Indiana-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Kiely Connell has centered her music round themes of onerous truths and life’s nice uncertainties — topics that stay fixed on her second studio album, My Personal Firm. The mission additionally tackles loss, restoration and the trials and tribulations of managing psychological well being.
Certainly, Connell misplaced a longtime good friend to suicide (mirrored on the heart-wrenching “Stressed Bones”) and handled the tip of a prolonged relationship. On “Rattling Arms,” she takes a tough take a look at the Nashville relationship scene and what consent actually means, whereas on the uplifting “Stunning,” Connell goals to empower girls for extra than simply their bodily look.
So, who’s Kiely Connell? Learn beneath to seek out out.
Ought to we all know you?
I consider I’m somebody price realizing
Inform us three issues about your self which can be necessary.
I like outdated issues greater than new issues. I can spend hours inside any vintage store or flea market simply inventing tales concerning the lifetime of any object that pursuits me.
I skilled the lack of a good friend once we had been youngsters. Studying that somebody your age has taken their very own life is one thing that sticks with you from the second on. It modifications the best way you view life and the best way you navigate it. Once you’re that age, you are feeling invincible, and to study that somebody was struggling a lot in silence shook the core of my being. I can say with certainty that I used to be by no means the identical after I misplaced him.
I studied theater in school and I did go on to behave professionally after I graduated, and I feel I incorporate plenty of my theatrical background into how I construction my albums and the way I construct a setlist. I all the time need the viewers to really feel like they’re in it with me and I attempt to do plenty of storytelling at my dwell exhibits in between every track.
Inform us one thing that’s embarrassing
I’m not often embarrassed however I can bear in mind a couple of occasions in school once we had been underneath tight deadlines for our classwork. I don’t know in the event you’ve ever tried to memorize Shakespeare in a day, however for sure, it didn’t go effectively. I used to be up there in entrance of my whole class mumbling nonsense like a complete goober, as a result of making up Shakespeare makes completely zero sense in any respect. If you wish to really feel like an fool, it’s straightforward — all you must do is fall flat in your face in entrance of extraordinarily aggressive hyper-critical 19-year-olds.
Who’s your greatest affect?
I’ve obtained to go along with Patsy Cline, as a result of that girl taught me learn how to sing. I spent my childhood singing alongside together with her, and I nonetheless sing a number of of her songs at my twice-a-week residency at Chief’s on Broadway in Nashville. She had a lot energy and but a lot vulnerability in her supply and that’s one thing I attempt to emulate after I sing.
Who’s your smallest affect?
I’d say Tim Burton. I carry plenty of his gothic dramatic colour scheme into my wardrobe and total aesthetic. One among my finest mates as soon as stated, ‘Your aesthetic is Waylon Jennings meets Tim Burton,’ which feels fairly dead-on. I’ve been obsessive about all issues Burton since I used to be a baby. I used to be the peculiarly smart baby buzzing the rating of Edward Scissorhands after I was seven.
Who’s essentially the most thrilling musician in 2024, apart from you?
I principally hearken to plenty of podcasts and audiobooks, however Chappel Roan appears cool. I dig the aesthetic and that ’80s sound.
Title three People so odious that they need to be set adrift in a dinghy within the Arctic Circle with sufficient meals and water to solely final 24 hours.
I really feel like the appropriate factor to do right here is plead the Fifth. I’m nonetheless engaged on the entire ‘in the event you don’t have something good to say don’t say something in any respect’ factor.
Do you consider in magic?
I wish to consider in magic. I attempt to stay realistically optimistic, as a result of chance leaves room for magical happenings.
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