We were lucky to catch up with Kai King recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kai, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
My earliest memories of baby Katie are her dancing, singing, & voguing as hard as her little self could, especially in the presence of my beloved, late grandmother. She is secretly the key to my success. She was always honest, hard working, and seldom reprimanded me for acting out in childish ways. Whenever I would visit her home she would paint my hand and press it against a door along with the date so we would always remember and cherish these quality times spent together. She was the first of my many vocal coaches. Her love of me and my dreams propels me to this day. I still treasure and thank god for her love letters and origami hearts. My immediate family is religious and growing up I was a local worship leader. After gaining more life experience and growing up (some), I decided I needed to use my talents and abilities for a different cause. I fell more deeply in love with a variety of music subjects when I attended a Berklee College of Music summer program. That summer I also got my driver’s license. I never really enjoyed schooling and had very few artistic outlets. When I graduated, I decided to go to an arts school to hopefully find a more desirable path to fulfill my musical dreams and goals. I am still an undergraduate student at Belmont University, but during my time thus far, I hired a day-to-day manager who truly encouraged my best work from which I saw real/rewarding results. I don’t recall a specific moment or event, I just always knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
My name is Katherine Grace King and I am a vocalist, songwriter, performer, and visual artist. I have always loved singing, writing, and trying new ways to express my insatiable imagination. For as long as I can remember, I made it my ultimate goal to express and encourage goodness and beauty through my words, actions, and artful creations. Currently, I solely publish my music and perform on occasions. It is hard to fully commit to a career as an artist while being a young full-time student. What may set me apart from some other young artists around me, with similar trajectories, is an attention to detail. I don’t want to have a hit song blow up on TikTok, I am here waiting patiently for those who want to invest in me and my artistic visions. For example, I prefer to release projects as opposed to a single because it gives my audience more to explore, understand, and appreciate. I won’t release work I am not fully happy with, unlike artists tied up in bad record deals with strict deadlines. Know my work is honest. My work is an honest expression of how I feel inside, present myself, and want to see reflected in the world around us.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Being able to boldy express my creative ideas allows people to know a little bit about me before ever even meeting me. I think it is so wonderful and unique when I have strangers online or at shows demonstrate appreciation for my work. I also love that fully expressing myself creatively requires a whole team of people I have to (GET to!) chose. Shoutout to my favorite people in the world: Lauren Heilman and Matthew Parker Fox (omgprkr on streaming) as well as anyone else who has ever contributed to my projects and/or continues to cheer me on in support of my music.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Working with my day-to-day manager, social media promotion during my last project was my biggest stressor. That’s the beauty of having a team and outsourcing the work that is too tiring and meticulous. What I have learned is that promoting your art on social media just requires an understanding of each platforms algorithms, creating “clickbait”/bitesized visual portions of your project, and then using a separate app/website to publish the social media posts. This is where I think most artists could use help considering we all should be aware of how negatively social media impacts our collective mental and physical health.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.officialkatieking.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialkatieking/
- Facebook: officialkatieking
- Twitter: officialktking
- Youtube: officialkatieking
- Other: allll officialkatieking hahahah
Image Credits
Gerard Longo, Katherine King, & Annelise Sarah Loughead