Singer-songwriter Kylie Morgan has recently released her new EP – Love, Kylie – that was one of our favourite projects of the year so far. Here, we interview Kylie Morgan about the project and the evolution of her music thus far.
Hi, how are you?
I’m so good, thank you.
How have the past few weeks been? Honestly, this EP is going to be one of the projects of the year, so you must be thrilled with how it turned out.
Thank you so much that’s so kind of you to say. I feel like every excitement that I missed in 2020 all happened in three weeks. Thankfully, I’ve been able to get a good night’s rest the past couple nights and that’s the first time that’s happened in like three weeks. It’s been absolutely incredible, truly.
You also got engaged recently!
Yeah, it was literally like engagement, two shows, EP – it was just one thing after the other. It was pretty surreal. I don’t know how to quite take this in – I’ll take this in in a few months time when everything’s quieter. It’s funny, you wait so long to release a body of work, so when two ginormous things happen in your professional life and your personal life, it’s crazy.
There’s so much personality in this project, from ‘Shoulda’ to ‘I Only Date Cowboys’ – we don’t see that enough. How important was that to show all the sides of your music and your personality in the project?
It was so important because I’ve only released singles up until now, I’ve never released a body of work. I’m a very upbeat person, so I’ve obviously been releasing upbeat songs mostly because it’s my personality on display. It’s actually really cool to release a body of work that shows these other sides of me that I haven’t shown. We even had a meeting today – it’s crazy, we’re already talking about the next project. I’m so excited and happy and it’s so surreal to finally show people what I’ve been working on for the past decade.
You obviously have to release singles but it must be strange because you’ve got over 500 songs. This material must be the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, it’s like choosing between your children when it comes to deciding which songs you’re going to release, because I love all of them – They mean so much to me, but I have to just choose five.
‘Cheating On You’ is one of my favourite tracks. I just love that song. I feel like it’s something that hasn’t been covered – that theme and story. Can you talk a little bit about the track and tapping into those nuances of emotion to tell that story?
I did this on purpose, especially the order of the songs from ‘Cheating On You’ into ‘Mad I Need You.’ My fiancee and I have been together for six years – of course, if you’ve been together for six years, there’s going to be some point in your relationship that’s not sunshine and rainbows. Both of us being touring artists and touring separately can sometimes be really hard. There was a season where we just never saw each other, we never really were able to communicate because of our lives. Even though we were together, we weren’t together, if that makes sense. I feel that everyone, especially online, posts this perfect picture of their relationship. At the end of the day, that’s not the case and we’re all human beings and we’re all going to have seasons of mountain tops and seasons of valleys. I want to be one of those people that says, ‘hey, I have my days, my relationship has its days, my life has its days and really just be able to show there’s beauty in imperfection.’
It’s so important to be authentic too for all the young people coming up who are comparing themselves to what’s online.
There’s this view put out there that a relationship has to be perfect and if it’s not perfect then it’s not worth it, but that’s not true, relationships take work as much as everything else.
Exactly, that’s so true. You’ve really made such a strong sound through the production from ‘I Only Date Cowboys’ to ‘Shoulda’ – there’s such a strong and creative unique sound. How important was it to have Shane and Ben be a part of it and help shape that sound?
I’ve always wanted to keep up with the boys when it comes to my live shows, when it comes to subject matter, when it comes to anything. Of course I’m going to release more ballads and more vulnerable songs as my career goes on, but when it comes to the singles and my live show, they have truly been able to help me mould that. I swear, we all like had a baby together and that’s what this EP is. They truly helped me discover exactly what I was thinking and picturing. I’m not a producer, so I can’t exactly do it myself. They literally birthed this sound that is so me and it’s so perfect and exactly what I was picturing for this EP – they’ve been truly a dream.
That’s the beauty of a really good producer – someone who can bring out what you’re trying to say and what you’re trying to put out there, without putting too much of their own stamp on it. They’ve created the sass of Shania Twain but in a completely modern context – it’s just uniquely Kylie Morgan, which is what I loved about it. You also released a music video – it looked like you had so much fun doing that. It must have been fun to be able to get back on set as well – to finally be able to do things with other people.
Yes! I wrote ‘Shoulda’ during quarantine over zoom with Shane and with Ben. The whole idea of ‘Shoulda’ was for the live show and then I didn’t do live performances for a year and a half. What ended up being incredible is that I got the chance to give that live energy on camera with the music video. I felt that piece of the puzzle that was missing from that song specifically – it was written for live shows and I haven’t been able to do live shows, so I was able to dance and friggin sing like I pictured for this record and for that song specifically. It was just an absolute blast and live shows are finally coming back, which is so blissful.
Alongside that track, I loved the message of ‘Outdoor Voices’ – it’s so empowering and it’s that voice we need, women pioneering their sound and shouting louder, not remaining small. What does that song mean to you?
As women and as human beings in general, I feel like we are given this box to fit into when we’re all circles. It is absolutely impossible to please everyone and I’m such a people pleaser. I want to make sure everyone’s happy, everyone’s good and that has been my biggest downfall but also my greatest asset because I wouldn’t change it – I’m just a caring person. I just want to make sure everyone’s happy, but when it comes to my career, when it comes to my future, my life, I have let so many people have an opinion on it when I shouldn’t have. That song for me was finally that moment – you know when people get so stressed out and then all of a sudden they find themselves on a rooftop screaming? That was me, and so that’s what ‘Outdoor Voices’ represented for me.
I love that, you being brave enough to say what you need to say. So talking already about the new music, is this track going to be part of a longer project?
I’m a 10 year planner – I always have been. So I’m pretty excited about this next project, which is crazy that we’re doing an interview about the current project and we’re already talking about the second one. What’s cool about it is that with ‘Love, Kylie’ it was an EP of six songs and this next project is going to be an EP as well and it’s going to be called ‘P.S.’ It’s all the things that I didn’t get to say on the EP. So, I’m pretty excited to just continue to peel back those layers and continue to show people who I am as an artist and as a human being and continue to release songs that people can turn to.
Well, I cannot wait to hear it – watch out world! Thank you so much Kylie.
Thank you. You’re wonderful. It’s so nice to meet you virtually and hopefully we’ll be doing this in person soon.
That would be awesome – thank you!
