Kenya Grace chats to NME after her first-ever set at Reading, revealing her plans to show off a "darker" side to her music.
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00:00Hi guys, it's Kai and Sian Williams from NME at Reading Festival and I'm here with Kenya
00:11Grace.
00:12Hi.
00:13How was it like to do your debut Reading set today?
00:17It was incredible.
00:18I feel like I've been watching so many videos from this festival for my whole life so it's
00:22incredible to be here.
00:23So excited, honestly.
00:25And this year's been a bunch of firsts for you.
00:28Definitely.
00:29Yeah, you did Glastonbury, which was amazing.
00:35All these firsts for you, how is it getting them so early in your career?
00:40It's been crazy.
00:41I sometimes think I've been just massively chucked in the deep end, but it's been so
00:47incredible and I'm so blessed for everything I've done, honestly.
00:52I'm just very grateful.
00:54Yeah.
00:55When watching back, not only your Glastonbury set and also seeing your Reading set, I see
00:59that you like to go between DJing and singing.
01:03What made you feel, why do you do that?
01:05I think I just like that sort of thing.
01:07I love making edits in between my songs or adding other songs into my set and obviously
01:13I love to sing as well and I use an MPC to play drum parts, which I love to do as well.
01:21I think it's all encompassing of me as an artist.
01:25Yeah.
01:26Yeah, because of course you do it all.
01:28You write your own song, you produce your own song, you sing your own song.
01:33You're such an all rounder.
01:36Yeah, thank you.
01:37Yeah, what made you pick up all those skills?
01:40I think honestly, I started doing sessions when I was quite young and I really desperately
01:46wanted to be able to do it myself.
01:47I think I wanted to have the chance to do it when I'm by myself in my room or whatever.
01:52It just gives you the freedom to actually make stuff whenever you want and do your own
01:56sound and yeah, I just fell in love with production pretty early on and yeah.
02:02Yeah.
02:03Tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like with the whole success of Strangers and all your
02:10solo work and stuff, I feel like people more so put you out there as the artist, the singer
02:15and they don't realise that you're making these beats, like you're making these bangers
02:17by yourself.
02:18Yeah.
02:19I definitely, I love making stuff for myself, but I definitely am so up for collaborating
02:26as well.
02:27I think my next chapter, I want to do some collaborations and stuff.
02:30I don't want to only do stuff myself, but it's, yeah, I just love to do it, so yeah.
02:37If you could think of three collaborators right now, who would you call?
02:42Always Lana Del Rey.
02:43I don't know what kind of music we'd make, to be honest, but I love her so much and probably
02:49Flume.
02:50He's just so incredible and probably Chasing Status.
02:54I just feel like that would be amazing.
02:56Yeah.
02:57It'd be like a proper angsty electronic club night.
03:00Yeah.
03:01I love that.
03:02Yeah.
03:03Are you going to try and pinch Lana Del Rey backstage?
03:06I'd be too scared, honestly.
03:08I'm so like, I'd be such a fangirl over her that I feel like I'm just going to run away,
03:13but she is so incredible.
03:14I love her.
03:15Yeah.
03:16Well, I'm hoping that happens for you.
03:18Yeah.
03:20Of course, this time, well, you put out Strangers last year and within that time you went from
03:26bedroom popper to like main arena doing festivals.
03:29How is also the rise for you like so quick?
03:32How have you adapted?
03:34It's been crazy.
03:35It definitely like changed my life like instantly, which is so crazy.
03:38Like I was not doing shows.
03:41I did not do a show for like years before my first show.
03:44And then Strangers came out and it was like very fast to like big crowds, which was honestly
03:49like terrifying.
03:50And I struggled a lot with stage fright.
03:52But yeah, I feel like the best way to get over stage fright is just to go through it
03:57and do it.
03:58And I did that.
03:59So happy.
04:00Yeah.
04:01I've seen that you've called like rising so quickly and all that.
04:05You said you don't want to take it in and like really notice it because you feel like
04:09it could like kill the joy of being a big star.
04:13I'm wondering, is this still a kill joy or like you could finally find the positivity
04:20in like your success?
04:21I think like the positivity in it is like seeing people like sing along to my songs
04:26and I really love it.
04:27And like when I do shows and I love that so much, I feel like the only thing that is a
04:32bit of a killer of joy is like focusing on the numbers of things, like how successful
04:36something is or.
04:38But yeah, I feel like.
04:40Yeah, it's good.
04:41Yeah.
04:43And I feel like you, if you go back to your set, you love to always play these big pop
04:48bangers like you play Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek, you play Britney Spears' Toxic, as
04:55well as earlier you played Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters.
05:00Why? Firstly, why do you include like this pop element to your work as well and not
05:04strictly go down that drum and bass or like, yeah, drum and bass route?
05:08I love those songs so much.
05:10I feel like they've like been a big part of my life, honestly.
05:13They're huge bangers, but I always like make them a drum and bass or like make them into
05:18my style, which I think is cool.
05:21Yeah. And I love that they're all women.
05:23Well, most of the time they're all women.
05:24I didn't even notice that actually.
05:25Yeah, it's late. I love that.
05:27It's all about women empowerment now.
05:28True.
05:29Especially in dance music, where like I feel like we don't have that many women that are
05:33like out there as representation.
05:36Definitely.
05:36How's it like being one?
05:38It's definitely, I feel like it's getting so lit though now, like when I was growing up
05:43and when I was really young, I thought there was no representation then.
05:46But now it's like there's a lot of really sick women actually and they're slaying it.
05:50I love it.
05:50Yeah, because I think also like women were hidden in a way, like because of course we
05:54had the DJ Fly and we had Smoking Joe and all these people that have been around
05:59forever. But yeah, yeah, it's just there.
06:04Yeah. So you dropped your first ever EP as well, The Aftertaste.
06:11What's the statement you wanted to make with that EP?
06:15I wanted to write something that was like, The Aftertaste is basically about the
06:20remaining feelings after having a relationship, no matter if it's a friendship or
06:24like a dating relationship.
06:26I wanted to create this body of work that kind of encompasses all of that, like all
06:30of the remaining feelings after it ends.
06:33I guess that's the statement.
06:34Yeah. Yeah.
06:36And if I was to come and like find the music, listen to the music, what would you
06:40want me to learn about you from it?
06:47I feel like I'd want people to know about me that I love, like dance music and like
06:53the like kind of like pop elements in the vocals.
06:57But yeah, it's not that it's like it's not that deep, it's not that deep.
07:01Don't read into it that much.
07:03Yeah. And are you working towards new music?
07:05Yes. I dropped two new songs in the set today, which I'm really excited about.
07:10And I'm going on a bit of like a heavier dance music journey now, which I'm really
07:15excited about. So, yeah.
07:17Who's inspiring this new music then, like this heavier sound?
07:21Why are you going down that route?
07:23I've always loved it and I feel like I've been too scared to do it before, but I feel
07:28like now I'm going to just go for it.
07:30I love like the heavier drum and bass that like Chase and Status do or there's some
07:35really cool boys doing some amazing music.
07:38One is called MPH.
07:39I think he's amazing.
07:40He's so talented. But I feel like there's like a real like resurgence of like really
07:46heavy dance music now.
07:48I'm just very into it.
07:50Yeah. And you said you were scared to do it before.
07:53Do you know that moment that made you feel like, you know, fuck it, let me do it, let
07:56me go into it. It's been recently.
07:58I feel like it was just a random day.
08:00I was like, fuck it, I want to do it.
08:03He's just in the studio like.
08:05Yeah, I think it's so cool.
08:06It's like what I love to like go out to and like I really want to just like sing over
08:11that like heavier sound.
08:12I love it. So what's next for you?
08:15Working towards a new project?
08:17Yes. Yeah, I've been writing a lot and I'm going to do some collaborations, which I'm
08:22excited about. And yeah, I feel like I've been very, very busy like touring and doing
08:27lots of festivals, but now I'm ready to like release some new music, which I'm
08:32excited about. Is there like a concept around the music yet or is it just like free
08:36forming? Not really.
08:37It's like in the in the works at the moment.
08:39Yeah, I'm excited. Is there any like moods, themes?
08:43Definitely darker, I think, like darker, heavier, I'd say.
08:47What do you mean like a darker, is it like darker sound or darker theme?
08:51Darker sound. I feel like most of my music anyway is quite sad and dark.
08:55Anyway, the lyrical concept is like very sad.
08:57But yeah, I think the sounds of like the synths and like just the general vibe of the
09:02songs is more heavy and dark, which I love.
09:04Yeah. You have like this weird way of like making me cheer up whilst crying.
09:09Like it just feels like.
09:11Crying in the club.
09:11Yeah, it's just emotional, happy music.
09:15Love that.
09:15Yeah. So thanks for talking to me today.
09:20Thanks for having me.
09:20And yeah, I hope you enjoy the rest of your wedding and meet.