Los Angeles – Best New Bands had the opportunity to chat with up-and-coming Miami-based singer-songwriter Kat Dahlia before her show at Club Los Globos in Los Angeles. Blending a variety of genres into one eclectic style, Dahlia is set to release her debut studio album, My Garden, January 13 on Epic subsidiary Vested in Culture.
Having written songs for almost a decade, Dahlia is just now entering the spotlight, having been positively recognized by the national music media for her first singles, “Gangsta” and “Crazy.” Now that she has wrapped up her first national tour she can take a quick break before beginning to promote her album once again in 2015. Among other topics, Dahlia gave us the meaning behind the title of her upcoming album and what she loves about being out on the road, as well as referencing a time in her career in which vocal cord problems threatened to derail her career before it could get started.
Matt Matasci: You’ve been writing songs since you were a teenager; does it feel like it has been a long time coming for you to be releasing your debut studio album on a major label?
Kat Dahlia: I definitely feel like it is very much overdue. I am excited that it is coming out January 13. It’s available for preorder now – just so you know. But yeah, I think that it’s long overdue. I’ve been recording for the last three years, so it’s a very exciting time.
Tell me about the writing process for your first album compared to the songs that you were recording when you were 15? Is there a major difference?
K: It is different than writing on your own, co-writing. Because when you are co-writing…you know it’s different, it’s fun in its own way and it is a different creative process because it’s not just me soaking in my thoughts and my ideas and my perspective and my melodies, it’s a collaboration. That’s what makes it really, really fun, you know? Honestly, I have the best time creating music with friends.
You’ve had a strong positive response with your singles on social media and YouTube, and you’ve received accolades from BET and Billboard. With all this anticipation for the album, does it give you more confidence or does it kind of give you more pressure?
(Laughs) At this point I really don’t care. I just want it out. There’s no emotion – no anxious emotion, like anxious-scared or anxious-excited. No, I’m just…I just want it out. I am just excited for it to be out. I couldn’t care less what the expectations are or the pressures. At this point it doesn’t even matter. You know, there was a time where I wasn’t even sure I was ever going to be able to sing again. What do I give a shit about what other people think at all? I mean, there’s a point where I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to sing, let alone put out an album, you know what I mean? I don’t really care, you know?
The album is titled My Garden, where did you come up with that title? Is there any significance behind it?
Yeah, you know people were asking me what the album is going to be called, and you know for the past three years I have been recording this thing, so, you know it’s not the same sound, it’s all these different sounds and different genres and different stories, and they’re all kind of like evoking a different emotion kind of like a garden. You know, a garden has got all these different kinds of flowers, it’s got like, romantic roses, and then like you have some unforgiving thorns, and you got some weeds in the back and everything is evoking a different emotion and telling a different story and that is kind of what the album is like. It’s not just one set theme or genre. That is what made me think to use My Garden.
Two singles from the album, “Gangsta” and “Crazy” – they both kind of have a different vibe. “Gangsta” is more hard-edged while “Crazy” is more pop-influenced. Is there any way you leaned on the album? Or is it like you said, a pretty big mix of all the different types of influences you’ve had?
It’s a mix. It’s a mix of things, you know, there are things that are a little more rhythmic or R&B-like and then there are things that are just like, more ballad-y and then there are things that are really stripped. I have a song called “Just Another Dude” that’s just my voice and a guitar. I have the more you know, poppy records like “Mirrors” and “Crazy.” So it’s a mixture.
Do you have a preference for which type of song you like to perform on stage?
Umm…no, you know, you just have to come to the show. Every song is kind of important in the telling of the story. You know, is there one day of your life that you would just love to live over and over again? Not really. I mean, that would be a shitty life! I don’t know, every song is fun and it is important in its own way and I enjoy singing it live for different reasons.
You’ve been performing and writing for a long time, have your influences changed since you were younger?
When I was younger, when I was much younger, I was listening to a lot of like, radio pop like NSync and Britney was big and Christina Aguilera was like my god. And then as I got older my brother introduced me to more classic rock and uh, punk rock and I really got into The Doors and The Ramones, and you know, the Casualties, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. And then I kind of just started finding my own way, just like, really getting into reggae and blues, you know BB King, and getting into jazz, jazz-pop.
And now I just kind of listen to a little bit of everything. I do listen to what is on the radio, a little bit, but I don’t like it. I just kind of hope that maybe there is a song that is decent on there. And I don’t know, I listen to things that friends send me. There’s nothing new that I am like ‘Oh my god, I am obsessed with this.’ No, not so much. At least not right, right now, because I have been on tour and been kind of busy.
I just got on Spotify, finally, a few days ago. And a friend of mine was like ‘Oh we can make a playlist together, and I’ll add songs and we can listen to it together like a shared playlist.’ Maybe I am super late to the party? I was like ‘Oh my god this is the coolest thing ever,’ so I have been listening to some newer stuff that I had never heard before. My friend kind of turned me on to it; just a lot of like indie-pop, techno, trap…cool shit. From artists that I don’t even know their names, to be honest. But I don’t know, there isn’t anything that I am like obsessed with right now.
So is there any contemporary artist right now that you would really want to work with? Is there anybody you have on your wish list?
Michael Buble.
You mentioned you have been really busy touring. How has that been? Is this your first really big tour?
Yeah this is my first, it’s been so fun. It’s so amazing. The band has been amazing, the shows have been unbelievable and just the response, it’s just so, it’s kind of like just such a good reminder of why I love to do what I do. You know, out doing shows, you kind of lose sight a little bit right? When you finally go on tour you are like, ‘Ah this is why I got into this in the first place.’ And I am having so much fun, my band is amazing – it’s just a good group of people that I am traveling with.
Keep up with Kat Dahlia in the New Year on her official site.
Matt Matasci
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