GEORGI KAY IS A LONE WOLF
WORDS BY VITORIA INNOCENZI
AUSTRALIAN SINGER-SONGWRITER GEORGI KAY FOUND HER LANE IN THE INDUSTRY WHEN SHE DECIDED TO MOVE TO LOS ANGELES AND START HER OWN LABEL. KAY TALKS ABOUT HOW PRODUCING HER OWN MUSIC HAS HELPED DEFINE HER MUSIC IDENTITY.
KNOWN FOR HER DARK AND ETHEREAL POP SOUND, KAY JUST RELEASED “LONE WOLF (REIMAGINED)” WHICH IS JUST THE BEGINNING FOR WHAT’S IN STORE FOR HER next EP. READ ON TO DISCOVER WHY 2020 IS GOING TO BE A BIG YEAR FOR THE ARTIST.
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Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Well, I’m 5’9”, Australian and British, although I grew up and spent most of my time in Australia. I’m a singer-songwriter and I kind of fell into music through a whole string of random events. Or, fated events. I don't know. But, first and foremost, I am a writer. I have such a hyperactive imagination so for me to be able to build worlds in my head is very easy. I love writing stories about scenarios in places that I would like to immerse myself in. So, when it came to music, it just fell into my lap and songwriting was easy to fall into because I was so used to writing creatively already.
When did music become a part of your life?
My dad has been in music ever since he was a teenager, probably even younger than that. He’s British, so he grew up in the UK and was heavily influenced by British and Reggaeton music. A couple of years ago he told me he used to play in a punk band and they would play with The Sex Pistols boys before they really became The Sex Pistols. He helps me a lot in terms of pushing me off the cliff to see how I fell, which is a really good way of just diving in no matter what the depth was, just diving in blind and flailing basically until you got it right. He’s very proactive and has been helpful in so many ways.
How did you start your journey as a musician?
I started off as an acoustic singer-songwriter and slowly was starting to figure myself out. I had “a year of yes”, which was the year after I graduated. I said yes to literally every single opportunity. One of the things I said yes to was writing my first ever EDM collaboration with these two boys. I was living in Australia and they were living on the east coast in Melbourne, so they flew me over and we wrote a song and it was great. We had one more day together so they had asked if I wanted to make another song with them, which wasn't planned. We just went into the studio, three DJs and me and word vomited this song and it turned into what was to be the biggest dance song of 2012 in the world. Axwell from Swedish House Mafia did an official remix of it and that went out into the world and just blew up. the song is called “In My Mind” and from that every single DJ under the sun was playing it and performing it. It just kind of snowballed and blew up.
I ended up moving to London and lived there for three years and signed to a major label. For a while I was frustrated that it wasn't going the way that I thought it would and ended up leaving the label to start my own.
What was it like gaining success so early on in your career?
Getting that kind of success at such a young age, I felt I was at a point where I had no idea what I wanted to do music wise or what my musical identity was. I finally found out what my own music was a few years ago when I moved to Los Angeles and started doing everything myself. I created my own label and started writing. I was producing my own music and I played it all myself. When I play my music live it is all live looping and it's got this semi-dark, semi-euphoric, ethereal pop sound. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi, so visually I love to create sonic landscapes that remind me of my favorite sci-fi films such as Blade Runner, Alien, Star Wars and The Fifth Element.
How do you think you have evolved as an artist since leaving the label?
I stopped being codependent and became extremely independent. however you can't do everything yourself and need a team. But, I like challenging myself and seeing how much I can learn and do, so that when it came time to picking my ‘champions of the round table’ so-to-speak, I knew how much I could do. I knew where the bar was set, so if they could do more than that and bring something to the table, then that was what I was looking for to build something really strong. So, definitely independence. I became independent but also more open-minded in a selective way. You apply what speaks to you the most.
What do you love the most about what you do?
I love the creative process definitely. My favorite part is writing my music and just locking myself away to write is therapeutic and fun. I'm such a nerd at heart, for me writing music and just scrolling through different synth songs until I find one and go; What can I do with this? How can I manipulate it? And then I sort of just build a world. So, I love doing that.
Do you have a favorite song off of Where I Go To Disappear now and how about when you first made it?
That's a hard question because they're like my little Adams Family, they’re all monsters in their own way, all very sweet and endearing, but also a bit fucked up. My friend, CD Player and I just collaborated with one another on four fan favorite songs off of Where I Go To Disappear. I thought, wouldn't it be cool to do a reimagined version of these four fan favorites? How do you listen to something or experience something that brought and evoked so much emotion in a new way? How do you listen to something that has an impact on you for the first time again? Instead of a remix… how do we give it new life? So, the idea of reimagining came to life. “Lone Wolf (Reimagined)” was released a couple weeks ago, which was really fun. I can’t tell if “Lone Wolf (Reimagined)” is my favorite now because it just came out, so I’ve just been listening to it more. I think the other one I really like is “Toxins”. “Toxins” felt really good for me because it didn’t just touch on loneliness, but nit picked at certain parts of myself when I was writing it, the lyrics “I'm just a little, little, little, little lonely monster” was during a more self-sabotaging point in my life. I was just being a debaucherous little minx and that song was like- you know you've done some stupid shit, but admit it and move on. The biggest part is accepting and acknowledging anything you've done has repercussions and consequences and moving on and trying to transform it into something else that drives a positive change. So, that song is my favorite.
What’s next for you?
Next year, will be a decade since I won my first award, so my team and I want to do something special for 2020. We’re thinking of a new EP early 2020, which will have the four reimagined fan favorite songs from Where I Go To Disappear on there. After that, will be the next album, which I am really excited about. The one thing I do want for this album is for it to sort of create itself, me just trusting the process of writing as it comes and just letting it be. I think if it's meant to be it will be.
I also am currently working on four sci-fi novels. I've had one idea that I've been working on for six years and other ideas swimming around.
What are some difficult parts about the industry?
Leeches. People wanting to assume that they can immediately slip into your world and assimilate and all of a sudden you’re friends because they came up to you once “Hi, I love your work, want to record together?” and it’s like no, I don’t actually. People might be acting that way because they think that’s how you should act to survive in this ever-changing landscape of the music industry, like any other creative industry, it changes constantly. And I think, a lot of people are misguided in their information and delivery of messages or communication in general. So, you have to look at it and go- that’s not for me. The density of those kind of no’s just means when you find your yes’s, the people that become a part of your tribe, it’s very special and you really appreciate it.
What are some struggles you’ve had being a musician in LA?
It's hard to say because Los Angeles is the one city I haven't struggled in. Where, in Australia I struggled toward the end because I didn't feel fulfilled enough and felt like I kind of maxed out there. In the UK I struggled because I felt like I was still trying to find myself and I found it really hard to make friends and I'm a pretty friendly kind of gal. Then, the label had a lot to do with my struggles there and allowing myself to be treated that way was a lot to do with that. It took me a long time to stop resenting London for what only a handful of people did to me. London didn’t do anything to me, it as that experience and could’ve happened anywhere. I was still so young, I had just moved out and was nineteen, to go across the world and live there indefinitely. I was just a kid trying to figure out who I was, but had so much going on around me.
If you were a book, what would the title be?
Order & Chaos.