A super Sunday for Raquel Castro
Raquel Castro, Long Island's only contestant on the hit show "The Voice," rehearses for the next rounds in the Ballistik Beatz studio in Ridge. (Aug. 6, 2011) Credit: Steve Pfost
Raquel Castro will be celebrating at her Super Bowl Party, regardless of how the game turns out. (She quickly adds, "Giants all day!")
The 17-year-old from Port Jefferson Station, who unveiled her ambitions for a music career last year on "The Voice," will release her new single, "Diary," to iTunes and CDBaby on Super Bowl Sunday, the same night the second season of "The Voice" debuts.
" 'The Voice' got me to where I am today," Castro says. "It helped me so much. I have so many fans because of the show and it opened so many doors for me. To kind of show my appreciation, I wanted to put my first single out on the day of the season premiere to show my support for everyone."
However, "Diary" also reveals how much Castro has grown since her exit in "The Voice" semifinals. The song -- co-written by Alyssa Bonagura, a singer-songwriter Castro met on "The Voice," and Ted Bruner, who has written songs for Katy Perry and Selena Gomez -- has Castro sounding more like a soulful R&B singer than her dance-pop outing on the show.
"I fell in love with the story line," she says of "Diary." "It was a country pop song when I heard it, but I wanted it to sound more R&B, like Beyoncé mixed with Taylor Swift, with a Rihanna edge to it."
Castro is working on her debut album, while also finishing her senior year of high school.
"I can't wait until I can go on tour," she says. "I love being onstage and I really want to travel. I want to be on tour ASAP!"
Contact The Long Island Sound at glenn.gamboa@newsday.com or follow @ndmusic on Twitter.
