Nicole Acosta’s love for music led her to some of the nation’s biggest cities, from New York to Los Angeles. Starring in musicals and game shows made her dreams into reality.
After performing for Joe Biden in front of numerous international leaders, Acosta realized she had to start dreaming bigger.
The journey to the big leagues
Nicole Acosta started as a singer. Encouragement from the junior’s piano teacher when she was in elementary school led her to a vocal coach. What started as humming along to piano notes became singing in front of the president.
“After that, I never stopped,” Acosta said. “That was the catalyst and what got me into singing.”
At Miami Arts Studio, Acosta opted to first start studying theater instead of vocals. She joined Phil Collins’ Little Dream Foundation at 10-years-old to practice drama.
The foundation sponsors children from around the world to support their athletic or artistic dreams. When the famous musician heard Acosta sing “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” he knew she was a prodigy he couldn’t ignore.
Collins invited her to join the foundation and sing alongside him at the annual gala. That was her first taste of stardom.
Going into highschool, she transitioned into studying musical theater to combine her love for acting and singing. Her teachers motivated her to immerse herself in the story and let the vocals come naturally.
“I’m a perfectionist, so I worry about the notes,” Acosta said. “They really helped me get out of my head and enjoy the performance and tell the story.”
Acosta’s ambition drove her to endlessly audition for singing competitions and musical theater roles. The answer she often got was, ‘no.’ Doubt about her career began to creep in.
“Sometimes you’re like, ‘Should I even be doing this?,” Acosta said.
A couple years into high school, her faith was answered. In a time of ‘no’s, producers from American Idol reached out to her and told her to audition for their upcoming season. She was brought to the show and awarded a golden ticket to go to Hollywood.
“There’s always a moment where you’re doubting yourself before something huge comes,” Acosta said.
Acosta competed rigorously in the Hollywood Week portion of the competition, but didn’t get the platinum ticket to go to the next round. Nonetheless, she walked away as one of Miami’s up-and-coming artists.
Her defining moment
She returned as a local celebrity. Her acclaimed performances helped Acosta get the lead role as Gloria Estefan in the first high school production of UM alumna Estefan’s biographical musical, “On Your Feet.”
On the night of the local show, Acosta anxiously prepared backstage. Her teacher then thanked the audience and Gloria and Emilio Estefen for attending.
She pushed her anxieties to the side and stepped on stage transformed into Gloria, capturing the heart of the Estefans watching from the audience.
“In the back of my head, I was thinking that the Estefans were there for the first few numbers. But, then after, I was just playing the character,” Acosta said.
During intermission and after the show, the Estefans approached Acosta to applaud her performance. Gloria hailed Acosta’s performance as her favorite, telling a star-struck Acosta that she was ready for the big leagues.
Emilio Estefan then brought her to a Miami Marlins baseball game to sing the Cuban national anthem. Her jaw-dropping vocals in the 37,000 capacity seating arena proved to Emilio she was ready to tackle an audience even award-winners struggle to get.
The next big thing
The Summit of the Americas is an annual gathering of North and South American leaders. In an attempt to wow foreign leaders, Emilio elected Acosto to sing at the summer 2022 summit, the first one hosted by the United States since 1994.
“It’s always a surprise,” Acosta said. “I never know what I’m waking up to.”
She rehearsed in the Los Angeles Microsoft Theater days before the event. On the day of, once Vice President Kamala Harris finished speaking at the summit, Acosta took her place on stage to sing “One World, One Prayer.”
She recalled her encounter with President Joe Biden on stage.“He went up to me and introduced himself to me and shook my hand,” Acosta said. “I did not expect that.”
In her first semester at the U, producers from FOX’s new singing show “I Can See Your Voice” gave her a spot on their inaugural roster. She sang to see if the contestants and celebrity judges could guess if she was using her real voice or lip-syncing.
Acosta was flown out to Atlanta to rehearse her songs and get ready for the live performance. “It didn’t feel real,” Acosta said.
A contestant incorrectly guessed Acosta was lip-syncing, which led her to perform Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.” Acosta’s vocals made the live audience gasp.
The host, comedian Ken Jeong, personally told Acosta this won’t be her last time on TV.
“That one was one of my favorites that I’ve done so far because the crew and everyone was so nice,” Acosta said. “It’s a celebration of talent rather than a competition.”
What’s next?
In the middle of all the incredible opportunities, Acosta takes time to produce and write her own music. She anticipates releasing multiple singles this fall. She also gives back to the community that trained her, giving vocal lessons to students at Miami Arts Studio in her spare time.
She remained hungry for more eagerly traveling to New York City for Broadway callbacks. Last summer, she flew to New York as a finalist to play the role of Lydia Deetz in “Beetlejuice The Musical” on the national tour.
“I love it all,” Acosta said. “Whatever I can get to really pursue first, I’ll go with that.”
Acosta encourages up-and-coming singers to be present in the moment and have faith that the next big opportunity is right around the corner.
“Enjoy where you are at right now and keep working hard,” Acosta said. “You’re never going to enjoy the opportunity that you have at the moment if you keep thinking about the next big thing.”
