After seeing amazing success as an actor, Kayla DiVenere began her musical journey in 2020 and found new successes in her passion for songwriting. She released her latest single, “Blue Jean Baby”, on June 21, showing off the amazing growth she’s experienced as an artist since her debut. We spoke with DiVenere via email about the new song, connecting with fans and finding her own unique voice as a musician.
Atlas Artist Group: We definitely want to introduce you to any of our readers who may not know your name yet as a singer-songwriter- can you tell us your musical origin story? How did you decide that music was going to be the path you were going to pursue after achieving such amazing success in the acting world?
Kayla DiVenere: I’ve been obsessed with music from such a young age. My father was actually the one who introduced me to music. He played drums in his teen rock band growing up, and always promised himself he would pass on the joy of music to his kids. So one random night, he surprised me with a piano at just five years old. I had no idea what it was, only that it made cool sounds. He continued to culture me through Classic Rock bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Police and there was no absolutely no turning back after that.
I first started making music when I was 13, when I overheard my brother writing a song in his room (very musical family). For some reason it had never occurred to me until that moment that writing music is not individualized to the Taylor Swifts and Katy Perrys of the world, but I could write songs too, anybody could write songs. Music belongs to everybody, and it was a beautiful realization. After that moment, my brother and I would soon embark on our “sibling battle of songs”, where we would see who could write the best song every week. It really helped with my songwriting skills.
Atlas: Since your first single’s release in 2020, how do you view your growth as an artist since that track?
DiVenere: My growth since then has been a wild, wild journey. I was experimenting so much with what felt best to me as an artist, and it feels so good to fall into a sound that feels super authentic to me. Writing and releasing music has transformed me so much as a person… The hurdles, people, and doubts that come along with this industry have made me so strong.
Atlas: What’s the story behind “Blue Jean Baby”? How did you decide that this was going to be your next single? What’s been your favorite reaction to the song so far?
DiVenere: The main inspiration behind “Blue Jean Baby” was this vintage americana sound & theme I wanted to chase. I think old Americana is so nostalgic, and I love how everyone can automatically connect to something so classic. As I was writing “Blue Jean Baby”, it started as a romance song for an American Boy, but at that point, I was kinda sick of writing love songs… I wanted something deeper than that and thought it could be cool to add nuances and symbolisms of old American history and beliefs.
“Blue Jean Baby” speaks about a love for an American boy through surface level, but touches on blindly following and believing an entity more powerful than us. “I’ll do whatever that you want just like your soldier, come wipe away what came before you. I don’t want her…I see your stars I go blind”.
This one was really cool, because usually, it takes about a year’s time span in between writing a song and releasing it, but I thought that “Blue Jean Baby” was one of the coolest songs I’d ever written, so I knew I wanted to release it FAST!
Any reaction is a good reaction! As long as people are listening to my music, I’m happy.
Atlas: Is there a song in your discography that fans have really seemed to resonate with in a way that stands out to you? On the other side of that, which song in your catalog holds a particularly special place in your heart?
DiVenere: “Date Myself” seems to really resonate with my audience! I’ve gotten so many messages screaming of how empowered these young women feel by listening to this self love anthem and it’s honestly the best feeling ever. All I want to do is to be able to make people feel less alone, so I think this song definitely holds a special place in my heart!
Atlas: Do you have any plans for live performances coming up? Any potential spoilers you can share?
DiVenere: I can’t share too much, but there are definitely lots of live shows coming up.
Atlas: What do you hope that your listeners will take away from your music? What song should a new listener start with as a first impression?
DiVenere: The hope and dream is to be able to connect and reach people through my music, to positively impact anyone in any way possible, and to change the vibes of anyone’s day with a simple song. I think the best song to start with would be “Jumping the Gun”. It was the first song I released that felt 100% authentic to me and it began this whole journey, so it’s very sentimental to me.
Stream “Blue Jean Baby”, out now!
Photo courtesy of Kayla DiVenere
