Kai (12)

Born Alessia De Gasperis-Brigante, kai first found her love of music through her childhood endeavors in competitive dance. At age 16, kai bought an acoustic guitar and began writing her own folk-infused songs. She inked a development deal with Warner Music Canada at the age of 20, and soon started flying off to L.A. for songwriting sessions. kai began building up her credits with tracks like Jessie J’s “Sweet Talker,” Jack Ü’s “Mind,” and Diplo’s “Revolution.” Then, in a major breakthrough both creatively and career-wise, she joined forces with Flume writing and singing on the song “Never Be Like You”, a track whose spontaneous origins prompted kai to embrace a new creative process defying all pop convention and letting her idiosyncrasies shine. This gave way to an impossibly radiant track that hit #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later went double-platinum.

Emboldened by the success of “Never Be Like You,” kai made a spur-of-the-moment decision to move to L.A. upon attending the 2017 Grammy Awards (where the song earned a nomination for Best Dance Recording). After teaching herself Ableton Live and leaving the major label to become an independent artist, she gained a new autonomy over her music, soon adopting the free-form approach she now sees as essential. “I follow what feels good to me,” says kai, “and because of that, the music is a greater source of joy than it has ever been before. I’m finally making music I’m extremely proud of and truly want to share.”