I always feel good after I change my hair. You get a haircut and feel positive and ready to take on the day.
— Kirstin Maldonado
I always wanted to do musical theater. That was where I saw my life going since I was a musical theater major in college before I went to Pentatonix.
I do want to do more acting! I love it. It's so fun.
I love all the 'Harry Potter' books. Those are just my favorites.
My favorite singer was Shania Twain. I would love for her to sing with me. And J. Lo - they are my favorites.
Adulting is hard.
My mom and dad weren't together, so I never thought I would get married.
When I was a kid I was always listening and singing along to Disney compilation CDs.
Jennifer Lopez and Sara Bareilles are my tops! Both incredibly hard-working and talented women.
I want to inspire people to tear down their walls, especially for teenage girls.
When the movie 'Selena' came out, I got really obsessed with her, and my mom and I went and saw it.
Literally, when the pilot came out for 'Glee,' I think we had a watching party or something. We were all seniors, and everyone all of a sudden in the show choir were so excited. We were like, 'This show is awesome. It's so cool. This is exactly us.'
We always try to make every song we do sound like a track. It's vocal, but we want it to be really full so no one really can even know if it's a cappella. It's not like it's missing anything, per se.
I would definitely go back to 'Kinky Boots' because that family, I think, is so wonderful and incredible, and my role and my part were just so fun to play. But I would definitely love to do other shows as well.
I was so happy to be able to be a part of Broadway Bares and had the best time ever!
I shaved a quarter of my hair one time, and my poor nana was crying when I FaceTimed her, but I was like, 'It's just hair! It's fun.'
I feel like I have to be on my game because I have to handle my solo stuff and Pentatonix stuff, so it has really kept me on my toes in a good way.
I think, now that I've been writing songs in general, whether it's for the group or for me, I definitely feel like I got a little trigger happy, because it was so exciting to have production and create and put a lot in there.
It is based off the pentatonic scale, which is a five-note scale in music. And there are five of us. We were going to be The Pentatonix, but we dropped the 'The' and added an 'x' to try and be cooler.
That's the power of the Internet: you can literally find everything.
I never planned out my wedding.
Coming out of a group, it's always really fun and creative to do your own thing.
Ever since I was little, Broadway had always been my passion.
Every single 'no' that you get, you know that that was an experience that you learned from. Keep going.
I want people to see that I'm just a girl who went for her dreams.
I really wished I'd learned Spanish. I took it all in high school and was planning on trying to be fluent in it. I would get Selena tracks and sing with them and stuff like that.
It's really, really cool that we've been able to have these opportunities to surround ourselves with these people because they're brilliant. Like, Dolly Parton is legendary, and she's maybe the nicest person I've ever met in my entire life and, like, amazing.
I think YouTube has been super instrumental in our success as well, because I think there's something really important about seeing and hearing what we're doing.
I think it's cool to do a summer outdoor show because, growing up, like, those were always the shows and the concerts that I would get to see, where I would be sitting on the grass with my friends and hanging out, and it was such a moment.
What better way is there to raise money for such an important organization like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS than by celebrating all types of bodies, all types of relationships, and just acceptance overall?
When Pentatonix started, my whole vision of what I thought my life was gonna be completely changed - in a great way, obviously. I never thought that I would have the confidence to do this.
Even before Pentatonix, I always thought that I would be out here in New York doing Broadway and doing musical theater. That was what gave me the passion for music in the first place, so it's been really, really, cool.
The experiences you gain by doing something solo - you have such a great work effort there as well, one we all have now - we can all bring it back to the group.
A cappella group names are hard!
I think the first big thing I did: I sang at my mom's wedding when I was almost 8, so 7... that was my first thing.
I thought I would move to New York and be on Broadway; that was my goal. I was very work-focused.
I started voice lessons when I was eight years old.
I remember seeing 'Chicago' and 'Legally Blonde' and waiting by the stage door.
So many people don't believe in themselves; people are worth so much more than what social media shows.
Jennifer Lopez, she's my girl! And Shakira... I really like her.
Our album stuff, we bring it to our producer to help us finesse. But anything that's been on YouTube and a lot of the stuff that's been on the album, too, it started from us just sitting around in a circle and jamming it and finding where the parts fit.
I feel like a lot of like the old-timey Christmas songs, the classics, a lot of it is very vocal. A lot of harmonies and, like, crooners, it puts you in that holiday spirit, I feel like.
Gwen Stefani was just the most incredible frontwoman. She was the total cool girl.
I love snow cones.
The theater community is so incredible, kind, and supportive.
