You know how everyone takes offense when someone responds to you with “K”? Well, I’m about to “K” you if you don’t check out TKAY’s music after reading my interview with her. She is in a league of her own and she truly doesn’t remind me of any artist out there right now. The industry better make room for her because TKAY is coming in hot and is here to stay! With a name like that, she’s anything but mediocre. Check out my interview with her below to get the low down on TKAY.
Her Campus UCF (HCUCF): I was researching you to prep for my interview with you and I saw that your parents both work in the science field. I think it is so interesting that you took a different path than them. With that being said, what go you interested in music?
Tkay Maidza (TM): I think what got me into it was the fact that it was completely random. My dad has always been musical, but my parents never expected me to go into their field and didn’t encourage me to do that, either. Music became exciting to me because it was something I found for myself.
HCUCF: So, I saw that you’ve been lucky to support other artists like Charli XCX, and two of my favorites, Years & Years and Troye Sivan. What artist, dead or alive, would you want to tour with?
TM: I think it would be incredible to tour with Childish Gambino. It would also be really fun to tour with Salt N Pepa. Those two would be really cool.
HCUCF: Ugh I love Salt N Pepa. Also, from looking at your social media and music videos, it looks like you really like to experiment and play around with fashion. What is one trend that you are really loving right now or a piece of article you really like?
TM: I’ve been shopping a lot lately and my favorite thing, as of this moment, are neutral, brown clothing. I’ve also really been loving corduroy. It’s kind of random, but I’ve been feeling that. I’m all about the brown, greeny, earthy colors.
HCUCF: Definitely sounds similar to the Yeezy line! Anyways, what was it like working with Troye Sivan and how did you get connected?
TM: He’s Australian and the Australian community is very small. I think he found me on Twitter before and he would retweet my songs complimenting my work and I. So after that, I followed him back and we became Internet friends for awhile. Later on, his record label approached me, asking me if I would work on this song with Troye, and I was totally down! The song, DKLA, was amazing and I was really happy to be part of it. Also, he is such a nice person, so it was just an easy choice to work with him. It was truly lovely to work with him.
HCUCF: I really like that you had a connection and it wasn’t out of the blew. As someone who is also 20 years old, it is incredible to see someone the same age as me already reach such heights in their career. What makes you stay grounded and motivates you to keep pushing on?
TM: I think finding something new and just being exciting about what is next. I want to explore places I’ve never been to before and I believe that is what pushes me to go harder. I really love traveling, which is something I’ve been lucky to do because of my music. I’m all about learning and growing, and that is what encourages me to continue what I am doing.
HCUCF: Your debut album, Tkay, is coming out on October 28th, 2016. Can you tease something what we can expect from the record?
TM: It is more mature version of my earlier work, for sure. It’s almost a catch up tale of everything I’ve been up to in the last couple of months. It’s not really similar to my previous tracks, but it does reveal a lot of my progress and I’m proud of that.
HCUCF: Personally, I think you have a really unique sound and there is no one like you in the industry. Because you’re so dynamic, what artists influence your artistry?
TM: I really like Childish Gambino because he is very versatile and definitely someone I feed off of. He always keeps things in exciting, which is something I try to do, too. Observing him, makes me feel confident in being able to do whatever I want because other artist, like him, have been rewarded for putting their authentic selves out there. I also really like Santigold, Kanye West and Outkast. Those are probably my favorite influences that do what they want unapologetically and achieve success through being themselves.
HCUCF: I saw in the “Carry On” music video, you had some killer dance moves. Have you always been into dance?
TM: I learned choreography for that video, but dance was new to me before that. I’ve never done choreography before in my life, so it was interesting time. Also, the scenes where I am dancing are more freestyle if anything. I just had as much fun with it as I could since choreography was new to me.
HCUCF: I think you have good rhythm naturally, so good for you for killing it your first time doing choreography! On a random note, I heard avocado toast is a big thing in Australia. Where is the best place to get it in Australia? ~*curious minds want to know*~
TM: You can almost get it everywhere there. It is more of a cafe dish. A lot of those all health, body and wellness cafes offer avocado toast. Those are the types of places I would recommend going to if you want to try some.
HCUCF: What is something you want your current fans and potential fans to know about you as anticipation rises as it gets closer to your album release date?
TM: I feel like it is a learning journey for me, along with my fans and potential fans. None of the songs on my album sound the same, so it is all a bit random, but I think that is what is exciting! I’m evolving and I love to switch it up, so I think it is important for the audience to know that things will always be changing when it comes to my music and I. I’ve enjoyed keeping myself guessing, along with my current and future supporters.
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Images: Downtown Records, Universal Music Group