Independent and able to do whatever she damn well pleases, Willow Kayne has both hands on the wheel with her new single ‘I’ve Got This All Under Control’. Check out the latest cover story for our New Music Friday playlist edit, PLAY.
Words: Stephen Ackroyd.
Willow Kayne has always been a whirlwind of creative energy, a genre-defying artist who’s been turning heads since her debut in 2021. In the best possible way modern pop provides, she switches flavours and influences to craft a vibe that’s always fresh, always interesting and never, ever boring. With her latest single, ‘I’ve Got This All Under Control’, she’s keeping up those standards like a kid on a slightly overinflated bouncy castle, jumping around like their life depends on it with the kind of reckless abandon that would make a health and safety inspector weep.
But also, it’s a song that also takes on another meaning – because now, actually, Willow really does have it all under her control. With a newfound independence, the world she’s created is dancing solely to her own beat – something she’s grasping with both hands.
“I’ve been experimenting a lot since we last talked!” Willow exclaims, her enthusiasm obvious. Willow’s shift towards self-reliance isn’t just a creative choice or a happenstance of the fickle stupidity of a music industry so concerned with box-ticking that it’s unable to elevate a star to where she belongs. It’s the unavoidable truth of an artist with so much creativity in her engine that she has to keep moving at all points. “I’ve made a new project,” she confesses, explaining that she’s “just been focusing on making things for myself.”
“It was definitely a shock going independent”
“It was definitely a shock going independent, but it was the absolute best thing for me to do,” she admits. “I feel like everyone around me has complete trust in my artistic decisions, which is great! It almost feels like a prank.”
But make no mistake, this isn’t some half-baked rebellion against the system. Willow’s approach to her craft is as meticulous as it is maverick. “My main focus was to just make music that I liked and try and shut out the internet for a while,” she explains. “It’s pretty easy to get swept up in the whole TikTok thing, and I definitely did for a little bit. Since doing so, I’ve been approached by a few of my idols, so I think it was definitely the right move.”
This strategy of tuning out the noise to tune into her own creative frequency seems to be paying off. Willow’s music has always been a reflection of her eclectic tastes, but her latest work feels more cohesive, more distinctly ‘Willow’. It’s as if she’s taken all the disparate elements of her sound and woven them into a tapestry that’s both familiar and refreshingly new.
Of course, as free a spirit as she now is, Willow’s journey hasn’t been without its influences. After winning the Ivor Novello Rising Star Award, she received mentorship from none other than Nile Rodgers. “We talk occasionally still, yes!” she says. “We met very, very early in my development, and he gave me some great advice on finding your sound. I kind of want the next time I see him to be when I have fully developed as an artist.”
This desire to evolve and grow is a recurring theme in Willow’s work. Her music has always been a reflection of the world around her, particularly the rave scene that’s been such a significant influence. But even as she continues to draw inspiration from this world, she’s finding new ways to channel it into her art.
“I still love the rave scene, but I’m trying to be on good behaviour at the moment, so the raves have been limited to my living room for the most part,” she laughs. “I’m finding inspiration everywhere, though! There is so much good music coming out at the moment. The music cycle is working in my favour as my favourite era has always been indie sleaze, and it’s BACK BABY!”
Getting hyped about a return to the hedonistic stupidity and raw nonsense of indie’s last great age is understandable, but it’s clear that Willow isn’t just riding the wave – she’s actively shaping it. Her upcoming new EP, titled ‘The Zenosyne’, is a perfect example. “Every song on it has been made from reading diary entries of mine,” she reveals. “It’s also the first body of work where I’ve dared to talk about romantic relationships! This project is a lot less ‘fuck you’ and a lot more ‘fuck me, what am I doing’.”
The title ‘The Zenosyne’ is a term that refers to the sense that time seems to go faster as we get older. It’s a concept that perfectly encapsulates the themes Willow is exploring in her new work – the rapid pace of change, the struggle to find one’s footing in an ever-shifting landscape, and the bittersweet realisation that youth is fleeting.
This shift towards more personal, vulnerable songwriting has been a significant change for Willow. “I kind of had to relearn the way I write songs, and not just make a sad ballad every time I wanted to talk about something emotional,” she admits. “There’s a lot of juxtaposition in the music moving forward. It is weirdly healing making upbeat music about how shit you feel.”
That contrast is evident in ‘I’ve Got This All Under Control’, a track that pairs anxious lyrics with a pulsating, energetic beat. It’s a musical representation of the facade we often put up when we’re struggling – a musical equivalent of saying “I’m fine” when the mind is racing at 100 miles per hour and, honestly, you feel like you might be about to go over at any second.
“I’m just going to carry on experimenting and seeing what sticks”
The move towards more personal songwriting hasn’t been without its challenges; talking about romantic relationships is something Willow has avoided in the past. “I used to like the challenge of not talking about it at all, as most love songs do,” she muses. “Then I realised I was stopping myself being vulnerable, which is usually when the best music is made. And it’s true!”
This newfound vulnerability seems to be resonating already. “I do feel like this project is pretty different to the last, but it’s brought a whole new audience to my music, which is really cool,” Willow notes. “People that I really respect like it, which means the most to me.”
But Willow isn’t one to rest on her laurels. Even as she prepares to release this new body of work, she’s already looking ahead to what’s next. “I think after this project of me pouring my heart out, it is only fair to follow it up with something a bit more gritty,” she teases. “Dare I say, 140.”
This constant evolution is part of what makes Willow such an exciting artist to follow. She’s not content finding a formula and sticking to it – instead, she’s constantly pushing herself to try new things and explore new sounds and ideas. “I’m about to go to LA to work with a bunch of new people!” she shares. “But really, I’m just going to carry on experimenting and seeing what sticks.”
The truth is, if the alt-pop-ravey-indie-whatever-we-wanna-call-it scene of 2024 – post ‘BRAT’ summer, in the shadow of Queen Chappell – can’t work out it needs an artist like Willow Kayne, we’re all truly screwed. Creative, inspired, packed with attitude and with music that feels like it was made for right now, tomorrow, and whatever follows, she’s all edge, no dead weight. And with that ‘fuck it and find out’ attitude of trying the new at the heart of what drives her, she’s never going to go stale with it.
With a tour alongside fellow future pop provocateur Artemas on the way (“WOOHOO! I’m very excited about it!”), Willow’s grasp of the wheel seems to be finally steering her in the right direction. While some may want to push pop music into a safer, more controllable, homogenised mould, Willow Kayne is a beacon of rebellion against tickboxes and quantifiable gains. She’s making a statement of intent – no matter how scary it might get, she’s the boss of her own journey now, and we’re going wherever she damn well likes. Strap in. ■
Willow Kayne’s new single ‘I’ve Got This All Under Control’ is out now. Follow Dork’s PLAY Spotify playlist here.
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