Kenya Grace struck a chord with her song Strangers. The song, which describes how everyone is treated as interchangeable on dating apps, became a global hit. The British singer herself never expected success.
“Dat is voor mij bijna niet te bevatten”, verzucht Grace als ze hoort dat Strangers al acht weken bij de bovenste vijf van de Nederlandse top 40 bivakkeert. “Het dringt nog steeds niet helemaal door wat er allemaal gebeurt. Dat het nummer zoveel mensen heeft geraakt, is echt bijzonder.”
De in Zuid-Afrika geboren Britse artiest liep al een tijdje rond met het idee een nummer te maken over relaties in tijden van datingapps. “Hoe je heel close met iemand kunt zijn en het volgende moment helemaal geen contact meer hebt. Dat is zo normaal geworden, maar dat is het eigenlijk helemaal niet.”
De 25-jarige Grace putte uit eigen ervaring en die van de mensen om haar heen. “Je ziet gebeuren hoe makkelijk mensen elkaar ghosten (het van het ene op het andere moment niet meer reageren op berichten en uit iemands leven verdwijnen, red.). Dat is veel makkelijker als je iemand via een datingapp kent dan als je bijvoorbeeld met een vriend van vrienden gaat daten. Dan verdwijn je niet zomaar. Het is een product van de tijd waar we in leven.”
Kenya Grace – Strangers
Grace made Strangers from scratch in her bedroom
No successful producer was involved in Grace’s success. The singer wrote and produced the song herself in her bedroom. When she shared a clip on social media, things moved quickly.
“People started making their own videos with the song and the numbers went up on TikTok and Instagram Reels. When the song hit Spotify, I was hoping to hit a million streams in two weeks, but I did it in less than a day.”
The counter is now in front of us Strangers Over 330 million streams. successor Just in my mind He has 11 million after just under two months. Grace herself tries not to pay too much attention to the numbers. “It’s not good for me. I try to be as free as possible creatively and I want to focus on that.”
“My musical style was influenced by coming out.”
Grace grew up creative at home: her mother is a visual artist. “It gave me a lot of space to discover and develop this side of myself.” This is how the singer started with musical theater at school. “I loved it, but it’s very different from what I do now,” she says with a laugh.
In this she refers to the fact that her music is now heavily influenced by electronic movements such as drum and bass. How did she get there? “Getting out. It was very exciting to discover completely new types of music. I went to illegal concerts when I was too young for that,” she says with a smile. “You’re really a sponge at that age, you absorb everything. Those experiences shaped me musically.”
I had to learn production in order to express the way I wanted my music to sound.
While studying at the British Academy of Contemporary Music, Grace worked overtime to perfect the production of this sound. “I was already singing with other producers at the time, but I couldn’t really articulate the way I wanted something to sound, so I had to learn how it worked,” she says.
“I started messing around on my own after my classes. When I was working with others, I would ask questions about everything in the process. I have worked a lot to become better over the past two years.”
This does not mean that the singer always wants to do everything herself. “I would love to do something with Flume (successful Australian producer, editor). And if I could think big: Maybe it won’t happen, but a song with Lana Del Rey would be a dream.”
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