Who says life after pageantry still doesn’t open doors? Pageantry certainly opened doors for Miss America 2019, Nia Franklin. Following her reign, her first single, Earth Sun was just released on Friday.
UPDATE!! Nia Franklin just announced she will be joining the cast of “The King and I” by Rodgers and Hammerstein in March. It’s the first opera for the former titleholder and composer.
During an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Nia explained how her love of music started at a young age inspired from her parents, “I just have vivid memories of my parents playing Stevie Wonder all throughout the house when I was growing up.” She began her singing career as a member of her church’s choir, which, she says “is where I got my foundation from.” Nia soon found her passion for opera and went on to study music composition.
She was crowned Miss America 2019 in September 2018 as the second woman crowned under the Miss America 2.0 umbrella but first to be crowned in the new competition format than what pageant fans were accustomed to. For the first time in the pageants’ history there was no swimsuit portion so the talent category made up 50% of the contestants’ composite score on finals night. An increase from 35% in years past. Given Nia’s natural born pipes, this new scoring format was arguably her greatest strength and she gave one of the strongest performances that night during the entire competition. She sung the soprano aria, “Quando m’en’vo” from the opera, La Bohème. Upon winning the crown Nia said she felt nothing but pure joy.
That sense of joy returns now with the official musical debut of her single Earth Sun. During her interview with Seacrest, Nia proclaimed, “This is kind of my introduction to the world.” Nia explained that, prior to this single, she had only released music on Soundcloud. This is her first song released on all music streaming services.
While their styles may be different, Nia draws musical inspiration from singer Kelly Rowland, who judged the competition this year. “I got great advice on how to jumpstart my music career with Kelly Rowland who left a powerhouse like Destiny’s Child to break out on her own,” Nia recently posted on social media page about how Kelly’s her musical inspiration.
To promote the release of her new song, Nia posted a raw video of her performing Earth Sun on Instagram. The video puts Nia’s singing and keyboard abilities on full display as her voice resonates throughout the short performance. In her post she said, “Earth Sun by me, streaming everywhere now. Have you listened to it yet?”
You can hear her new single on all major music streaming services including iTunes, Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Grab your glass and tune in to our Pageants & Prosecco episode featuring Nia Franklin shortly after she was crowned last year.
Pageants & Prosecco 