Kaylee Lauren invites us to peek into her world of dark bedroom pop, becoming a TikTok star, and how she keeps her music authentic.

May 6, 2024 | Written by Christine Bradshaw

At only 18 years old, Kaylee Lauren is on the path to success in the music industry.

From my first contact with her, I was struck by her confidence, eloquence, and kindness; characteristics that will pay dividends in any industry.

We chatted over facetime about the importance of divine timing, authenticity, and finding her sound.

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SYNT: I like that you have Dark Pop undertones to your music, I'm really into that sound. Many young artists struggle with finding their unique sound. How did you discover yours and how do you continue to evolve as a musician? 

Kaylee: I think discovering my sound has come from a lot of years of practicing, trying new genres, and listening to various genres. I think I've really expanded my music taste a lot. I'm starting to listen to more Country, Pop, Indie Pop. Like there's a lot of different genres that I didn't necessarily grow up with and I think I grab inspiration from the things that I really like from different genres and try to build my own. It also kind of depends on what I've been into. Like sometimes I bring in a song as inspiration into the studio that's Dark Pop. And then the next day it's like Chappell Roan and they're like, "What?" I just try things out in the studio and see what my fans like. 

SYNT: You mentioned Chappell Roan, I love her. I just recently started listening to her—Olivia Rodrigo introduced her to me. She's amazing and that's another I think thing too about the music industry, like people say it takes 10 years to become an overnight success…you're so young, you're 18 right now. When did you start making music and where do you want your career to go?

Kaylee: Yeah, I've been singing my whole life. I've been writing since 2020, since lockdown time. I was going through a difficult time mentally and my family was like, "Write your feelings in a diary." And then I was like, "What about songwriting?" And I tried writing and I was like, "Wait, this is actually good." And obviously, my writing styles have evolved a lot since the beginning but that's kind of where I started. I started releasing my music in 2021, I believe. And I have 7 singles out now which is cool. 

SYNT: That's so cool. I saw on Spotify that your single, Not Enough, has over a million streams which is amazing.

When I'm listening to your music and looking at your visual aesthetic and everything, I definitely sense influences from some amazing artists that I love like Lolo Zouaï, Lana Del Rey, Madison Beer, and Laurel. Who are your artistic inspirations and influences? 

Kaylee: That's a good question. I love all of those artists. Thank you for saying that. I think definitely Lana Del Rey has been a huge inspiration recently. I was watching her Coachella performance and I was crying myself to sleep that I wasn’t there. Yeah, Lana Del Rey, definitely Madison Beer. I love Nessa Barrett. I love Taylor. I love her Reputation Era. Yeah, I think a lot of the main pop girlies; Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell…

SYNT: Going back to the Dark Pop genre, what drew you to that and how do you feel it allows you to express yourself differently than maybe some other genres would? 

Kaylee: Yeah, before I released Not Enough, which was kind of like my first Dark Pop song, I was very much into the Dua Lipa Pop sound. If you listen to Roller Coaster, my debut single, that is very poppy and fun and dancey. I think I just started listening to more Dark Pop. Honestly, Nessa Barrett was the first Dark Pop artist that I was kind of interested in. And I think her song Dying on the Inside was a musical influence for me. I really love her production style, her dark writing style, the deep, sad, relatable lyrics. So yeah, definitely credit to her. I love her music and that would be a dream collab one day.

SYNT: Currently you are an independent artist so what challenges have you faced getting your music out there and how have you overcome them?

Kaylee: I think mainly the challenges are within myself. I think, you know, comparing myself to other artists and their success at their age and people that have done more than me at my age. And I know that I'm 18, but there's a lot of things on social media that I compare myself to. Definitely struggles within myself, like insecurities, feeling like I'm not enough. And yeah, kind of just mainly myself. I've had an easy time releasing on social media. Fans seem to love it. I haven't always been doing well on TikTok, but recently for the last few weeks, my TikTok gained 20,000 followers out of nowhere. Yeah, so I'm very grateful for everyone on TikTok. 

SYNT: What do you attribute to that gain? Did something you posted catch the algorithm? Do you know possibly where it came from? 

Kaylee: So as I was saying before, you have to kind of pay attention to what your fans like. And obviously they really loved Not Enough. So I went back into the studio and made another Dark Pop song, which is my recent single, Intrusive Thoughts. I think they have comparisons and the genres are very similar; it's Dark Pop, Rock, like electric guitar, drums, passionate vocals, dark lyrics. Yeah, just trying to be relatable with the lyrics and stuff. I think I started posting that song on TikTok and then all of a sudden it was just blowing up especially this one part, the second verse of Intrusive Thoughts. So I'm super grateful.

SYNT: Your lyrics, they often explore themes of self doubt and introspection. Can you share a bit about your creative process and how you draw the inspiration for your songs? 

Kaylee: I usually start by writing the song and it's quite literally always drawn from very emotional experiences I've had or it's always coming from a real place. I've tried writing songs from someone else's perspective—if I was in love right now or if some guy broke my heart right now— and it just never sticks with me when I try to write from something that is not true to me and to what I'm experiencing.

And I know a lot of artists are really good at that and I hope to get there—I think the songs do turn out good—but I just don't feel comfortable releasing something that isn't what I'm really feeling. I just feel like I wouldn't perform it as authentically.

I try to write from deep experiences, even back from my childhood, like make believe, and then I go on the piano or I go on the guitar. I don’t know how to play the piano as far as reading the notes, but I kind of just see what sounds good. I can play by ear and I'm also learning the guitar. So that's been fun trying to write like Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo ballads. 

SYNT: Going into bringing in your own personal experiences into your lyrics, you're often delving into emotions and experiences that are quite personal. How do you balance authenticity in your music with the need for privacy and self preservation? 

Kaylee: I think sometimes I'll write a song about people in my life and it's like, oh, this is way too specific. If I release this, they're going to know it's about them. So sometimes those stay in the vault. But most of the time it's kind of like the things that I'm writing. If I have true friends that understand me and love me, like they won't judge me and honestly, I'm not afraid of putting it out there and afraid of what strangers will think because this is my job. This is what I'm going to have to do for the rest of my life and I'm not going to be afraid of what people think about how I feel because it's helping millions of people.

SYNT: In today's digital age, social media plays a significant role in connecting with fans and promoting music. How do you navigate the pressures of maintaining an online presence while also staying true to yourself as an artist?

Kaylee: I think it's all about trial and error. I've tried a bunch of different things on social media, I've noticed myself trying to be like someone else and then I have to take a step back and try to figure out what I want my image to be. And I think I'm really trying to have my image be as authentic to myself as I can without posting where I am every second.

I think in real life, I'm a very innocent, modest girl, I don't wear things that are too provocative. I've always tried to keep that like clean look and be an inspiration for younger girls showing they don't have to feel uncomfortable if they're not wearing crop tops. Being real to myself, being authentic, showing the good days, the bad days. I've shown multiple pictures and videos of me crying on TikTok. Yeah, I just want to inspire my fans and anyone who watches, to be authentic and real because there’s only one of you. 

SYNT: It's so true. That's also what is different about pop stars or even just normal people now versus like 10 years ago online, there's so much more authenticity. People can see through when you're being fake online versus actually showing your real personality. And I think now it's a lot more accepted and cool to just show your actual self on social media. I really appreciate that about the younger generation, I think it's really cool. 

Kaylee: Yeah, thanks for saying that.

SYNT: As an 18 year old navigating the music industry, what advice would you give to other young artists who are just starting out and hoping to make a name for themselves? And what do you feel like you might need right now from older people in the industry to help you get to the next step in your career?

Kaylee: For advice I would give: don't give up. You will find your divine timing, when it's supposed to happen for you. Don't compare yourself to other people because, again, there's only one of you and maybe your time is not right now to blow up because in the next few months you're going to work on yourself and become a healthier version of yourself. Sometimes you have to get to a place mentally where you feel healthy enough and then you can go on tour and things will open up for you.I feel like a lot of things have opened up for me as I've done a lot of self healing. And I feel much more ready for it than when I was like, ‘Why isn't it happening for me?” Just trust the divine timing and that everything happens for a reason. Be true to yourself, like I said.

I would also like from older artists or you know people that have been in the industry for longer, maybe to show more of behind-the-scenes of how they create music and more stuff in the studio. Like imagine watching a Taylor Swift documentary of how she writes a song? I mean, that would be insane. 

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