Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaja Nelson.
Kaja, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Growing up with a learning disability dismantled my confidence. When I moved out to LA in my late teens, I came without a sense of purpose or a clue what I was capable of. I was working at a pub in Santa Monica and my coworker was the first person to ever tell me I had something to offer in music, aside from my mom. She gave me so much support and the confidence to sing at local bars with singer/ songwriter Robbie Burrell. A few years later, manager Ryan Boehler got excited about me as an artist and started booking me for shows all over LA and NY which was terrifying but thrilling. With him and songwriter/director Vincent Bowman I produced my first single and music video for Baby’s Alright, inspired by the death of father three years prior.
My dad is really the reason I do anything that I do. It’s so important to me that I make him proud. There were a couple of different people in my life who’s negativity started to bring back those old feelings of self-loathing which unfortunately led me to step away from music for about two years. I tried to say “fuck you, I’ll show you!” but self-doubt is a biiiitch and in reality it’s taken me the last couple of years to realize that music feeds me and it’s something I can’t live without. Now I’m dead set on getting back in the studio and making an album.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I started off making electronic music but I’m really inspired by music that is more influenced by jazz but with a modern twist. So right now, I’m really interested in combining a sexy jazz-funk with a trappy beat.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Of course I wish I’d kept with it and not let my lack of confidence take me away from doing what I love but I try not to regret things in life. I really like where I’m at and who I am and I wouldn’t be that if I changed the past. So I don’t think I would change anything. It’s all a learning experience and for me lessons are being learned every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIOn3buk42YGcfPmo-cqeig
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/kajanelson
Image Credit:
Erik Reid, David J. Crewe, Stina-Lisa Nelson, Chloe Aftel
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