Kiana Ledé - Goes 'Deeper' About Hard Work & Perseverance

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Kiana Ledé has been rocking in the R&B scene and her latest single “Jealous” continues this trend. The other day, Sonical.ly had the chance to sit down and talk with Ledé about her musical journey. 

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If you’d like to listen to the full interview, check it out below!

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Here’s a quick peek at the highlights of our interview:

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Growing Up With Music

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Music has always been a part of Kiana Ledé’s life. She credits it along with her guitar and piano as helping her during her chaotic childhood.

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Ledé’s mother encouraged her love of music by buying CDs from garage sales to give to her daughter. While listening to these CDs on her little stereo, Ledé would write down whatever lyrics she heard. 

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This practice unintentionally helped her when she started songwriting.

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What sparked her songwriting journey? 

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“I looked at this card that my grandma gave me and it had a phrase on it that I took and was like, what if I write a song? And I just like made a melody. And then from there, I, and I was already like writing poetry. So I was like, what if I just like added a melody and I made it a song? 

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And that's how I wrote my first song. And then I was doing it from then.”

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Like everyone’s first song, it was terrible. However, her mom was excited for Ledé, and she encouraged her to keep writing. Needless to say, Ledé's positive relationship with her mother helped her immensely. Even now, she just wants to make her mom proud. 

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Hardships Along the Way

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Kiana Ledé came into the industry at only 15 years old. Being both young and a girl made the first part of her musical career quite difficult. She was often made to just sit and listen, and she had to be very assertive to have her ideas heard.

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Even when she took control of her music, she couldn’t catch a break:

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“I've had a lot of criticism about how to speak, how I need to present myself, the energy I need to carry. And it's always just very like either be ladylike and sit there and don't cuss, which is like so not me, or be a bitch, which is also not me. I sit somewhere in between, you know?”

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Like any kind of writer, Ledé has also struggled with writer’s block. 

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“That's, I think that's every artist's biggest fear is like being too happy to have like nothing to write about. Which is such a toxic way of thinking. But we know that's what everybody's thinking, right?”

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Instead of succumbing to this toxic thinking, Ledé decided to write a song about how she was feeling. In other words, she wrote about being happy and having nothing to say. 

Despite all these hardships, Ledé is living her best life with her friends and family.

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Songwriting 

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If you’ve listened to Kiana Ledé’s music, you know she uses a lot of piano and bass in her songs. Writing songs with these instruments comes easy to Ledé as those are the ones she grew up playing. 

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Besides physical instruments, Ledé also enjoys experimenting with her voice in songs. In fact, vocal production is one of her favourite parts of being in the studio. She treats it like a puzzle that she's trying to put together.

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Why does Ledé love creating music?

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“Music is about emotion and I really just want people to feel things and be able to lean, give someone something to lean on. So to me, anything that makes someone feel that way and gives them a tool to survive is incredible.”

Wrap-Up: Advice for Aspiring Music Creators

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• “Don’t be afraid to leave space” - Don’t write extra words for the sake of filling space in the song
• “Don’t be afraid of judgment and don’t be afraid to do your own thing” - There is no right answer when it comes to music

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If you’d like to listen to the full interview, check it out below!

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