Hi Kandice, could you please start by introducing yourself to the readers on Portrait?
Hello, Portrait readers! I’m Kandice Melonakos, and I’m a nearly-19-year-old pop singer and songwriter. I’ve been singing all my life and writing since I was six, and I have a few other things up my sleeve as well! I live in Los Angeles and I’m now working with amazing people in music and technology.

We know you wrote all of your songs on your own album, so what do you enjoy most about writing songs?
It’s difficult to describe the process of creating music. It’s a beautiful thing. There is nothing more rewarding than turning emotions and ideas into a piece of art that expresses them. I love the challenge of exploring how many different ways I can express a simple concept in my writing. Once a song is finished, if it takes me back to the experience that it is written about—if it really makes me, or anyone else, feel something—then I have succeeded. That is my favorite part of writing songs.

Tell us more about your debut album, “And Heartbreak Killed Them All…”
For the moment, the album is still very open. We’re building a body of work, searching for what best suits me, and from there decisions will be made. But I can tell you it will be fresh, it will be exciting, and you will like it!

I personally love some of the songs you’ve released on your myspace, especially Do It Now and Take Me Home. What is your writing based on?
My writing is based on personal experience, emotions, and the need to express them. I can honestly say that every song I have written about love or relationships was written with someone in particular in mind. I don’t know if I have it in me to separate writing from emotion, and it’s better that way. It allows me to truly understand, feel, and express what the song is about, and I feel every artist should. Music is just such an intimate thing to me. It gives me a chance to bare my soul.

Which of your songs is your favorite and why?
As far as the songs available for listening, “Do It Now” is my current favorite because it’s so purely a pop song. I’m a rock and roll girl at heart, but I have such a soft spot for pop and simple, melodic, pleasant pop songs. (I’d have to, being a pop artist!) However, I have many songs that are not yet finished or available to the public, and my favorite is a song called “Exorcism.” It’s about the need to “exorcise” myself of the ghost of a former love because his memory is haunting me. I love it because the melody and lyrics perfectly represent me and the style I have in me, deep down. It’s a bit jazzy, a bit dark, and it describes so well the way I was feeling when I wrote it.

Who are the musicians you admire and why?
Like any musician in her right mind, I completely admire Fiona Apple. Her lyrics are so well-crafted and intelligent and I can relate so well to the ideas. Not to mention her voice, her piano-playing… she’s brilliant. Ella Fitzgerald’s voice amazes me as well, Damien Rice amazes me, and everything Jeff Tweedy does amazes me, as well.

Can you say they make an impact on your music?
Fiona Apple has had a huge impact on the way I see writing and singing. Ella Fitzgerald and most other jazz vocalists of her day have directly influenced many of my songs (though none that you’ve heard yet!). I must also credit Cole Porter, who was the man behind many songs Ella sang (as well as Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and other greats). His clever, witty, often humorous style of songwriting never ceases to delight and inspire me.

We heard that you were a child ventriloquist! Tell us more about that.
I learned ventriloquism when I was 9, but I have no recollection of the process, oddly enough. I know my mother was listening to audio tapes on how to be a ventriloquist, and I, being home schooled and thus constantly listening to the tapes with her, just happened to catch on. We performed at school assemblies with my brother (who was a magician and escape artist), and I even did a few performances on stage in Las Vegas. My mom and I used to walk around grocery stores, making the different items talk and seeing how people reacted. It was hilarious.

So which do you like best, writing your own music, recording the music, or performing live?
At this moment in time, I have to say recording. I have a passion for writing songs and I dream of performing for sold-out audiences, but right now I am thrilled just to watch my raw songs evolve into music through the recording process. To see my little ideas become something real is so exciting!

Can you tell us more about the technology you’ve launched, KanTalk?
KanTalk is a program you can download from my website. You use it to talk (as if you’re on the phone) to other people who have the program. You just grab your headset and you can call anyone who has it, anywhere in the world, for as long as you want (and for free, regardless of the country). I personally find it pretty convenient when I’m trying to save cell phone minutes! Plus it makes it easy to continue going about your business on the computer and talk when you need to, as if the person were right there with you.

What other technologies have you released and can you tell the readers more about them?
The Kandictionary is a desktop application; you just click on the icon to open it when you want to check the definition or spelling of a word, or even the translation. It has no filter, so it even defines obscene words, slang, and so on. I’m the model on the front, and it’s also loaded with little clips of my music here and there. It’s actually fun, helpful, and worth downloading because it’s free. I also have some online games and will be modeling more new desktop media programs created by technology genius Tolga Katas. These include a media player (unlike any other!), an online TV station, an image search software that works at hyper-speed, and much more!

You’ve been nicknamed ‘Cybergirl.’ How do you feel about that?
I have many nicknames! The technology angle is a unique one and I don’t mind it at all. I want to break new ground and conquer all areas of the entertainment industry—including the desktop! You can expect to see much more music, software, and media from me… so I suppose it’s an appropriate nickname, isn’t it?

Is there an all-time favorite song of yours? Why?
For quite some time now I’ve been absolutely in love with the song “The Blower’s Daughter” by Damien Rice. No matter how many times I listen to it, it’s still just as beautiful to me. It’s timeless. More currently, however, I can’t get “Aint No Easy Way Out” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club out of my head, for the life of me.

Who are your heroes?
Maybe this is a common answer, but Madonna is my hero. She is so brave—she just puts herself out there and does what she wants and gets away with it. Her longevity is so, so difficult to achieve and it’s so admirable. And she’s a brilliant business woman. I want that!

What is the one achievement that is the most important to you in your future career?
That's hard. There is so much that I want to do. Musically, I would love to able to explore every genre of music and expose the mainstream audience to underground genres and different styles of music… Mostly, however, I think I just want to know that my music has made people feel the way I felt when I wrote it. I want every song to be an experience for as many people as possible. I want to take the world by storm and be the kind of artist that almost everyone likes or can relate to, whether they admit it or not! I want big things.

We hear you currently have a TV show in development. Can you tell us anything about this yet?
Well, let’s just say it combines Hollywood and pop culture with music, and technology. And it has a comical twist. It’s interactive and there’s no show like it at the moment. That’s all I can say for now!

Thank you for your time. Is there anything you would like to say to aspiring musicians or just to fans of your music?
First of all, if you’re a fan of my music, I want to thank you for being a fan so early in my career and tell you how lucky I feel to have you! For aspiring musicians, here is the cliché advice that you’ll always hear but keep forgetting: Set goals and never give up on your dreams. There will always be bumps (I’ve had quite a few myself and I’ve yet to come across many more), but if you work hard and you’ve got what it takes, things will fall into place. And hey, it doesn’t hurt to have the right people around you, either.

And last but not least, I want to tell everybody to visit me on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/kandicemusic and have a great new year!