Shot Exclusively at Bounce Old Street

 

Words: Miles Holder

While Molly Kate Kestner’s “young singer-songwriter blows up on youtube” career isn’t one anyone is particularly shocked by anymore – one thing unique to the young artist is her ability to discuss music and themes as eloquently as an artist with over ten years experience. As you’ll find from our interview – Molly is very much an artist first and everything else a far second and in many ways that is the reason she has avoided the stigma of “youtuber turned artist. We caught up with Molly to discuss, music, goals and all things FAULT…Enjoy!

 

You’re putting songs out on Youtube and getting all the views – are you still pinching yourself?

There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t go “wow this is just the dream”, and I’m still right at the beginning of my career. I would say my success is minuscule compared to the people around me in Hollywood and it feels rewarding but I think it’s a mixture of timing, luck and hard work.

 

What’s it like to still be at the start of your career and having Starsmith want to work with you?

It’s humbling, but at the same time, it’s cool to work with people who have all the success and to see that in the end, they are just people. It’s so relieving that they’ve stayed human and humble and to know that not everyone at the top has these scary personalities!

Talk us through your songwriting process – is it always fluid and easy?

There are some days where I wake up, and the song is already in me, and it writes itself, but there are days when the last thing you want to do is write, and sometimes the best songs come from when you have to push to get them. There’s a quote by Leonard Cohen, and he’s asked where all great songs come from, and he said “I don’t know. If I did, I’d go there all the time.” And I don’t think I’ve ever heard something described so well because it is a mystery and no ones figured it out… well maybe Max Martin!

 

When you release a song, and it’s a hit, and the fans go wild, does it scare you to try and top that next release?

At the beginning I was, but I’m at a place now where each song is unique to themselves. I’m not trying to beat a song, that song was right for that time and process. The ‘Good Die Young’ is different to ‘His Daughter’, and they all have their own lives. I feel like I was just placed in the industry and so crazy that I haven’t felt the pressure to beat something, I don’t feel that pressure.

 

Prom Queen is such a stunning video, is that something you’re learning to be a part of more?

That’s one of my favourite parts, and I didn’t realise it would be. Adding the visual aspect to the music gives it so much meaning and shooting that video specifically was so much fun and you get to be more dramatic. Day to day I’m pretty low-key and a little bit tomboyish so getting to film things and do cool looks like this shoot for FAULT, I’d never do on my own but stepping out of my comfort zone lets my perspective grow.

 

Many of your fanbases are young and impressionable – do you feel like you need to act a certain way with people looking up to you?

I think it’s all how you receive their support and love. I think a lot of artists and influencers feed into the fan mentality, but I don’t want to be anybody idol or goddess – I’m just a girl. I want my fans to feel connected to me and inspired, but more importantly, I want them to know that my message is bigger than I am. I’m just a human I can fail and fail myself and mess up, but the music I’m creating is about something much bigger than I am. I want them to know that my music is about humanity and we’re a lot more connected than we realised.

 

When you shut your eyes and picture that dream goal of what you want to do, what do you see?

I see myself travelling to as many countries as I can! If I could perform in every country that’d be a dream come true especially those that don’t see many performances. Also, I’d love to mix speaking with singing, I think singing is very open to interpretation, and even now I’ve mixed into my shows – I’m pouring out my heart and giving the audience the backstory and letting them know what I want to take from this.

It’s not easy to put yourself out there – what drives you to keep doing it?

I think part of it is I believe it’s part of my purpose as part of this world. I think we’re all given these talents and abilities, and we’re called to do the most of this. I can write and sing, so that’s what keeps me going. It’s my purpose, and I’m driven towards it, and even if I never become famous and if my career failed I’d always be striving for influence in my area of reach. Be that in a school or volunteering – I feel like if you make yourself available to help you’ll always find purpose.

Advice to your younger self?

I guess a big thing would be that “confidence doesn’t come from anybody but yourself.” I feel we get bogged down in the idea that people liking us will bring trust and other superficial things, but you have to give yourself confidence by recognising that there’s never been you in the history of the world and you have this unique part of the time to play a role in. You should be confident in that and grow up I struggled and depended on how people like me and if people didn’t like my singing or me – it effected to such a high degree. I’m so happy to be a part of my life where I just understand that if someone who doesn’t know me doesn’t like me – it’s probably a result of the former.

 

What is your FAULT?

Not speaking up when I want to. I’m working on it now, and it’s something I’m better at now. I’ve never been someone who spoke out of turn or felt like I should speak out and I was never a bully in school, but I remember how many times I saw it happening and didn’t say anything out of fear of being targeted. Now I’m like “who cares!” you shouldn’t be bothered for speaking up for what I know isn’t right. I’m so passionate about it now, and I never want to stand by if I see something wrong and if you say something bad about me I need to challenge it. We live in this electronic world where it’s so easy to see so many awful things online, and now I’m like “REPORT!” and I have no issue. There’s so much division in the world right now and in my country specifically right now and I want my music to speak for unity and build bridges between people and groups who maybe have bridged burnt. It’s something I’m still working at though because even though I know it’s there, I still feel like my instinct is to stay quiet, so I’m trying to combat that.

 

See Molly’s Latest ‘Footprints’ below!