21-year old, Kayden just released his sophomore album today. I chatted with him about his past, what the new project means to him and his hopes for the future.

When I called him up, he was in his home studio in California working on some new tracks. This shows a glimpse of what a motivated individual he is. Even with his new album out, he is constantly in the studio creating. From what I can tell, there is nothing getting in the way of Kayden becoming the next sensation in indie pop music.

Kayden had grown up singing, but he first discovered his talent of songwriting and creating music when he was about 13 years old. At this time, he was really into hard core metal. “That was the stuff I was singing and then I learned guitar and the drums off of that.” He was in a band that played this kind of music, during which time he played his first show to a crowd of people.

He was the singer in the band and co-wrote all the songs. He knew how to play each instrument, so he would help make the parts for them. In a creative aspect, he was a big part of the group. This idea of creating kind of sparked his drive to make music because he knew he could come up with creative ideas and transfer them into songs.

“My genre is still moving and still is on its path. It changes and it fluctuates”.

Once he started to listen to different types of music, there was more potential for his sound to grow.

“I don’t try to make music that sounds like one genre. I kind of make whatever makes me feel good. I create music that represents me and my experiences.”

At 14 years old, he first started making/producing music. He would work on his own and taught himself how to use DAWs. Even though he has been producing music since this young age, he wasn’t confident to release anything until about a year ago.

“I’ve been trying to master my craft a little bit more so that when I did put something out that it was worth people listening to. I learned how to work all my equipment by watching Youtube videos.”

Kayden describes his first album, Forever, as him discovering his artistry. It was kind of like his ‘rough draft’, and the new music is more refined. For a project that he sees as this, it has been gaining some popularity. Especially the song, Better which caught the attention of Jeremy Zucker.

He was surprised that Zucker had even heard it, but says it was kind of cool since he wasn’t thinking about people sharing his music and relating to it at the time he released the album.

“I was like ‘Oh, this song is about my certain relationship I had and what I learned from it and people really gravitated toward it, so it’s super cool.”

The main difference he says between the two albums is that Forever was setting the foundation of where he was going.

“Moments is more directed on what it’s about and the production is a lot better. I haven’t left my room. I’ve been just learning. The production when you hear it is 100 times better”

Kayden told me about his recent trip to LA, where he got to meet and work with Zucker.

“He’s a genius as a person and an artist. I feel like I still had some things to offer but he was also pretty set on what he was doing. It was honestly the greatest experience of my life. I would have paid  any amount to do what I did and I didn’t have to pay for anything. So my manger is amazing and anyone on that team is amazing. I look forward to working with him like actually collaborating or something like that. That would be cool and just having the honor of sitting in the room, using his laptop, recording his vocals. It was great.”

Another influence he looks up to is Jon Bellion. Kayden loved the sound of his music and was intrigued to find out what software he used and how he created his songs, even before he knew how to use anything himself. It seemed so far away to him that he could create music like that in the future.

He also is a fan of Jake Miller and more pop sounding music instead of darker sounding/more emotional songs. He likes to listen to music that emphasizes the good times. Eden and Bazzi are some artists he has been into lately.

Kayden would love to be touring in the future, but for now he is just going to “ride the wave of Moments and hope that people really resonate with it and that it hits people hard”. It’s an album for people to get to know him better.

I can definitely hear a more refined Kayden in this new project. With crisp vocals and catchy hooks, it’s hard not to dance to some of these tracks (Try listening to Something). There is such variety with the sound too. You can tell it’s the same him in each song, but he really pushes his sound in different directions. It’s hard to pinpoint one genre, which is something Kayden emphasized to me. It is music that will make you feel good inside, and boy does it do just that. Take a listen and you will hear what I mean.

Here’s what Kayden wanted to leave his listeners and fans with:

“Nothing, no matter how far away or impossible it seems or what connections you feel like you don’t have, as long as you are super passionate about what you are doing and that you are putting in the effort and the time, those things that you thought were impossible will come. They will be present. Don’t give up if you are interested in it.”

“That was me recently and everything came into place and everything is falling into place. So if it can happen to me living in a city with 200 miles of dirt either way, in the middle of the desert, then you can do it.”