An Interview with CeCe Peniston

Multifaceted vocalist CeCe Peniston took the world by storm with iconic dance anthems such as “Finally”, “Keep On Walkin”, “We Got a Love Thang”, “I’m in the Mood”. Here to join me to discuss the 25th anniversary of “Finally”, her fans, what’s next and more!

Terrance: For those who may be unaware of what you’ve been up to and working on, bring us to date.

CeCe Peniston: For everyone who may be wondering what I've been up to lately, I just want to say I've been doing a lot of traveling this year which is great for me because this is the 25th anniversary of "Finally". I've been revamping my brand with #teamcece and working on new music, performing lot, did a reality show and a bodybuilding show in 2014 amongst a couple other ventures.

Terrance: The viewers loved your personality on Celebrity Wife Swap and speaking of reality TV, can we expect more in the near future?

CeCe Peniston: I’m glad you loved Celebrity Wife Swap I'm always clownin around. If you go to my Instagram and Facebook, I'm always pulling shenanigans with my assistant and just in general and yes I'd do more reality TV. In fact I'm starting to work on a documentary now about behind the scenes etc…

Terrance: Cool. So you mentioned the 25th anniversary release of “Finally”, can you share a little backstory to how that song was conceived?

CeCe Peniston: I wrote "Finally" in college, it was a poem that became a song and I never thought it would become a classic all over the world that's still played in clubs and events to this day.

Terrance: And can you recall specifically where you were when you first heard it on the radio?

CeCe Peniston: I was at my mom's house when it first hit the radio, going crazy like one of the five heartbeats scene (laughs).

Terrance: You’re often typecast to a specific genre of music even though you’ve covered multi-genres throughout your career.

CeCe Peniston: I don't like being labeled to a certain genre of music, to me it's just a challenge to show people more of who I am as an artist so I use it as fuel because I refuse to be in a box. I’m one artist that can do an R&B show, EDM show and Pop show so I'm blessed in that way.

Terrance: Interesting. When you look over your career, are there any particular songs you wished A&M Records had pushed harder?

CeCe Peniston: I felt A&M could've done a better job in connecting the dots when it came to me as an  artist. By that, putting the name, face and song together as far as branding was concerned was an area I felt needed a better game plan. I wish that song had come out now just curious how it would be received.

Terrance: You have a huge LGBT following, why do you think they resonate with you so much?

CeCe Peniston: I really feel like “Finally” has been a part of so many celebrations all over the world which I'm thankful for; the love and appreciation. I think the LGBT community loves my song because for either men to women it rings true from the first line "Meeting Mr. Right the man of my dreams " and also because of the beat, lyrics and emotion.

Terrance: Current state of music, your thoughts.

CeCe Peniston: My thoughts on the current state of music is there's good and bad points. There's so many artists, we don't know them all and how many will be classics in later years? You can be the record company which means more music and more money for the artist. With YouTube you can be an overnight sensation and not to mention social media, and lastly the artist have a better connection with fans because of social media but also makes your life an open book (laughs). I could keep going ....

Terrance: Your TVOne’s UNSUNG addressed the highs and lows for you both personally and professionally, through it all what has been the greatest lesson learned?

CeCe Peniston: With UNSUNG I was originally afraid to share my life but once I did that show, I realized people love you more for sharing what's real and makes people relate to you better. People came up to me  later and thanked me for sharing about marriages, babies, depression etc. So it actually helped me to purge what I felt were negative feelings about those events and helped me to heal from that.

Terrance: Everyone have their perception of what success is, how do you best define it?

CeCe Peniston: My perception of success is if I personally have accomplished the goals I’ve set for me, I don't measure my goals by other other peoples gage.

Terrance: I definitely agree.

CeCe Peniston: I do vision boards every year so that’s my personal measure. I will say my standards of what I should be doing are high for me and I'm always hungry for more. I want to experience life to the fullest.

Terrance: And to wrap it up, is there anything you would like to share not discussed?

CeCe Peniston: Things I don't always show I love to still write poetry late at night and I'm a bedazzler (laughs). I want to thank everyone for their support and to follow me on social media; Twitter - CeCe_Peniston, Instagram - cecepeniston, Facebook - therealccp, www.cecepeniston.com