Kelley Cole: Music Through The Eyes of a Twenty-Something Teenager
When did you realise that you wanted to make music?
Growing up music was always there on the edges - it was always an outlet for me. I grew up really sporty, I played soccer until I was about 11/12 which I really loved but I gravitated towards music as a way of getting out of my own head, of connecting to a different world. I realised eventually that I didn’t want to be a sporty person anymore, I wanted to learn how to write songs. I was really inspired by a few different friends who were performing in musicals and choirs during school, so I slowly started to join in with those activities. Then, when I was 12 I got my first guitar - a black Yamaha - and that really enabled me to jump into the deep end.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences and how do you think that they have helped to shape your sound?
I think the inspiration behind actually starting to write music by myself was Taylor Swift, there was something about the music she was making at the time - her writing style made me feel like anyone could write a song. I was definitely into pop music growing up - I love the divas, the drama and the big outfits! I love Lady Gaga, Lorde, and Charli XCX. My parents would also play a lot of classic rock when I was growing up - I find that I’m drawn to big, dramatic characters like Queen and Elton John. I really like Boston as well! As I’ve gotten older I am more and more into alternative rock music. My dad really got me into Arcade Fire when I was starting highschool. I love their music because there’s a lot of elements to it, their shows have so much going on, it feels like there is a wall of sound in front of you.
How would you describe your genre given that you have a broad taste in music?
I like to call myself indie rock, I feel like I’m making rock music for people with big feelings. I’m really trying to focus on my songwriting first and then make that feel as big and dramatic as possible afterwards. I’ve recently started working at a songwriting venue - I run sound there so I like to sit and watch all the shows, it’s a lot of hit country songwriters who explain the stories behind their songs. This role has really changed the way I approach my songwriting, I’m much more intentional with it.
Is there a specific instrument, memory or environment that is significant in your work?
A specific instrument that comes to mind is my first guitar, it was the guitar that I taught myself to play on. I spent so much time with that guitar in my mom’s basement as a kid. I remember I would come home from school, do any work that I had to do, then finally I would be able to escape into the basement to try to learn songs and write my own stuff.
Can you tell me about the creative writing process for your upcoming single ‘Twenty Something Teenager’?
My twin sister gave me the idea for the song - she had this phrase ‘twenty something teenager’ that she had been hearing people say and she said to me that maybe it could be a really cool song. This has been the first time that I have taken someone else’s suggestion for a song and made something with it. Maybe because the idea was coming from my twin, it feels like she knows my brain more than I do. Once I ran with the idea, the song itself was born out of feelings of tiredness and the stress of adult life. The stress of trying to keep all the pieces in place. The song definitely came from a place of burnout. How did I get this way? And how do I get back to how I used to be? - I’d love to have a fun sleepover, be a kid, eat lots of candy and not care about anything. Escapism is definitely a main theme within my writing recently.
How do you define success as an artist? Do you feel that you have made, or are making a mark in the music industry?
I feel like I’m in the beginning stages of my career, I started in the music industry a few years ago after I graduated college and I was mostly focused on producing songs for other artists. In terms of defining success, I feel like the music industry is so crazy and there are so many things that you can’t control so it’s about doing what you can. It’s about standing by your art and producing things that feel honest.
Other than your upcoming single, what can we expect to see from you in the future?
I’m working on an album actually, it’s still in the production stage right now but it’s nearing the final quarter. I’ll be releasing more singles in the run up to the album release. The album itself is about feelings of frustration and confusion that you experience in your early 20s.
Ending on a fun question - if you could go back in time to work on any one song with its recording artist, who and what would you pick?
The first thing that comes to mind is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. There’s so many pieces to it, it’s so chaotic - it’s everything that I love. In college I did audio engineering, and in one of the mixing classes we were given the stems - the raw files - for each of the individual parts in Bohemian Rhapsody and we had the project of recreating the song, locating the vocals, the instruments and their effects. I also remember hearing that the song took 3 weeks to record so I’d be hanging out for a hot minute.
