t noticed. For most people working out is a love-hate relationship, but for me it’s definitely a love-obsession, or, like the Governator describes it (caution: this clip is pre-Kindergarten Cop)…




So in this constant pursuit of physical perfection I’ve picked up a few tid-bits of workout knowledge that I felt I could share. So for my first of a weekly update I will bestow some Justice upon your workouts (ha).


Tip: “When Do I Do Cardio?”

People, including myself, have questioned this. Before or after weights? For me, I’ve found that the best time to do cardio, is after resistance training. The reason is our body stores a natural supply of Creatine that is used for developing lean muscle, and if you do cardio before weights you will consume this supply. That’s like Popeye eating spinach before he goes on Twitter, kind of pointless. Ya dig? Also by doing weights first you put your body into fat oxidation mode before cardio so you are automatically burning more calories when you do your cardio last.
What about you?

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Star Trek

Last night I was at a private screening of Star Trek at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. My manager’s a friend of Rod Roddenberry of Roddenberry Productions. Rod’s one cool guy and grew up with the Star Trek franchise since his dad, Gene Roddenberry, created it.

The kind of action films I like are “Ironman,” “Transformers” and “Man on Fire.” And guess what? If you like those too, I think you’re going to love this movie. Instant classic, J.J. Abrams did a great job. It had my attention from the beginning and never let go.

The story was well developed and had great background on each of the characters inviting even young viewers to become instant fans. The casting was well done, the animation was amazing, and there was great humor throughout. Star Trek has become cool again! Anyway, check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. I’m going to have to go see it again soon.

Click here to return to Krys Justice website.

Songwriting today

I can't begin to say how much I took away from my three days at the ASCAP Expo in LA. It's a conference for songwriters, composers and producers--in case you've never heard of it. But since I write all my own lyrics and arrange and produce my own music, this was definitely where I needed to be last week.

What made the biggest impact on me was the generosity of the songwriters that shared their experiences and what they've learned along the way. Check the talent on this panel out:

• Natasha Bedingfield - Songwriter, Performer - "Unwritten," "Pocketful of Sunshine," "Love Like This," "These Words"
• Sean Callery - Composer - TV: 24, Bones, Medium, La Femme Nikita
• Wyclef Jean - Songwriter, Producer, Performer - "Gone Till November," "Hips Don't Lie," The Score, The Carnival
• Ryan Tedder - Songwriter, Performer - "Apologize," "Bleeding Love," "Stop and Stare"
• Craig Wiseman - Founder - Big Loud Shirt Industries; Songwriter - "Live Like You Were Dying," "Believe," "Summertime," "A Baby Changes Everything"

You probably think of them as overnight successes, but it took Ryan Tedder eight years and a lot of false starts to get his songs on the map. But now he can't keep up with the demand.

Wyclef Jean's story is also incredibly inspiring. He came from such humble beginnings and through his creativity and perseverance turned into a major international recording artist.

There's a lot about this industry that's ridiculous, but true artists like them keep it real for their fans and those following in their footsteps like me. I'll try to get some photos up here in the next few days -- have just been busy getting back to San Diego and routine!

Click here to return to Krys Justice website.

Hey there, it's Krys!

Hi! Welcome to my blog and thanks for checking it out! We're working on figuring out the 'technical stuff' so I can most easily keep in touch with everyone. As we get that stuff up and ‘live,’ this will be where you hear and see it first.

OK, meantime, I'm really excited about the launch of the Krys Justice website http://www.krysjustice.com/ ! If you haven't been there yet, check it out. And, after nearly two years under development, my debut album JUGGERNAUT will be released this summer.

The first two singles, Not Stoppin' and All Night Long, have arrived on music sites like Rhapsody and Lala, and are coming soon to iTunes and Amazon. Stay tuned for updates on where to download…

But most importantly, I want to hear from you!!! Tell me what you think, I really want to know. And as I'm able I'll be responding too. THANKS, I really appreciate your support!!!!

Krys

Click here to return to Krys Justice website.