Starr Andrews Combines Musical Talent and Skating

Starr Andrews is known for choosing powerful and meaningful song choices for her programs. As a skater and a musician, the songs to which Andrews skates must be personal and inspiring. Andrews' performance to Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" went viral on YouTube when she was just 9 years old. In 2020, a routine set to Mickey Guyton's "Black Like Me" captured the attention of fans again -- including former first lady Michelle Obama. This season, Andrews stunned fans at 2021 Guaranteed Rate Skate America in October when she skated to her own cover of Etta James' "At Last" for her short program.
 
"My coach [Derrick Delmore] actually suggested it," said Andrews, who previously covered Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" for her free skate at the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. "I had been wanting to sing another one of my programs for a little bit now, and this year seems like the perfect year to do it."

Clearly, Andrews has many talents. In addition to her skating and singing, she also plays the piano. Despite never taking singing lessons, Andrews has an incredibly strong voice and grew up singing in a choir. According to Andrews, it would be "amazing" to sing professionally but still sees that dream as a distant fantasy. A closer dream of Andrews? The road to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
 
Earlier this season, Andrews finished fifth at the 2021 Autumn Classic International. After Bradie Tennell's withdrawal from Skate America®, Andrews received a "surprise" assignment to compete in Las Vegas. According to Andrews, she found out about the assignment on a Sunday and left for the event three days later.
 
"It was a really quick transition from training to competition, but I felt prepared because I had been preparing for [the Challenger Series Cup of Austria]," Andrews, who placed 10^th at the event, explained. "It was such an amazing experience, especially since it was my first time being in front of a crowd in a long time."  
 
In addition to skating to the Etta James classic, Andrews is honoring another iconic Black artist, Beyoncé. For her free skate music, Andrews is using Beyoncé's "Bigger" and "I Was Here."
 
I just love Beyoncé, and it's such an honor to skate to her," Andrews said. "The first time I heard ["Bigger"] I knew I wanted to skate to it, but it wasn't long enough [for a free skate]. The message behind [''I Was Here"] was one I thought a lot of people would be able to relate to."
 
Beyoncé is just one of the many female powerhouse Andrews has skated to in recent years. Previously, her programs have featured the voices of Christina Aguilera, Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston and Fergie. Andrews previously shared in a U.S. Figure Skating interview in 2020, "For me, music choice is a way that I express myself, so it's really important I choose a song I can connect to because it will just be that much more impactful when I skate to it."
 
Like many skaters across the world, Andrews has struggled to train consistently due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. According to Andrews, she missed out on three months of training in 2020 when her ice rink was shut down and was uncertain of whether the rink would remain open after COVID cases began to fluctuate again.
 
"So far, my season has been pretty good. I've had my ups and downs," Andrews said. "[Last year,] it was really difficult to get back in the rhythm of training every day and running programs. But [this year], I'm feeling much more secure."
 
Mentally and physically, Andrews has been working to prepare herself for the season leading to the Olympics. With the help of pilates, additional off-ice rotation classes and the support of her sponsorship with Guaranteed Rate, Andrews is challenging herself to train more difficult content.   
 
"[The pandemic] gave me a little bit of time to refresh my mind and think about all the different ways that I could improve this year as well, especially because this year is very important since it's the Olympic year," said Andrews.
 
Andrews has been dreaming about the Olympics for "as long as [she] can remember" and has been putting pressure on herself to be a contender for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Recently she has been working on more challenging jumps, such as the triple Axel, and hopes she can incorporate them in her programs. Andrews also emphasized the importance of working on her consistency so that her programs can showcase her hard work and commitment to improving.

"My top goal is to skate good programs, get higher scores and get higher content in my programs," she said.  "It would be amazing to place [at U.S. Championships], skate two good programs and have a good time."
 
Andrews placed fifth the Challenger Series Cup of Austria last week and will compete again this week at Internationaux de France, Nov. 19-21.