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Headlining the OUSA Orientation Afterparty, Kiesza performed for nearly 4000 students last Thursday night. Critic sat down with her beforehand to hear about the road she’s travelled to get here and what her thoughts are on L&P, Crocs and James Brown.

Critic: We’re just going to start off with a little bit of “overrated/underrated”. This is our favourite New Zealand soft drink. (presents a can of L&P)

Kiesza: I’ve never tried it! (drinks) Hmm. It’s good! It’s almost like I’ve had this before, but there’s something about it that’s different. But I think it’s good. Does that mean it’s underrated?

Critic: Sounds good! Next one, you being from Canada … Drake?

Kiesza: Well, I mean, he’s amazing.
Underrated. I can’t say he’s overrated, that’d be wrong!

Critic: Last one … the man bun?

Kiesza: Oh gosh … I’d say overrated. It exploded too much. Every time I see a man bun, I envision myself with scissors chopping it off and seeing what would happen, how his hair would fall … but some people look great in the man bun! It’s not bad, there’s just too many. And they kinda look greasy sometimes, y’know?

Critic: Right, unkempt man buns? Especially with the beard combination!

Kiesza: Did it come from that movie, Nightcrawler? ’Cos he wears a man bun. Is that why people wear the man bun?

Critic: I think Leo’s been rocking it for a couple years.

Kiesza: Ohh, right! Leo. Whatever he does, every other man must do as well.

Critic: Do you think the values of a pop star, or what success means to a pop star, have changed in recent times? Because you draw a lot of influence from pop music from the 90s, and yet so much has changed since then.

Kiesza: Yeah, I think a lot has changed. I mean, the whole world has changed, changed to a digital world. And that changes everything. If you go back in time, people were always discovering new sounds, seeing what kind of a new style they could create. Whereas now, I think people are trying to mix styles, not necessarily create new styles. It’s about how you put the sounds together, how you combine funk with … I dunno, country! Yeah. Things have changed. There’s a lot more fusion.

I think as performances go, people put a lot more into their performances back in the day — if you look at performers then, like James Brown or Michael Jackson. There’s a lot of things nowadays that let you cheat, and I think because of it people get a little lazy. Even if somebody’s faking it and you can’t really tell that they are, you can somehow feel it. I can’t explain it. You just can’t recreate what James Brown does — he could never fake that.

People have even asked me to lip sync so I could do more shows. I was like, “Is this a normal thing? Is this a standard?” And actually, yes. It’s becoming a normal thing. You record your voice through a performance microphone so it sounds like it’s live, and then you just pretend that you’re singing! Out of respect for my audience, I would never do something like that. I guess standards like that have changed. There’s a lot of faking it, I think. Before you couldn’t, there was no way around it. You didn’t have autotune, you had to sing in pitch. But there are still really great performers. Look at Bruno Mars, he’s amazing. I think dancing, singing and dancing, is sort of coming back again. I’m doing it, I’m starting to see other people doing it. Beyoncé, of course! You can’t touch her. There are a lot of great performers, a lot of great songwriters still. That never goes away. I dunno. I just think the world has changed, so people change with it.

Critic: I saw you had a feature on the Joey Bada$$ album, Before the Money. What were YOU doing before the money, so to speak?

Kiesza: (laughs) I was hustling! Hustling, trying to get a meal. Trying to make money! I was going between Canada and New York; I didn’t have a visa for a while so I could only spend so much time in New York. I couldn’t actually work for a long time … it was really, really tough, trying to make it. I was just writing, writing for other artists. In my bedroom, I’d write songs. It’s funny, ’cos now a lot of those songs are coming out. J-Lo just sang one of my songs, one ended up on a Dreamworks movie … but people won’t take chances on new things. It’s really tough for a person to take a chance on you, especially now. Back in the day, they had so much money to put towards developing new artists. Nowadays, there’s nothing. They don’t have artist development; it doesn’t exist. You have to develop yourself. Which is totally cool, you can do that. You just don’t have any guidance, really. They don’t take the same chances they did because they can’t afford to lose, they can’t afford to make mistakes.

I think they should trust their instincts and take chances on artists, despite maybe not having YouTube hits. I didn’t have any Facebook followers, I didn’t have any Twitter followers when I did “Hideaway”. I had to do it all on my own. My producer and I created Local Legend, which is an independent record label, and we just did it all indie! Moved to London, got DJs to play it underground. Then people started ripping it from their sets, and then finally Annie Mac heard it and played it on BBC Radio One and it just … (makes explosion motion with her hands)

But like Joey Bada$$, I think we both worked the underground and we both did it independently to start out. We both really grew organically, and that’s what I really try to maintain. There’s been a lot of really big opportunities that sounded so amazing, but I turned them down because I feel like it’s just not an organic growth process. I love people being able to discover my music and get to know me as I grow. I feel it’s better to gradually build up, as opposed to just shoot up too quickly.

Critic: So how do you keep physically and mentally in shape? With all the demands of “Hideaway” exploding so suddenly, and you having to promote it?

Kiesza: I had to learn the hard way, by running myself into the ground way too many times. I have a hole in my arm from the muscle atrophy — permanently, I think. Just the wear and tear on my body, the steroid shots they were giving me. And I realised after a while that steroid shots are not a good thing! I should, like, sleep. So instead of saying “yes” to everything, I learnt that you just can’t.

I want to please everybody, I want to meet everybody, I really like people, I love interviews … but I had to listen to my body and just say “no” to some things. Not go out and party. Not drink alcohol. Cut out caffeine while I’m touring. Things like that. The day before I go on tour, I’m like “pizzaaaa, give me that glass of wine!” And then I cut it all out.

Critic: We also saw you had a Mick Jenkins feature on your album. Would you consider yourself a bit of a hip-hop head with those two features?

Kiesza: I really like hip-hop! When I was in my early teens, my older brother got me into hip-hop … 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z. But it’s funny.
I was so young. I was into the grooves, into the rhythm. Now when I go back and really listen to 2Pac, I hear it such a different way.

I feel like rappers are some of the best writers in the world. As a songwriter, working with rappers really inspired me. They think differently, their metaphors are stronger, their punchlines are stronger. Really incredible writers.

Critic: What was it like working with other musicians, like Jack Ü [a joint project between Diplo and Skrillex]?

Kiesza: That was totally spontaneous! I was in Ibiza, and just ran into them. We made that song in their hotel room that night. Like, USB microphone. And they’re really cool guys. Skrillex, I swear, is the nicest person I’ve ever met in my whole life. Hands down. I can’t believe how somebody who makes music that hard can be so nice.

They’re great guys, and they really are in it for the music. They love what they do, and you can totally feel it. They’re like kids in a candy shop!