After giving fans steady glimpses into her new music for months, award-winning Curb | Word Entertainment artist Blanca recently unearthed her voice post-divorce on her long-awaited studio album, The Heartbreak And The Healing, available to stream/download HERE. Blanca’s third full-length effort, The Heartbreak And The Healing, offers two sides of the same story — the hurt and the redemption. The singer and songwriter vulnerably cracks her heart wide open on the new 14-track collection that beautifully showcases the merger of her unstoppable voice and her transparent lyricism. A diverse fusion of pop, Latin, hip-hop and Gospel, the offering follows Blanca on a journey of self-discovery as she rises from the ashes stronger and more empowered than ever before. In this TCB Exclusive, Blanca shares how the writing process for this record was therapeutic, how she embraced vulnerability in sharing her journey with listeners and how she found her voice again with this new record.
I want to start by congratulating you on your latest release, The Heartbreak And The Healing. Do you recall when the first seeds of this project came to you?
Well, the whole theme behind this album is very personal. I walked through a divorce in 2019, and after going through this emotional roller coaster I knew it was time for me to start working on a project, but I wasn’t sure how. Then I thought this could be in part therapeutic for me, because it’s not always easy for me to express myself in conversation. I would use music to heal myself, and if the songs never see the light of day, that’s okay. I started the process in 2020, and as I started writing some of these songs everything was raw and fresh for me. There was an array of emotions to the point in 2022 when I released the album two years later. It started with a lot of pain and heartbreak, and then as the Lord worked on my heart, healing, and well-being, there were songs about a new day and seeing God turning it around for something better. It became for real a journal with these songs. I looked at the songs and saw the ones focused on heartbreak and the ones on healing, and I realized it was the whole process. It’s the juxtaposition of finding heartache and healing in the same experience, or beauty and pain.
What inspired the title? How does this reflect the full project?
The title came after some of the songs had been written, but I had the title before “The Healing.” I had these core subjects that I wanted to hit.
Is there a track, or lyric, that has taken on new meaning for you after growing with it, and having listeners interact with it?
I just got a message this morning from a girl who read an interview I did that talked about the songs. Our stories intertwined and were similar, with abuse and going through divorce, raising a child in this new season. It is so encouraging to me that something so personal, and so your own story, that when you share it can connect with other people’s stories along the way. Moments that you think no one else will understand, and then when you take the courage to do it, there are a lot of people in the same place and have been inspired by listening to the songs. So there isn’t a specific song that has changed in meaning, but they have just come to life in meaning when I see how through what God was speaking to me as I was writing the songs, it is now connecting with so many people. I didn’t write it with that in mind.
Are there any personal highlights that stand out to you from the writing and recording of the tracks for this collection?
There are so many moments in the album like that. One huge moment was writing “Even At My Worst.” It was early on in the process, and I was super emotional as I was writing those lyrics. It hit home for me, this inadequacy that I was disappointing God with how my life had turned out. Things I never thought I would have to walk through, and here I find myself putting these human characteristics in God to be disappointed in me. So writing those down and being vulnerable was a moment I remember very clearly, even now, and it’s been some time since then. What it has done is create an experience in my head when I perform it live that I am reminded of what I really felt at that time and what has changed since then. It’s an opportunity to tangibly see the hand of God moving in my life. Because I know I’m not at that place anymore and there is so much more growth and understanding. That song is really special to me.
You have a few collabs on this project with Jekalyn Carr, Dante Bowe, and Ty Brasel. How did these come to be?
I have a handful of features on this album. With Dante Bowe, it was a very full circle moment for me because I listened to a lot of his music when I was walking through my divorce. Songs he did with Maverick City, and the whole Maverick City camp, I would listen to on repeat. It was healing for my heart, and then I had this crazy idea when I was writing “The Healing” how crazy it would be to have him on the song. I reached out on Instagram and he said yes, so it was such a cool moment to see it come to fruition. And Jekalyn is on my song “New Day.” I had this goal to represent strong women within our industry, but not necessarily just in CCM, uniting the gospel world with what I’m doing in CCM as a female. Jekalyn is a powerhouse vocalist, and one of the top gospel artists out there now, and she’s 24 years old. I was super inspired by her and her story. And now we’re good friends just from that experience, so I’m grateful for that as well.
You’ve gotten to perform some of these new songs live. How do these songs come to life for you as you get to perform them live?
It’s been amazing! My last album came out in 2017, so it’s been almost 5 years since I’ve had new music. Now getting the opportunity to have this freshness and new songs has just meant so much to me. It’s been life giving! And even in that, just seeing the response and how the music is connecting with people. It’s so motivating to see and be a part of it. After COVID, it was just a weird time where you lost getting to meet people live. So it’s been fairly new for me to be back on the road and getting to see people face to face and feeling that energy.
With this being such a personal project, how does that impact your definition of success and how you view the project?
I think when it comes to success, I’ve already hit the mark in my eyes. My biggest goal over the last two to three years after experiencing what I did, was to find my voice again. It’s been my own personal journey of healing and having the courage to be who I feel God has made me to be. I think that was lost along the way a little bit with some of the trauma I experienced and my own insecurities. The biggest thing I wanted to do with this project was to give people what I felt was a big part of me. I feel like I’ve accomplished that, so success has been hit.
What are you most expectant for in the remainder of 2022?
I feel so excited! It is just taking off – the album just came out and already have some tours lined up for next year. So it feels like just the beginning of a new chapter in my life. There is a lot of freshness, and it almost feels like an awakening in this season. I’m expectant for going on this ride with the Lord, and letting me be open to receive it, good or bad. I just want to grow from this new album and this place that I find myself in.
