- Words Isabelle Cassidy
- Photography Frederick Wilkinson
- Styling Ella Tyson
- Hair and Makeup Dayane Sena at Gary Represents
- Production Studio Notion
Up-and-coming artist Keisi has experience far beyond her years. She opens up about how this has influenced her single "Body on Ice".
Keisi is an artist with experience far beyond her years, and her songwriting and singing ability speaks volumes.
The rising star’s musical journey began younger than most, taking part in the BBC show Glee Club at the age of fifteen and securing fourth place. A year later she reached the knockout stages of another competition show, The Voice of Albania, before going on to study music in Albania and the UK. Her single “Sa Larg” reached the Top 10 in the Albanian charts, and by 20 she had travelled to America and met producer, songwriter, and artist, Sir the Baptist, who took her on his tour.
Keisi’s new single is a modern-day love song, harnessing a fusion of pop and R&B to capture the magnetic moment of intimacy between two people.
Notion linked up with Keisi to hear about her career so far, why Rihanna is her dream collab, and what’s next on the cards.
- Co-Ord Holzweiler
You’ve had a prolific music career already – competing on BBC’s Glee Club and The Voice Albania, as well as a Top 10 Albanian chart single with “Sa Larg”. Why did now feel like the right time to share your first English language single “Body On Ice”?
I feel that everything comes with age, everything else I’ve done thus far was an experience and very character building but now was the right time to release my first proper single as I feel more comfortable and have gotten to know myself as an artist. When I was younger it was difficult to understand who I wanted to be it’s one thing just having the talent and having a voice, but who you are from the way you dress to the way you speak and hold yourself as an artist it’s all part of it.
How do you reflect on your career up to this point? Is there anything you would have done differently?
I look back at it all with a smile on my face and proudly I’ve been knocked down many times, but each time was a lesson well learnt and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my past. Funnily enough this quote came to me in a dream one day and it was playing in my head the whole day ‘in the end we’re all just survivors with different stories to tell’ we have all been going or are going through hard times to achieve something we dream off but it really is the ones who chose to get back up and keep going that make all the hard times totally worth it.
The song is such a vibe! What were your inspirations for the track and how long has it been in the works?
The song has been in the making for just under a year, the inspiration would definitely be the hard times we’ve all experienced during the pandemic. I wanted to release a song for people to feel sexy to and dance to and feel good.
- Corset Lula Laora
- Glasses Gentle Monster
- Cardigan Holzweiler
How would you define and describe your sound? Do you feel like you know what it is now or are you still keen to experiment?
I would say that I’m always learning new things about myself and music and I’m always one for experimenting and playing around with different genres and sounds I tend to like pushing myself out of a comfort zone because when I do I actually surprise myself. Most of my unreleased songs are pretty different to each other.
Which artist would be your ultimate dream collab?
Rihanna 100 percent, she’s an icon! She’s a performer and that’s what I usually look at in an artist their live shows. When I listen to a song that I like I tend to choose to listen to the live version of it as it’s way more authentic, the mistakes, the vibe from the crowd, the live bands you don’t get that from a studio recorded version that’s been deeply edited.
What kind of experience would you like to create at your future live shows?
The dream is to create a fun and safe space for everyone to experience my music and truly connect with me as an artist and hopefully inspire other aspiring artist to say “ I want that to be me one day”
Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations right now?
Wow! I have so many my biggest inspirations would be Rihanna, Etta James, Beyoncé and many more my main influence would be my father as he used to be the drummer in a band back in 1980s in Albania. The music just runs in my blood, because of him I would listen to so many different genres and artists, from soul to jazz even to heavy metal.
Where’s your happy place?
My happy place is home laying on my couch binge watching on Netflix and eating good food.
What’s next for Keisi?
This is just the beginning there’s so many projects waiting to be released which I’m so excited for you guys to hear! My songs will be pretty different from each other so you may be surprised at the difference from my just released single to my next.