Life After Reality: A conversation with Eva Avila

Avila certainly knows which direction she wants her career to take and as is often the case with youth, when asked what she wanted her legacy to be, her answer was more reflective of her dreams and the distinct goals she has set for herself.

“When I die I would love people to remember me as a genuine, international artist that was versatile.  Like I mentioned. I would love to do acting.  I would love to sing in three languages.  I would love to follow in Nelly Furtado’s footsteps in the sense that she is a very international artist and she’s not afraid to embrace her Portuguese background.   I would love to do the J-Lo thing and do acting and singing and dancing and maybe one day have my perfume and my clothes.  I’m thinking big right now and I don’t know if I’ll get to do all that.  But you’ll never know until you try.  I would love to be able to touch people and if you think about Whitney Houston or Aretha Franklin or Alicia Keys, people that have so much soul.  That’s the main thing I want people to remember me as someone with soul.”

It’s an unfortunate reality that few Canadian artists can reach the level of internationalism of Furtado or Celine Dion but it seem quite possible that with the drive she displays Avila will get to fulfil at least part of her dreams.  But lets be honest, she has already attained a level far greater than most others thanks to Idol which served as a stepping stone to the next stage in her career.  For many, this will be the end of the line.  It seems to have been for most of the winners who have succeeded her.  Not the national recognition is something to be scoffed at.

“Well, I truly believe in destiny and that everything happens for a reason and it’s up to you to read the signs.  I’m happy doing what I’m doing right now; but the way I’m feeling is that this is supposed to be just the beginning.  But if this is the extent of it, then that means I’m not meant to do anything else.”  Avila told us when asked if she would be satisfied is ‘this’ was the extent of her career; a national career that would permit her to tour the nation to promote her new album.  But it was her parting words that really showed us what this talented and goal orientated girl was capable of.

“All I know is that I’ll do my best and I will do everything in my power to get to where I want to be but if I don’t get there it’s ’cause it wasn’t meant to be and I’ll be happy knowing that I tried.”

Regardless of what has been written here or in other publications, there will always be those who love the premise of reality television and those who detest every aspect of it.  But nobody can dispute that sometimes true talent is discovered.  Kelly Clarkson is living proof of that in America.  Eva Avila has distinguished herself so far as being the potential Canadian follower of Clarkson’s footsteps.  Certainly her marketability in Canada is equal to that of her American reference.  Only time will tell.  We here at CONFRONT certainly wish her the best of luck.

In the meantime make sure to tune into Canadian Idol season 5 for which auditions began in Vancouver on February 3. This edition will visit nine more cities across Canada in a 10-week trip and will air in coming months.  This year, the network announced that the auditioners will be permitted to play along with their instrument during their audition; making it the second Idol program in the world to do so after Australian Idol 2006.

Eva Avila’s debut album titled Somewhere Else is now in stores.  For more information please visit: http://www.evaavila.com/en/index.html