Connecting with fans is thrill for musician

By all rights, Chelsey Stallings should be singing country-western music.

"That's what I grew up listening to," Stallings says. "Garth Brooks was the first artist I really got attached to; I loved his music. Martina McBride was also one of the first artists to inspire me."

Stallings also grew up competing in the paint-horse network. "I showed my paints worldwide."

So, if she had picked up a guitar and started singing country, that's what everyone would have expected. But when she did pick up a guitar — "actually, I stole my brother's guitar and taught myself how to play it" — it was the pop/rock genre that felt most comfortable "That's just me; that's who I am."

But that's sort of the point of her first CD, a collection of songs titled "Not Everyone Feels Pretty In Pink." She wants people — and particularly young girls — to know that they don't have to live by other people's expectations. "Middle school and high school can be a hard time, particularly if you don't feel like you can stand up for yourself. You can get walked all over. People can make you feel like you have to be the same. I want them to know that they are not alone; that it's OK to be different."

She hesitates to put too much explanation into the lyrics of her songs because "every song can mean something different to everyone." But she hopes that people will find messages that will help in their own lives. When someone comes up to her at a performance and says that one of her songs helped him or her get through a tough time, "that's the best reward. That makes me love what I'm doing so much."

Stallings started performing and singing when she was 4 and living in California. After moving back to South Jordan, she won her first major talent competition at age 12, a talent show sponsored by ESPN at one of the horse shows she attended. Since then, she's performed at lot: at fairs, firesides, concerts. She's sung numerous national anthems for sporting and other events.

She loves the adrenaline rush performing brings. "If I could perform every day, all day long, I would. I feel most in my element when I am performing and making those around me happy."

She has been working with local vocal coach Dean Kaelin and feels that he has helped her reach the next level. "He's great. He's helped me get my foot in the door."