On Feb. 1, 2023, Universal Music Group (UMG) held a press conference with up-and-coming artist Kate Peytavin. The event was held over Zoom and was attended by writers spanning the globe. UMG hosted the singer in order to highlight her new single, “whole heart black,” to be released the following day.
Kate Peytavin started her music career at just 18 years old and is currently signed with Capitol Records. When asked how she knew she wanted to pursue music, Peytavin says she “spent a week out [in LA] making music every single day and absolutely fell in love with it.” The artist claims that the connections she made with collaborators solidified her decision to continue songwriting. As far as drawing inspiration from her family and her New Orleans roots, Peytavin says that she, ironically, comes from the “least musical family in the entire world.” It wasn’t until she got her first cell phone that she was truly able to explore her taste in music.
The singer enlightened us on some of her writing and production process, summing much of it up as happy accidents. She gave one example of mistakenly switching lyrics leading to her favorite part of a song and afterthoughts tying vocal effects together. Peytavin even recalls a photoshoot for the “something’s off” visual, where a bird landed perfectly on a tree branch behind her.
Peytavin also expressed some of the hardships that come with trying to break into the music industry as a teen, claiming that it’s often difficult for established artists and producers to take her seriously because she’s so young. “I don’t think that I have ever worked with someone who was younger than me,” Peytavin says. She continues, “I am constantly put in a room with older experienced people, and a lot of times that can be nerve-wracking. It’s very easy for somebody to look down on [me] because I have so much less experience than a lot of the people I am working with.” But this doesn’t stop her. In fact, she uses these setbacks as motivation, inspiring songs such as “killing time.”
Press conference attendees were given a preview of Peytavin’s new single. When asked what listeners should expect of “whole heart black,” the musician says she drew from artists such as Paramore, Atlantis, Lana Del Rey, and Avril Lavigne to capture the teen angst that the ‘90s was known for. She claims that the song “is just a piece in the big puzzle” of her discography and, more broadly, her career. Peytavins says, “I felt too comfortable and I needed to try something different, so once I started experimenting, I realized that it’s so much more beneficial and exciting for me.”
As far as her future in the music industry, Peytavin hopes to begin live performances and is looking forward to incorporating details such as lighting and set design in her art. The singer playfully added that an artist she dreams about opening for is Suki Waterhouse. She also expressed that her 2024 musical goal is to release her first music video.
In closing, Peytavin was asked what words of wisdom she would pass on to up-and-coming artists. “Take your time with things,” she advises. “When I first was getting into this, I wanted to make a really good song immediately, and that doesn’t happen. You have to spend time writing before you understand who you are and what you want to write about.”
It’s easy to say that Peytavin captured the hearts of reporters and fans alike with her contagious charisma during her interview, and she will be a force to be reckoned with in the alternative-pop scene.