Today we’d like to introduce you to Frankie Park.
Frankie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My mom and I are both very studious. We like taking instruction, analyzing all angles, and making sure an assignment is executed. For me this didn’t necessarily apply to being a straight-A student (my father and twin brother will attest), it applied to following social norms and being regarded well by others. My mother carried this weight for generations, as did her mother—for her grandmother immigrated from Romania, and being well regarded by people in America meant becoming an American citizen. An American woman. From her, I learned to execute tasks to their fullest degree.
“Born To Entertain” was my most defining task.
I was set to perform this song at a voice recital for all my family, friends, and neighbors in Maitland, FL at the age of eight. This was my family’s third locale—what would be 3/13 for me in the course of my life. Despite being awkward, chubby, gap-toothed, shy—dammit I was going to sing the shit out of that song.
My parents love telling this story because they had NO CLUE I could sing. Neighbors were turning around in their chairs with dropped jaws, my parents turned to each other with raised brows. What was happening here? Their goody-goody daughter was swinging a hat and cane around without a single care in the world.
The way I remember it, I was just doing what I was told to do. But, something else happened up there on stage that day—I came into my power. Throughout my life, I was that wild, carefree creature on stage despite being an anxiety-addled blondie everywhere else. A place that can pose such a vulnerable threat to so many, has always been my sanctuary for self-discovery.
This wasn’t always crystal clear of course. I’m fraternal twins with a man who will, mark my words, be your first gay President of these United States. A person who has pushed me to work as hard as the human body will allow since we were children. Combined with my extremely accomplished lawyer/journalist parents respectively. We are an intense crop and I’ve spent my life taking on that pressure to succeed with every fiber of my being— ain’t no walk in the park.
With all of that being said, I needed to sing. I needed theater. My singing voice is a gift that I believe came directly from God and I’ve held it and tried my best to nurture it as that gorgeous, otherworldly thing. As if it isn’t mine, but His. That’s why it was no surprise, when THE DAY after I graduated with no plans, Twisted Measure’s cover of “Chandelier” by Sia went viral. I’d written in a book of prayers, “God, please just let someone, anyone, hear ‘Chandelier’ on a major scale. I know if I don’t give this thing a shot professionally now, I won’t. I need to sing.” We charted on iTunes. I saw a freeze-frame of myself with my arm thrown out to the side in greyscale for a full week of the news cycle. We were in People Magazine (a summer after I was an Editorial Intern for them). I was inside a dream cloud. I had offers from all over the place. I flew to New York for an audition. I was hooked and before I knew it, I was already the singer I wanted so badly to become as an adult.
From there, I moved to New York, Nashville, and now Los Angeles to pursue this gift that isn’t mine and will follow it until the very end of the road. I hope there’s no end.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
After Chandelier went viral, I planned my new life over and over in my mind. I’d flown to New York to audition and responded to news outlets detailing my upcoming record deal, all that was left was my mind filling in the glamorous blanks.
My family skyped with the part-owner of a small family record label in Nashville. I was going to spend the summer of 2015 singing background for this young woman, get a feel for the industry, then start working on my own album in the fall once I was signed. It was all coming together.
ME: “Hey, just wondering where we’re at on move-in- I’m still planning on coming to Nashville. Is everything on track?”
HER:
She ghosted me.
I only found out that the entire label dissolved when the woman who was doing my social media for the label delivered the news second-hand. She was never going to tell me. My heart found its new, official home in my stomach that summer. I didn’t play an instrument. My degree from Elon University is Print & Online Journalism. I was so ready to keep going, to keep fighting, but I felt the window closing. People stopped caring. In an industry and news cycle that operates in 24-hour windows, I rode the whole rollercoaster of relevancy to irrelevancy at 22. Twisted Measure’s name was on Chandelier, not mine. I was hitting notes in that song that felt like a release akin to an hour-long cardio workout, but Twisted Measure made the money. They got the social media following. I was broke, at home with my parents, and directionless. What next?
“Covers! You went viral once, right? Just do it again.” *facepalm*
The magic of Chandelier can only happen, and will only happen, once.
When people use the phrase “the stars aligned” it’s not a singular star. Multiple “stars” or factors have to come into play to LIFT a video into the mainstream’s consciousness. For TM it was Pitch Perfect 2’s release in 2015 in addition to our video. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naïve. Or “mansplaining” which has happened one too many times in my life recently.
I was courted by every singing competition show and auditioned for a few, although, in the end, close friends’ horror stories held me off from going down that route. In my bones, I knew I wanted to write my own story, in my own voice, using my own words. So, that’s what I’m doing. I’ve gone through things I’m not quite ready to share with the world yet.
My major obstacle has been my own mind. My hereditary anxiety from a line of women who are kind to others, no matter the cost to their own bodies.
The woman who is fearless on stage has a name now, it’s Frankie Park.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I’m in the middle of writing my first EP. I’ve had the same chorus in my head for years now and I finally got to put that to words and to music. In 2019, I picked up the ukulele and fell in deep love with songwriting. It’s really cool to see how God’s plan is unfolding. I’ve always been able to relate to people, specifically my fellow woman, in a way I haven’t seen in many of my peers. As I said, I’ve finally given this gift a name and it’s Frankie Park.
The debut single is out soon. I don’t have an exact date, but follow on social for updates! It has a feature and I’m obsessed.
What were you like growing up?
Once I discovered my power on stage that day in Florida, I was an unstoppable force.
My father is a longtime journalist and gave me an insatiable curiosity that I still carry today.
As a child, it seemed normal- just a sense of play, goofiness or silliness. I always needed to interact with the world. I had a few trips to the ER because I played too hard. I substituted a Power Ranger sword for a rusty DOOR KNOB that was falling out of our door because I wasn’t about to swing a barbie doll around while playing “invisible bad guys.” I climbed trees like a monkey. Fished. Got my hands dirty (no seriously, I fished for crawdads with my bare hands in a pond behind our house in Indiana). If my brother was doing it, I was doing it. We competed and it made us better people- ultimately, it was all based in love. Also, we have way too many embarrassing stories about each other for it to be anything else.
Due to the amount of moving we did for my dad’s journalistic career, our family has always been close (perhaps too close). But the moves allowed us to find ourselves faster and see more of the world sooner.
I’m grateful for all of our adventures.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankieparkofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankieparkofficial/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsfrankiepark
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/mobDXVXGlGQ
Image Credit:
Zach Bell
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