Interview: Katy J Pearson | LOUD Magazine
Posted on: 27 Apr 2020This article was first published in the second edition of LOUD Magazine, 365Bristol's dedicated music publication.
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Katy J Pearson
Things haven’t always looked so rosy for West Country songwriter Katy J Pearson, but with a new-found creative control, she’s thriving
Katy J Pearson's music will wash your worries away. A delicious melange of country, pop, indie and folk, it's sound that feels effortless - like silk on the eardrum. Alluring in its warm, mature optimism; Katy's small but impressive discovery boasts earnest lyricism, velvety vocals and irresistible pop hooks - tinged with a soft country edge. If the Spring ever needed a soundtrack, it'd better call Katy.
That in mind, it's not surprising to learn Katy’s signed to Heavenly Records, or that she will support New Jersey’s Pinegrove on their upcoming UK tour. As well as that, Katy’s just a few months away from the release of her debut album. Indeed, as her manager swanks over text: “it’s all go in KJP world.”
"I love Bristol so much. If I hadn't moved here, I don't think any of this would have worked out."
Katy J Pearson
But things haven't always looked so rosy for the West Country songwriter. It's no secret, of course: the Heavenly website talks openly of her past dealings - "writing songs for men in suits." They're referring to Katy's former music project, Ardyn: a sparkly indie-pop duo formed with her brother Rob. The pair were signed just after Katy finished college. “So, Ardyn turned out not to be the experience you had hoped for, then?” I hedge.
"Oh, yeah. I wouldn't sugar-coat it," Katy responds candidly, adding: "it wasn't negative - there were a lot of positives to it. I learned so much. So, although it was quite a bad experience at points, it definitely gave me the experience I needed to pick myself back up and go: let's do this again." Katy exhibits extraordinary resilience, and later, acknowledges it could've been "quite easy" to have thrown in the towel.
So, what really happened with Ardyn? After all, Katy and Rob celebrated getting dropped from their label like Nicole Kidman divorcing Tom Cruise; with utter joy – (and unlike Kidman, with a curry.) Later on, when I ask Katy whether she’d had any 'fuck this' moments with Ardyn, she recalls an infamous co-writing session. Katy recounts being censored by a co-writer, who, under the direction of her management, had been told to "shut down" Katy if she tried to write "anything leftfield."
"You know, it's just crazy that you get put in a room as a 19-year old girl, and someone says: you and this man are going to write a song together, and it's going to be a success," Katy says, explaining the co-writing process (I, for one, wasn't familiar). Sometimes, and rather uncomfortably, Katy says, co-writers would also prey on her personal life: an attempt to use negative experience as lyrical inspiration. The result? Tracks about things rather artificial and impersonal - like "nature" and "the trees."
"We just wrote so much shit," Katy laughs. "When I'm with my friends, I sometimes show them little snippets of the songs I wrote and I'm like: I can't believe I wrote these! Just because they weren't me."
Throughout the interview, Katy is utterly infectious; she's chatty, candid and giggly. It's an optimism that infects not only her sound but her outlook on Ardyn. It's an experience for which, Katy stresses, she is extremely grateful. Katy would even recommend co-writing to young musicians but advises setting boundaries. "It was weird, and it was crazy, but I think getting thrown in at the deep end was the best thing, really. I would never want to take it for granted," Katy adds, "because I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to do it in the first place - it's something that people dream of."
After Ardyn, Katy used the contacts and experience she'd gained to start from scratch. She soon got to work, creating new music in her and Rob's studio at The Island. A firm middle finger to songs about leaves, Katy is now much more "self-conscious" when it comes to writing; prioritising her opinion rather than that of others.
Armed with a new-found creative control and her Heavenly Records' "family", Katy's authenticity has taken centre stage, allowing her to create tracks like 'Hey You.' A wholehearted ode to a friend struggling with depression, 'Hey You' was written, Katy says, with a Nylon string purchased on a family holiday to Totnes. The song, released in January, arrived complete with a stunning, self-directed video, filmed in the mythical North Wales tourist village, Portmeirion.
"People have said so much more about the videos I'm making now than my old stuff because they're properly me," Katy says. Filmed during Storm Brendan ("you know that bit where it's zoomed in on our faces? All of our lips look really blue. We were so cold!"), the video features Bristol band Grandma's House, alongside Rob, with whom Katy continues to collaborate religiously. It's also mentioned that Rob is "starting to mix and produce," and Katy says that she "keeps encouraging" her brother to pursue a music project of his own: "I just think he's so talented,” she enthuses.
Katy moved to Bristol from Stroud in October 2017: "I'm not leaving. I love Bristol so much. If I hadn't moved here," she adds. "I don't think any of this would have worked out." After all, it's here that Katy met her first band, alongside her producer Ali Chant. Chant was responsible for sending Katy's tracks over to Heavenly, despite Katy feeling like the label "probably wouldn't like them," thinking they'd be "too middle of the road."
It all brings us here: just months before the release of Katy's debut album. "I'm releasing it just before End of the Road," Katy says, exuding excitement. "I just know I'm going to go on the biggest bender of my life-" we break into laughter. "You won't see me for a week!”
This is more than any old album release, though. For Katy, it's total catharsis - a new beginning. Some songs on the album, Katy explains, were written while she was in Ardyn. And though her former label didn't like them, she still had to fight to win them back. "I'm so excited to release this piece of work because I'm excited to move on and see what I write next," she says, grinning. "I've been holding onto these songs for such a long time. There's just so much more to come."
Agreed: it really is “all go" in KJP world. But what is Katy most excited about? A festival? The release? No, it's much simpler than that: "I think it's just starting a new chapter, really. I think I feel so calm and so ready for everything. I've had to work hard, but it feels like everything's going at the right pace - and there's been no drama. So," she chuckles, "I'm very happy."
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