Rising Music Star Kaylee Patterson On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Music Industry

An Interview With Edward Sylvan

Not everything you do has to be perfect. You just need to do it. When I first started, I would sit down for hours, trying to brainstorm content ideas for TikTok, or spending hours trying to perfect a song. But the truth is nothing you create will ever be perfect, and that’s because perfection is not the goal. Life is messy, and everything you do will inevitably be rough around the edges. If you wait until things are perfect, you will be waiting for the rest of your life.

As a part of our series about rising music stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kaylee Patterson.

Elegant, quirky, and impossible to ignore — welcome to the eclectic world of Kaylee Patterson, an immensely talented singer-songwriter from Montreal, Canada. Kaylee can usually be found jamming out on TikTok sharing her wildly unpopular opinions and rocking her ukulele. Her sound is truly one of a kind, infusing pop with folk elements. Kaylee has an incredibly infectious personality, and her music is just mainstream enough to be fed to the masses whilst still maintaining a raw authenticity that allows fans to connect with her on a deeper level than just enjoying the music.

Kaylee released her debut single in the summer of 2020, which has amassed close to 50K streams on Spotify. She has since worked closely alongside producer Jay Century (Kaskade, Duckwrth, Starley) to craft her debut Forever Would’ve Sucked EP, officially out now.

At its core, the EP is about heartbreak — but it’s also about finding yourself through your pain. Being alone is much more fulfilling than being with the wrong person. New single, “Pinky Promise,” is an overwhelmingly bittersweet story about love, heartbreak, and how some things should simply not last forever.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was born in Montreal, Quebec to an Egyptian mother and a Scottish father. I didn’t have the easiest childhood because of my mixed identity. I used to get bullied a lot at school because of the prejudices people held against the Middle East. I spent most of my formative years falling in and out of depression, and everything feels like a blur. My fondest memories of my family and my childhood are centered around music. I remember dancing around to Leonard Cohen’s discography with my dad, and my mom would always tell us to turn it off because she hated his voice. When I was 12, my brother and I sang along to Pink Floyd in the catacombs of Paris because we were both terrified. My mom used to blast ABBA in the car when she would pick me up from school. Even my sister used to play Rock Band with me when it first came out on the Playstation 2. Maybe I always knew, deep down, that life would lead me to music.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I got my first karaoke machine when I was eight years old. The first CD that I was given was Taylor Swift’s debut album. Before I even knew what heartbreak was, I was screaming the words “Teardrops on My Guitar” in my bedroom. Sometimes, my parents would sing with each other, and I always thought that was the ultimate form of love. When they would fight and it felt like the world was falling under my feet, I would put on my headphones and forget about everything. I was only 11 years old when I went to my first concert. We were in the nosebleeds for The Jonas Brothers, and it was at that moment that I started having this extreme sense of longing every time I looked at a stage like I knew that I belonged there.

I never really thought a music career was in the cards for me. People always tell you that the music industry is unattainable, that people rarely ever make it. And to a certain extent, I still believe that’s true. So, I made the decision that I wanted a traditional career instead. I put myself through school and had a Public Relations internship at a great firm lined up for the summer of 2020. When COVID-19 hit, their internship program got canceled, leaving me with nothing to do during the summer. I was bored, and I had all these songs that I had written over the years, so I decided to get some of them produced. Next thing you know, I’m signed to a record label, and the rest is history!

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

About a week ago, I discovered that there’s a whole community of middle-aged women in Asian countries that are line dancing to my song Pinky Promise. I’ve found about nine videos on YouTube so far, along with a step sheet on the internet. There was even a Facebook group where some women were talking about how they’ve taught this dance in actual classes. I compiled a spreadsheet, and I’m adding new videos to it every single day. It was a very surreal experience because I had never really pictured my music being line danced to, all the way on the other side of the world.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I never had any professional musical training growing up. I learned everything very organically, either through YouTube videos or by trial and error. None of that, however, prepared me for a recording studio. My producer, Jay Century, had to teach me how to use a metronome and stay on time with my songs. I was a musician who didn’t know how to use a metronome. My imposter syndrome was at an all-time high and I felt like I was just faking it for a bit. But now, it’s such a funny mistake to look back on. I think that sometimes, you need to be thrown into the deep end to learn some of these lessons, and I’m ultimately a way better musician for it.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’ve been back in creative mode for a little while now, writing songs every other night. In a perfect world, I would already be back in the studio to start on a second project but there have been a couple of setbacks that I’ve been trying to overcome. I’m just trying to figure everything out right now, day by day.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

When I was growing up, I never saw anybody that looked like me in popular media. I remember spending my nights watching movies and shows with my family, wishing I could be more like the girls that I saw on my TV screen. I looked up to girls like Hannah Montana, but I was devastated to find out that I could never be them. Even though my name is Kaylee Patterson, I have always been too Egyptian. I used to be ashamed of my ethnicity for a long time because I never saw anybody who looked like me. When my mom would speak Arabic to us in public, I would feel so embarrassed. I pushed away my identity, and I’d like to think that wouldn’t have happened if I had seen myself on my TV screen. I know how the lack of diversity in media affected me, personally, but I recognize that I do speak from a place of privilege as I am mixed. No little girl should ever have to grow up hating the fact that she will never be the person she sees on TV, and while we’ve been on the right track in increasing diversity, there’s still a long way to go.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. The goal isn’t to become famous and gain lots of social media followers. These things are simply not as important to me as I originally thought they would be. And honestly, maybe that is the goal for some people. Building a strong and meaningful connection with the fans you have is way more important and fulfilling than having millions of them.
2. There is no instruction manual to the music industry, and by extension, to life. I used to think that everybody knew what they were doing, but that’s not true. A lot of people are just winging it and seeing what sticks. When I first started, I was dealing with imposter syndrome and to a certain extent, I still do. But I know that I belong here, in this industry, just as much as anyone else, and we’re all just trying to figure it out as we go.
3. You can’t compare yourself to others. I still get jealous when I see people that have reached the benchmarks that I’ve been dying to reach. A few people I know made it onto New Music Friday Canada, and it was so discouraging for me because that was the one playlist that I wanted to get on. A couple of months later, my song Pinky Promise was added to it on release day! People move at different speeds, and your trajectory won’t align with the people you see on social media, and that’s still valid. The only person that you should be comparing yourself to, is yourself.
4. Not everything you do has to be perfect. You just need to do it. When I first started, I would sit down for hours, trying to brainstorm content ideas for TikTok, or spending hours trying to perfect a song. But the truth is nothing you create will ever be perfect, and that’s because perfection is not the goal. Life is messy, and everything you do will inevitably be rough around the edges. If you wait until things are perfect, you will be waiting for the rest of your life.
5. Failure is not the worst thing that can happen to you. I’ve learned more from every single failure than all my successes combined. I’m a better musician because I keep failing. For example, I would not be as good of a songwriter if I was a one-hit-wonder or overnight success. I would not know determination if I didn’t know the struggle. I welcome failure with open arms, now.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Taking breaks is crucial. For the longest time, I thought that my productivity determined my worth. When I wasn’t working, I would always feel extremely guilty. But after producing my debut EP “Forever Would’ve Sucked”, I knew that if I tried to write one more song, I would burn out. I decided to take a 6-month break from songwriting and now I’m writing some of my best songs! It took me a while, but I’ve learned that putting yourself first is more important than any possible success that you might stand to gain.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’d like to start a foundation for borderline personality disorder. There aren’t that many in Canada, and there’s so much work that needs to be done. Awareness is lacking, and the narrative that is surrounded by cluster B personality disorders is… not very productive, or reassuring. I know I can’t change the world. But I’d like to help my disease become less stigmatized by raising money for research, funding training programs for mental health professionals, and just helping open the doors for people to get treatment.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My mom is my biggest support system, and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without her. She’s never once given up on me, even though she’s had more than enough reasons to. I’ve been struggling with mental illness for the better part of ten years now, and she’s genuinely been my rock through all of that.

Whenever I write a song, she’s always the first one that hears it, too. I send her videos over WhatsApp of me just playing my new song on the ukulele. She’ll provide feedback, and even give me suggestions on what to change. Most of the time, she’ll just say “I love it!” and that’s enough for me. She even came to my first music video shoot because we needed a car, and I hadn’t renewed my license at the time. She stayed with me the whole day and brought a cooler full of drinks for the crew.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Things happen because there is no other way for them to happen.”

I first heard this from my therapist last year. I used to live with a lot of regrets. I would go to bed at night, plagued with this crushing guilt. I always felt like I could’ve done things another way. But in hindsight, if I could’ve done things a different way, I would’ve. There are circumstances in our lives that prevent us from making different decisions, and it took me a long time to realize that. For example, if I hadn’t stayed in an emotionally abusive relationship for six years, maybe I wouldn’t have started writing songs in the first place. If I hadn’t faced a long battle with mental illness, I wouldn’t appreciate being happy, as much as I do now. Maybe the truth is that free will isn’t all that free. Either way, it helped me to release some of the regrets that I was holding on to, and I feel much lighter because of it.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Without a doubt, Taylor Swift. She’s been a huge staple in my life since I was a child. I aspire to be half as good of a songwriter as she is one day. I’m constantly inspired by her strength, and how much she genuinely seems to care about her fans. I even came out as bisexual by using her song “Wildest Dreams” in a TikTok! I think I would probably pass away instantly if she even knew I existed, let alone if she had breakfast with me.

How can our readers follow you online?

My main platform is TikTok, where you can find me at @kayleethekoala. I’m also on Instagram @kayleepattersonmusic and Twitter @kayleepatts. You can also listen to my music by searching for Kaylee Patterson on your desired streaming platform.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!