On Wednesday, Trae Holiday was joined by opera singer J’Nai Bridges for a #BlackStarPower takeover on The Day With Trae. It was an exciting show as Seattle native Bridges spoke about returning to her hometown and making her Seattle Opera debut.

Bridges began singing in her church choir at the age of 5 in Lakewood, Washington. She has also played the piano since she was three.

“Music has always been in my life, but I didn’t grow up listening to opera,” Bridges said.

It was Bridge’s high school teacher who gave her the boost she needed to pursue opera as a career after recognizing her talent and pushed her towards taking private lessons.

“I was already super busy, but I was interested,” Bridges said. “ I added that to my extracurricular activities, and I fell in love with it.”

At one point, Bridges basketball coach told her she could play basketball and sing as long as she made all the practices and games.

“There was one very dramatic moment where I had a basketball game and a choir rehearsal on the same day,” Bridges said. She rushed from the rehearsal to the game, arriving just in time for warmups but still being benched by her coach. “That was the last day of my competitive sports career,” Bridges said.

That moment led Bridges to shift her focus entirely to singing, a move which has paid off. Since those days in Lakewood, she’s won numerous awards including two Grammys.

Now, she gets set to make her Seattle Opera debut in Samson et Delilah this month. You can purchase tickets for that here.

Follow along with J’Nai on her website and watch the full interview above.