[@joshkyemusic] is The Phoenix Rising Out of The Ashes of UK R&B

WORDS BY: Bethel Haimanot

Joshua Kye is a phoenix in the RnB scene held back only by his own limitations. Driven is a lonely word to describe an artist who has overcome a series of misfortunate events in a short space of time. After recovering from a throat infection gone bad, Josh Kye returns to the stage with a stronger, healthier voice and new skill under his belt. Unable to write and sing in his convalescent period, he spent a week learning to play the guitar before landing his first gig as a guitarist. Like most performing artists, affected by the restrictive nature of the COVID-19 quarantine period, Josh went on to complete his Master’s Degree in Songwriting at ICMP. 

Being the gift that keeps on giving, he continues to curate the Josh Kye and Friends events for his fans to experience his growth. It’s that conviction that has landed him international opportunities, making samples for artists in the US. While he is unable to divulge specifics at this point, it is remarkable to see that his work extends beyond the UK.

His latest track, Reasons To Love, with an innovative implementation of hook placement makes for a moving piece of live art. This London-based Ugandan artist demonstrates his willingness to experiment with his sound to serve us songs with a seamless narrative. 

The Indie Soul sound, his current project, makes no apologies for intending to make a mark. Bringing his producer and right-hand man, Natty, into the mix, it’s clear Josh is set on “making the rules” as he crafts a sound that will “shift the genre globally.”

He tells GUAP “I’ve got good people around me that give me different stuff to work with, and I’m very driven.” Josh found his style by collaborating with a variety of artists, and his commitment to mastering lyricism and mastering his vocals has kept him on our radar. Josh tells us that he is “excited about what’s to come this year. It’s going to be like an introduction to who I am.”

When asked to describe his artistic nature in five words, Josh responded that he is “Fierce, Feeling, Vibe, Smooth, and Authentic… very authentic.”

You have described your sound to be laced with some real emotion. You’ve said it is Open, Soft and Cinematic. What does that mean and what is the influence behind that sound?

For me, that means I love my music and production style to be open, just so that it gives me room to express myself vocally. When there is a lot going on production-wise, I don’t really feel like I can express myself vocally. My voice has a soft smoothness to it, so having beats that are open allows me to hear what I’m saying. When I say cinematic, I really love to tell stories in my lyrics and in my productions. I am always thinking about how every section feels like it is going somewhere. When I see stuff in my head, it is very visual. In terms of my influences, I’d say D’Angelo and his style. I listened to his albums when I was a kid and those albums really changed my life. Not only his voice, but his musicality and how he would approach his falsettos and his writing style, I love everything about D’angelo’s style. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Bilal perform a few times here in London. The way he can translate and make you feel such crazy emotions from his voice is ridiculous. It gets me thinking when I’m doing my performance, about how I can draw from a true place and make people feel something. I love Lauren Hill because of how she approaches her writing. Her The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album was so refreshing and I don’t think there’s been an album like that. I love how she approaches different topics. I take on that same thing being a soulful R&B artist. Those are my biggest influences.

I want to know what your thoughts are on the current RnB scene in the UK

The current R&B scene is definitely growing. I know a lot of amazing artists around me, some that have coverage and some that don’t. Shaés Universe, she’s amazing, she’s done her thing with R&B, she’s incredible. It’s really good to see her crafting her sound. I have a friend called Lana, she’s incredible as well. She is an artist that has her own unique soulful approach with indie influences. The scene here is really growing and it’s in a good place. I think it would be nice for us to continue to have producers and artists link up over here. That’s the thing that is holding it back from breaking through. Making sure the collaboration here is strong will take us to the heights we need to go to. I’ve met so many amazing artists over here in the UK, but it’s just that having an amazing piece of art is different to having an amazing piece of recording music, which I’m learning from myself.

In what order would you rate producing, songwriting and singing, with the first being the most exciting thing to do and the last being the least exciting thing to do.

I love to write, I’d say that’s number one, then I’d put singing after. I love singing but I love to craft. I’d put producing last. At one point I’d say singing first but I’ve fallen with the whole songwriting process. It’s funny, during the pandemic I actually went to uni and did a masters in songwriting at ICMP. I was looking for something to do and one of my friends said to try a writing course. Once you learn how to craft a song, you can decide how you want to break the rules. I had more of an awakening in terms of writing and I went deeper into my own writing bag and my own style. 

I remember you weren’t singing for a little while because you were recovering from a horrible throat infection. How has that affected your voice?

My voice is definitely stronger. It’s weird but at the time I was very insecure about it because I felt like I was on the cust of a breakthrough at the time, but it had to be a part of my journey. I put so much emphasis on it that it left me in limbo. I was really low, my mood was low and I was depressed at the time, but I worked with amazing people. I worked with a voice trainer, a speech and language therapist and a few health professionals to remove the crazy inflammation in my throat. I’m at a place now where I can say my voice is way stronger than it was back then. Sometimes I do have my ups and downs. I have to be mindful and it is a part of my story. Before then I didn’t really feel like I had my voice as an artist and after I had so much to say that it went straight into the writing.

You used to be a hyper independent artist, but you now have a supportive team behind you, which is of course super important, but it’s also a privilege. What is your advice to other independent artists on how they can be mindful and resourceful with the talent that they have around them?

I would say collaboration is an amazing thing. I know it can be difficult as an independent artist because you have so much stuff to do by yourself. Connect with your friends and whatever you can’t do, maybe a friend can help. Perhaps a friend can help you send out emails to PR people. Perhaps one of your friends will be willing to bounce ideas off of you. Just really use the people behind you because it can be a lot when you think about all of the stuff you have to think about being an artist. I’d really encourage independent artists to really focus on the music and try to create, create, create. I’d also tell them to learn how to record themselves. That is such a big tool. Even if you can’t produce, learning how to record your own vocals and vocal producing for yourself is so empowering, especially if you need to work with anybody remotely. Just put yourself around other musicians and if you’re developing your craft the people that you need will come to you. 

You had the privilege of growing up with musically talented people. How much of your work and opportunities that you have now would you credit to the team that you have?

Yeah, I credit the people I have around me. Before I had the injury I was a part of a group and a lot of my good friends are from that group. To be honest, they really inspired me to take music seriously. I was always doing music. I grew up in church singing. My whole church was a very, very musical. My whole childhood from 5 years old, my great aunt was pushing me to sing in front of my church of five/six hundred people even when I didn’t want to. I’m really thankful for all of those experiences in the gospel realm. I grew up with some of my boys that play these instruments like drums, guitars and pian and I always played with them. They are some of the best musicians in the country. Seeing how they would dedicate themselves to their craft really inspired me to push myself to be the best vocalist and writer I can be. To be a great musician, you need others around you.

If you put yourself in the shoes of someone who hasn’t put anything out there yet, and they are starting from ground zero, what is the first step that you would take to putting yourself out there?

We’ve got Instagram and TikTok now so just start and maybe find some beats on YouTube that you like. Just start writing to the beats, making your own melodies and making your own songs to those beats. You may not have to use those beats but write every single day. If you play an instrument, even better because you can play and write with your instrument. I would encourage them to play everyday and maybe bounce ideas on social media. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. A lot of my opportunities have come because I’ve just put random videos up on YouTube, Instagram, even TikTok and then I’ve had someone hit me up and say, Oh, would you like to do this or do that?

You’ve performed at London Fashion Week, Brixton and of course, at Josh Kye and Friends events. What has been your most memorable performance so far?

I would say the Josh Kye events shows have been the most memorable. We’ve done three of them to date. They have been memorable because of how it started. At the time when myself and Nat had the idea, we had a Sofar Sound gig but I wanted to have a gig where I can see more people like me in the crowd that’s not at Sofar Sound. And I thought that Sofar Sound at the time was being so gatekeeped.

I was doing Sofar Sounds with other people and I was trying to get on my own set, my own Sofar Sounds, but it felt like I was getting nowhere. I wouldn’t be hearing from people so we decided to do our own thing. Nat had a grand piano at his house at the time and I think his parents were away at the time. So I put it on my Instagram and bare people started to hit me up. We decided to do it on Monday and we did it on a Friday. We found a really cool venue, some random space in Bermondsey. I put some tickets up on Eventbrite. It was crazy and it was lit. The whole warehouse was rammed. We had people coming in from other studios in the building to hear the music and it was such a surreal experience. From that moment I realised we can really, really do this. 

So it sounds like you didn’t realise what your fan base looked like until you decided to do your own thing and host a gig.  You had planted a seed on social media and then this whole thing kind of blew up.

Yeah and we just called it Josh Kye and Friends. A year later, we did the next one in a bigger space in Shoreditch and that was another sell out. I found the shows to be beautiful as well, because people really loved the whole experience coming in here being taken on a journey. We’re really pouring out some real energy and emotions and making people feel something. 

How has that elevated your brand as an independent artist?

It’s amazing to be able to sell out an event by myself with the small team that I have. Not many people know how to put on good live shows and sell out good live shows. I’m realising that. To be able to do your own thing is a beautiful thing. It made me look at my brand a bit more in-depth and think about where I want to take this. We are going to continue to grow this as I grow as an artist. I’d love for us to bring out emerging artists in the UK or wherever we are. It just really helps me find my style because a lot of stuff I’m writing I would put into my sets to see how people would respond to it, and I’d go back to the drawing board. I am developing a live sound which I am realising is important in this industry. 

What is your Indie Soul project about and what direction is it going in?

It’s just like an introduction to who I am. I’d say it’s funny because a lot of the stuff I’m doing all sounds quite different, so Indie Soul is just the starting place. It is a sound that myself and Nat have crafted. I’m really excited about this project. It’s going to bring something different and it can shift the genre globally. I don’t see why it can’t. It’s an introduction to me and what we do. We’re over here making the rules. 

You never know who’s reading this article, so is there an artist, songwriter or producer that you really want to work with?

I’m a producer as well. So I love scoring and making visuals. So there’s a guy called Ludwig that does some Donald Glover stuff. I really love how his brain thinks, so I’d love to work with him and create something amazing here in the UK. Progression is really good. He does some Tiana Major9 stuff. He makes some amazing songs so I’d love to get in with him. My GOAT is Pharell and I know I’m going to meet him. Him and Kanye are people I love to meet. There’s a certain level of energy and attention that it takes to get to where they are to be great. I’d love to do some stuff with Kendrick. His writing ability is out of this world, it’s next level.