We recently connected with Keenan Friberg and have shared our conversation below.
Keenan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I had been releasing music for about two years, when it finally came time to start looking at colleges. I had always had dreams to be an artist professionally, but I always viewed it as a distant idea rather than an obtainable goal. My thought process at the time of looking at colleges was that I was going to try to be in the acting industry. However, although it was enjoyable being on the stage, I just couldn’t see myself doing theatre for the rest of my life.
At this point, I had started performing concerts and gigs and taking music production and record releases more seriously. This led me to exploring the career paths that music really had to offer. Realizing the true potential of a music career being something I could have for the rest of my life, I decided that I would go to college to pursue a career in production and artistry. I applied to Berklee College of Music, got accepted, and my future began.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Keenan Friberg, and I go by the artist name LKF. I’m a music producer and artist studying at Berklee College of Music. Coming from the heart of Virginia, I didn’t have many resources to music creation, so during my middle school years my parents provided me a simple bedroom studio filled with a laptop, MIDI keyboard, and a mic. Everything I learned came from studying my favorite artists and producers primarily through YouTube and short-form media content. Every day I was studying for around 2 hours, taking what I learned, and applying it to my own work and growth.
I think the time where I got the most of a jump-start though was during my Junior year of high school. I had my life turned around on me, I had just left a relationship, and I told myself that I really wanted to focus on my craft. Thus, I gave myself a challenge. Every week leading to my senior year, I was going to produce, write, record, and release a new track. It seemed really daunting at first, but over time, I found that I was getting into a rhythm, and growing in my craft rapidly. I worked countless hours, staying up late at night sometimes to break the writer’s block that was looming over me. I became immune to burnout. I started trying different genres, modeling after people I respected in order to help find and develop my sound as well as grow a community around me. It became well-known at my school for there to be “LKF Fridays,” and I would make posts on Instagram and TikTok in order to grow a following and a community.
By the time it hit my senior year, I had released a new song for 32 consecutive weeks, and my challenge was accomplished. Then my senior project “In The Moment” came out. It took a step into my life and explored the raw highs and lows of what my senior year turned out to be. It was a mix of celebration, vulnerability, and everything in between.
Now at Berklee, I have been working with the best musicians in the world, and have worked on and put out many songs across a range of genres, both my own as well as producing, mixing, and mastering for others. Some of my favorite works that you should check out are “Early Bird,” a pop song by Haley Montelaro inspired by 2000s bounce, “Pot of Plans,” a folk song by Anthony Napolitano, and “Gold and Silver,” an rnb song by MMAX with transcendent flows and a little bit of bass groove and bounce.
I love working with whoever wants their story told. To me, it feels like I’m bringing songs and each artist’s individual story to life. Every track that I’ve produced while here I’ve been extremely proud of. I’ve grown my network so much that I have multiple people for every instrument, which is so cool to me. It’s great to know that if I’m ever in need of a musician, I have a network I can always reach out to.
As for myself and my own artistry, I recently released a song called “Outer Space,” which is part of a new project I’m working on. The project revolves around this astronaut who has to leave his burning world behind to find a new home, and has to find it by exploring the greater depths of the universe. However, through his journey, he realizes that things that were once so unfamiliar to him aren’t as strange as they seem. It’s a new concept project, with really cool visuals and a compelling short story to follow along, and I’m excited to see where the path leads with this idea.
Overall, my goal in life is to get stories told, and cultivate art in whatever way possible in order to help unite and build community. In the future, I want to build a collective where musicians of any genre can come together to make music and create projects in order to grow as a community and support each other rather than individually trying to survive in a seemingly impossible industry. Also, I plan to work with major labels as well as independent artists in the future when it comes to production, writing, and other collaborations. Serving community first has always been my mindset, and it doesn’t plan to change. Feel free to check out my works if you want to hear both the growth as well as join a community that is continuously growing!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Buy physical sales! Many people believe that digital streams are a way to help artists get money, but realistically streaming platforms only offer fractions of pennies to artists per stream, and it takes 1,000 digital streams for artists to even get paid for their songs, and for small artists especially, it’s really hard to break that threshold. Thus, physical sales are the best way to support your favorite artist.
Buy their CDs, merch, posters, vinyls, etc. A $5 poster sale is about equivalent to 2,000 streams digitally. You can imagine how even just a couple sales of physical products can lead to a lot more of artist support than just solely relying on streaming their songs. For artists who read this, SELL PHYSICAL COPIES. I’m positive that every artist who sells physically will make more money than they would solely relying on digital streams. As a culture, I hope we begin to revert back to the classic styles of product marketing(i.e. CD sales, posters), and get these smaller artists on bigger platforms and given more support than just digital streams.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Seeing the shine on a person’s face, especially in production. Music is a story, and it’s someone’s journey coming to life. When I have the honor to produce the track, I work relentlessly to try and reflect the soul and passion seen in the art created prior to the production session. I don’t settle with the production until I feel like it’s a mirror image of the story told in the song. Thus, when the song comes out, it’s so rewarding as a creative to hear all of the positive feedback directed towards the artist, and seeing the love and support for them and their story. Knowing that I helped bring an artist’s passion and vision to life is by far the biggest motivator in continuing through the ebbs and flows of a music career, because at the end of the day, it’s never really about the money, it’s about the art. It’s about the story, and I can’t wait to see how the future helps bring more stories to life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/lkfmusic?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=f4f91e81-6fc4-4727-86c9-c2453a5e0b6a
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iam_lkfmusic/
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/60xRkVUDT48U8am6MXBjuz?si=Xsh_B352QFuElz5IYWElQw
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lkfmusic?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Image Credits
Brianne Friberg
Kaleb Reyna
Kai Rush
Haley Montelaro