Meet Kevin Atillo

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

Kevin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is K. Cero, but my friends and family call me Kevin. I’m from West Covina, California and I am an R&B artist.

I started writing and recording my own music around 2012. I never took music too serious before this, but I went through my first serious break up around that time, and it kind of gave me the push to write music on a more serious/personal level. It started off as something that was very therapeutic to me, and gradually became something that I fell in love with.

I do everything independently, no label, no manager. I’ve just been blessed, through music, to meet amazing people who believe in me and support me and have been willing to guide me and point me in the right directions. I record all my music on Garageband on a worn out USB mic, usually in my bedroom or sometimes in my car. I don’t really feel like I’ve reached where I need to be yet; I still feel like I have a lot left to give and to accomplish not just in music but to the world, but I am extremely thankful and aware of all the love and support the music I make receives. My story is only just beginning.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think with anything in life. Whether you’re pursuing music or anything you love, it will never be “smooth”. I definitely had struggles along the way while doing music. There’s been a lot of self-doubts, a lot of questioning myself as a person and as an artist, and even doubt from peers and people around me, which I’ve come to realize is a part of growth and a part of the process. For all the great things I’ve been able to experience and accomplish with music, whether it was charting on Billboard’s Top 50, or doing shows for 100-150 people and they were all singing my songs back to me, I’ve definitely experienced the other end of that. I’ve learned to take the good WITH the bad, the highs AND the lows. I struggled with that for a while, getting too high on the highest moments, and getting way too low when things seemed to have died down. I’m learning that it’s all a part of the journey, and all of it just makes for a great story when the time comes to tell it.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am an R&B artist and a songwriter. I write songs about love and about heartbreak. I make music about what it’s like to be a 20-something year old trying to date in this world. The streams I have on Spotify are always a cool thing to look at, but I think the thing I’m most proud of with my music is the impact I’ve had on the people who’ve listened.

Like, I’ve had a lot of messages and DM’s sent my way from people who tell me how much they resonate with the songs I’ve written, but there’s been a few that have really gotten to me. I once had a kid reach out to me and tell me that he went on a date with this girl he’d been extremely into and on their first date, he played some music and specifically played one of my songs for her. He told me that it was in that moment that he kissed this girl for the first time. I had another girl reach out to me once, and she told me that she had been going through some things in life and came across my song on Spotify one day and she told me that my song put her at ease, and calmed her down and that if it wasn’t for my song, she would have taken her life that day.

It’s just moments like that which really make me realize that streams and all this other stuff don’t really matter. At the end of the day, it’s about the impact you make on people’s lives. Its messages like that and stories like that from people who listen to my music that I feel like I’m proudest of. Knowing that I’m a part of someone’s daily soundtrack or the fact that my voice and my music can make someone’s day or someone’s week better is what really makes me proud to be an artist.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think the music industry is going to be very different in the next 5-10 years as compared to how it’s been for the last 20-30 years. I feel like in this age of the internet, music is so easily accessible and attainable, anybody with the passion and the mind for music can get their work out to the world. With websites like Soundcloud or Audiomack, artists are able to upload their work for free, and are able to be heard by thousands, even millions of users with a simple click. Spotify recently had a beta system that allowed artists to upload their music onto their streaming service without a publishing company, and I see that trend of major streaming services becoming more accessible to unsigned and independent artists.

I feel like, Music Labels will always play a role in the music world, however, I feel like with the growth of the internet, artists will be able to have more control and power when it comes to their own work and their own destiny, so to say. You see a lot of these big artists getting out of their contracts to go independent and completely own their work, and there is a major correlation with that shift and the growth of the internet. I’m excited to see how the music industry grows over these next few years, and hopefully I’m a major player in that world soon.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4OQLLKJVe50tsUMPi0moZT
• Email: For any inquiries or bookings, please conact kcerobookings@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k.cero
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCeroMusic
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kcero_

Image Credit:
Saul Barrera

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