Kiara Nelson Interview
By Jimmy G
Debut singles are a tricky business. Often, it's been a number of hard years for the artist, tirelessly writing, performing and keeping passionate about your music despite the highly competitive and strenuous nature of the industry. Artists then only have three to four minutes to showcase their music for the first time to the world. With more and more music being released and studies showing the attention span of listeners getting smaller and smaller, it's becoming increasingly harder for debut artists to stand out. But Kiara Nelson makes it seem effortless.
Adore You: Kiara Nelson’s new single.
I recently had the chance to chat with the artist, who's just released her solo debut single, "Adore You". Having already introduced herself with the hit "After Hours" with Producer/DJ duo: M-22, her song "Adore You" combines the buoyant bounce of guitar strings with strong rhythmic electronic beats and a healthy R&B mix to create something quite unique.
““Adore You” combines the buoyant bounce of guitar strings with strong rhythmic electronic beats and a healthy R&B mix to create something quite unique. ”
"The writing process is always so much fun and to be honest “Adore You” was born really fast” Kiara tells me, discussing the composition of the song.”
In a matter of probably 20 minutes, we had all the melodies done. We wrote the chorus first and knew we wanted it to be an uplifting song. Everything after the chorus just came very easily and naturally and I feel like the song just wrote itself. It’s so much easier to write about stuff you relate to and feelings you’ve felt."
When I asked her how she's been finding the reception for the track so far, she claims "The reception for “Adore You” has been so amazing, better than what I expected. I’ve only heard positive feedback and so many people have taken the time to share it and support it, so it feels amazing".
“Adore You - it felt really right. I just love the message in the song and think it was the perfect feel good, happy and confident song to start with.”
She explains more about her choices for her first single, which was “between two songs, “Adore You” and another one that you’ll hopefully hear soon! Both of them felt like they really represented me musically and as a person. When we finally made the decision to go with “Adore You”, it felt really right. I just love the message in the song and think it was the perfect feel good, happy and confident song to start with”.
When discussing the idea of being unique in the music industry, Kiara claims that she does “think it’s important to have your own sound that stands out because you want people to be able to recognize your music and voice the second they hear your song. It’s always good if you’re song sounds like you instead of it sounding like a bunch of other songs that’s already out there. I’d like to think me and my production and writing team keep it fresh!”
Approaching the topic of the music industry more generally, Kiara states that the main lessons she’s learnt from the business is that “it’s very important to take care of yourself and surround yourself with people who truly care about you as a person as well as business. To create real and genuine relationships because that makes the journey so much better and that’s what it’s really about: enjoying the process. My advice to people wanting to make a career out of music is to never give up and dream big. If you can see it and believe it, you can make it happen. You just have to work hard and have patience.
I briefly discuss Kiara's struggle with stage-fright during her teenage years that her mum helped her to overcome by dragging her to karaoke nights each weekend -she's candid and wise about her pre-show nervousness:
“I honestly feel like I am still overcoming my stage fright. I love performing but from how scared I used to be, it takes some time to get completely away from that. I’m still learning with every experience and loving it more and more each time.
“What helped me was definitely going to karaoke bars because it’s so good practice to sing songs you’re comfortable singing in front of a bunch of people you don’t know. It’s also good practice to sing in front of friends and family because intimate crowds with familiar faces can be the hardest crowd sometimes and every bit of practice helps!
“Nowadays, I like to listen to a meditation the night before and right before the show. Something to give you that confidence boost! You just have to remember you're doing it for you because it's what you love”.
“My advice to people wanting to make a career out of music is to never give up and dream big. If you can see it and believe it, you can make it happen. ”
Debut singles are a tricky business but it seems that Kiara may have just cracked it with “Adore You”. We can’t wait to see what she releases next.