Life & Work with Kevin Allen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Allen.

Hi Kevin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
If someone were to ask me what do I do for a living, I would probably say I am an opera singer or professional vocalist. I think that I took an interesting path in getting here, one that can definitely be described as non-conventional. I am originally from the South Side of Chicago and like many cities in the U.S. there was quite a bit of variance in both the amount of and quality of music education available between schools. I was introduced to classical music the summer before my freshman year of high school through one of Chicago’s most valuable nonprofit organizations, “After School Matters”. I had joined a choir for the first time despite my stage fright and my eyes were opened to this entirely new world that I had never experienced before. The choir I joined was called the Chinatown Youth Choir, and though we weren’t particularly amazing or anything, it was one of the most valuable experiences in my life. Joining that choir is what peaked my curiosity in choral music.

Choral music is important because it is the connecting piece in my story. It is the common denominator between the paths I’ve taken musically. As my freshman year of high school began, I joined every choir thing I could, and somehow I became involved in about 5-8 different ensembles at any given moment in time. It brought me so much joy to be able to find a passion that helped me so much on my own journey for joy and aided me in my mental health journey. It gave me a huge sense of purpose to want to help people with my music the way music helped me.

The thing that got me into solo performing was actually a mistake. It’s a fun little story. My high school got free solo classical voice lessons through an outreach program from Music of the Baroque. I did NOT sign up for lessons because I had intense stage fright. Somehow, somebody ended up dropping the lessons, and my choir teacher put me in them without my permission. One day he randomly said, “Kevin, it’s time for your lesson” and now I am here, HAHA.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have definitely been challenges. One of the biggest things when you’re doing something like music as a career is making sure you don’t lose sight of why you’re doing it, otherwise you’ll lose the joy in what you do. I had a period in time where I was just academically doing music, and I was very unhappy in what I was doing. It really took me remembering that music is something healing for me, and instead of ONLY using it to heal others, I should reincorporate that into my self-care so that I remember why I am doing this. I found an explicit purpose that keeps me passionate on this road: I feel the need to heal in front of people so that others know it is possible. Healing on the stage or through music and lyrics that I write gives people the space to detach their emotions from themselves and see them as separate entities. It becomes less daunting for them to process, and I love being able to help people in this way. I love that music has helped me in this way.

Another obstacle is daring to be seen. So often you hear people ask, “What’s your backup plan?” when you tell them you’re pursuing music. Most people wouldn’t ask a pre-law student what’s their backup plan despite how hard the BAR exam is. I am of the strong belief that every moment you spend making a backup plan is a moment you could be spending towards making your dreams come true, and that hasn’t failed me thus far.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a professional vocalist, composer, and songwriter. I am known online by the username @kevinallenbaritone on tiktok, YouTube, and Instagram, and I’m known for a few of my covers. I have performed professionally in the Los Angeles area as a singer for movie soundtracks and backup for some pretty well-known singers as well.

I have several career highlights like singing in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, singing in CREED III, singing backup for Hozier, singing backup for Pentatonix, singing on Scott Hoying’s “Mars” choir version, and singing in Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up”. I am really proud of those accomplishments in recent years, but I am most proud of my lyrics. So, I am very excited to be working on a debut album called “Letting Go” to get my lyrics into the world.

I think those lyrics are actually what set me apart as well. The Project “Letting Go” is a social commentary on the way we as a society deal with the romantic grieving process. The project aims to validate the non-linearity of grief while also inviting the listener to consider ways of processing feelings such as betrayal, despair, and even joy in ways that often don’t have the chance to be seen in the mainstream. “Letting Go” takes on a therapeutic approach to loss, taking the listener through different stages of grief with each song and allowing the space for contradictory feelings to be felt. From there on, the project takes listeners on a journey to realistic acceptance, focusing on our emotional existence within small moments of grief. My goal is to aid listeners in their own journey of healing through being able to attach their own meaning to songs on this project.

This fall, I’ll be releasing the first track of the album called “Another Universe”. As the very first track, the song sets up several themes of this project. This song, as well as the rest of the project, uses heavy themes of flowers and outer space. These metaphors are used to intrigue the audience with wordplay to inspire images one can paint within their mind. It also sets up the journey of the EP itself, as each chorus takes the listener towards the feeling of acceptance from the initial sadness and loss at the start of the song.

What makes you happy?
One of my simple joys in life is tea. I love love love tea; it makes me very happy. I like to get boba because there are so many variations of tea.

Besides that, one of my main sources of joy are the fun and the collaboration that comes from music and theater. That is because the interactions you make are priceless, and getting to hear people’s stories and how they incorporate it into their art is always so beautiful.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinallenbaritone/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kevinallenbaritone?si=ApQSI6hD9a0kQbC3
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinallenbaritone?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Image Credits
Solo Image in First Question & 3rd Image in Additional Photos: Siobhan Webb