Article sur Theresa

[felix]

Dans le Toronto Star
Dec. 21, 2004

Canadian Idol finalist Theresa Sokyrka still optimistic despite being idle.
T.O. too expensive, Sokyrka returns home
Saskatoon sweetheart still holds on to her dream of making it

After a holiday, rest Canadian Idol finalist ready to record album

ANDREA BAILLIE
CANADIAN PRESS

Canadian Idol king Kalan Porter seems to be everywhere these days promoting his debut album, but life has been decidedly less glamorous for second-place finisher Theresa Sokyrka.

The bespectacled Saskatchewan songstress has spent the fall making appearances in inauspicious locales like Foam Lake, Wadena and Wynyard.

Record companies haven't come calling. Still, the sunny optimism she showed to viewers of the TV singing contest hasn't dimmed. Sokyrka, 23, says she's content with her somewhat idle post-Idol days.

"I really feel blessed to have (had) such an awesome opportunity to delve into the music business ... can't say I would change anything really," she says in a recent interview from Saskatoon.

After spending her summer in the Idol fishbowl, Sokyrka says she was "burning out pretty bad." After the finale, she took time to rest, visit family and let her breakout-ridden skin return to normal after the heavy TV make-up that was slathered on before each show.

After a short-lived move to Toronto (too expensive, she says), Sokyrka returned home to embark on a new life as a quasi celebrity.

"Life is totally, totally different," she says in her trademark raspy voice.

"People recognize you when you're walking around. You have things to do in your day and people will recognize you and you want to give two minutes to everybody, but then you realize that you haven't gotten anything done."

That could be a problem. After all, Sokyrka's to-do list is a long one.

Until this week, she's been hamstrung by a Canadian Idol agreement that forbids her from signing a record deal until Porter has had his crack at the spotlight.

The agreement has now expired, but despite a rabid fan following during the course of the show, record companies haven't exactly been beating a path to Sokyrka's door.

Undaunted, the folky songbird is determined to go it alone with plans to lay down an album in the new year and shop it around to record companies.

"I'm a really hard worker and if I have to do it by myself then I'll do it," she says, adding she'll include everything from covers she sang on Idol to original material and jazz selections.

"I've realized that there are young kids listening and being inspired and that's so awesome, but there are also elderly people that enjoy the old standards that I do."

Sokyrka gushes when she talks about the fans who jammed phone lines each week to vote for her on Idol.

"There was so much support and you know everyone voted and totally made my dream come true and I feel like I have to give something back," she says.

Whether her do-it-yourself approach will yield success in the cutthroat music industry is another matter.

Idol judge Zack Werner, a Sokyrka fan, thinks it's a gamble for the rookie performer to make an album in Saskatoon with people from her pre-Idol days. "(She's) just putting herself back into where (she) was before the whole thing started. I'm not so sure she has the right people around her who can help her weed her way through this."

But clearly, Sokyrka takes solace from being at home these days. She constantly sings the praises of Saskatoon and says her premature move to Toronto "freaked her out."

"It's just so overwhelming how much support there is," she says. "There are so many people that are like `if you need help, just let us know.' So it's just so heart-warming to know that your whole community's behind you."

She's spent the last few weeks on a trip to Israel and Egypt performing for the Canadian military. After the holiday, she'll get back to pursuing her dream — in her typical Pollyanna style.

"There's a lot of pressure to put an album out and everything," she says.

"There's quite a bit of pressure — but a lot of really awesome people that have helped out."