Fresh off her golden buzzer on Canada's Got Talent, Cambridge-raised singer Stacey Kay is ready to become a household name across Canada.
Since her time on the show last week, Kay has become a recognized voice for body positivity, self-confidence and authenticity.
After making her small screen debut on America’s Got Talent five years ago, Kay now admits the experience wasn't what many people might think. She says they wanted her to be a certain way and fit a certain mould. She tried to fit their standards, but she just felt like something was off.
The show's producers didn’t give her a lot of time to display her personality and the process was over quite quick, she recalls.
In contrast, the Canadian program pushed her to sing whatever she wanted, wear what makes her feel comfortable and be exactly who she is.
“There's always a producer or someone trying to tell you to do something different and then you can never actually, like, show your best stuff. But on Canada's Got Talent, it was so different,” Kay says.
She has battled a lot with the theme of being authentic. When someone in the music industry would tell her she needed to look or act a certain way, she thought, "they must know what they’re talking about because they’re in the industry."
Only recently has she discovered that for her to be at her best and to truly be happy she needed to embrace Stacey Kay.
“For the first time in my life, I got to like go up there and be myself and do exactly what I wanted to do. Then it worked out because I got the golden buzzer,” Kay says.
Since being on the show, she has been championed for her positivity and confidence. And while most days she is that person, she admits it’s also important to embrace the times when she feels uncomfortable in her own skin.
“I will be the first one to admit it's a daily struggle that you have to keep on working on. It doesn't matter what size you are, everybody has insecurities and you can have days or minutes of confidence, but then it can easily flip back into that insecurity,” Kay says.
Something that hasn’t bothered her much has been comments on social media. She says that she’ll see them, but tries to laugh them off. Even if there are a thousand good ones, the one bad one sticks out the most.
Kay remembers how she felt walking onto the stage and says she got shivers when judge Howie Mandell told her everything she'd experienced had culminated in her performance, even if he was the one to eliminate her from the American version of the show.
Now on one of the biggest stages in Canadian music television, Kay says she's grateful for every moment.
With her sister singing backup vocals, her boyfriend playing bass and just being in Canada where her whole family can come and see her compete to win the finale, Kay's confidence is stronger than it's ever been.
When she's not singing or writing music, Kay produces a podcast with her sister Kayla Bulmer called, ‘ I Have to Call My Sister.'
In it they talk about the show, performing and body positivity. It is available everywhere podcasts are streamed.
Canada’s Got Talent airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Citytv.
