An Interview With Austin Singer-Songwriter, KADY RAIN!

Photo Credit- Andrew Stevens

Austin’s own rising singer-songwriter Kady Rain recently released her debut EP, All I Ever Wanted with the premiere her sweet summer tune “Can’t Save Us,” pivoting her unabashed but smart bubblegum pop sound with added beachy guitar melodies and a choral backdrop that pulls at your heartstrings.

Learn more about Kady in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Now that we are entering the fall of 2016, what are some words you would use to describe this year? What have been some of the highlights for you and your music?

Well, first, thank you so much for having me!

Could I sum this year up into words? Magical. Thrilling. Fulfilling. 2016 has been a whirlwind so far, I can’t believe it’s September already! Releasing the All I Ever Wanted EP is at the top of the list! We’ve been working really hard on my first music video, which is for my lead single, “R.A.D. Moves.” I just saw on Facebook that last year around this time I was playing a show for 40 people in a tiny coffee shop up north and now I’m about to headline the Pecan Street Festival, so I’m over the moon about that! Hopefully around this time next year I’ll be playing a show on Mars while riding a unicorn. But I’d settle for a regular horse if I must.

Growing up, did you always want to be a musician? Can you recall your earliest musical memory?

I have always, always wanted to be a performer. Since I was probably around 3 or 4 I would put on performances with my stuffed animals or my friends, I would dress up and ham it up while my parents recorded me on our huge video camera. I remember getting a tiny toy piano and playing it incessantly. I was singing before I could talk and I can’t remember any of my childhood that wasn’t brimming with music, whether I was singing, playing an instrument or dancing.

You just released your debut EP, “All I Ever Wanted.” What did that feel like? Can you talk about putting it together with Ben Bazzrea?

My first thought is, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”! But on a more serious level, it doesn’t seem real right now because we worked on this thing for two years.  We wrote around 80 songs for the EP, but more than 130 ideas were brought to the table.  Narrowing all of that down to the right five tracks was a daunting task but the songs sorted themselves out organically.

Photo Credit- Andrew Stevens

At first, Ben and I didn’t really know what we were doing, we just kept writing and writing and writing. After a while, we began to notice a common thread in all of our favorite songs and the Kady Rain sound started to emerge. Ben helped assemble the creative team and decide who we should work with for what. Having already made several albums by the time we started working together Ben knew what to avoid and what really matters.

Who are some of your favorite artists and what bands continue to inspire you and your music? Who would you still love to work with in the future?

I’ve been really impressed with Clean Bandit and Years & Years. Both bands do a great job at balancing the “rules” of songwriting with the creativity. If you don’t stray far enough from the rules your song is boring, but too much creativity and you end up with a song that has no commercial appeal. As for something a little more underground, I love what Mura Masa is doing, and I’ve been diggin this Australian producer named Donatachi.

When you aren’t performing, working in the studio, what do you like to do for fun? How do you unwind from it all?

If I’m not working on music I’m most likely sleeping, but when I do manage to get away for a second I really enjoy swimming at the Greenbelt here in Austin. I’m a big believer in taking walks, I feel more centered when I walk every day. I love drawing, last Christmas I drew a picture of Ben with two cats in color pencil. It’s rill cute.

At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

I want to inspire and uplift people. I want to make people get up and dance, I want to make their day brighter, I want them to feel empowered, strong and confident! Each song that I write has a different feel and a different message, but overall just to impact someone and make them feel strong and happy is all I could ask for.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about yourself or your music?

Please reach out to us!  Comment/like/follow/whatever!  We love hearing from our fans, it literally makes my day! If you enjoy our music, please let us know, we really appreciate it. 🙂