St. Thomas’ all-female a capella group, Cadenza, premiered its first music video on Thursday, March 26 in Scooter’s.

The video, a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space,” was performed and produced entirely by St. Thomas students – something sophomore Hannah Tilstra, founder and president of Cadenza, called an “awesome collaboration.”

“It was really just a great opportunity for all of us to have as St. Thomas students working together,” Tilstra said. “It’s been amazing.”

Juniors Michael Gaytko and Jack Hiniker produced the video with Summit Media, their online content production and management company. Baard Productions, founded by junior Mike Johnson, mixed the audio for the video. Hiniker said collaborating with Cadenza on this project was a “no-brainer.”

“Their passion for music and drive to become the most popular a capella group on campus is something we can relate to,” Hiniker said. “We too aspire to lead our industry, and given the chance to help another group such as Cadenza is something we will never pass up.”

Cadenza members, like sophomore Brittney Krebsbach, found the experience rewarding.

“Working with Jack, Mike and Michael was a good experience. They worked so hard to make the process easy for us and to create a fantastic final product,” Krebsbach said.

Although she was nervous about shooting a video at first, sophomore Cadenza member Isabel Braga-Henebry said the group’s hard work paid off.

“To be honest, I was pretty skeptical in the beginning of the process,” Braga-Henebry said. “But as we jumped into the swing of things, my apprehensions left, and I was really excited. The day of the shoot was beautiful, and we all loved the bonding experience that afternoon proved to be.”

Tilstra, Hiniker and Gaytko chose Gold Medal Park in Minneapolis as the location to shoot the video. Tilstra added that the group worked hard to perfect the video.

“We sang (‘Blank Space’) probably a good 30 to 40 times that day. None of us wanted to hear it for a very long time after that,” Tilstra said.

But Tilstra emphasized the fun the group had as well.

“We’re all really great friends in the group, so it doesn’t feel like we’re doing something that we have to do. It feels like we’re doing something that’s hanging out with our friends, and we happen to be singing,” she said.

Lauren Schaffran can be reached at scha7492@stthomas.edu.