Former Brookhavean and Latin artist Katarina Arriaga is pressing on despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We caught up with the singer and asked about her latest projects, quarantine life and more.

Q: Best thing about quarantine so far?
A: Being able to zone in and create as much as I want to and not being distracted by the streets.

Q: From a personal aspect how have you handled COVID-19 life? What are you doing to keep your mental health strong?
A: The best way possible, just like everybody else, one day at a time. Staying in contact with loved ones and listening to abundance, gratitude and entrepreneur affirmations. Working out, reading my daily awakening book and cuddling my kitty. Surprising how therapeutic cats are.

Q: How has the pandemic and quarantine changed your art/music?
A: I’ve had a lot of inner work to do as a young woman. Being alone with nothing really to do, quarantine really helped my lyrics and music become more personal. I’ve only gotten better because I’ve been able to work on the music more. I started to knock out song after song.

Q: With music venues being closed down, I am sure you have had fewer opportunities to perform for crowds. What do you miss most about performing?
A: Getting to see the crowd react and gauging what songs they liked and didn’t like.

Q: I see that you recently released your single, “Sin Ti.” Can you tell me about the song’s creative process and what inspired it?
A: Really I just woke up one day and wanted to tell the story. It’s about a girl in a relationship, and it’s perfect for them. Perfect to their standards. She thanks him for his heart, love and attention. Despite their own busy schedules, he still gives her the love and the affection that she needs, and sometimes we forget to just say thank you. The goal for this song was to have couples look at each other and be able to say, “I love you and thank you.”

Q: Aside from your latest single, I see that you are planning to release the follow up to your 20/20 EP. Can you tell us about the project, and what we can expect from it soundwise?
A: It’s a seven song EP about women’s empowerment, which includes a spoken word but it’s also full of hip-hop, reggaeton and afro-beat vibes. The songs will pretty much bring life to any day and or any night. You can also expect a lot of English and Spanish transitions.

Q: Congrats on launching your website. How did that come about?
A: I needed a place where fans could stay up to date and keep up with me and everything I’m going to be rolling out as my brand continues to grow.

Q: On your website I see that you have a section where you blog about life and your past. What prompted you to start the blog section and has it been hard for you to be vulnerable in your blog posts or easy?
A: I wanted to create a way for the fans to get to know me on a personal level, other than a smiling face that they usually see on social media all the time. I’m a normal person going through normal things.
There’s been some things I naturally wanted to block out of my life, but thankfully, it’s been surprisingly refreshing and cleansing to be this vulnerable. These are stories that have actually happened to me so it’s been easy to write about them.

Q: Aside from from the blog section on your site, I see that you have also launched merchandise. How did that come about, and who did you collaborate with on the design?
A: I was looking for a way to give back to the community. A portion of the proceeds will be going to Grapevine Valley Hope, which is a rehab facility that helps people battling addiction. But the designer that helped me bring the merchandise alive is an awesome friend of mine. You can hit him up on Instagram and check out his work. @ _ninjart