Kaiit gives us the lowdown on her brilliant debut EP, Live From Her Room

While there were a lot of acts that stood out over BIGSOUND, there were none quite so heavily discussed as Kaiit. The Melbourne-via-PNG rising star was constantly referred to as the 'best set of the week' by basically everyone who saw her (which, admittedly and regrettably, did not include us), with her simply captivating and remarkable vocal being THE highlight of the multi-day Brisbane conference/festival. After a round of brilliant singles last year - her debut Natural Woman and the incredibly soulful 2018 release OG Luv Kush pt.2 included - she's just released her debut EP Live From Her Room, a five-track release that reinforces her position as one of Australia's premier songwriters and vocalists. From the Erykah Badu-esque OG Luv Kush Pt.2 and its prequel (fun fact: Kaiit was named the baby of Jill Scott and Erykah Badu by Jill Scott herself) to the more upbeat, confident and direct power-anthem Girl In The Picture, Kaiit's debut EP showcases the many sides of the musician, displaying her versatility and skill while not veering too far away from the warm and comforting vocal line which is the star of every show.

With the full EP out now - grab it HERE - and a run of headline shows spanning from later this month through to November, there's no better time than now to jump on board the Kaiit train. Do so now with her debut EP below, which we're stoked to have Kaiit herself walk us through in a polaroid-featuring track-by-track.

Before this EP I started performing at Gallery, a performance space run by DJ MzRizk in Melbourne’s Ferdydurke every Tuesday night. Pretty quickly a lot of people started coming through and they would ask if I had music out and I didn’t. That’s when I hit up my manager MoMo (mentor at the time) and said “I wanna do this for real! I wanna put things out, I’m tired of my songs just being in my room”.

That’s where the concept of the EP came from, up until now all of these tracks just existed in my bedroom.

OG Luv Kush

In this track I’m talking about how people say love is a drug and using that in a literal sense, that’s what the lyric “I’ve always got that good shit for you” means. It’s all about the fights you go through in a relationship, the on and offs and my personal favourite… the block on social media. It’s about getting to that place of feeling strong because you’re not seeing or speaking to them and you feel superior because you’re resisting the temptation to contact them. Although despite all the drama, you’ll keep coming back to each other.

Girl in the Picture

I wrote this as if as I was one of my homegirls and they were talking to me. I tried to put myself in their position and talk to myself like they would. This track is about them wording me up on the people I’m surrounding myself with and what their intentions are. I wanted the whole song to sound like a phone call so there is a part at the end of the song that features a conversation snippet from my homegirl, my sister Yovana. When I first met her I thought she was the bee's knees. We would call each other up and spend hours talking on the phone about this stuff. She’s always got my back and isn’t afraid to tell me how it is and give me some tough love. This track is all about those conversations you have with your homies.

OG Luv Kush pt.2

OG Luv Kush pt.2 is the continuation of OG Luv Kush. This track is the growth and full circle of what I write about in OG Luv Kush. It’s about how all that shit happens, you still come back together and you're cool again. If the same thing keeps happening though sometimes it’s not meant to be and you just gotta let it go because you’re only going to damage each other and for your next relationships. OG Luv Kush is a reference to those times you realise it’s better if you love them from afar.

DUFFMAN

This song is all about me finding my place and confidence within myself, which I struggled with for a long time. From grade 2 I realised that I looked different (that was when I was going between PNG and Melbourne). Me claiming my blackness was very on the border - in PNG, I was considered white, in Melbourne, I was told I was black, but then still not being dark enough to be that. I was struggling with having two different lives and just wanting to have friends and fit in. Then having in play, of course, social media, trying to be the things that I would see and not be my authentic self. Duffman is about getting to a place where you don’t need those substances to feel ‘normal’ and loving yourself for who you are.

“This life is just about right, we just ain’t in the right state of mind.” We tend to forget that everyone has things going on and how we react and approach things are reflections of that.

Natural Woman

Natural Woman is about being in the moment of love, having someone make you feel so amazing by just being you. If I had to read all the lyrics I will be able to remember every moment! Even though this song is called Natural Woman, this track is for anyone that can relate.

Tour Dates:

Follow Kaiit: FACEBOOK