clouding the track's overall potential to inspire active twitchin' and twirlin'. Producers Rollo and Rob D. have created a grand disco/house arrangement that allows Kristine to shine like the star she deserves to be.” The success of the album lead to Kristine W being named the 1997 “Best New Dance Artist” by Billboard. In later years, the song “Feel What You Want” was included in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on the Rise FM station. Kristine's sophomore album, Stronger, was released in 2000 and received commercial and critical acclaim; both of the album's official singles – including the title track – reached #1 on Billboard Dance Club Songs, and “Lovin’ You” was featured in an episode of the Showtime television series Queer As Folk. Stylistically, Kristine W expanded on the dance and house music influences prevalent on her first album, this time incorporating more adult contemporary, R&B, and pop influences. About the album's lyrical themes, Kristine has said, “Stronger came about when my grandmother was ailing and when I had my first baby... watching life come into the world and watching life go out was traumatic at the time; I had to be strong for my baby and for my grandmother.” 2001–2005: Diagnosis of leukemia and Fly Again Following the release of Stronger, Kristine W began exhibiting unusual physical symptoms, for which she sought medical advice. No medical abnormalities were detected at the time. However, during a performance in Japan, Kristine experienced persistent bleeding, to the point where friends urged her to again see a doctor, who ordered a blood test. The results came back on Mother's Day of 2001, revealing that the mother of two then-toddlers had Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Kristine was given 30% chance of living and she spent the next year in the UCLA Medical Center. She recounts, “I remember when I was in the hospital at UCLA being treated. I told myself, ‘Okay, when you wrote [Land of the Living], you meant it. And now you’ve got to live it. This is for real. This isn’t about words or music—this is about you not being on the planet anymore.” Kristine had a stem cell transplant on September 11, 2001. Regarding the 9/11 terror attacks, Kristine recalls witnessing the second plane hitting the World Trade Center on television from her hospital bed, which she described as “very devastating”. The procedure itself was, fortunately, a success, and