Tomboy Tuesday: Sabrina

We got to catch up with musician Sabrina Dias, who was recently on The Voice, and hear all about her musical talents, her passion for teaching, and her philosophy of life. Hint: it’s all love.

*****

TomboyX You were on The Voice! Tell me about that.

Sabrina Dias: I just got back from being on The Voice. I was on Team John Legend. He's amazing.

Before The Voice, I wasn't really doing shows, I wasn't writing my own music. I auditioned once when I was 21; I went to New York at 3 am because the lines are insane, so it's a whole day thing. You get there at 3am,, you'll leave at 2 pm because you're waiting and waiting and there's thousands and thousands of people. And that time, I didn't get a callback. So when I saw the email inviting me to audition online, I was like, “hell yeah, I'm going to try this.” I just sent them the video. It was like, “if I make it, great, if I don't, there's nothing to lose.”

My audition song was a Brazilian song: “Girl From Ipanema”. Originally, I was going to sing in both Portuguese and English. Then I sang it at the rehearsal, and we all felt it was smoother and more beautiful in Portuguese. I was scared because, first of all, none of the coaches speak Portuguese, and the song is a bossa nova. So it's not a song where you're going to hit these high notes and show off your voice, it's very mellow. So I sang the song and John Legend turned, which was exciting. I took a risk, but it was worth it.

Now I’m back and it’s kind of like I’m on my own, but now people have noticed me. I was at Costco the other day buying groceries and a mom came up with her teenager, and she's like, “listen, my kid is in love with you.” That's happened, like, five times already. At Target, at random places. If my hair is out, they will recognize me right away.

John Legend follows me on Instagram now. If I ever have music questions or whatever, I will message him and he does respond, which is incredible. I couldn't believe he responded the first time. I was like, “I can't believe this guy is talking to me right now.” He still continues coaching us even after we leave.

TBX: What’s next for your music career?

SD: Being on the show inspired me to start writing music, and I actually have a few songs ready to go. I'm working with a producer, so we're going to be launching those soon, and we're going to launch the songs that I sing on The Voice soon. A lot of people asked for that, so I decided to just record them in the studio so that I can put them on Spotify.

TBX: Have you always been a musical person?

SD: My parents are pastors, so I grew up singing in church. I was always a musician. I asked my mom if I could play the drum set; that's the first instrument that I was in love with. She wanted me to play the piano instead. I had a tomboy type of look when I was younger, and it's against their religion to be gay. So she was like, “let's do something more girly, leave the drums for the boys.” I used to come home and put the drums on the piano, and I used to just practice drums on the piano until she gave up and put me in drum lessons. I got really good at it. I went to an arts high school for music. I played for Herbie Hancock at International Jazz Day in New York. I was also the music director at our church until I turned 22.

When I make music, I come alive. I can do it for hours. I just want to sit with my guitar and my fiance and write music together. We used to sing together in church; she sang second alto and played the synthesizer. We're a very musical family.

TBX: What was it like being a queer kid with parents who are pastors?

SD: My parents were great, loving parents. I love my mom, my dad, my sister. It was a happy home. I just knew I had feelings for girls. I knew I thought girls were pretty. I always knew, I just thought it would go away. I had one or two boy crushes, which never went anywhere. So it was confusing.

I came out to my parents at 22. As pastors, of course, they said, “you're our daughter and we love you, but we don't agree with it.” They wanted to try to “fix” me. A few months later, I left the house because it was too much conflict, and it was going to ruin my relationship with my family.

Today I have a fiance. We have a little girl. We have her side of the family which supports us, and I have a few family members who support us. For anyone who’s going through this, it does get better. That's what I want to say: it gets better.

TBX: What else is important to you, besides music?

SD: Besides music, I'm actually a public school music teacher in New York. I teach pre-K through eighth grade.

This is my third year now. It's incredible. I love them. Sometimes you’ve gotta be tough, but, you know, they're just kids. They're just acting out. We did it when we were younger. I think education is everything, and I think kids really need teachers. A lot of kids come to me like, “Miss Dias, I'm gay and I don't know how to deal with it because my parents are against it.” I think they look at me as a role model because I have a family and a daughter.

I like to start off the school year by learning everyone’s pronouns. Some kids are like, “what do you mean, pronouns?” And I'm like, “well, not everybody identifies with their gender, so we're going to respect that.”

They love music. I try to bring in hip hop and rap and stuff that they like to listen to. I think that because it's relevant, they learn to respect it.

TBX: What’s your relationship with clothing like?

SD: When I was younger, I felt like I needed to impress the boys. So I started wearing heels and everything, because you couldn't look gay because that was going to cause a red flag. So I wore girly clothes. I had big, curly, crazy, beautiful hair. When I came out, I decided to cut it short. I was so scared to lose the curls, but it just felt like a sense of freedom. My whole life I always thought boyish tomboy clothing was really cool and I and I always wanted to wear it and I can finally do that now.

TBX: What’s your favorite thing to wear?

SD: I love to wear hoodies. I love sweatpants. I had to wear tight jeans my whole life. All I want is a loose shirt and a hoodie and some sweats and sneakers, and I'm ready to go. As long as it looks fly, I’m good.

TBX: If you were in charge of the world, what would you change?

SD: I would demand equality for all. I think that we are getting to a place where it will become equal for men, women, gay, straight, black, white, just human beings. Doesn't matter what you look like. We're all the same. Because that's the truth of it.

I would demand love above anything. I think that love has the power to change the world, to make it a better place. I would just say more love in the world, as a whole, to make everything better. Love has the power to heal. People who are gay and people who are not accepted, especially by their families, it comes to a point where only love is going to change that. This is my child, I love them, and I can't let anything keep me away from them, so I choose love. That's the only thing that can break every barrier.

*****

Follow Sabrina on Instagram and TikTok @SabrinaDiasMusic. Look for her original music and covers from The Voice hitting digital platforms soon!