Contemporary Christian artist Blanca has been pursuing a music career since 2006. Starting out in a group called Group 1 Crew, she’s now a solo artist. She released her debut solo album in 2015, and her newest album just last year. She knows God has called her to this career, and she hopes to include vulnerability in her music to inspire others. She now gets to accompany contemporary Christian artist Mandisa along with Riley Clemmons on a state-wide tour.
On Nov. 3, the “Girls Night Live” tour will travel to Reardon Auditorium for a night of worship and a “Girl’s Chat” experience. The tour is a night designed for women to celebrate each other with worship, prayer and conversation along with performances from Mandisa, Clemmons and Blanca.
Blanca said that attendees of the show will experience a literal “girls’ night out,” where they can let their hair down and be themselves.
“It’s definitely geared towards women and young girls,” Blanca said. “It’s an awesome night where women can come and talk about real things and listen to some incredible music from me, Mandisa and Riley.”
She has been friends with Mandisa for a few years, so that friendship helped her earn a spot on the tour.
“We’ve been friends since I was in Group 1 Crew almost a decade ago,” she said. “We’ve always talked about how awesome it would be to tour together, and I remember getting the call from her telling me that she wanted me to be part of a women’s concert event. It’s been an amazing experience so far, and I’m so glad she asked me.”
Blanca became a solo artist in 2013, right after getting married and having a baby. She released her first solo album called “Shattered,” in 2018, which is a very personal album to her.
“My album ‘Shattered’ talks about the passing of my mom from breast cancer,” she said. “I was able to release an EP a couple months ago that includes five songs from the album in Spanish. It was the first Spanish record I’ve done. I am Hispanic and my family is from Puerto Rico, so it just felt like a beautiful way to honor their life and legacy by doing songs for my roots.”
Blanca has a 6-year-old son, and she said that the hardest part of her career is balancing her personal life with her touring career.
“I love my son so much, and it can get hard to be away from him and not have that consistency of being home with a normal routine,” she said. “I do feel like God had prepared me and called me to what I’m doing now, so we find ways to make it work.”
She said that there have been times on tour when she gets to bring her son with her, and they are able to do things together when she’s not performing.
“He was just out with us this past week when we traveled to Colorado, New Mexico and California,” Blanca said. “We went to the zoo and to Disneyland. I always try to make sure I’m not gone more than a two-week period, and if so, we try to balance that and find a way for me to come home or for him to come with us.”
She said that her favorite part of the tour so far has just been being surrounded by so many women every night.
“Being around so many strong, beautiful women has been so good for my soul,” Blanca said. “It’s helped me through this season of life I’ve been walking through. My hope for the women who come to the event is that they feel freedom, filled up and that we really meet them where they are. We ultimately just hope that they leave there feeling encouraged.”
The “Girls Night Live” show including music, humor, worship and prayer will start at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3 in Reardon Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased online through Ticketmaster or at the Reardon box office. The box office is open weekdays from 12 to 5 p.m.