The Friday Dispatch
Kitty, Highlyy, RAYE, Adeodate Warfield, and hey, nothing
How Kitty kept her groove
It’s been more than decade since Kitty’s unquestionably charming talk-rap track “Okay Cupid” made its way from trendy Tumblr blogs to Rolling Stone’s best songs of 2012 list. Overnight, the soft spoken cloud-rap artist – then known as Kitty Pryde - was being co-signed by Earl Sweatshirt and quit her part time job at Claire’s to tour with Danny Brown.
In the years since, she’s carved out a DIY career that takes in her solo work alongside bands Teen Suicide and The Pom-Poms, working with her musical partner and husband Sam Ray. More recently, she’s been in the news after a Stereogum article suggested Doja Cat lifted inspiration from Kitty for fan-favourite “Agora Hills.”
“She was just inspired by it, which is fucking awesome," Kitty counters, “and the second thing that's awesome is that everyone knows that was my thing.” The song has everything people know and love from Kitty’s music: the slurred, less-than-amused vocals, and borderline-obsessive, raw take on love that isn’t as popular in the last few years.
“When I started making stuff that sounded like 'Agora Hills', people fucking hated it," she laughs, but is glad that it’s found its audience now. Sounds often cycle back after 5-10 years, and it’s almost time for her sound to be in style again, she tells me. New rap releases like Flo Mili’s “Never Lose Me” have the same relaxed, nonchalant flow, soft production, and obsessive lyrics that Kitty was championing a decade ago. “I hope that it doesn't mean people think of me as some old washed up loser who doesn't exist anymore,” she laughs.
Highlyy is flush with ambition
Highlyy is on the trip of a lifetime — both literally and figuratively. She’s just returned from a few days in Paris and a 20th birthday trip in Morocco, only just walking through the door of her home in London when she answers the phone to chat. Describing the last year of her life as a whirlwind would be an understatement: the singer from Essex had her big break one year ago with the Afrobeat-drenched debut “Soldier”, a collaboration with UK rapper Tion Wayne. In addition to amassing millions of streams and garnering Highlyy a mighty fanbase, it solidified her as an artist to watch. And now, with the release of debut EP +243, she’s doing what she’s always wanted to do: release a body of work.
Although just a year separates her debut single and +243, Highlyy can feel how much she’s grown in that time. “My sound has definitely changed, I feel like I’ve found who I am now,” she says. “Maybe it hasn’t so much changed but my sound has definitely matured. When I made ‘Soldier,’ I didn’t know who Highlyy was. I didn’t know what I wanted to sound like, so it was mostly trial and error. A year has gone by and now I know who I am, who I want to be, and what I'm gonna sound like.” Honing in on her sound and who Highlyy is was a difficult process at first. She spent most of her time at the studio, working five days a week and spending hours chipping away at creating until she felt like she solidified herself.
While making the EP, Highlyy found that many people asked where she was from because of her decision to sing in many languages. As another way to uplift the Congo, Highlyy decided to name the EP +243 after the country’s code. Crafting +243 wasn’t exactly a lesson in baring it all, but a reminder that at least one person will have experienced something similar. “It's very easy to be vulnerable. It's very easy to just say whatever because someone in the world agrees with you or someone in the world has also experienced what you've experienced. I feel like being vulnerable is the most real way of telling your story and helps people connect to you.”
In turn, +243 is an amalgamation of stories that Highlyy has experienced over the past 365 days. She describes the process of writing it as one of discovery. “I was still discovering who I was,” she states, thinking back to the creation of the EP. “I was keen on just telling the truth in my music. Every single song on there, I wrote. Some I had help with — I worked with amazing producers and songwriters — but everything is coming from me. It’s why it’s a true introduction to Highlyy. I see this EP as a chapter closing and a chapter opening for me. After I drop +243, it closes and it’s onto the next — which is an opening to a new world.”
RAYE on Nina Simone’s “Baltimore”
I have a good friend called Sam, who works for a charity called DROP4DROP, and we spent quite a lot of time together doing some charity projects back in the day. We met for the first time in India - so random - we were doing some charity work out there and he was a proper music head, always putting me onto amazing songs.
About four years ago we met up by this really nice river for a picnic. I hadn't seen him in years, it was such a beautiful day, sun's shining, and he was like ‘Let me play you this song. Do you know Nina Simone's “Baltimore”?’ I was the biggest Nina fan and the second he played it for me I was hooked. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I love this song.’ And it became an instant classic for me.
Nina is one of my all-time favourite artists, period. She is the ultimate artist, everything she represents and did for music and for politics was game-changing. I have a poster of her in my room with the quote ‘It's an artist's duty to reflect the times.’ I woke up one day and I read that quote and... it was one of the reasons that I just broke down, went on Twitter and that whole moment happened. Because I was sat there, thinking, ‘I’m not doing that [reflecting the times] at all’, you know?
She's one of my biggest inspirations for being an artist. I want to be an artist that is as honest as I feel like I am in my everyday life, with my friends, with my family and with what I believe. I'm a super passionate person, full of conviction and I relate to her bravery; I want to be as brave as Nina was.
Ironically, this is one of the few songs she didn't write, and I know that she personally didn't really like the song or enjoy the process of writing it. But it's one of those songs that resonated with me. I think the lyricism is so beautiful - and the strings and the instrumentation and the way that it feels, it's just gorgeous. It starts “Beat-up little seagull / On a marble stair / Tryin' to find the ocean / Lookin' everywhere” It's like, ‘What the hell is this imagery?’ “Hooker on the corner / Waiting for a train / Drunk lying on the sidewalk / Sleeping in the rain.” You get this picture of this broken place, but unfortunately it seems that the most broken things translate into the most beautiful art.
Nina being the prolific songwriter that she is, there are so many songs that I could have chosen, like “Mississippi Goddam” and “Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood”. And, oh, “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, which she covered and carried on for a very important reason. But I chose “Baltimore”; I play it almost once every three days, it is medicine to me in its purest form.
Three things to get excited about this week
The festival: In their 60s and 70s heyday, music festivals weren’t just glamorous events focused on lining up the biggest stars. Rather, in addition to bringing out the biggest and best of music, these festivals often infused the cultural celebrations with important advocacy work. In Orlando, Maxwell Frost is bringing back this model with MadSoul, a two-day lineup of artists and progressive speakers. The festival was founded in 2015 by Frost, who would eventually become the first Gen-Z congressperson in America, and a group of his friends. This year, it’s back on, with MUNA and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez headlining.
The exhibit: Pop darling Hannah Diamond has set up shop in Somerset House as part of its latest exhibition: CUTE. The installation explores “the phenomena of cute” across its many iterations. Diamond’s portion will simulate the intimate world of a sleepover, bringing the maximalist form of girlhood that Diamond explored on her sophomore record, Perfect Picture, to life. Outfitted in pink, with pillows scattered across the floor for napping, Diamond has created an environment meant to lure attendants into a girlish trance. She urges participants to “release their inhibitions,” emphasizing that her interest in sharing girlhood lies in its potential for providing liberation and transformation.
The label: Love him or hate him, making waves in industry news this week is the announcement that Jack Antonoff will be starting his own record label. Called Shadow of the City, there are few details available yet. The news comes just shortly after the announcement of yet another Antonoff-helmed soundtrack, this time for Apple’s The New Look.
Something old, something new
Every week, one of our writers or editors share their recommendations of two records they love - one from the past, one from the present. This week, Laura David on Adeodat Warfield’s Self Titled (2012) and hey, nothing’s We’re Starting to Look Like Each Other (2023).
On the couch of a friend’s house, I heard this album come on and instantly went: “What’s THAT?!?!” It was Adoedat Warfield’s 2012 self-titled EP. More specifically, as it turns out, it was the arpeggiating synths on “Across the Night Sky” — a quirky track that, like the rest of the project, borrows from 80s dark wave. Witty, nostalgic lyrics abound on this 6-track gem. For months after I found the EP, I couldn’t get enough; I’d put it on just to walk for an hour and think. Warfield’s EP has a way of transporting me to another world. It’s nostalgia in the truest sense. Seriously, the songs leave me feeling like the countercultural protagonist of a romcom set in a Reagan-era American suburb. Too much? Anyway. The mystery of the music is matched by mystery surrounding its maker. Only one blog post identifies the man behind the project, Ryan Sublette, and no interviews or promotional pressers can be found either.
One of the most exciting breakout indie-folk projects last year was Atlanta’s hey, nothing. Tyler Mabry and Harlow Phillips’ project first caught my eye when I came across a clip of Phillips belting their now-breakout track “Like a Brother.” Phillips’ vocal prowess is undeniable, a true powerhouse in the making. The duo are best friends who, after meeting six years ago, have been making music together since high school. Both Mabry and Phillips share writing and singing on the album, which is defined by both raucous electric guitars and delicate singer-songwriter lyrics. This record will break your heart and put it back together, doing so all while riding the new wave of indie country and putting twang back on the map for the next generation.
Listen to the week in new music by following our Discovery playlist
Dropping at midnight every Thursday, follow our 20-track playlist for a taste of the best new music from the most exciting breaking artists.
These are the songs our editors and writers have on repeat right now, taken from the hundreds of tracks released in the last seven days. Leading the selection this week are new tracks from MAFRO, Wisp, Kidä, Sleap-e, and coverstar Cheidu Oraka.