We had a chat with Kina Grannis
- genevavalek
- Jul 8, 2014
- 3 min read
Kina Grannis is a 28-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist person who has the prettiest voice in the whole world. Six years ago one of her songs won a corn chip competition and had her song played at a really important American sports game. Other career highlights have been the TEDx talk she gave last year, her highly successful YouTube channel and a music video involving lots of jelly beans.
We sent her some questions and she was kind enough to answer them (her words are in italics).
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I’m so excited that Elements is out after waiting four years post Stairwells! I cannot stop listening to Dear River. Did you write the album with the name ‘Elements’ in mind, or did nature just become a running theme?
I didn't write the songs with any theme in mind, but I suppose it makes sense that it became a pretty prevalent theme in the songs because I wrote most of the songs while on writing retreats immersed in nature. I've always been very inspired by being outside and surrounded by trees.
I’m even more excited that you’ll be heading back to Australia next month. I saw you last time at the Opera House and you were incredible – what can we expect to see from your performance that we didn’t see last time, apart from the amazing new songs?
I'll be touring with a band for the first time! They're really incredible and add so much more depth to the show. I love playing with them.
You’re obviously not the only person in your family with musical talent – your sisters are both incredible singers as well. Can you tell me about the role music played in your family while you were growing up?
I feel like music was something that helped glue my family together. Our house was filled with instruments (that no one was particularly proficient at) but it allowed us the freedom to experiment with music and that's how I really got started. Singing was definitely a favorite pastime for all of us. My sisters and I loved working out harmonies and singing together whenever possible--generally while doing the dishes, cleaning bedrooms, going on road trips.
First you were the Doritos ad girl, then you were the jelly bean girl – can we look forward to more food related ventures? Alternatively, any more fun music videos in the works?
No more food related ventures at this point in time, but I'm definitely open to the idea! One of my goals is to create a music video for every song on the album, so there are definitely some fun videos in the works!
YouTube has obviously been a huge part of your musical career so far (it’s how I found out about you!), with almost 1 million subscribers on your channel where you post your original music as well as a bunch of awesome covers. What’s your favourite cover you’ve done so far and why?
Not sure that I have any one favorite, but definitely one of the most fun to make was "White Winter Hymnal", a Fleet Foxes cover I did with my sisters in Lake Tahoe.
Finally, if you had to pick an element to control, what would it be? Earth, wind, fire or water?
Water. Unless controlling earth meant I could summon all the animals and make them be my friends.
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And there you have it.
Catch Kina live (check out the show in our guide):
Interview by Maddy Abbott
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