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If you follow Kierra Sheard on Instagram or any social media site, you will quickly see that she is completely comfortable in her skin. Which could be difficult when your mom is four time Grammy award winning gospel singer Karen Clark Sheard; your grandmother is legendary choir director Mattie Moss Clark and you are one of the stars of the BET’s number one show “The Sheards” and a Grammy award winning singer yourself.
But KiKi, as she is affectionately known, seems to have a balance.
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Savvy Life Mag: Your new reality show has a lot of reality in it.
KiKi Sheard: We want everyone to know it as a docu-series and nothing that is trashy. We have Christ in it. You are definitely going to hear us talk about Christ, there’s no compromising that, but you also get to have a show where faith based families can relate to someone on television. So when you think of docu-series people sometimes thinks that it must be trashy, they’re letting the kingdom down and that’s not it. It’s reality and we are documenting some things that we go through in life.
Savvy Life Mag: The realness of the show, do you think this is why it’s the most watched show on BET?
KiKi Sheard: It’s so exciting, I am completely blown away. I’ve been thanking God for life, health and strength. The things that matter, but also to be on television in front of millions of viewers. I’m just a chunky little girl from the neighborhood. God has taken, not just me, but my family to a completely different level and I don’t take it lightly. For God to have opened this door for all of us, it shows that he trusts us with the ear-gates and eye-gates of the people that are watching and I count that as a blessing.
Savvy Life Mag: You have been a blessing. Your family has been a blessing. You’re the next generation and we are watching you grow up on stage, it’s amazing. How has it been to walk that walk?
KiKi Sheard: I like to be transparent. I don’t like to act as if I have it all together. I say it everywhere I go, I may struggle with the same things that my listeners and the people that support me struggle with. I don’t want you to put me on a pedestal. I’m just another vessel that God has chosen, I’m human and in need of salvation just like you. I count it a blessing that He trusts me. I would say that it’s not easy, but any Christian will tell you that. I can definitely say there are some things that I may not understand before, but I understand it better in the by and by.
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Savvy Life Mag: Indescribable, your current single, you’ve said that it is one of your favorite songs, but you weren’t the first to perform it.
KiKi Sheard: It came along with the transition of me exploring more music and more genres and me wanting to make my sound bigger. You can’t go too much further unless you expand and explore everything around you. Of course you have to limit certain things…guard your soul, guard your heart. But I wanted something bigger. I come from a legendary family, which is a blessing, but it’s obvious that they have a unique sound and so I had to ask myself, “What will I add to that legend?” I started listening to more contemporary Christian music. Chris Tumley, Michael W. Smith, Hillsong, and Jesus Culture. That’s Christ Tomlin’s song and every time I heard it I would just cry in my car and those are the moments I was having my Jesus experiences, so I had to do this song.
Savvy Life Mag: Your sense of fashion is almost as unique as your voice, what are some of your style secrets?
KiKi Sheard: I like to give some of my secrets away, because I like to see other plus size women look good. A tip that I have is, I will go to the stores that don’t have my size and I will go to a tailor and have them open it up for my size. I shop everywhere. I don’t let my size keep me from going into the stores that I want to. However, I do want to continue to get some more of this weight off so I don’t have to keep doing that. I can find something in CVS, that’s how bad my shopping is.
Catch the rest of the KiKi Sheard’s performances and interview on JSUTV’s new show Hallelujah Unplugged. Airing this fall. Check local programming guide for times.
