We were lucky to catch up with Kayla Scales recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kayla , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
There are definitely times where I wonder what would have happened if I had started this portion (singing and performing) of my musical career sooner. My journey as a musician and artist feels ever stretching because it is hard for me to remember a time when I was not creating. I was always singing to myself, drawing, acting, dancing, etc. Breathing and art are basically the same to me. But if I had to pinpoint it, I didn’t truly start this leg of my journey until after I graduated from music school in 2015. I decided I wanted to put out all this music that I’d always been writing and start singing in front of people. Though, I went to university for music, I wasn’t a singer, I was trained as a pianist. Once I decided on what I wanted to do, the universe set in motion and led me to people who have truly aided me on my goals, especially my partner Ladi Oyediran, who is in the group Igimèjí with me. I truly believe my career started when it was supposed to, because now I have the skills necessary to properly express my work. If I had been successful in my earlier attempts at starting a band, I don’t think it would’ve lasted as long. It wasn’t the right time or the right people. Things come together when they need to, I think.
Kayla , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a musician, songwriter, pianist, and recording artist. I’ve been a session keyboardist for various acts around town, including Miles Canady and Patrick Pombuena Community Orchetsra. As a songwriter, I have written songs for other people, as well as released my own material myself under the alias Plastic China Doll. I also write, sing, and play keyboard in my band Igimèjí. As a recording artist, I am usually recording myself for other people’s work or my own songs. I got into the industry kind of organically. Of course having attended the music program at the University of Texas at Arlington, that has helped me, because now my former classmates are contacts for gigs, features, session work, etc. I truly love what I do. I found out recently through this process of releasing music and creating content around the music, that this process is actually a very therapeutic thing for me. It’s really gratifying seeing something you saw in your mind’s eye come to life in front of you. I have such an interesting view of my environment and the natural beauty of Texas, as well as the culture, has and is quickly becoming a major inspiration in my work. You can find my music on all major streaming platforms under Igimèjí and Plastic China Doll.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Truly the best thing that society can do is keep art and music in schools, as well as invest in programs to support younger, talented artists. I feel like many people don’t truly realize they benefits of having art and music in our lives, and how much it really helps children. Creative minds help solve the world’s problems and creative minds are stimulated by art. These things so we need to keep children in these programs starting from a young age. We also can do better by financially supporting working artists and musicians what they are worth. For many artists, nothing is more discouraging in the beginning then realizing that people will want your work but will not pay for it. It can create negative feelings within the artist about their art. So please, financially compensate artists for their time, experience, materials, and skills.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think something non-creatives don’t understand is how treacherous the music industry can be. I feel like I’ve heard the phrase “Well, just get signed to label”, so many times since I’ve started and as I’ve been doing business, I’ve realized I got to be careful. People can, do, and will take advantage of you, especially if you are wide eyed, with big dreams. I also think that non-creatives assume that as long you have talent, you will make it and that just simply isn’t true either. There are many talented people in this world with varying degrees of drive and work ethic. In order to get noticed in this field, it does take a lot of hard work and creativity into other things outside of music, such as marketing. I am often my videographer, editor, or photographer, when I want to do something small to post on social media. Oh, and that the other thing, how you use social media changes too. Your personal page will likely turn into your artist page and you will likely never post a food pic ever again. Social media is how we reach new people so you want to create an aesthetically pleasing social media page that best showcases what you do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.igimeji.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/igimeji
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Igimeji
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtPOTAhZVFnbZbTfWqnAiEQ or @Igimeji
Image Credits
Trang Vu Productions
Suggest a Story: CanvasRebel is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.