‘Girl on Fire’ Lisa Punch plans to blaze a trail

A little off the beat but when The Scene approached Lisa Punch in Guyana for another interview about her life after the Rising Star competition, she did not let us down but her schedule was way too busy for just one sitting.

Lisa finally took some time to respond to our online interview and here are the thoughts from Guyana’s own powerhouse, the Power Punch… Lisa.

A lot of people wanted to know about her song choice, Alicia Key’s ‘Girl on Fire’; well for Lisa it was all about relaying a message. The performance before that when she sang Pink’s ‘Perfect’ which did not gain a strong hold in East Coast votes but a save from the West Coast votes, ‘Girl on Fire’ was her way of proving that no matter what she is going to keep blazing and coming back hotter than ever even better just like a phoenix.

She felt confident about her performance, although she did not make enough votes to go through to the next round the Guyanese, now United States based songbird expressed that she felt good, had a lot of fun and for her that was all that mattered at the moment and to now. Lisa missed promotion by 1% for the East Coast Votes, she said that in her mind

Lisa Mary Johanna Punch
Lisa Mary Johanna Punch

20140830yellow lisashe assured herself that she did her best at the time and she felt good, not caring much about the minute loss but about the big exposure for her and being another step closer to her dreams of being a musical artist.

It is this dream that made Lisa shake up her performance! She made ‘Girl on Fire’ a unique rendition that entailed a reggae beat that she gyrated and danced to in spicing up her stage presence. “I wanted to do something that says who I am as an artist. Every time I sang that song in my quiet moment that’s exactly how I did it so I just wanted to be myself on stage and show the world that’s the artist they can expect to see in the near future” Lisa said.

Jesse Kinch won the competition at Week Ten, the Season finale on Sunday August 24 with 87% East Coast Votes and 76% West Coast Votes with his rendition of ‘Love, Reign o’er Me’ which is a song by English rock band ‘The Who’; Lisa remarked that Jesse is a humble and very inspiring artist she wishes all the best to.

As for Lisa herself, she is very ambitious about her future. She has gained over 35,000 new ‘fans’ on Facebook and that in itself tells her that people are anxious to see what else she has to bring. “They love me as an artist and I am so grateful for it all that I’m doing everything in my power with the help of the most high to make sure I always do my best!”

Punch was invited by the Government of Guyana to perform at the inaugural Guyana Festival, her initial response was yes because she was grateful for the opportunity to perform for the people of Guyana. “The ones who stayed up late to vote again and the ones who cried whilst watching me on stage, the ones who were proud not because I’m Guyanese but because they were witnessing a dream come to life by someone they thought was deserving of it all.”

The songbird had fun singing and loved the reaction of the people. They welcomed her home which she enjoyed every moment of. Lisa did some of her songs and the ones she did in the competition. When asked how she felt being back in Guyana she responded that the moment the plane landed she smiled with joy, “There’s no place like home. I’ve met with some family, friends and artists, not all. I’ve been socializing but my schedule was too packed to squeeze everyone in but I loved it all. The paparazzi frenzy at first was scary when I was flocked at one point but I had to remind myself this is the life I signed up for.”

Lisa is back in the United States and promises exciting new ventures. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep on track with our Rising Star.