Carly Bins crowned 2015 Superstar winner at state fair

There’s a new superstar in town (well, actually the whole state) and her name is Carly Bins.

She was crowned the winner of the Fifth Third Bank Michigan State Fair Superstar Contest, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, after her three-song performance Friday evening.

“It’s still a little overwhelming,” Bins said Tuesday. “I can’t believe I won. I’m so grateful.”

But now that she’s done a television interview and has some others coming up, she said it’s starting to settle in a bit more.

Bins, who turned 16 on Aug. 30, went up against 15 other performers, all required to do two originals and cover Jill Jack’s Pure Michigan song.

“For Pure Michigan, I worked a lot with my voice teacher on how to convey it right,” Bins said. “I rewrote one of the verses, made the song faster and used a ukulele. I made it totally different.”

Her two originals were The Bullet and Mistakes. The latter, which she penned last year, is about “a relationship gone very wrong with a girl realizing her boyfriend is just using her and that she needs to get out of the situation,” Bins said.

The Bullet was written several years ago by Bins and tells of her real-life situation dealing with toxic friends.

“Both are my songs, so I know them like the back of my hand,” said Bins, who performed solo during the competition and as the winner playing two sets Sunday, all on the state fair’s main stage.

She said she wasn’t that nervous performing the three songs, mainly because she had practiced a lot. But it was a little nerve-racking because she didn’t see or hear her competition.

“I had absolutely no idea who I was up against or what they were like,” Bins said. The competition was spaced out with 45 minutes to an hour between acts because some had backup bands that had to get on stage.

All the contestants were given 25 tickets to hand out and Bins was able to give them all away.

“I had a bunch of friends and family who came and cheered really loud,” Bins said, “which was good for me because I was able to be energetic and give a good performance.”

She said she was confident, but went into the contest with a game plan: “Just go out and be your best,” she said. “You’ll be fine, whatever happens.”

Between Friday’s competition and Sunday’s showcase, Bins squeezed a set in at Arts Beats & Eats in Royal Oak in Saturday’s high temperatures.

Background

Bins has been singing since her elementary school’s talent show, when she was just 6. Now the Northville High School junior has a long list of notable gigs, including the Meridian Winter Blast, Northville’s Arts & Acts, Brighton’s Fine Arts & Acoustic Music Festival and South Lyon’s Pumpkinfest.

Along the way, she’s garnered two wins in Northville’s Talent for the Title competition (2014 as a singer-songwriter and 2012 with the all-girl Unusual Symphony) and she was a top five finalist in the Local 4 Super Singer Competition last year.

She also is a member of Northville High’s TrebleMakers, an all-girl a cappella group. Bins, whose voice is described as a cross between Melissa Etheridge and Taylor Swift, writes mainly for acoustic guitar, but also plays ukulele and a bit of piano.

cstone@hometownlife.com | Twitter: @TheNoviNews

Superstar bounty

The State Fair Superstar contest offers a purely Michigan mentoring twist on the standard pop music talent contest formula, with the winner receiving:

○songwriting advice plus artist and repertoire coaching from award-winning artist/producer Nadir Omowale;

○live performance booking consultation from 2 Stones Events;

○production of a three-song EP at world famous Pearl Sound Studios of Canton, with internationally renowned sound engineer and producer Chuck Alkazian;

○cash prize and Indie Music Business Coaching from new Music Mentor Jill Jack.