kylekelly- the pop rock songwriter and multi-instrumentalist- is on a rise to the top of the music world. With his opening slot for Daniel Seavey and so much new music on the way, he’s already winning over audiences across the country with his infectious lyrics and irresistible stage presence. Atlas spoke with him via email about his latest single, the upcoming EP (out May 16th!), goals for his project and so much more- check out our conversation and be sure to listen to “it always ends the same”, out today!
Atlas Artist Group: Your new EP is coming out later this spring- congrats on the new music! It’s inspired by romantic comedies, right? How did you come up with that concept and how did the idea inspire your creative process when writing these songs?
kylekelly: Thank you, yeah! Yes, it is. We started the writing cycle for my project early spring of last year, and around the same time I randomly got a discount code for Paramount Plus, so naturally I started bingeing a ton of rom-coms that they had on there. I must’ve watched How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and She’s All That like ten times each. I started bingeing every rom-com and romance movie I’ve ever watched from there. On planes, in airports, hotel rooms, Ubers, at home… Love, Rosie, Crazy, Stupid Love, That Awkward Moment, and of course, 10 Things I Hate About You.
The writing cycle sort of just became so involved with rom-coms accidentally. I started to sorta just see that every story I was including on the EP was a typical plot point in every single one of these movies, and then the look-book and aesthetic of the era very much took on the look of 10 Things I Hate About You. I even walked into the studio in Nashville saying, “I just want the project to sound like if Stranger Things was a rom-com” which I think just very much suits who I am personally. I wanted the EP to feel like me. Every song is also written in retrospect, so the idea behind the EP became the songs and myself within the music is the rom-com, and we (including myself) as an audience are watching (listening) back to the rom-com. Very meta. Also, very much me.
Atlas: What’s the story behind the new single, “it always ends the same”? How did you decide that this was the next song to come out before the completed project drops in May?
kylekelly: “it always ends the same” actually took me about a year to write. It started as a track sort of layout for a cover, and I wound up liking it so much that I moved the chords around and just wrote an entirely new song on top of what we had produced. I had the post-chorus melody FOREVER, but I could not finish anything for the life of me- and I think I knew it was because I knew what the song was about and really did not want to confront it. Everyone’s made the same mistake twice hoping something different will happen or hoping it’ll make them feel better at some point- and me, five times!
This song is sort of about learning that lesson the hard way, and myself living with the guilt of what I did for the rest of my life. Not that it eats at me or anything, but this is something wrong that I did and knew was wrong at the time and knew it was not making me feel any better, and I hurt people in doing so. That I have to live with, admit, and own up to- and I think admitting that took me a long time to say correctly. The production of the song was also the longest we had worked on a song. Something just wasn’t clicking for a while and we spiraled a bit, but once it clicked it easily became our favorite by a mile. That’s really the reason we decided it’d be the last song to drop before the EP. It’s my absolute favorite and I knew it had to be a single- plus, when the tour was announced I knew it would be even more special to have it come out while we’re on tour since it can be such an addictive set of melodies.
Atlas: You’ve been playing some of this new material live and the response has been awesome. Which of the new songs have you enjoyed performing the most and which one have you seen the fans really react to when it arrives in the setlist?
kylekelly: Thank you so much! Yeah, the reaction from all of Daniel’s audience has been insane really. I knew it’d be wild, but it has been so much bigger and lovably overwhelming with how welcoming and ecstatic they’ve all been. I saw the other day someone commented on a TikTok, “My cousin and I thought he was trash when he got announced, but I’ve been obsessed since he was onstage” or something. I have a pretty short set so I love just being able to show people a good time and party for a sec before sombr and Daniel’s acts. I’ve definitely noticed the fans loving “OMG” and “my little heart <3″ the most. I always get bracelets that say those two, and people love my high note and my guitarist Noah’s guitar solo in “OMG”. Plus, I usually jump onto the barricade for “my little heart <3″.
I personally love performing “it always ends the same” and “my little heart <3″. “it always ends the same” just grooves so nicely. A nice little slower dance break, kinda cry in the club song. “my little heart <3″ is always fun too, just as a nice closer we can all jump to and I get to hold all the fan’s hands and stuff. I’m sure “it always ends the same” will be so much more fun when everyone knows the words.
Atlas: When you’re making music, do you tend to focus on lyrics first and then melody or is it the other way around? Or does it depend? You’ve also collaborated with a lot of amazing people- how do you decide who you want to work with in the studio? What commonalities or even differences speak to you when choosing collaborative partners?
kylekelly: I definitely tend to focus on lyrics MOST, but not necessarily first. I typically start with a certain concept, whether that ends up being a lyric or not, but once I get one specific lyric that sums up what the song should be about, the rest of the song just falls out of me. I’m not always the best with melodies which is really when collaboration and partners come into play, but I always do my lyrics. I’ll let people help (sometimes), but my lyrics are sacred to me.
I’ve worked with so many amazing people in the past year, it’s insane. I like to keep my circle pretty small because I usually write from pretty vulnerable places and I would much prefer not getting vulnerable in front of people I don’t know hahaha. Thus, I’ve done all my production work with my producer, Brandon Paddock, and my manager, Jeffery David, and I’ve written a majority of my music by myself or with my best friends. That being said, I guess I don’t look for a ton of commonalities or differences. I mostly just look for comfort and another’s ability to fill in what I’m not good at and rein it in when I’m too in my head.
Atlas: What are your goals for your music career- whether short term or longer term? Anything coming up (besides the new EP of course) that you can tell us about?
kylekelly: Oof- there’s too many. I guess short-term, finish out the Second Wind Tour with Daniel and fill out a fanbase as much as possible alongside releasing the EP on May 2nd. I’d love to start writing and recording the next project after the tour too. Oh- and I would LOVE to do a festival run. That is a HUGE dream of mine, and I’ve always felt like the EP, and my music in general, would feel really good at a festival.
Long term? I wanna sell out Pier 17. That is the dream, 100%. Maybe open for 5 Seconds of Summer as well- but hopefully that can come sooner rather than later. As for new things coming up, there may or may not be a single or two coming shortly after the EP… but who’s to say.
Atlas: Is there anything else you want people to know about you or your music or is there anything you wish you could talk about more that people may not ask you?
kylekelly: About me?? God- there’s so much. Maybe I’ll just rattle off a few fun facts? I love reading and painting, every painting in my bedroom was made by myself. I miss New York City oh so dearly and cannot wait for that stop of the tour. I have a big crush on Cailee Spaeny and Madeline Argy. Music-wise, I hope people realize I play and write most of the instrumental as well? I feel like sometimes people are surprised I play so many instruments.
As for what I wish I could talk about more… I keep a list of random fun questions to ask people, but obviously no one ever asks me them so I guess I wish people would ask me questions like that in the future. I love picking people’s brains over the random things because I often think their answer to, “do you prefer a corner, center, or edge brownie piece?” says more about them than they’re overly rehearsed, “oh, what do you do?” answer does.
Stream “it always ends the same”, out now and pre-save the new EP!
Photo credit: Ashley Crichton
