"Although I didn't write this song, it spoke to me in a way that made me feel as if it was my own story,” Brandon said. “I found myself playing it over and over again in my bedroom, remembering situations that I've been through.”
Check out the video for yourself below.
In her debut, "Poof," she sings about broken romance while trying to reclaim her power with the chorus, “I can make your world go poof.” Listeners can sense the tension between feelings of loss and heightened personal redemption. She’s a femme fatale; a seductress who will bring disaster' a “poof” to a man who is involved with her.
Yet, her vocals admit that while she was with her lover, like most, she felt pain. She sings, “I suck your dick and support your dream.” The words might be hard to admit for any ex, but Kemme makes the phrase an anthem. She’s honest about the role a woman falling in and out of love has to portray. With an education in film studies, Kemme is deeply inspired by cinematic music and female film archetypes.
She’s honest that while she has her own touch of darkness and smugness, she experiences hurt. With her music, she pulls us into uncomfortable and intimate places. Kemme and I sat down to discuss vulnerability, being a femme fatale and her up and coming EP.
Tell me more about how you came to be making music.
Songwriting has always been a part of my life, but for a while, it was solely personal. It was really a circumstance of being in the thick of college where I was studying how to transcend and translate experience through music and film, and also having gone through a nasty breakup that I felt compelled to make sense and purpose out of the emotional poison inside of me.
Which particular female film characters do you reference in your work?
Holli Would from Cool World has been a huge part of putting together my first EP, My First Great Movie. She’s a tragic figure whose role is entirely dictated by the men around her. Her world lives somewhere between fantasy and reality, letting love and greed push her to ultimately realize herself. That’s Kemme in this EP.
Is Kemme a heroine or more of a femme fatale?
Definitely femme fatale: you will never hear me produce a song that doesn’t have at least a touch of darkness.
The music industry lives within entertainment. Do you feel like growing up around this industry can discourage authenticity?
I honestly don’t think there’s anything too inauthentic about the entertainment industry. I think my proximity to it has really only informed me in terms of my resources and learning what sells. But there’s something really special about writing music, for example, that appeals to the masses. There’s a great deal of authenticity when it comes to doing what sells, because that’s what (a lot of) people genuinely want. It’s a whole lot harder to make a song that 100 million people all love that has nothing to do with anything than to make a song that is honest and personal. I think there’s a lot more honesty in how people consume versus how they create.
Being vulnerable can feel tired in concept. How do you remain vulnerable without being cliché?
I just don’t think there’s any way to be vulnerable or candid and also be cliché. Being vulnerable may seem tired in concept, but every person has a different story to tell. So, as long as people are vulnerable, culture will keep progressing. Cliché and vulnerability lie at opposite ends of the spectrum of whatever the fuck I’m talking about—I’m already lost.
Your EP is set to be released by the end of this year. How does this work differ from your debut? Where can we see similarities?
The two pieces I’ve already released, “Poof” and “Too Deep,” are really just an introduction to the rest of the EP. As the EP follows different hyperbolized stages of heartache, each of the songs feel pretty fucking different. But it’s just one story about all these different roles women are prompted to fulfill when toxic men enter their lives. So to anyone with similar experiences, the tracks all feel pretty familiar, even when they may sound totally different. There’s a lot of sadness, anger and loneliness ahead.
How’s New York been?
It's been nice. I was literally only meant to be here for like three days for our sistah Ibrahim Kamara's “Soft Criminal" show, but a lost phone and passport has kept me here for some extra time. It's been nice continuing the spiral out here. New York is definitely New York! I'm lucky though, I have some very beloved friends here so I'm safe and smiling.
Who or what are you listening to and watching at the moment?
It's kinda funny, but I'm listening to Mariah and Ariana live at the moment. In with the old, in with the new! I do the live performance of Mariah "Make It Happen" at Madison Square Garden in the morning for good vibes. That song actually makes me feel like it is possible. Then throughout the day, I'm listening to Ariana's new BBC live lounge. I do "No Tears Left to Cry," which of course helps ease stress and stuff. It's such a nice melody, and the lyrics, ‘Right now I'm in a state of mind I want to be in, like, all the time.’ I also do "God is a Woman,” because yes, I definitely believe that he is a she!
How would you describe the place that London nightlife is in at the moment?
I'm so in love with London’s nightlife at the moment. There's actually a community around us, like a real one. Without trying to sound too flash, somehow we've managed to build something I'm really happy to have and be a part of. It's not the easiest to define and I guess quite easy to overlook, but there's a rhythm to it, it works, for us, and there's real love and support and experiences and pain and passion, you know? I think that's really good to see because London, although it isn't the worst, it also isn't the easiest city to find your tribe in. So, it's fab if you do!
Can you talk me through your creative processes? Are you trying to get at something similar when making a mix, preparing a set or beat, writing a song—or do you think about, and approach, them differently?
I don't really have a routine when it comes to creating anything—it's always kind of different. I'm just trying to get to some type of mood or feeling. That's probably super generic to say but there's always a mood that kind of drives it—something I'm feeling, something I want people to feel, something I'm trying to say. Maybe there are a few things that help bring me to the type of results I get, for example, poor time management, deadline pressures, how much I'm into the thing, those kinds of things.
How would you describe your personal style at the moment? How has it changed?
At the moment, I'm trying out lots of different things, which isn't new. But now, I just like to feel and look as feminine as possible. Before, I'd do more mix-y, androgynous looks, but now, I really just want to be feminine and girly—which isn't as easy as it sounds. I'm realizing that even some of the things that I think are most feminine I can't quite do yet without any body—it's definitely a working progress type thing.
Who are the girls you are looking at for style?
All my girls I look at for style! The girls are fab! Everyone dresses so good, so sincerely. I love that whenever we get together there's always like a 5-minute introductory outfit compliment session. I really live! Then, I've always had a thing for secondary school girls I see around town—that sheer stank confidence, on the back of the bus or storming through the hair shops after school—it makes me shiver, literally. Also, Toni, Joan's best friend in Girlfriends, was my screen saver before I lost my phone. And if we're talking feminine feminine?! The Dolce girl circa 1998-2003/4.
Could you describe your process of getting ready?
I have to clean my body, clean my face—make sure all the man hairs are gone. Then I beat up using Fenty Beauty, of course, throw a look on, a little bit of mirror time, then it's time to pump.
What does ‘beauty’ mean to you?
I guess, to me, true beauty means self-acceptance; it means self awareness; it means a level of respect and support you give to yourself. It's a knowing of who you are and being okay with it.
Are Larry B and Ms. Carrie Stacks different in any significant way, or is it just an outward difference?
Not really, I think we both believe in the same things, but maybe Carrie is more about her money than Larry is.
How do you define identity and how does that manifest in your creative processes or output? What does it mean to you to come into being?
Identity, to me, is who you are—the fabric or the strands that make up a person. I guess this helps me somewhat keep a few of the negative thoughts in my head at bay. The ones that say, ‘No no no, no you can't, it's not for you, it's been done’—all these kind of thoughts. I can dissolve them with the fact that I'm me, and whatever I do is me, and it will be fine if I do whatever it is I want to do, instead of letting time pass without doing it. It's like an inner freedom—that goes for everyone.
In the last few years, there’s been a lot of art in London that’s redefining what an African identity is—beyond blackness even—but what it means to be African and live freely. Do you think about that ever?
Yes, of course. I think it's great. The more the merrier—the wilder the freer! Our ancestors were creative and free before we knew it, it's only right that finally now we can get back to that and go even beyond.
What’s community to you?
AQEM!!!
