UK Pop/Rock new comer Katy Tiz is ready to take the U.S. by storm. The singer-songwriter, who developed her sound while writing with her brother on the acoustic guitar as well as listening to greats like Bob Marley, is ready to put in the hard work to win over new fans. Medley caught up with the edgy Pop singer to talk about when music started as a career, her sound, being in the U.S. and more…Check it out.
Making a Unique Stamp…Since December last year I decided to write songs for myself instead of what I thought the industry needed. I've been doing this for quite a few years and in the beginning I was doing things how everyone else though I should do it, but now that I’m doing things my way, the way I love, things are really working out for me.
Where It All Started…I didn’t actually want to sing, I always wanted to be an actress. When I was seventeen, I started hanging out with some people who were musicians. We started messing around one night and one of my friends was like you should sing. I sang and one of the guys was like ‘wow, you wanna come to the studio and do some songs.’ I recorded some demos and then I kind of just fell into it, because it came very naturally for me. I didn’t know what I wanted to do other than entertain people. I kind of always felt myself on stage and I really had a story to tell so it all came quite naturally to me. I felt like I was never meant to be in school or study because I never really fit into that kind of thing. The only thing I did do was write so without realizing, I guess I was teaching myself to write music. When I started singing, my brother and I used to write together. It took a while to come out of my shell and gain the confidence, but now it's my way of expressing the feelings that I go through.
Reggae Influence in Music…My brother played the acoustic guitar and we did a lot of songwriting together; we always starting with the guitar. We also listened to a lot of Bob Marley so that helped in shaping my sound. I definitely want to keep that going because that's what I created.
Living in The UK and Music…Living here just makes me be more universal with lyrics, because certain things I would say in England don't translate in America.
Artist She Likes Abroad and in The States…I think Ed Sheeran is great; he's fantastic. I really like Tinie Tempah, obviously Jessie J, I'm signed by the same person who signed her. As a singer I think she's absolutely incredible, she's great for pop music. The artist who remain in my iPod…I love India.Arie, Stevie Wonder, and the legends, Lauryn Hill and people like that.
Being in the U.S…I love the work ethic and how proud everybody is of their territories. I think we should do that more, be proud of where we're from. Everyone is very welcoming. I'm learning also because I did not realize how big America was, there are so many places that I didn't know about, but I have my map…[laughs].
Debut Album…I'm Still writing the record, I'm nearly done, but I'll never say it's finished until it's in front of me and I can't change it anymore, because I just believe in keep writing. I'm also doing shows, probably up until Christmas, then I'm going to go home(UK) fore the holidays and come right back. I believe you gotta be in it to win it, and I need to commit myself to be hear if I want to break America. So right now just promoting, doing shows and meeting as many people as I can.
Being on Stage...It's amazing. Every single day I wake up I'm like 'yes, it's not a dream' because, this might sound cliche, but this happened so fast. I signed my deal in April and I'm already here. I'm incredibly lucky to be in the situation I'm in and I genuinely love it. I wanna work hard, I wanna be tired. There's nothing like going out and performing my stuff, my stories, the stuff that I've written, and hear people enjoy that. That's the best feeling in the world.
Doing the Do While in the U.S…One thing I haven't done is eat pancakes, because you guys have pancakes that are like taller than me. It's all food related, I really wanna go to a baseball game and get a foot long and some nachos because that's what they do in the movies.
Growing up With an Older Brother and Dating…I'm like that with his girlfriends. As he got girlfriends, 'I'm like hello, who are?, where's your family from?', but at the moment I'm really lucky because he has a really nice girlfriend who I'm very good friends with. I'm way more protective over him than he is with me.
Check out the music video to Katy's debut single "Famous."
Founder and Creator of Singersroom.com and IncredibleWork.com. Follow me on Instagram at @gary.gentles.
