Parisian-Welsh POP singer Kitty releases Y2K inspired Single and Video
Interview conducted on August 16, 2021
By Dan Locke
Singer/Songwriter from France
What is your upbringing?
I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and moved to France, in the Parisian region, when I was 4 years old. I went through all my education there up until university, for which I moved to England to study Pop Music.
How did you discover music?
My first music-related memory is my mom playing me Kate Bush, I remember being hypnotized by her voice as a kid.
How did you start to write music?
I’ve always considered myself a writer before a singer. As a child I wanted to be an author and I would write short stories in primary school. I picked up the guitar when I was around 11 years old and that’s when I directed my creative writing towards music and songwriting specifically.
How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
It was a gift from my dad. He bought it for me secondhand and went and tried it out before buying it. I still have it and it’s the only guitar that I own! What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make, and model? I’m not a huge guitar player, I mainly use it to write my music. I’m pretty happy with the one I have!
How did you meet Dejan Visser?
We met in high school. I was sat next to him in German class and asked him if was in a sect because he had a tattoo of an alien on his wrist – I thought he was a Scientologist, turns out he was weirder than them.
Describe your music.
At the intersection between Pop and Hyper Pop, with a little bit of an French touch and a lot of DIY sparkle.
What was your first performance like?
I can’t remember it but I’m sure I was a superstar.
Royalties never appear like magic. Royalties are only sent to you through work undertaken by a PRO to ensure that their members are getting paid. If you’re not yet signed up to a Performing Right Organization like ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, you may not be receiving all the royalties you deserve. Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
Yes, I belong to PRS.
What makes a good songwriter?
When it comes from the heart. As simple as that.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
I don’t know what the title was but I can tell you the first line: “I got a whole lotta boys buzzing round me like a beehive – buzz buzz, buzz ba buzz.” I never recorded it but I remember all of it off by heart.
You stated something about your mental health during the creation of your music. What is the process of writing your music?
Usually, Dejan sends me an instrumental and if I love it, which I almost always do, I stay up all night writing and obsessing over it.
Your debut EP was 5 years ago. What do you remember mostly about the creation of the EP?
It was after I and Dejan had taken a break from working together for a while. It was good to make music with him again.
How was it to be mistaken for Dup Lipa?
I don’t think I’ve ever been mistaken for her, but if it happened, I would say thank you, she’s hot. Then I would sue for dying her hair purple like mine.
Tell me about your song “Heart on Crack”?
The song was written after I had just come out of a long-term relationship with someone who was very materialistic and who saw my kindness as a weakness. My emotions felt out of control and I kept giving to the point where it felt like my heart was “on crack”.
Tell me about your next single “Sugar & Spices”? a song you have been working on since 2019.
Well, it’s out now! It’s been a long time coming so it feels great that my baby is out in the world. I wrote this song about missing the sexual connection from an ex-lover, when you’re smart enough to realize why they’re no longer in your life but you want them in your bed, just one last time. One night, I had one too many glasses of red and started feeling very “nostalgic” about my past relationships — you can guess what kind of drunk I am — I could have texted them but instead I wrote this song.
What is your favorite track on your album?
It changes all the time but right now I’m in a very “Get Wild” sort of mood.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
I think that more people should stream music, but like, mainly my songs.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, pound sign, and a sharp sign in music. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag.
Are people forgetting that the # is a part of music?
I think they definitely are — maybe I should write a song about it to remind people?
Digital vs. vinyl?
Vinyl for the aesthetic.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
Word Shaker by The Saturdays. For some reason, it inspired me so much when I wrote my song “On Top”.
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
I think it’s definitely had an impact but the live industry is coming back in full force here in the UK, now that everything is opening up.
Do you think that Covid-19 has been a plus to an artist career?
It’s given people a lot more “down” time. It’s difficult to say for sure, every artist is different.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Pop girl sh*t mainly. Filming, writing, recording, editing videos, practicing, creating content etc…
How do you stay healthy during the lockdown?
I used to work out at the gym every day before lockdown. Then my main exercise was going shopping but now I don’t have a job so I’m not sure how I’m going to afford and maintain my figure anymore.
How is your tennis game?
I’ve actually never played Tennis before but I love the costumes.
Are you still doing photography? And where can we see your work?
Sure! I shoot all my own content on Instagram unless otherwise stated – you can follow me there under @urbabykitty.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
I don’t really have a lot of free time but since restrictions have loosened here, I’ve rediscovered drinking again.
Are you still mentoring artist?
Not anymore sadly.
With more and more live music happening. And the virus is still here. Are you willing to play large concerts and festivals and what precautions would you like to have in place?
I am more than willing — I want to. As long as they pay me and feed me, I’m good. I’m pretty satisfied with what they’re doing here, which is making people provide a negative test before they enter the event.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means thinks like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
Absolutely, it is. It’s something I find really tragic. We’re confronted to it A LOT when doing PR stuff.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
That sounds insane, but how could we see the stage design? It’s one of the most important things in a live show as well as the backup dancers and all the musicians.
In the past if a musician stops doing music, they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice-over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?
I reckon I would be great at doing voiceovers as well. I always fancied being a lawyer.
What is your happy place?
Montmartre, in Paris.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to sell their entire song catalog for $140 Million. In the past year a lot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks ($100 Million), Bob Dylan (over $400 Million), Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, K.T. Tunstall, and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million. Neil Young song 50 percent of his worldwide copyright and income interest in his 1,180-song catalogue to Hipnosis Songs Fund limited. Once you get to the age of about 70. Publishing is far more lucrative than the mechanical royalties paid to artist based on sales, airplay and streams. A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985. And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial.
The lump sums being offered by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning.
Someone who was totally against selling his rights was David Crosby. He did not want to sell his publishing rights. And it was not an easy thing for him to do. But by making a deal with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, it took a big weight off of his shoulders. He could pay off his house and cover other bills. And now he doesn’t have to work for a living. It should be noted that David is battling tendinitis in his hands which hurts his ability to play guitar.
Do you think you would be willing to sale your back catalog if someone like Universal is will to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs?
I’ve already sold my soul and everything I had to Pop Music.
There are many platforms out there that allow artists to get their music heard. Artist Republik, DistroKid, Tunecore & plenty others offer distribution services. These services enable independent artists to put their music on some of the most popular streaming services globally, from Spotify to Apple Music & everything in between. If you’ve been in any part of the music industry in recent years, you probably know someone that has distributed a song.
Spotify reports that in 2021 there are about 8 million artists on the platform. Of those 8 million artists, about 57,000 are raking in a whopping 90% of the total revenue from streams. That means that .71% of the artists on Spotify are making good money. In 2020, there was a total of around $5 billion paid out to artists on the Spotify platform alone.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that, by the end of 2021, SPOT will be home to over 90 million tracks. And that in the early part of next year, it will surpass a catalog of 100 million for the first time.
What do you think what that could mean to independent artist?
It means that it’s going to get more and more flooded. And as there is enough room for everyone, it means there is room for no one.
Over half a billion active users around the world share their favorite music on TikTok either with something like a dance challenge and lip-sync videos or creating a funny skit or candid camera moment.
TikTok has become a great platform for music promotion, sharing songs, and finding new listeners. In which it has become a place for music artist to earn revenue when people use their music. Which in many cases the daily promotion on TikTok has led to hug boosts on other platforms like Spotify, Facebook and YouTube.
TikTok does this with the become algorithmically generates a feed of content for each user, which you see as the displaying of #. The more a user engages with content, the smarter TikTok gets at guessing what kind of videos the viewer wants to watch.
Because a song can go viral because of this.
Sony Music and Warner Music Group-, The ByteDance-owned video app revealed that it has struck an “expanded” global licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. Now that TikTok is now fully licensed by all three major record companies, will you start using TikTok more?
It sounds like they will be taking over the sounds on the app so I’m not sure that’s a good thing. It probably won’t affect my usage though.
Breaking news: TikTok is launching TikTok Radio, a full-time SiriusXM music channel going live this summer. The station will be available in vehicles and as a streaming channel on the SiriusXM App, desktop, and all connected devices.
The station will be part of a new TikTok collaboration with SiriusXM and its subsidiary, Pandora, to jointly promote emerging talent. Do you think this platform could became a force in the future of streaming music?
Tiktok has completely changed the landscape of modern music marketing in such a short amount of time. It’s a very strong possibility, I think.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Thank you for having me, Dan! Miah
