Me.Kai is a singer/songwriter and guitarist, who began her career busking on Santa Barbara‘s streets covering an eclectic array of artists including Ella Fitzgerald and Dua Lipa, among others. Gradually transitioning from cover artist to solo artist, she became a staple in her hometown’s music scene, collaborating with Area 51, Everything’s Fine, and a number of up-and-coming producers, including Gold Man and Burko. As as solo artist, she has developed and honed a genre-blending style and sound that draws from Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks, and her love of bass heavy, indie electro pop.
Some of her songs have landed on Insomniac’s In/Rotation Label list, and several high-profile Spotify playlists. She has also had some of her work appear in the Netflix series All American. Building upon a growing profile, the Santa Barbara-based artist plans to be very busy: a number of collaborations with popular EDM producers and her debut EP are slated to on the horizon in the upcoming months.
Earlier this year, I wrote about “Bump in the Night,” an accessible and sultry bop built around Me.Kai’s coquettish, come hither delivery and a breezy bop, glinting guitars, wobbling tweeter and woofer rattling low end, dancehall-like riddims and twinkling synths. The song is full of carnal longing and desire and features a narrator, who boldly expresses that she has sexual needs and desires that need to be fulfilled — now.
Her latest single “Why It’s So” is a brooding bit of singer/songwriter synth pop featuring a sinuous bass line, skittering boom bap beats, atmospheric synths paired with Me.Kai’s plaintive vocal. While seemingly nodding at a synthesis of R&B and Dido, “Why It’s So” is rooted in lived-in personal experience.
“‘Why It’s So’ was a very personal project for me,” Me,Kai explains. “It follows the ups and downs of being in an abusive relationship with the love of my life, finally making it out safely.. and then the hardship that follows afterward, even knowing you made the right decision for yourself in the end. I hope this song can take people on an emotional journey through that process of persevering through love and hardship.”