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Christine D'Clario

In between releasing her first English-speaking album, "Deeper" and preparing for her upcoming international tour, New York-transplant Christine D'Clario sits down with BREATHEcast and talks life as a Latin-American Christian songwriter.

What's new with Christine D'Clario?
We just moved north of Fort Worth, in the greater Dallas area. I'm really excited; I've always loved Texas, and finally got the opportunity to move out here. It's definitely a "walk of faith" in which we felt a pull from the Lord to be led out here. He hasn't really given us all the full details on what exactly he wants us doing out here. Its kind of one of those Abraham moves, in which He says, "go ahead out there, and I'll let you know when I get there," which is exciting because you learn how to depend on God. It's kind of like getting on a roller coaster that you can't see where it's going. The ride is really exciting.

How excited are you about the new album "Deeper" just being released?
It always puts me in a surreal position. After you put in all the work, your heart, your mind, your soul and everything in your life revolves around this one project for a time. When it's finally done, ready and finished, it's almost like your looking at it in a third person. This project is very dear to my heart because it's my first English album to ever be released. I was born in New York and half of me is American/European and the other half is Latin. To be able to put the English side of me out there is something I've longed for for a really long time. It's almost like an out of body experience sometimes.

How does Latino culture compare to American culture as it relates to worship?
The essence of worship is all the same, whatever language, whatever walk of life you may be. But when it comes to "styles" and methods of delivering that kind of expression, I think it's two very different cultures. What I have experienced, having both cultures very alive in me and in my family, is that Latinos tend to be a little more "exteriorized" when it comes to expressing what they feel, and tend to be more outwardly passionate.

Whereas the other side of the stratosphere tends to be a little more reflective, introspect kind of worship. They're just absorbing inwardly what they're feeling, and then it just totally bears forth fruit of amazing things and evidence of the transformation. I kind of sway between the two. Some days I wake up and I'm very reflective and there's an inside thing going on, and then the next day I'm just this big, bold mix of emotions, wearing my heart on my sleeve.

How did you get into ministry? Were you raised in a Christian home?

I was brought up in the Church. Ever since I was born my mom was a faithful churchgoer and Christian. She brought us up with the word of God. However, since I lost my dad at 6, that kind of spiraled down and caused me to judge God in the same way I judged my father since he wasn't there for most of my life. In the back of my mind I saw God as something far away and hard to be near. So I grew up knowing a lot about the Bible, being completely active in the ministries of the Church but I never really had an encounter with Him. I remained very religious but very unfaithful to God.

When was the moment you did become faithful to God?
It was in that moment, when I hit rock bottom and was wasting away my life, doing all sorts of sin, that I gave him an ultimatum. I said, "you know what if you exist, if you're true, and if you care, you have until midnight to show me." And even though I did it in a very rebellious and irreverent manner He still pulled through. He sent this odd woman that I'd never met before, and she stood before me, in a random spot, and random place, and she gave a clear as day message from God. She basically read out my life like a book.

I know that you're father suffered from alcoholism and passed away when you were 6 years old. What advice would you give to other children who have parents or loved ones who suffer from alcohol abuse and similar illnesses?

I still remember everything in detail. It was me and my sister at the time. She was more a mommy's girl and I was a total daddy's girl. There are occasions where we might feel like it's our fault that this is happening to mom and dad. But I think it's a little unfair for us to carry that weight. I carried it for many years, thinking if I had only begged my dad a little more to stop drinking, maybe he would still be around, but that's too heavy a weight to carry.

There's really no way we can control someone else's decisions. That's one of the downfalls of having free will. Prayer can really work wonders in a situation like that. It sounds like the religious thing to say, but it really is the truth. God is clear when he says, "call out to me and I will respond." All God needs is permission to come in. I always like to say, "the door of our heart is only open from the inside."

Many people refer to you as the Spanish Kim Walker-Smith? Do you like the comparison?
I am flattered! I just think our callings and anointing are very similar. The way we love on God is very similar as well; kind of the little girl reaching out for daddy's arms, and just being able to take on the world. That comes through, and her passion is amazing. I'm definitely flattered.

Does any secular music make it on the iPod?
I have this playlist called, "The Happy Songs." It's just happy-go-lucky songs that make me get up and go. There are a few songs like "Soul Sister" from Train or I'll go into some classic rock, like some Journey. Classic rock is always a plus. I did go through a phase where I liked the whole grungy, metal-esque kind of rock. As of right now I'm really somewhere in the middle. I like listening to Latin music every now and again and then I'll just mellow out and listen to classical music. There are many colors to me.

What's next for Christina D'Clario? Tour?

We're actually booking the "Deeper" tour as we speak, with many dates already confirmed. We begin the official tour in May. I'm actually going to be part of the National Worship Leader Conference, at all three. We're going to be in Mexico in March. In May, we're going to hit Miami. From there, we have dates for Columbia and Argentina.