Kelaska Interview

We sat down with indie-pop singer Kelaska around the release of her new track ‘autopilot’. We discussed her musical background, influences and upcoming plans.

Hi Kelaska, thanks for your time! You've just released your new song 'autopilot', can you take us through the creative process behind the song?

I wrote autopilot coming out of a two year depression. I had been trying to find how to articulate how I felt during all of it, but wasn't having great luck. I tuned my guitar to a different tuning for some inspiration and that actually worked. I wrote most of the song within ten minutes. The only part that really was giving me some trouble was the chorus. I knew the ending and what I wanted it to sound like, but it took some trial and error before getting it right. I also really wanted to give it some 90s/00s vibes, so we added a cassette tape to the beginning and recorded the backing vocals on an old tape player. I'm really happy with how it came out! I think a lot of people will be able to relate to it. 

What got you into music in the first place?

I've always kind of had one foot in the door with music, but growing up I felt like it was impossible to pursue that as a career. I really can't remember a time when I wasn't singing. After I graduated high school the internet really started to blow up and create avenues for indie musicians to be found, like on youtube. One day on a whim I just decided to throw up a cover of "Habits" by Tove Lo and that kind of lead me to the decision that I could possibly make a living out of this. I continued to do a cover a week on youtube for about six years and then felt it was finally time to start releasing my own music.

What is the best piece of advice you were ever given related to your career in music?

One piece that's stuck with me, although not given directly to me, was something I read in a book. I think musicians have a tendency to really fixate on every note they sing and try to achieve perfection, which is not always best for the performance. If listeners want perfection they can hear the album version. A live performance should be something more than that. A few missed notes usually go unnoticed by the audience if the singer is really connecting with them. The lesson in the book was something along the lines of "The wrong note is not the problem. It's the note you follow it with that matters." I think there's maybe a couple ways to take this, but for me it made me realize that wrong notes will happen and they aren't a big deal. You just have to move on and know how to get yourself out of it with a little improv and feeling. If you freeze and worry about it too much, you'll still be making wrong notes long after the original slip.

Where do you find inspiration? Are all of your songs based on personal experience?

I find inspiration in so many different ways. It can come to me in a book, movie, tv show, or a conversation with a friend. Even just a word might be enough to spark a title and storyline. All of my songs are personal experiences, but some are more exaggerated than others. Some songs may start with a real experience but will develop into a little spin on the storyline. For example, the relationship I based "High & Low" off of had a little more depth in real life, but I thought it would make a better storyline to only really include the details that worked for that song.

What is one thing you would change in the music industry if you could?

I would change the amount of posting you need to do to keep up with social media. When I first started posting on instagram the algorithm was very different. It was a lot easier for your own followers to see your posts and for new people to find you. Now that there are a lot of different apps and algorithms it really feels like you have to be posting 24/7. I am a big believer in consistency, but I think we're conditioned now to get content out quickly so that we can try to reap the benefits of going viral. It takes away a lot of the creative process when you have to care more about quantity than quality. I'd like to be able to create songs that I like, but sometimes am more concerned about trying to make a "single" than a song. In a perfect world, I would love if posting could be done once a week on each app and you could still have a decent shot at reaching people through the algorithms.

What's coming next?

Next year will be more music and hopefully some shows to play!