Antonique Smith is known for her role as Faith Evans in 2009’s Notorious, a movie about the life and death of rapper Biggie Smalls. The singer/songwriter also starred in other films like Abduction and Yelling to the Sky and Broadway’s critically acclaimed Rent. Recently, Antonique added Grammy nominated artist to her résumé with the addictive single “Hold Up Wait a Minute.” Fingers crossed that the singer/songwriter takes home a gramophone on Feb. 8. Here the New Jersey native talks about her powerful voice, forthcoming album Love is Everything and adoring Whitney Houston’s sound.
On finding her first love…
Singing is my first love. When I heard her Whitney Houston’s voice it made me want to sing. I wanted to sound like her… I wanted to be a star when I grew up, and that was the first thing that captured my heart.
On her musical influences, aside from Whitney…
Celine, Mariah, Aretha. Those are the people who shaped the way I sing. The person who I loved and her music spoke to me was Mary J. Blige. I’m from the hood too… She had that soulful hip-hop thing and some amazing songs. She was a major influence on me.
On how her voice changed…
I was a soprano when I was seven. Around puberty or mid-teens is when it started to get more powerful. In my teens, it dropped so low, but my range didn’t change. The blessing is I got a lower register, but I could still hit all those same high notes… I know the [Justin] Biebers and all of them struggle with that when they start out as kids. Then their voice changes, and they can’t sing the same kind of songs any more.
On the meaning of “Hold Up Wait a Minute:”
There’s two parts to it. We have to love ourselves and be confident. True female confidence isn’t “I don’t need a man,” because we do need each other, but it’s about knowing your worth. Nigerian girls getting kidnapped, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and all of this stuff is a “Hold Up Wait a Minute” moment. It’s putting your foot down to injustice.
On her last hold up wait a minute…
A guy was using my money to go see another girl.
On what she’s learned from starring in Broadway’s Rent…
Broadway was a super training ground. Doing the same show eight times a week made it easy for me on a movie set. When the director yelled cut and do it again, I was able to do the same scene with spontaneity because I had to perform the same show and make it fresh—like it’s happening for the first time. Being able to sing like that every night, eight times a week, that helps when I’m doing shows.
