By: Preeya Ninan
http://www.kirstinmaldonado.com/chapters
I wondered if the beauty of a certain singer’s voice would transfer to her writing, and I’m happy to say I’ve found the answer.
Kirstin Maldonado, one of the five members of an American a cappella group called Pentatonix, documents her musical and personal growth in a series of blog entries. She writes about her experiences on tour in different countries, and her thoughts regarding a range of topics. She has been blogging for approximately one year, each entry being a separate “chapter”. As of yesterday, she has uploaded forty-six total chapters, a new chapter each week.
Every chapter has the same format: there is a header photograph at the top, the content of the entry underneath, and a comments section at the end. The header photograph has the chapter number written across it, and the photo varies based on the topic of the chapter. Throughout the entry, she scatters pictures in the margins. Occasionally the pictures are unrelated to the blog content, like selfies or pictures of herself. Mostly, the pictures she incorporates correspond to the content of the chapter; if she’s talking about a specific performance, the pictures included will be of her performing, or if she’s talking about her experience in a specific country, the pictures will be of her in that country or the scenery in that country. Finally, the comments section provides a platform for followers to comment their thoughts on her entry.
Regarding her writing style and content, every chapter resembles a journal entry. The way she writes is reflective, especially when she’s writing about current events. In one chapter, for example, she wrote about her frustration towards Kesha’s court case; she wrote another chapter on her feelings regarding Christina Grimmie’s passing. In these kinds of entries, the writing was thoughtful, encouraging the reader to think along with her as she examined the current state of society. This type of writing makes her blog personal and engaging, allowing the readers which are largely, if not completely, her fans, feel as though they are getting to know her more and more with each chapter. And at the end of every chapter, she closes off with “Love, Kirstin”.
Though she writes personal and reflective journal entries, the writing itself is not informal. She writes as though she is telling a story; nothing about it is unprofessional. I think it is well written; she doesn’t ramble about the same point, her entries vary in length but are never too long, and it is easy to follow her train of thought. She uses vocabulary effectively and forms her sentences concisely and eloquently.
As mentioned before, the audience is largely, if not completely, composed of the fans of her music. It’s common now for celebrities- actors, musicians, etc- to blog or vlog (video blog) their life, because many of their fans are interested in more than just their movies or music. Kirstie’s writing reflects that she has an audience.
Many people comment on every single entry. Her chapters range from having 50 comments to 900 comments, depending on the topic of the chapter. Chapters about specific events happening in her life may have fewer comments. The more reflective chapters about issues in society and controversial current events may raise more discussion among her readers, yielding more comments.
Getting to know the more private voice of Kirstin Maldonado has only made her public voice more captivating which, I believe, makes her blog a success.
