In a time where electronic music reigns supreme in the UK, K Stewart has worked this to her advantage, using a hybrid of house and R&B beats to support and compliment her powerful voice. Kate, who has performed as Bondax’s live vocalist and featured on TCTS’s track ‘Games’, is now breaking out as a solo artist. She showcases her vocal abilities with tracks like ‘Tell Me ‘Bout That’ and ‘Speechless’, both produced by Karma Kid. They received around 150,000 and 190,000 plays respectively, making her one to watch in the coming year.
Firstly, how long have you been interested in making music and what kicked it off for you?
I’ve been singing since I was tiny and I studied musical theatre from 11 so I was in that kind of music. I went to this music college called Tech and that’s when I started to make music, meeting people that wrote music and that’s how I got interested in starting to write. I didn’t write my first song until I was 17 and I wasn’t very good at all. I just kept trying and trying and I guess it got a bit easier.
Who would you say has had some influence on your musical style?
I’d say probably since I was really young, I always listened to Christina Aguilera, she’s been my absolute favourite.
Classic.
I’m absolutely obsessed with her so probably Christina Aguilera and all the big voices like Whitney, and Mariah Carey. And Beyoncé’s probably my main reference for the music that I make now, obviously it’s quite cliché because she’s everyone’s favourite but every time I go into a session, I always kind of reference her music. The album that she put out previously is the kind of stuff that I want to be making, like the more hip-hop-y, pop-y vibes.
Channelling some Queen Bey.
Channelling some divas.
So what have you been up to this summer?
This summer, I’ve been doing all the festivals with Bondax because I’m their live vocalist and we’ve just done all of the festivals in the UK like Reading, Leeds and Lassitude. Then we went out to Belgium for Dour Festival and France for Calvi on the Rocks. We’ve just been around France, went to Barcelona and did Sonar. Then I went to LA and was writing out there for two weeks. And now I’m going to Australia on the 24th [September] with Bondax for Listen Out Festival so that’ll be fun.
Did you find it easier or harder to write out in LA compared to here in the UK?
Well at home I’ll go and write by myself and in London, I’ll write with other people. But in LA it was just me and a producer; no one was helping on the writing side, which I probably found easier. When you’re writing on your own no one’s distracting you so you just get on with it! It was the same sort of vibe in LA, despite the fact I was expecting the sessions to be quite different. I really like working out there, their work ethic is amazing.
One of your most recent tracks, ‘Speechless’, which was produced by Karma Kid, was featured as one of Annie Mac’s Free Music Monday downloads and has proved to be quite a hit, so congratulations on that. What would you say went into making it?
Well Sam (Karma Kid) and I work together quite a lot and that track was the first time we had just sat down without a writer. The first couple of tracks we’d collaborated on were with a writer called Dee Adam. So this time, Sam and I just went in and decided that we wanted to write a really slow R&B jam. We wrote it together quite quickly and just vibzed on it. We work really quickly together – when it’s just us two writing we bounce off each other quite well because we have the same ideas for our writing and melodies. Speechless just came about by vibing off one of the beats he made the night before. It was quite easy that one, we just wanted to make a really, really slow jam and that’s what we got.
What do you think has been key in getting you to the point that you are at now?
I’ve done a few sessions with Sam and I think it’s key to work with people you’re comfortable with. I’ll do loads of sessions but I’ll always go back to the people I like working with and think “I make the best music with people I get along well with”. And just networking and meeting loads of people; not being afraid to ask if they want to work, just get in a session and write whatever comes to you. I’ve learned not to be scared to get in with loads of different people even if they’re not doing something you think is your ‘type’ – just see what comes of it. I’ve done lots of sessions where I’ve thought “hmm, don’t know if I’ll work well with them but I’ll get in, show them what I do and we’ll work on something that sounds like the both of us”.
Is there anyone you’d really like to work with in the future?
I really want to work with a producer called Felix Joseph, he produced the whole Elli Ingram EP which I’ve had on my phone for so long but I didn’t ever listen to. I finally listened to it all the other day and his production is just so mad. I want to keep working out in America, get some rappers on my tunes as well, album-wise. But probably Felix Joseph is one I want to get in with soon.
Speaking of producers, who would you say are your current absolute favourite producers or artists and why?
I will always big up Karma Kid so much because, honestly, I’ve seen the way that he works and he’s so quick and always on it, I’ve never heard him make a bad beat. There’s a guy called Shaq who I love, he’s from Amsterdam, a guitarist and he makes amazing slow jam R&B. And a guy called Linden Jay, he’s an amazing producer just starting out. He’s done quite a few tracks with my boyfriend . And then singer-wise, probably just all my girls like Sinead Harnett, Becky Hill and Ryan Ashley, all the people that are coming up at the moment. I’m just really intrigued to hear all their albums.
What would you call your favourite or most memorable gig to date?
Parklife with Bondax was insane because that was both of our first festivals so none of us were expecting how many people showed up in the tent…it was completely full up which was quite overwhelming, to see thousands of people turning up for a Bondax live show. And probably Lovebox as well because that’s the first gig we did with our drummer. We added a drummer into the set and it just made it so much better. Reading was great as well because my parents came down for that (and they’d never seen a Bondax show), my boyfriend came, all my friends came and it was the last one of the summer in the UK.
That’s so cute.
I know, they were in the audience, my mum was like, “I’ve never been to a festival before, this is mad!”
Which venue are you most excited to perform at or have you already performed at a certain venue where the vibe you got really hit home?
I did the Annie Mac Presents at Koko a few weeks ago and that was sick because I went to watch Kaytranada there a few months back. It was completely full and I was like, this is such a sick venue, it looks amazing and the vibe was wicked. And when I did it, it was completely full as well and that was the first time I played my own tunes. Obviously the big ones are the dream, the main stages and arenas, but in time.
Gotta hope and pray. As an emerging artist, how does it feel to perform your own songs on stage and even see people singing along?
It’s mad. I’d sung one tune, ‘Ain’t Nobody Stopping You’ which hasn’t come out yet, so I didn’t expect anyone to know it. Usually when people hear tunes they haven’t heard before they’re a bit sceptical but this tune proper went off – they were loving it. It’s just good to hear the reaction before because the only people that have heard it are obviously my friends and family and people I work with. And the tune that I did with TCTS, his single ‘Games’, everyone knew the words to that and it was mad because I wrote that song. Usually I’m singing all of Bondax’s songs and I expect them to know the words to those. It was just weird to see them singing the song that I wrote, but really cool.
So what do you do when you’re not making music and playing gigs?
That takes up most of my time, I just kind of chill out with my girls because I don’t really see them very often now, the ones that I went to school with and stuff. We just catch up, do standard stuff like go into town and shop or just get our nails done or something. But I never really have time off anymore, it’s mad, I have Sundays off and that’s about it. Just working and making tunes.
So wild.
Trust me.
What do you have in-store for the future music-wise?
I’m working on an album at the moment, and I’ve got so many tunes that I’ve done in the past 6 or 7 months that I’m really happy with. I’ve got two more tunes to come out, one of them I think is coming out next week and then I’ve got the single ‘Ain’t Nobody Stopping You’ which is coming out in a couple of months with a video. And after that, I’ll probably put out an EP. This one was an EP but they all the tracks came out separately as little tasters because obviously, no one had heard my music before. So I’ll put an EP out and then follow it up with an album, with the stuff that I did in LA as well. After Australia, I’m not with Bondax anymore so I’m just gonna focus on my own stuff, hopefully that will take off soon.
That’s honestly so exciting. Now, we’re going to do a quick fire round, a few simpler questions. First of all, can you name three dream dinner guests?
Okay, okay. One, Beyonce, obviously. Two, Justin Timberlake because he’s sick. And three, um, Prince. No, yeah, Prince.
Cats or dogs?
Dogs. I only like kittens, when they grow, they’re just sh*t and they always wander around on their own.
Exactly, dogs are so needy for attention and love.
I know, I really really need a dog. I actually signed up to ‘Borrow My Doggy’ last week, I don’t think anyone will pick me though. You just borrow peoples’ dogs and just walk them and stuff, chill with their dogs and return them at the end of the day.
Kate.
And you can pick which dogs you want.
That is so tragic and I mean that in the most non-judgemental way possible.
I know. Whatever, hater.
What is your most treasured possession?
It’s gonna sound ridiculous, but probably my phone. I’m literally on it 24/7. I’ve lost four phones in the past and I get really upset. Even though everything’s backed up, it’s really stresses me out having to put it all on another phone.
I get that. As an artist, do you record yourself and maybe write lyrics down in memos?
Yeah, exactly. My boyfriend, he’s a singer, and he lost his phone last week on the tube and it literally had his whole album on it, and all his lyrics, everything. So he’s p*ssed.
What would you say is your worst habit?
Probably biting the skin around my nails, if you saw my fingers, you’d be so disgusted.
Okay so if I ever see you perform, I’ll make sure I don’t look at your hands.
Watch out for the thumbs, they’re all gross and scabby because I just bite the side of my thumb all the time.
What motto do you live by?
Everything happens for a reason. Everything.
Lastly, could you name three tracks that you have recently become just obsessed with?
Elli Ingram’s ‘High Love’. And I’m obsessed with Ella Eyre’s new single, ‘Comeback’.
Me too, it’s so sassy.
She’s sick. What else have I got, Lindon Jay’s remix of ‘Oops’ by Missy Elliott.
For more of K Stewart, check out her Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud!
Edited by Samantha Carey