Local artist on the rise: an interview with Kaden

Los Angeles native and current UC Berkeley student Kaden has already made his mark in the Bay Area music scene. From learning the piano at a young age to joining the School House Rock program to producing his own music since his senior year of high school – this new artist is only getting started in his career. I had the chance to talk to Kaden about his first opening performance at Cornerstone in Berkeley, how he balances his passions with his academics, and his musical process.

How would you say you’ve developed your music career thus far?

“Only One” is the first song I’ve ever put out. It’s been like two weeks, and the song’s got 10,000 streams. Spotify just put me in their algorithm for some reason. So yeah I’m really lucky. This is my first song I’m really putting out there, but I have like 300 songs on my computer I just haven’t put out. I used to be too scared to put out my music but I realized people want to hear it. Your friends and family want to hear what you make. You’re kind of doing them a disservice if you keep it all to yourself. I have projects I have to work on on my computer, but I have a lot of material and I want to put out more soon.

How are you able to balance music with being a full-time student?

Well… sometimes I don’t balance it. I don’t know, just having a routine. I try to make music in the morning then do school work after just to get music in. Or I do my school work first if I have a really important assignment and just make time at night. I’m kind of lazy too so this always doesn’t work but I try to set time periods. I do this thing where I make a beat a day every day for a year. I only have an hour every day, so I’d make a song in that time frame. Even if it was really bad, if you can make 50 songs, one of them is bound to be ok. I took that approach for a while just to practice everyday.

Who inspired you to pursue music?

I have a lot of musical inspirations. The internet did lowkey. There’s so many people online that are really talented. There’s people that make music everywhere and you wouldn’t even know it. But they put it on Soundcloud or online under some random name. People like it, but they don’t put themselves out there.

My family has also been really supportive of whatever I do. My dad shares my songs with his friends. My family and my friends have been really important too. One of my friends, Justin, shared the song with like 200 people and texted them personally. I have other friends like Stephen who linked my song in his bio on Instagram. Having friends that support you helps me and means a lot to me. So those people inspire me too.

How would you describe your sound?

Right now it’s like electronic R&B. I like pretty chords with a smooth melody, and just kinda like a fun beat to dance to. The song I put out is a little slower. For my next songs I want to make them more upbeat and more fun. But like, that kind of vibe, that kind of smooth and R&B — I wanna keep that with electronic elements. That’s like a really nice sound to have.

And you collaborated with another artist on “Only One”?

Yeah she actually goes to school here. Her name is Skye, she really cool. We were in a singing class together and I was like “we should make a song together.” And then, she’s like, “ok”. I recorded some chords from the piano at school and was like “I’m gonna leave, just sing something into my phone.” I left the piano recording going and she sang the hook to the song. It just happened like that honestly. And then I had to refine it and make the productions sound nice. But like, the initial idea was instant.

When you’re creating songs is it usually that easy?

It really depends. I love when that happens. Sometime I can just make a song in ten minutes. I just have the whole thing in my head. But I’d say that happens rarely. A lot of time I’ll just try to make a song and spend a lot of time on it and then at the end of five hours i’m like “wow, this is terrible.” I read a quote: “creativity is like 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.” You have to get a lot of bad stuff out to get the good ideas. I think that by pushing a lot through bad ideas good ideas happen.

You opened at Cornerstone? What was that like?

There’s this group called We Dream Worlds on campus. I DM’d the founder. I’d never played a show before, I DJ’d it. I had a project due like the same day that I had to send that group my mix. I was like whatever I’m just gonna send this. That was the first mix I ever made, which is a secret, no one should know that. It took me like a while. I finished that before I even finished my project. It took awhile for him to get back, but then we just exchanged messages and then he said “cool, you can open.” Robotaki was the name of the guy. I really like his music, and he’s really nice.

That experience was really fun. A lot of people came. My friends came to support so shout out to my homies. They really made the show. I was nervous especially since it was my first show every DJing. I didn’t own the equipment I was using so I had to go to Guitar Center everyday for two weeks to practice on the equipment. I spent like four hours everyday just to practice. But it ended up really great.

How did you feel after that show?

I just didn’t know what to feel. I was sweating. It was cool, it was dope. I was just excited and grateful honestly, like it made me really happy you know? Like I wanna do it again.

How do you want people to feel when they’re listening to your music either in a live setting or just streaming a song?

I wanna make music that’s relatable. It doesn’t need to have some sort of interpretation. I want it to like empower people, uplift them, make them feel good. Sometimes relax them, but more like I want to lift them up with my music. I want my music to be different but also exciting and upbeat at the same time.

How does it make you feel personally creating your music?

When I find a song I like, like when I heard Skye sing that hook, I was so excited. I literally went back to my house, set everything aside, and I made the entire layout of the song that day cause I was just so excited. When I am feeling a song, that makes me super happy. 99% of the time I’m not really feeling the songs, but those moments make my life. Even if I don’t like a song I still enjoy the process of making it. It’s just fun. I’m not a professional or anything. I do it cause I like it. I would do it even if no one ever listened. It’s more for me and I love it.

If you could collab with anyone, who would it be and why?

Wow! I should’ve thought of this. There’s a lot of cool artists. One of my favorite producers is Medasin, the other is Galimatias. I would love to collab with them on an electronic song. I think they’re so talented: everything from the chords they use, to the way they mix the song, and the flourishes and little details they add make the song sound so beautiful. In terms of singers, that’s hard too. I’ve actually been listening to this Youtuber Aries a lot. He has an interesting tone to his voice. One of the songs I’m writing is actually tailored to his voice. And he’s got a cool Youtube channel.

Check out Kaden’s song “Only One” with Chayme and follow him on Spotify for upcoming releases

Article by Michelle Castillo

Photos by Cindy Huang