An Interview with KÍTA

We had the chance to sit down with KÍTA, an Icelandic electronic pop musician. Learn more about her and her upcoming album in our exclusive interview.

Hey! Introduce yourself. Where are you from?

Hey, I’m KÍTA! Just moved back to Iceland from Berlin, Germany, where I lived since September last year.

I grew up in Iceland, Reykjavik, living with my mother in a very family friendly neighbourhood called Grafarvogur.

I’m an Audio Engineer and have been working with audio now since 2012. Mainly for TV. Broadcasting the news, mixing shows, boom operator and such. With small mixing projects in music on the side.

Music has always been my goal in life to work with in any way. Dream of course is to do my own music. But like I said, if I can make music for living, whether it’s for me or for someone else. I think I’ll be a very happy lady!

When did you start making music?

I’ve made music since I was little. I still have a book that I used to write in all my wonderfully horrible songs haha. But I guess that making music became more real as soon as I got my guitar and had an instrument I could combine with my melodies in my head. So that would have been around 2001.

Got my first recording software in 2005, Pro Tools and that’s when I started to record my music. My music was for years, me with a band and playing acoustic, blues, pop, groove. It wasn’t until I moved to Arizona, US to study Audio Engineering in 2012 where my interest in Electronic/pop and production arose.

Who inspired you to start making music?

As stated above, my interest in electronic music and making music with my laptop and such really arose in the US, especially after Random Access Memories by Daft Punk came out. Me and my friend went to the record store, bought the CD and drove around listening to the whole thing. After that CD, I knew I wanted to take another direction in music. So they had a huge impact on me. I was even lucky enough to get an invite to see Mick Guzauski’s lecture on how he recorded and mixed that album. LOVED IT. Wasn’t until 3-4 years later that I then discovered Ableton, which was a complete game changer for me and my music.

But if I go all the way back and answer who inspired me and pushed me into music. It would have to be my grandmother.

My grandmother owned a guitar and piano at her home. And I absolutely loved being there, surrounded by fascinating instruments that I so wanted to know how to play. So she taught me my first chords on the guitar and the first song I knew how to play on the guitar, which was an Icelandic old camping song. After that I was hooked and when I only knew 1 chord to begin with.. I was a complete nightmare. Imagine listening to the same chord for hours… So she knew she had to teach me more haha.

So my grandmother or as I call her “Hrönn Amma” definitely opened my eyes for the guitar… which made everything so much easier when it came to writing my music. There was no turning back after that.

How would you describe your music style?

I honestly don’t know my genre. I have had multiple people try and analyze it… but they can’t seem to and some say all kinds of mixed, genres… Maybe you can hear something once you take a listen.

It’s towards Electronic/Pop/Groove/Something… who knows!

I truly try to make sounds that are unique. So I use a lot of my own “Field Recordings” and manipulate those sounds. Being an Audio Engineer, “The Sound” is extremely important to me and I am VERY detailed oriented and a perfectionist when it comes to everything sounding the way I want it to. Which is why I’ve realized that I have to do my own mixing… Else I’m not happy. But I always send my tracks away for mastering, since I believe having fresh ears doing that final and crucial step is important. But then again… I’m very picky on who can master my songs… I’m difficult in those areas probably haha.

I also do not use pitch correction. That is also something I would like to see more of. I actually like the imperfection.

Emotion vice… I guess I like making people happy. Being real. No BS, and empowering women. I’ve always wanted to let other girls see that you can do it all yourself if you want to.

So my lyrics touch on being true to yourself, being real, that we are all the same and should all have equal opportunities in life. Love. Living life to its fullest, Respect.

And maybe 1 thing that other people find interesting in the way my song ideas come to me.

Because I get most of my ideas while driving. So I actually don’t listen to music in my car unless it’s extremely sunny or I have company. So I really like the silence and just let my mind go… and that’s when a lot of stuff pops up. And then I use my voice notes on my phone to capture whatever ideas I get. It can be lyrics, melodies, a bass line, a drum beat… you name it. 

Who are you listening to now?

John Mayer… always, Disclosure, Reggaeton mixes and Spanish music, Troyboi, 80’s and wow, just everything! just so much of a mixture for me.

What’s your best project or single so far?

I would have to say my upcoming album and single. Extremely excited to release it because I absolutely love it. It was hard work but finally I can showcase my music and the way I produce today.

Any upcoming releases from you to look out for?

My single “Things You Don’t Know” and my album.

Interested in more from the Icelandic artist? Listen to her first single, Mississippi, on SoundCloud.