kyrie Talks Debut EP ‘ATTENTION’ And Leaning Into Authenticity

Photo via kyrie. Taken by Valerie Loeblich.

22-year-old singer-songwriter kyrie is ready for all of your attention. Their debut EP ATTENTION arrives in the form of a vibrant, five-song exploration of a girl’s first queer relationship, complexities and all. With open arms, kyrie’s unfiltered and sincere lyricism embraces their listeners into a journey marked by many firsts. 

We had the chance to sit down with kyrie to chat about stepping into their sound, Briston Maroney’s golden advice, and the importance of chemistry in the music-making process. 

When did you realize you wanted to pursue music as a career? Do you have a specific artist or album that ignited the flame or acted as a push to take it seriously?

I think it has its roots in my freshman year of college. I played soccer for school and ended up quitting. I had grown up singing in chorus and stuff, but I hated it because I didn't like singing songs that I didn't get to choose. And I had taken guitar in high school, but it just wasn't fun for me. 

I started going to a lot of concerts, being super close to LA. I didn't have a car or anything, but I would catch rides with friends—I made my way to these shows. And I was just like, “Wow, I want to do that. I can sing, but I need to figure out how to write.” After those three months of  concert hopping, I was like, “Okay, let's try and write a song.” The first ones were kind of bad, but I eventually got there. The more concerts I went to, the more I was like, “I want to be doing this. I need to be doing this.” But it took me a long time to start gigging because I had to have material and find a band.

The main artist that inspired me, or got the ball rolling, was Briston Maroney with his Sunflower album. I was able to go to his show at The Troubadour—the tickets just fell into my lap. I had mentioned to a friend that I really wanted to go to the show, but it was sold out. Two days later, she's like, “My friend is trying to get rid of hers. She can't go anymore. Do you want them for 15 dollars?” I brought my friend Josiah, who you know, and the timing of it—really shitty things were happening in our lives. The music brought us back to the center and grounded us. That’s the thing about Briston’s music—it’s been there in different periods of my life and has been just what I’ve needed. And I was like, “Wait, I can do that for other people too.”

 I want to keep this ball rolling and have it be the gift that keeps on giving. I have these artists, songs, and albums I love that provide comfort and rest for me. How can I keep that going and do that for other people, and also say what I have to say?

As a songwriter, you inherently have to be vulnerable. I love how your lyrics feel like a window into whatever you're feeling or experiencing in that specific song. Are you someone who journals? Or has it always been easy to translate your emotions into words?

I've always journaled. I have so many journals in boxes at my parents' house. I was going through one of my old journals the other day, and I was like, “Wow, I was so sad.” But that's where most of my songs come from. I'm journaling, and then I'm like, “Wait, that could be put into a song.” I kind of just start writing a song in my journal, pause, and then go back to journaling about, you know, life and everything. I just need me a good Moleskine journal and a pen.

Your EP ATTENTION explodes with a lot of vibrance and authenticity, especially for a debut project, too. Do you feel like you always knew how you wanted it to look and sound?

No, actually. It wasn't until I started recording it with my friend Aaron where it all came together. I had been gigging some of these songs when I was living in Richmond, but it had a completely different vibe. Even the demos I had from rehearsals and gigs were way different—a complete 180 from how they sound on the EP, which is, I think good, because I wasn't completely in love with how they were sounding. Once I finally got to sit down and be like, “Okay, this is how I want it to be,” I was able to get it out there and figure shit out because I don't really know what I'm doing most of the time. I just pick up an instrument and I’m like, “Okay, this works.”

It’s awesome having a producer who's really talented and can pick up where I put it down. I'm like, “Okay, this is what I know I want. What do you think should go here?” [Aaron] was also really encouraging when it came to me being like, “I don’t know what I should do with this lead guitar riff.” He’d be like, “Dude, you wrote this song. Whatever you lay down is gonna go with it.” It was moments like that where I was like, “Okay, what's in [my head and my heart] is finally translated into song form, fully developed, fully arranged, which was such an awesome feeling. 

We started with “SUNSET BLVD” and got that one done so fast. It was also the first song I ever wrote which is crazy to hear with everything exactly how I envisioned it. The EP was Aaron and I in his garage—a little studio setup, cranking it out using Splice for things that we needed. I had two other friends play guitar in “FLORAL PARK,” which was fun. But for the most part, it was just us sitting down being like, “Okay, what are we doing here, and how do we get the sound that we want?”

At this moment in my music career, I think recording is my favorite part. It used to be gigging, and then that got too stressful. I like how I can take my time with it and really perfect it. Because at my core, I'm a perfectionist. 

Did living in Richmond and then moving to California feel like it impacted the creative process, or making this EP in general?

I had thought about recording and doing stuff when I was in Richmond, but there wasn't anyone who I was like, “Oh, I’d want to work with you,” or that I felt like we meshed. I had friends of friends be like, “You need to work with Aaron.” I really liked his own music because he produced all of his own stuff under Prince of Eden. I was like, “Okay, I would want you working on my stuff. Let’s collab.”

The sound in Richmond is a little more hardcore, punk-centered. There are some little folky girl, singer-songwriters, but it's not really what people go to house shows for. So it would be me and my acoustic guitar, and then there would be an experimental prog rock band after me. It’s a fun vibe, but it does impact how I present these songs. I feel like people want different things in California. It’s a lot bigger, so there’s enough room for all kinds of music, and everyone wants all kinds of music. I felt like it was more limited [in Richmond]. But don’t get me wrong, it was fun to pick which house show I should go to on a Friday night. I miss that element of it. It’s a different beast here, but I do feel like I’m able to grow into my sound more.

Your cover art was done by you with mixed media, which is super cool and creative. Do you have any other creative outlets that inspire your music or artist career?

Before I dropped out of school I was studying visual arts to do ceramics, and that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a ceramics teacher or professor, but I was like, “No, I think I need to pursue this music thing now because school will always be there.” I’m very tactile. I love using my hands for things. I love doing collages and mixed media and that kind of stuff. It’s a puzzle, just like songs are puzzles to me. I have this one part figured out. How do I make it fit this other part? I love a little challenge. 

I'm broke—like we're all broke—so being in art school is hard because materials cost a lot. You have to find ways around it and get thrifty. I think that it takes a special kind of creative to be able to do that, because there are people with resources who can go out there, get the things they need, and make exactly what they want. But I feel like for my visual art and my music, it's finding all these scraps of things and trying to make it fit. When it does, it's this very unique thing that can't be recreated because I'm not using the same materials that everyone else is using. 

“SUNSET BLVD” and “IN MY HEAD” are two of my favorite tracks. I think they showcase different facets of your sound while still feeling cohesive and indie folk. Did you have any artists you were listening to that inspired these songs?

Definitely Maggie Rogers’ most recent album. I was listening to it a lot like when it came out. I feel like that definitely had an influence on it. Chappell Roan—everyone has been on the Chappell Roan kick. I feel like I'm a little more yeehaw and singer-songwriter than her, but definitely an influence. Briston Maroney, obviously. He will never not be an influence for me. Some deeper ones that are more subconscious and not at the forefront of my brain have influenced the sound of those songs, too. Phoebe Bridgers—definitely listen to her a lot. Not so much in recent years, but she was the soundtrack to my freshman year of college. Same with Boygenius—very sad stuff. I feel like those are the ones.

Could you talk to me about the track “ATTENTION” and how that song came about? What made you title the EP that?

This EP is a narrative. It tells a story about a certain relationship—my first woman love and woman heartbreak. The most brutal of them all. The stories are true. The rumors are true. It’s really brutal.

“ATTENTION” was the last song I wrote on the album to balance it out. I felt like I had a lot of negativity towards this antagonist in the other songs. And I was like, “Okay, there are more sides to every story.” Even the antagonist in a story has some redeeming qualities, and they're not entirely bad. So that's where the song came from. I was like, “Okay, this is the balance. This is the glue. I don't want to completely hammer down on this person.”

So then I was like, “Attention.That was the one thing I was screaming for this whole entire relationship, and this person couldn't give it to me for many reasons.” It felt right to be the title of the EP because it sums it all up. At the end of the day, when you're in a relationship, you want your partner to give you that attention, and you want it to be reciprocated. But you know, that doesn't happen and you gotta pivot. So that's what I did.

You’ve done a few live sets before. Is there a song that you’re eager to translate live?

Probably “FLORAL PARK.” That one is so fun, especially because there's room for crowd interaction. It’s a fairly simple chorus. It’s so fun to scream.

The first time I gigged that song was back in November when I played with Aaron. We did a little show together, and that was so fun. I feel like “FLORAL PARK” is the most true to how I wrote it originally because I had tried to go into Garage Band and make a demo of it. I love the energy of it because there is this switch in the tone of that song, so I get into that. Performing is acting, in a sense. I never was a theater kid, but if I was, I feel like I would be too powerful.

Photo via kyrie. Taken by Valerie Loeblich.

I have another show at the end of June with Aaron because he has his EP release. Go pre-save that album—shout out Prince of Eden. I'm playing with him for that show, and also our other friend Atticus—they have another project together. It’s basically our whole friend group playing in each other's projects and bands. 

I also think who you play with matters too, because I've played gigs where I don't really know the people in my band, and you can tell when the chemistry isn't there. So I'm excited to be playing with a big group of my friends.

Do you have a dream venue where you would want to perform down the line?

Oh, The Troubadour, 100%. It's a small one, but it's so iconic. I've only been there like three times, and every time I think I've cried. I don't care about the big venues or anything. As long as I get to play The Troubadour—that’s what I care about.

What's the best piece of advice you've been given as an up-and-coming artist?

This came from Briston, actually. He basically told me that you can't give a fuck about what other people are going to say, or what they want you to do. You just have to stay true to what you want to do, what makes you happy, and what kind of music you like to make. Because you think about the people that you love, and that's what they're doing. Your authenticity is the only thing that you really have that's yours and that you can control. Don't let anyone rob you of that, because there have been moments where people have been like, “You're a little too much sometimes. Tone it down a little bit.” But I'm like, “No. Hell no. I’m not doing that.” That has really stuck with me. I feel like being a woman in music—there's this archetype that labels and fanbases want you to be. But that already exists. We need people to go and do their own things and create their own little communities and niches. That's where authenticity is so important.

It’s so interesting asking people what the best advice they've been given is because I think that reflects in your music—the advice that you were given by him. So that's pretty cool to see.  Is there an album you think is “done right”? Or an album that you wish you wrote?

 Definitely Remi Wolf's Big Ideas. I remember because that came out around the same time as Clairo’s album. Love Charm, I think they have the same producers on it. But upon the first sit down of listening to Big Ideas I was like, “Oh my God.” Every song, my jaw was on the floor. I liked everything about it. There's such variety in it, too, of different kinds of songs and energies. I love it when an album can provide that.

I know you mentioned the show too, but is there anything people can expect from you or get excited about this year?

The EP and some music videos. Visuals are really important, but I'm not someone who's just like, “Let’s crank it out to have it there.” I want to have fun with it, and I want to bring in a whole group of people who want to have fun with it. I have two music videos on the way. I don't really care about timing. I'm independent, and I don't have anyone breathing down my neck being like, “You have to have this out.” So they're gonna be sprinkled on later to be like, “Hey y'all, I'm alive still. Maybe not making music and playing shows, but I'm doing things.” I love video too. I'm not the best at Adobe Premiere Pro, but I can do some things on there—I wanted to be a vlogger once. But I do have lots of ideas, and I have a bunch of friends who also have a lot of ideas. So we're coming together to make something really kooky, interesting, disturbing, making you be like, “What the heck did I just watch?” There are some things like that cooking up.