Eora-based singer-songwriter kayls shares their unfiltered debut single 'I Wanna Die', a punchy, obsessive, and heart-on-sleeve alt-pop anthem about falling so hard it hurts.

Inspired by beabadoobee, Ūla and Chloe Moriondo, I Wanna Die is a gut-punch of a track that spirals through obsession, self-deprecation and the chaos of unrequited love. Raw, intense and just a little unhinged, it captures the all-consuming ache of holding onto a crush long after the moment's passed - clinging to the hope they’ll change their mind, even when you know they won’t. We had a chat to get the full story…

Kayls, you've burst out onto the scene seemingly overnight and gathered a huge following while you're at it! Who is the person behind Sydney's newest baddie? 

To put it quite simply, I'm literally just a person with really deep feelings about everything! I'm queer and neuro-divergent! I spend most of my time making coffees (never escaping the barista musician stereotype) and obsessing over local music! When I'm not working on my own music or going absolutely nuts on Insta stories, I spend literally all my time attending local shows and hyping up other artists! I've kinda made supporting small artists my whole personality over the last few years.

In the studio, you felt empowered to write the alt-pop song to top every heartbreak track this year. What was the environment like in the session that birthed 'I Wanna Die'? 

I honestly don't even remember too much from the actual writing session but I remember turning to Nick who I wrote it with and just explaining how frustrated I was with how deep in the trenches obsessed I was for the person I wrote it about, we were then able to turn that frustration into a fun and catchy track. In terms of the session that occurred for the final production - which I did with Alistair Hayes (Daphnie) - I expressed how I really wanted the track to feel a bit more gritty and really find a way to mix the almost sad, resigned feeling of the original demo with something a bit more rocky and upbeat.

Keen listeners will point out the huge switch-up between the verses and choruses of this new track. What were your influences behind this one, and can we expect more of this to come?

My main influences for this were Chloe Moriondo and beabadoobee! I really like how in a lot of their songs the verses are sort of chill and lowkey because it makes the choruses even more of an attention grabbing gut punch! Baby Queen does it as well in a few of her songs and I just really admire that. You can definitely expect more like this from me! I honestly just really love using the chorus to let loose and go a bit crazy and using the verses to tell the story details!

There's so many themes of this gut-wrenching unrequited love in 'I Wanna Die', it's powerful and undeniably relatable. Are there hidden details in the writing that we could be missing?

I think the themes you mentioned are pretty spot on actually! I'm super sort of ‘tell-all’ and upfront when it comes to my writing so I've just kind of laid it all out on the table already, I'm not very good at being subtle. I am interested to see what details people put together though and how they interpret them!

Being a new artist in Sydney has so many challenges. Is there a huge roadblock you've found in this industry that's challenged you?

I've personally found what's challenged me within the industry has been that sometimes it can feel a little difficult to ‘get in’ with the ‘cool’ people if you will. Especially in my case having been an extremely vocal fan for the past few years it can feel like people don't want to see you as anything beyond that. But I've been super lucky that the vast majority of people I have been engaged and supportive to have embraced my new venture as an artist and are really accepting and supping back.

A lot of people believe it's impossible to get into a local music scene and make connections. What's the secret to putting yourself out there and becoming a known figure to others in that way?

It can seem quite daunting at first! I'm still super new to making connections from an artist perspective but honestly my advice to anyone is to just find a random gig and go! Chat to the artists and chat to people around you as well, you'd be surprised what that can introduce you to. I've been to probably over 250 local gigs in the last 3 years and made all of my friends and connections through that just because everyone knows literally everyone! So you'll go to one gig and leave being invited to about 5 others and the cycle continues! Just show a keen interest in what other artists are doing and over time, you'll be shown gratitude and begin to be recognised!

We're so keen for this single to come out on the 27th of August! We're loving this track and we can't help but wonder: what's next for kayls? 

Thank you! I'm also incredibly excited although nervous as well. Only time will tell what's next for me! At the moment you can expect lots of promo for this single while I quietly chip away at the next track! I'm really enjoying the music I'm making at the moment so I think my main goal is to just make as much as possible for the next few months and see what happens from there.

'I Wanna Die' hits your ears very soon, pre-save it here.