Lesbian pop sensation Keeana Kee and rapper Dai Burger drop their electrifying track 'NUMB,' a musical journey of self-love and inner strength. Keanna says that she wanted this music video to reflect the track, sexual and edgy. She also documented the behind the scenes of the production featuring an all-queer cast on her TikTok. Join us as we chat with Keeana about the new seductive summertime video.
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00:00 I'm Kenaki. I live in New York, originally from Latvia, a very small country in Eastern Europe.
00:06 But I'm here now. And I'm a musician, also a fashion model, but I focus on music right now
00:13 full time. So it takes all of my time. And my latest song is now it's a party club single
00:22 that just came out together with the music video. So I hope you will enjoy it. I was watching.
00:29 And what do you I mean, the song is so upbeat. It has such a great tone. I mean, I can definitely
00:35 see people dancing around to it. But what do you hope people take away from hearing it?
00:40 When I was writing it, whenever I write my, my songs, period, they have a second meaning always,
00:48 it might sound like a little party song, but it's actually quite deep. When I was writing,
00:52 at least what that's what I'm trying to project. And it's about struggles of life. People will
01:00 listen to the lyrics, it's put your guns down. Thank you. Like it's very strong, because there's
01:06 a lot of stuff happening around us always and your struggles, and you're going through stuff.
01:12 And sometimes you just need to like go clubbing or party. Have a dream till your pain is now
01:17 which means get drunk, you know, and let it go. Just let it go for a moment. And then it's going
01:22 to be a new you, hopefully in a few days or tomorrow, and you're going to deal with everything
01:27 again. But you know, with a new year, sometimes you just need to let it let it go. Let go. But
01:32 that hook the chorus is more about fun, you know, drinking it all up. So kind of let it go,
01:38 get drunk, whatever it is, you know, just like, today's your night or day.
01:43 So what really inspired you to want to make these songs that have so much meaning, but are also
01:48 dancey? And you know, people can really party to look what what brings those two ideas together
01:53 for you? Well, I think I write it for myself. The first idea is myself. That's what I want to hear.
02:01 That's what I want to get inspired by. I want to party and, you know, have fun, but it's also
02:09 meaningful. You know, we go through struggles, everyone like life is not easy, we know that
02:15 not supposed to be. So yeah, I write it for myself first and think of what I would like,
02:20 what would I like to hear? So I come from that idea of writing it for myself, and then for
02:27 everybody else, because probably people don't relate. Like that's the natural feeling. What
02:32 would you feel like doing? You know, what would you like to hear? And that's how it comes out.
02:36 Every, every one of my songs. So then going into the visuals that you created, can you tell us
02:42 a little bit about what your idea was for the numb music video? It was the last minute video,
02:48 we we shot in Miami, I'm based in New York, and the bird that the featuring artist on a song is
02:54 based in New York as well. So we were like, you know what, let's play this like, something super
02:59 cool. And where can we get ourselves together. And even though when you live in the same city,
03:04 you can't see each other, most likely you just like busy and occupied and, you know,
03:09 caught up with stuff. So we actually took a trip to Miami, I planned everything, I found the
03:15 location. And I actually, I started a little serious, a few episodes about the BTS of the
03:22 numb music video on TikTok, if anyone's interested. So I found the location, I wanted to make something
03:28 edgy, because the song itself, the lyrics are quite edgy, it's not very light, like put your
03:34 guns down, but your time on it's very light. So I was like, Okay, you know, I found this
03:39 recent location. And it had different rooms. So we could actually have different scenarios in one
03:45 location without traveling around. So the burger right, I found my in the video, the starring
03:52 actors are actually my very dear friends. It's Ariana Castelli, also an LGBTQ artist and DJ
04:00 Citizen Jane. DJ Citizen Jane, she's based in Miami. So it was easy. I was like, Oh my god,
04:05 that would be amazing. If you're gonna be my music video. She agreed. She's like, that's gonna be
04:10 super awesome. And Ariana Castelli also arrived to Miami. So she flew there. And we shot it.
04:16 It's not a lot of people, but we kind of, you know, put everything together. We just like,
04:23 for us, you know, so yeah, it's a location, it's a prison. I'm playing an inmate, Ariana and
04:32 DJ Citizen Jane also playing an inmate, which is creating this like, queer prison that,
04:38 I mean, it's a dream. If you are in prison, you know, you want to be in that one. Anyway,
04:46 that didn't sound right. But still, it was fun. You know, at the end, like, Dave Burger is playing
04:53 this like, little cop, you know, super sexy. So I'm trying to seduce her while I'm in that cell
04:59 to get out of it. And then we're all getting out. And at the end of the video, actually girls who
05:06 are supposed to be my friends and came there to save me, actually lock us up with the Dave
05:13 in the cell and leave. So it's kind of very funny ending of the song. So it's fun. It's a short
05:20 song. It's not so long, but the video is very fun. I think. Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't know that it
05:25 was just, you know, like you throwing it together. It seems it seems like such a fun story. And it's
05:31 definitely, you know, screams queer joy. I love how just open you are about it and how you include
05:37 so many other queer artists. I hear that the whole thing was done with lesbian performers. So I love
05:44 to see that. So what does it mean to you to just be creating such unapologetic music in 2023?
05:49 It's me. That's the first thing, because at first when I was starting my career here, it was like,
05:54 Oh, shall you be yourself? Or shall you cover it up and be straight artists, you know, to open
06:00 your doors? And I was like, but all the video what you want me to be like with the guy like,
06:04 it's very strange. You want to kind of be yourself. It's my music. I write it all myself.
06:09 So I kind of trying to project what's inside of me, and I wouldn't want to play anything else. So
06:14 I'm very happy and proud that I actually have this opportunity to be me and do myself as if I can say
06:23 so, you know, and it means a lot to me. It's very important, even though it did close some doors for
06:31 me, it's for sure, because there's still in this world is a lot of homophobia. And, you know,
06:37 just when they find out a lot of producers, anyone, videographer, anyone in the industry,
06:44 when they find out, Oh, she's a lesbian. Oh, you know, I don't know what the problem is,
06:49 but that's the reality. But you know what, there's always people, there are always people who will
06:54 love you for who you are. And that's who you want to have. That's the following I want to have. If
06:59 you don't like me, I'm sorry, like, you don't have to look at me, or be following me or anything.
07:05 And so I'm very happy to have the following that's real and close to me and a lot of queer people.
07:10 And I'm just it's joy. I love what you said. I mean, I it's definitely a tough industry to be in.
07:17 And you're there's always those struggles of like, what image do you want to portray? You know,
07:21 how are you going to be successful? So I did want to ask if you have any advice you could offer to a
07:27 fellow LGBT musician who are trying to find their voice? Well, it's beautiful when you can discover
07:34 things about yourself without trying to be someone else. That's how you we don't know ourselves. If
07:40 you think about it with every day of our life, we learn something about Oh, I'm actually like,
07:44 oh, I'm actually an introvert, for example, right? Or all these little things. How do you learn?
07:49 How will you get to know yourself? If you're not going to be yourself? So I would recommend I was
07:55 suggest we can't really suggest but from my experience, the happiest thing on earth is to
08:01 do you to be yourself. So stay true to yourself because nothing else that you're going to cover
08:07 things up with is going to make you happy, truly happy. Maybe for a moment, you're going to be like,
08:12 oh, let me fit in to this group of people that are like, whatever, something else that you are.
08:18 And you do that. And maybe you feel good and accepted for that moment. But at the end of
08:22 the day, inside of you, you're going to feel I don't know, like I'm accomplished or something.
08:27 It's not going to be true you. So I would recommend as hard as it is, it's still hard.
08:33 Wherever you're going to be, it's not easier on the other side. You know, the grass is greener
08:37 on the other side. It's not. I mean, it is, but let it stay there. You know, make your own grass
08:43 green. You know, stay happy, true to yourself and keep going. Whatever the struggles, it's going to
08:49 be hard. But as long as you stay focused on what you want, you're going to get there eventually.
08:55 If you're not, the failure is when you give up. So keep going. Keep following your dreams. Keep
09:00 being yourself. And you're going to find, as I said previously, most importantly, the following
09:05 that you're going to gain is going to be your people who are going to love you for who you are.
09:09 Why do you need people to love you who think you are that and that person if that's not who you
09:15 are? So I would recommend just staying true to yourself until you find these people and
09:19 will be surrounded with somebody who will love you.
09:21 I love that. I mean, literally when you said make your own grass green, I was like,
09:26 yep, that's it. I love that.
09:28 Let them be, you know, whoever you think are the competitors. Let them be. They have their own life.
09:34 Make your own life what you want, what you look at, you know, what you see and what you love
09:40 on other person's Instagram, let's say. Your own. Find your own way of doing things the way you like
09:47 them.
09:47 And I, like I said in the beginning, I know you have some projects coming up. You have a live
09:52 show coming up. So is there anything else you can tell us about what the future of your music is
09:57 going to look like?
09:58 Probably the highlight of this year for me, because I am super excited for my performance
10:03 at the Dynashore. It's going to be my first time there ever. And I've heard so much about it. I saw
10:10 so many videos. I am super excited. It's like the world's biggest LGBTQ non-binary event in the
10:17 world that I know about. And it's going to happen from 20th to 24th of September this year. So if
10:24 you are at work, please come. I'm going to be performing in the pool party on Sunday on the 24th
10:29 of September. And it's the most exciting event so far that I have.
10:35 Amazing. I'm so excited. I love live music. It just really speaks to you when you hear it and
10:40 you hear it from the person. And I also just wanted to ask, I mean, how does it feel when
10:45 you hear your own music? Like what thoughts go through your mind when you listen to it?
10:49 Well, it is interesting because just recently I'm working on the album and I have a lot of
10:54 songs that I'm working on. And I was like, oh, I listen to some songs. I'm like, how did I write
11:00 that? Because sometimes when you, I mean, probably everybody's going through that. You're like, oh,
11:06 how did I write this? Like, well, they come out out of me, like the melody, the lyrics,
11:11 like it's very interesting. So a lot of times I do feel very proud of myself because English is
11:16 not my first language. I write in English. Like it's a lot of things that I try to kind of praise
11:21 myself for because there's also a lot of downers and, you know, there's so much, you know, the
11:27 world doesn't really want you to succeed. You know, they want like, you know, because you're
11:33 the competitor for everybody. Always. We all are. So people, people who actually support you,
11:39 you have to keep them close and be like, so grateful. I'm very grateful for everybody who's
11:43 been following me for years since my Coconut, Ramen, Coke music video. This is like incredible.
11:49 You know, these people get lift you up, you know, they support you, they keep you going.
11:53 And I love that. But, you know, all this like not enemies, but like haters or something,
11:59 it's also super cool. Just use it to your advantage. You know, it makes you also like
12:03 prove them that, no, watch me, you know, I have this new song or I have this new music video.
12:09 So it's also cool. Use it also as your advantage. But for, sorry, I just wanted to add for the
12:15 Dinah Shore, the most amazing thing is to perform for the LGBTQ people when you're part of that.
12:22 And you it's huge. There's like a lot of people there and they all your family, you know,
12:28 when you see if I see a lesbian girls walking in front of me, I'm like, oh, sister, sister,
12:33 you know, like that's how we call them. So there I'm super excited to be performing
12:38 for all the lesbian and non-binary people out there. You know, it's such it's it's so incredible.
12:46 I'm super excited for it. Absolutely. It's definitely going to have such great energy
12:50 at the show. I'm looking forward to see. And is there anything else you want to say
12:56 about your music or to your fans? Well, I'm working on a new album, so stay tuned. I'm
13:02 super excited to share that with you. We have a few more videos coming out. The next one is
13:07 Let's Make Love and Genius. I'm also posting a lot of snippets on my social. So follow me on
13:13 Instagram, TikTok, anywhere, I'm everywhere. And you can stay tuned. So a lot of a lot of
13:19 things are coming up. I'm working on a lot of projects right now.