Fresh Finds: An Interview with Kiki Kramer

Grace O’Hanlon

Kiki Kramer is a girl pop icon from California who is currently based in New York. You can stream her music on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, and Youtube. 

Photo: @definitely_not_yoli

Hi Kiki, to start I would love to hear a snapshot of your upbringing.

Kiki: Yeah sure. I was born in New York and moved to California when I was four. My dad got a job at Stanford so I spent most of my life on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. We moved to San Francisco when I was in high school. I went to a public arts school there, Ruth Asawa… it was awful. (laughing)

When did you start writing music? 

Kiki: I started writing music when I was 13. I used it for a school project and it actually ended up on an episode of Dance Moms. I was really embarrassed by it. Looking back, I could have utilized it to build my presence on social media, but instead I had my friend anonymously upload it to her youtube. 

Why were you embarrassed of your first song? 

Kiki: Well, it wasn’t very good. I didn’t want kids in my high school to hear it and associate me with it. 

What did you want to be before you pursued singing?

Kiki: I wanted to go into acting! I watched a lot of CW TV and I wanted to be on one of those shows. After high school, I went to NYU for it. 

Photo @definitely_not_yoli

How do you think your music changed from the first song you wrote at 13 to the music you created in college? 

Kiki: I wasn’t thinking when I wrote my first song. The Dance Moms song sounded like Katy Perry, but not as good. I met my manager through my uncle when I was 16. He told me to listen to Fiona Apple. So senior year of high school all of my stuff sounded like jazz pop. After that,  my music sounded like Olivia Rodrigo. Her sound is so prominent today, everyone is making rock pop to the point where it hurts my ears. In the summer of 2021 I started listening to Lana Del Rey. Her lyrics create a universe which I love. 

Do you want to create that world building for your own music? 

Kiki: Totally. The goal is to become an amalgamation of everything I listen to until I become something new. I think it’s really important to have a sonic branding that is unique yet accessible. 

What kind of story do you want to tell? 

Kiki: I’m still not quite sure. In high school I told myself I would never write love songs. I actually wrote a song about my nose job, it was very Fiona Apple. Now, my songs are about unreciprocated love. When love is reciprocated, I don’t feel the need to write about it… which is fucked up I know. 

How would you describe your creative process? 

Kiki: It is very spontaneous, I don't like forcing myself to write songs. I used to smoke weed and sit at my piano. The weed chilled me out, made me less judgemental. But weed has been making me stressed and it gives me heartburn, so I’ve stopped. Now, I just sit at the piano and sing random shit. If I like it, I record and polish it until it becomes a song. When my mom died, I used the piano and song writing to self soothe. I think that’s why I talk about love the most. If I can write a song that I really like, then it makes the experience of heartbreak worth it.

Have you written a song about your mom? 

Kiki: It’s really easy to write about the anxieties of dating, but death is hard. I hope that I can one day. 

You have such a unique sense of fashion, How does your personal style correlate with your music? 

Kiki: My style used to be awful actually. I was always scared to put myself out there. It wasn’t until Covid when I gained the courage. I love Eastern fashion. That might make me a weeb, I don’t know. The East is just so ahead of the trends. I love baroque as well. I was an art history minor so I find myself juxtaposing new with old. If I ever had money, I would buy an old castle in Scotland and hire a graffiti artist to spray paint the outside. I love Catholic iconography, I'm jewish… so it’s weird, but I find it ironic. All of my styles feed into each other. 

You discussed a rebrand.. What goals do you have for the next year? 

Kiki: I want to do better on social media. I have a good in person draw, so if I can do better on social media that’s the whole package.

Who is your target audience? 

Kiki: Girls and the gays. People who like Lady Gaga and Lorde. 

What is your favorite song you’ve made? 

Kiki: Dionysus. I’m really proud of it and it is authentic for the sound I want.  In night life, there is a culture of clustering around male artists. I was definitely guilty of this a few years back with a DJ. My friends can verify, I had an almost parasocial limerence for him, he didn’t even know I existed. So the song is about my admiration for him, but also my resentment. Dionysus is a Greek tragedy about madness and chaos. Taking inspiration from literature and other forms of art is so important and shows how powerful the pop genre is. I hate it when people say they hate pop music, especially men. They’re like “pop music is so bad” but babe it’s not bad it just wasn’t made for you. (both laughing) 

See Kiki Kramer live on June 20th at Bowery Electric and on July 20th for her private house party! You can join the list by messaging @wegiveyoudejavu 

follow her instagram for more updates: @kiki.kramer