Journey to stardom (with Video)

The lights dim, the curtains lift up and the crowd cheers as Coppell High School sophomore Jacob Barnes and New Tech High@Coppell sophomore Kayla Madureira take a hold of their mics, seconds before the spotlight shines upon them.

Through multiple talent shows, gigs and individual song covers, two aspiring musicians, Barnes and Madureira were originally solo singers and Coppell choir members at their respective school events.

“Kayla and Jacob both have unique voices,” NTH@C sophomore Caroline Perry said. “The thought of combining the two was very cool since they are both great singers.”

Madureira has written several songs and won several talent shows since age 3. She is currently a part of the Septien Entertainment Group, which has also been the starting point for many well known musicians, such as Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Jessica Simpson.

Through Barnes talented instrumental, vocal and acting skills, he took singing and acting at age 5 and was booked for several gigs, talent shows and theater scenes since he started his endeavor in middle school.

Madureira has more than 30,000 plays on her Soundcloud account and almost 1,000 Instagram followers on her singing account “musicbykay”.

Barnes has more than 200 plays on his Soundcloud account and has created five original albums that are publicly available.

In early June, Barnes landed a gig at the Ohlook Performing Arts Theatre in Grapevine. His initial idea of creating a band was offset by the fear of failure – the lack of members in the group posed a challenge for Barnes when it came to sharing workload.

The band, Seeing Stars, was finally born when Barnes reached out to Madureira through mutual friends late summer.

“[Madureira and I] saw common potential in music talent in each other and immediately connected to create songs,” Barnes said.

As the lead guitarist, Barnes is in charge of writing the instrumental and chord progressions, while Madureira, the lead singer, mainly writes the vocals and lyrics.

Together, they have written three publically available songs, “Predictable”, “On and On” and “Held My Ground” that features alternative pop-rock and hard rock.

“I really love the fact that I can see a different side of their musical ability and creativity,” CHS assistant choir director Adam Gilliland said. “Their voices blend well together and work well with the style of music they are working for.”

Barnes and Madureira also created social media accounts for their in hopes of promoting their band across the globe.

The band currently has over 1,500 total plays on their Soundcloud account and over 100 followers on instagram.  

“I’ve listened to the song ‘On and On’ multiple times on Soundcloud,” CHS sophomore Nicole Jordan said. “It has this catchy tune and a nice beat to it that I really love about.”  

Although the band hasn’t landed on any gigs, they took their first live performance at Irving Bible Church in early October.

“It was fun to be able to have a live performance with Jacob for the first time,” Madureira said. “It proved that we were capable of working together.”

Follow them on Instagram @seeingstarsofficial