Kiesza On Coming Back To Boston, Loving The 90s, And Fracturing A Rib

Tessa Roy, ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Assistant Editor

Don’t “Hideaway” from the city next week. Kiesza will be making a stop at Royale, and is proving she’s not one to miss. Emertainment Monthly had the chance to catch up with the singer in preparation for her show on October 1st.

Emertainment Monthly: Since we’re a Boston-based publication, I had to take notice that you went to Berklee! Can you tell me a bit about your experiences there and how it feels now to be returning to the city as a headlining act?

Kiesza: I had a wonderful experience at Berklee College of Music. What I love best about attending college was how it brought so many people of different musical skills together under one roof. I formed many close friends and was exposed to an environment where I was able to collaborate and learn from others as well as explore myself as a musician. I discovered many different sides to myself that I didn’t know existed before. It will be both exciting and strange to return as a headline act as the last time I was in Boston, I was both a student and striving musician. This time around will be a very different experience and I am so grateful to be returning with so much support.

You just released the cover art for Sound of a Woman, and it’s set to be released soon. What can we expect from your first full length album?

My full length album explores the sounds of one of my favorite eras of music, which was the early 90’s. I grew up to love acts like Robin S, Aaliyah, Crystal Waters, Soul II Soul, Lauryn Hill and Michael Jackson, among many others. Without any direct references, when writing this album with my producer Rami Samir Afuni, I imagined I was writing in that era as though I was a musician during that time creating a sound of my own. The album has a variety of Deep House, R&B, Hip Hop influenced music, as well as some slower ballads. My goal was to pay homage to the early 90’s era, but make the music sound current all the same. I look forward to sharing it with the rest of the world!

“Hideaway” has become your breakout hit, and the music video for the song has a very fun vibe. However, you’ve said you broke a rib the day you began shooting it. This probably took away from that fun vibe, but you still finished the video. What inspires you to power through the pain?

I injured my rib during rehearsal the day before the shoot, though I’m not sure at exactly what point the fracture occurred. I believe by continuously rehearsing and shooting the video, I did further damage which lead to the fracture. It wasn’t until two days after the shoot that I found out how serious it was. Surprisingly, I wasn’t very affected at all by the pain on the day of the shoot. I had a lot of fun! When I have a goal, I go towards it with complete determination and focus. Nothing can keep me from something when I am passionate about it. I think the passion I had towards the song and the video shoot distracted me from the injury.

You have a really impressive background. You went from ballet to the Canadian navy to folk music and now you’re in a completely different genre. How did you come to find yourself in dance music?

Surprisingly, through my whole musical journey, it all came back to my roots and the music I grew up listening to and loving. My mom was a huge fan of female singers with big vocals, so there was always a diva of some sort playing in my household! Growing up, where I’m from made it a bit harder to identify with some of the artists I loved, being from a place where the most popular music was Country and Rock. There was no one around me creating that kind of music, so I didn’t know where to even begin. I think it was more comfortable for me to start with folk music and slowly I stepped out of my comfort zone. Eventually though experimenting in many different genres, I realized I had a passion for writing music as a whole and decided to take a chance as a commercial songwriter. During that period of my life I wrote “Hideaway” for fun one day and immediately identified with the song in a way I had never felt before. I absolutely couldn’t let go of the song. I just knew in my heart that I had found my sound as an artist.

Speaking of which, a whole lot of finger-pointing and negative allegations happen in music, but it seems especially prevalent in electronic and pop music. Artists are constantly accused of “copying” each other, and critics start claiming there is no more originality left in these genres. What would you say to these critics, and what is something new that you will bring to the electronic and pop fields?

Artists throughout history have all been influenced by one another. That’s how we grow and evolve. I don’t think creativity has decreased. I just think because we have so much access to so much music, there is a lot more fusion going on. All I can say is that when it comes to originality, it’s coming straight from the source. What you’re getting is me. As an artist, it’s important to be vulnerable with your audience, which for some people is very hard. Everyone on this planet is one of a kind, so nothing is more original than just being yourself.

Get your tickets for Kiesza’s show at Royale here, and pick up Sound of a Woman when it drops on October 21st.