Artist Spotlight: Downtown Kayoto

Shot by @malinrostudio

Recently I had the exciting opportunity to sit down with Downtown Kayoto, the rising ‘Hull bred’ talent, who will likely be the next biggest thing to hit the city since chip spice. 

Ever since a friend sent me his song ‘Feels Like’, I was hooked on the incredibly catchy melodies and beautifully lavish production that Downtown seemed to float over. It had a mellow Channel Orange-esque sound to it, it was uplifting yet bittersweet and a very personal introduction to the artist. Since then, he’s caught my ears time and time again, especially with the excellent drum & bass influenced ‘Hello World’, and his earworm single ‘Karma Called’. 

The melancholic songwriter has been turning more and more heads over the past year, with this string of fantastic singles, as well as some festival spots too, all leading up to his promising new EP which should arrive shortly. 

We thought now is a better time than ever to catch up with the imminent star, as he has recently played at Reading festival on the BBC introducing stage (catch some of his performance here). Speaking on the performance, he took to Instagram to say ‘It’s safe to say that this past week has been the craziest week of my life thus far. Having never been to a festival I wanted to give a big shout out to @officialrandl and @bbcintroducing for welcoming me as well as believing in a block northern kid with big plans and a big vision. Having made all of this shit in my room it was crazy to see people connecting with the sounds in real time’. 

Downtown Kayoto is confident this is only the beginning, yet his music already sounds so inventive, bright, and full of charisma as if he had been establishing himself for years.

Thanks for joining me, man. How’s your summer been?  

Yeah mate, I’m chilling. Just been finishing up the EP. 

I actually checked my Spotify this morning and you’ve got a new track – ‘PFL’. I’m really liking it, what’s the response to it been like so far?

Yeah, it’s been cool, people are appreciating the fact that it’s in a different lane! It’s been good, it’s been fun playing around with a few different sonics and the sounds that have come out. I think people are just happy I’m executing it as well as I am.

Congratulations on playing at Reading festival. How did that feel as someone whose really only just started blowing up? 

Mate, it was just crazy, it was mad… I’ve never been to a festival before, I never really got to do that whilst I was at school and stuff. 

So your first ever festival, you played at? 

Yeah man, my first festival. It was like ‘yo, what?’, I didn’t know what to expect in the slightest. It turned out to be really good! It was just nice to see people there in real life and play live. That was my first show as well! It was the first of many things.

You were in Leeds recently as well, playing Belgrave? 

Yeah man, I did Belgrave. It was sick, it was like the best gig… People there were really open to a lot of music. It was crazy mate, the pizza there is beautiful as well. It was nice having more of an intimate venue, Reading was like there’s a lot of people playing, I think I was squashed in between Ashnikko’s set at the BBC tent, and AJ Tracey’s set on the main stage, so you kind of have to attract people while you’re playing. This one, I could like tell people to come closer, you could really feel the energy bouncing off the walls as well. It was really, really good. People were just showing out and having a good time, and I was having a good time as well. 

Tell us a bit more about ‘Hello World’, It’s a great song… How did you get the idea to have the drum & bass influence in there? What was the driving force behind that? 

It was a case of like, that song started off like as me tryna do my best Weeknd impression. It was falsetto to begin with in the demo, it was slow all the way through, but then I was just like I think we could play around with this. I was in a session with Frankie, my producer out in the States, we’re in the session and he’s like ‘ah yeah bro, I was playing around with this little section and I was just wanna see what you think’. He played it, it was glorious, it was the drum & bass bit, I was like ‘yo, what? That needs to be in it’. It was fire, it was a nice mix of the two genres – R&B and D&B. We wanted to make people confused but have fun with it. 

He just played it, and he usually does these drops and stuff - he’s done a lot of stuff for Myles Cameron whose someone who plays around with a lot of down-tempo’s, and up-tempo’s, and stuff of that nature. I don’t think he was even thinking ‘I’m gonna draw from a UK sonic’, he just wanted to add chaos into the mix, and that song – the one thing that it did need is chaos. The chaos makes the peaceful bits standout even more, so it compliments it well.

You said about The Weeknd influence as well, it did remind me a little of The Weeknd when I first heard it because of the drum & bass influence, like he had on a track off of ‘After Hours’. That blend of genres definitely reminded me of ‘Hello World’. It’s definitely an unexpected contrast. It must have been quite a diversion from what people expect from you, but it obviously worked out really well. 

I remember ‘False Alarm’, I’m not sure I’ve heard that one though. I think people expected me to come through with an indie pop record, but I switched it up and came with the R&B/D&B, it’s not really the best move, but it just comes from a place of wanting people to know that I’m in charge of what I want to do, and if it’s a case of blending genres like that I’ll do it, and I’ll do it to the best of my ability. 

I think the move must have paid off though, like the other day I had my window open, in Leeds, and heard someone listening to it down the street, and then they played all your other tracks too. 

Oh, shit! What? That’s mad! Just some randomer in public? That’s what’s up, right there. That’s crazy.

That’s obviously quite a personal track too, do you think music is a good outlet for that, or do you find it challenging to write from a personal place. 

I think it’s cool, I never try and force it. When my music is less personal it’s kind of like a collage of moments, I’m ripping and sticking together moments to maybe take away from a really prominent or dominant thing I want to talk about. So it kind of like distracts from the subject matter in a way, but when I want to get shit down like ‘Hello World’, I wanted to highlight that insecurity and feeling lonely. I needed to make sure what I was saying what’s straight to the point. It’s very clear I was feeling lonely at that time, I made sure to make that clear. 

I’m sure that’s something a lot of people can relate to. Before this interview, I also read that you make all your music in your bedroom, is this still the case? 

Yeah, because of the pandemic it was a big W for anyone that makes music in their bedroom! Being in the studio, it’s all a bit techy. It’s like, I’m living with my music, in the place I regurgitate past emotions and past feelings, and write my lyrics, the energy kind of lingers and builds, and its cheap too! I like to have my own equipment and record myself. I also wanna know to walk into a recording studio and know I’m not getting ripped off. 

Yeah, it’s so much more common for people to record in their own space, with bedroom pop, and obviously the pandemic forcing people into their rooms. Do you ever find it challenging recording just on you own? Or is there like a comfort to that? 

I live with my parents, and I’m on my gap year right now. When they’re trying to sleep, it can be a bit of a problem! That’s the only drawback really, I feel really comfortable, and I like that feeling. It’s important when making music, if I’m in a recording studio with other artists or other people and I don’t know them enough to feel comfortable I’m not really gonna make my best work. To be honest with you I don’t even like having anyone else in the room, if like everyone’s downstairs watching TV, that’s like the optimum setting in my house when I’m recording.  

So, one of your newer songs ‘Karma Called’ is out now, with a great video too. Can you explain why you chose ‘Get Out’ to inspire the visuals for this one? 

The ‘Get Out’ visual was more based upon the fact that I just wanted to make something that was exciting, something out of the box. I think the best person in the UK making visuals to this day is Slowthai, he kills it all the time! I don’t think anyone really comes close, the concepts are always super fresh and usually he’s playing homage to a film or a unique concept. I think everyone kind of expected me to sit in a roofless car blasting the music, singing on the freeway, in the sunshine, but I thought, how do I contrast this? The song itself, I feel is somewhat sinister, it has sinister undertones with the violins. So I thought ‘yeah, Get Out, that’s cool, how can we make this happen, and represent the sunken place, how can I tell a story and approach music videos from a different structure… I could have just looked cool, but I thought, let me step outside my comfort zone’. 

You mentioned Slowthai, his music videos are definitely always really good, and similarly have had like horror movie references and influences, like with ‘Cancelled’ with the references to Candyman, and A Nightmare On Elm Street. 

Yeah, it’s crazy. I feel like when you watch these films, a lot of the time certain scenes are like starting points for reference boards and mood boards. These movies have teams of people with set designers, they’ve been doing this for time, and will just sit down and make something really visually striking. I’ve been making an effort to watch more films. 

Are there any music video directors you would love to work with, considering your creative visuals you’ve already put out? 

I’d love to work with Crowns & Owls, I think they did the majority of Slowthai’s ‘TYRON’ campaign, and they did Octavian’s ‘Rari’ – there’s obviously a lot of controversy around his name, but at least the video was cold. It was really striking. And they did the Diesel x Skepta advert. It’s always really clean, but they have an out of the box approach to colour, and spacing. I’d love to sit down and make a full campaign, a full slate of videos with them. They’re really cold, I just appreciate really out of the box stuff.  

You also said about ‘Karma Called’, that it has a “strong summer vibe but also quite eerie undertones to it”. Why was this juxtaposition and contrast of styles important for this song? 

Right now, I just really care about proving people wrong, and kind of like swaying away from what’s expected. Sometimes it comes from a really genuine place, but I feel like this was also very strategic. You know, upcoming artist in the UK, I might wanna prioritise looking cool and fitting in to the status quo and still probably getting good write ups, and yeah that’s fine, but I wanted to do something that could stand the test of time, and that was where that kind of juxtaposition was born from. And also, to compete with the Americans man, the Americans kill it with the visuals and the sonics they have going on – a lot of the UK scene wouldn’t dare to touch the waters they’re swimming in… I was just like, let my try and dip my toe in the water and do something different, and if it pays off or doesn’t pay off, I can still say I executed something to the highest of my ability.

Well it must have paid off, because it’s only been out for like a month, right? And it’s already well on its way to hitting 100,000 plays on Spotify, and by the time people are reading this, ‘Feels Like’ may have hit 100,000 streams on Spotify too. Considering how quickly ‘Karma Called’ has achieved what it has, do you think this might be the one to really blow? 

It’s a race between them two! I don’t know how I can answer that question, I’d like to think that every single song that I make can like you know, be the one. That’s always my intention going into the track, I never wanna make a throwaway track, I wish for everything and expect nothing, do you know what I mean? But, it’s very clear to me where songs lie geographically and globally, like ‘Karma Called’ would get rinsed in the US, that’s something that’s very familiar to them, but like ‘Hello World’ is something that UK kids will put on at a freshers party because the drop goes hard, do you know what I mean? 

Yeah definitely, I might try and play ‘Hello World’ tonight and see if people enjoy it. 

Yes, let’s go! Tell them like ‘yeah, yeah, he’s gonna stop singing and it’s gonna drop…’ 

You said about America – I can definitely see there being a lot of crossover appeal in your music, it’s not necessarily just for a British audience, it could sort of go outwards and keep going. 

Word, I agree. 

And this series of singles you’ve been releasing… this is all part of a bigger rollout right? So did you want to tell us a little more about the the ‘Navig8’ EP, and will these tracks be apart of it?

Yeah! The EP has got all of the tracks I’ve dropped this year on it, plus three more. It’s a mixed bag, I came into it approaching it thinking this would be like the be-all and end-all, like I had to deliver a classic. I really slowly learnt that that wasn’t the case, and I was putting a bit too much pressure on myself, thinking I’ve been awarded this opportunity to make music at this level and it be presented to the masses, so I felt like every single swing had to be a home run, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. I had to think of it more as trekking up a mountain, I can take a few steps today, but tomorrow you might trek half of it, and achieve way more. 

I had to show people that this is what I can do, like ‘PFL’ – the indie pop, the rock accents, but then I can also do drum & bass, R&B, so it’s like a resume as well, I’m showing people ‘I can do this, I can do this’, and if you give me your ears when I drop music, and give me time to move forward I can give you something different and offer something that the UK is currently lacking, that’s why its called ‘Navig8’, because it’s about navigating all of my life, like going to uni in Swansea was a very last minute decision, I kind of packed my bags and said bye to my home town, knowing in the back of my head that I was going to do something that was just part of my journey, it isn’t like a good bye, it’s just like a ‘sea you soon’ scenario. So, I’m just navigating my way through songs, making it up as I go, it wasn’t even finished until like 2 days ago, so I’ve really taken my time. 

Even though you’ve taken your time, it definitely seems like the perfect time for your EP, especially with co-signs from Nick Grimshaw, Jessie Ware, and even Zane Lowe. What co-sign meant the most to you? 

I think Zane Lowe, that one’s mad… I haven’t even registered it, he’s like so legendary himself, like whenever new music is happening, Elton John’s chatting to Zane Lowe, Adele’s chatting to Zane Lowe, he interviewed Kanye – the iconic Kanye interview, Zane Lowe did that back at BBC Radio 1. Like, he said my name, he knows I exist in some sort of capacity, I was like ‘oh my God, I need to get the screenshots for this, I need to listen to the show, I need to get on this’. I was just gassed, you know? That was the moment for me like where I knew that maybe there is a lane for this, maybe this is gonna go all the way there. 

You were also Radio 1’s Future Artist – how did that feel?

That one was crazy, being alongside really exciting artists, and being played on like main Radio 1, it was no joke! When you’re getting played on Radio 1, there’s no changing the channel, there’s no skip or shuffle – you’re on Radio 1! It’s just an uninterrupted 3-4 minutes and your song is being broadcasted to millions of people, so you know, to even be alongside artists that BBC can trust and say like ‘yeah this is good enough to be on prime time’ in itself is crazy because these are my contemporaries and people that I want to be alongside at Mercury awards, and hopefully alongside when I’m hopefully doing Reading on the main stage. 

How did you feel when you saw yourself on the cover of Spotify’s Fresh Finds? That’s a pretty huge playlist placement and you were the cover. 

That was mad because that was my Spotify cover, and I had written it down because my mum always says you should write stuff down and speak stuff into fruition, so I wrote down that I wanted to be the cover of a playlist. Spotify came through and I was like ‘wow, that’s mad’, like, I’m in the system, and it’s not like It’s just showing that on my profile, it’s showing that on everyone’s. I was just gassed, I still haven’t wrapped my head around it.

You were talking about your contemporaries, who do you feel out of those contemporaries influence your work the most?

I’d say Myles Cameron, the guy I was talking about, he’s very much so approaching music in a similar way, and the way we make it, starting off with melody, and making sure our writing is really good, whilst considering production elements. 

In the UK, I’d probably say someone like Tayo Sound – he understands the assignment, you know? When it comes to making left leaning indie pop, genuinely stuff that could be played on Radio 1, but it’s also for the kids, not stuff that you’re mum would be listening to making it “uncool”, stuff that would still be played at freshers parties, and these are the kids that are going to see him perform at Reading which he did as well, so I’d definitely say he’s a contemporary and someone I look up to, like he influences me in the sense of like, I feel like he’s just got a very grounded perspective. When I listen to his music, he’s not saying things that are unnecessary, you could have a chat with him at a layover when flying somewhere, and the same thing he’s writing about in his songs I feel you could just chat to him about.  

Leo Bhanji making really downtempo, introspective music, he’s someone I look up to in the sense of how complexities not always the one, like ‘Hello World’ – it’s R&B, a few chords, then it goes into a drum & bass break, it’s like two parts, and his music is like super straight forward, he’s making this in his yard, synths are being programmed on iPads, or he’s like sampling chords, looping them, and really focusing on his writing, he’s someone I look at and think ‘wow, I don’t need to be over the top with the music and make a song with a middle 8 section with strings, it can just be an indie pop song, super simple, strip it back… 

So you were raised in Hull, born in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, how long did you grow up there?

About 4 years.

So, being from Hull and Zimbabwe, do you think these places influenced your music in any way? 

Yeah, one thousand percent. I feel like the whole reason why I want to stand out and make a big splash is because that’s how I’ve always been in Hull, it’s majority working class white families, so I’ve always stuck out. I’m just doing what I’ve been doing my whole life, it comes second nature to me. I’m trying to grapple and get my head around it all, but I’ve just always embraced being different, and I’ve never been afraid to say I’m from Hull, and the fact that I’m from Hull I feel is an even bigger W because the resources there are so lacking, it’s just an untapped market. I feel like I’m literally pranging the cutlery and pots and pans while everyone’s asleep, making the most noise, and cutting through in a place where there’s not much going on, compared to London where there’s so much noise. When I go to London I can’t really deal with it, but I feel at home in Hull, there’s a lot of fields, I make my music when I go on walks, and a lot of the EP was born from this thing of like navigation, looking at all these big houses when I’m walking, I’m like ‘wow, I really wanna live there, what do I have to do to get there’, I have to just keep on moving and getting better, and I’ll hopefully be back

Yeah, and like you said, the most noise is usually coming out of London, but what cities apart from London do you think have the best music scenes at the moment? 

I feel like Manchester is one of the best, like Aitch and Bugsy and those boys, its quite exciting. It’s also got a nicer balance of like Indie and Rap, like London is mostly rap, but Manchester let’s that bit breathe a bit, and it’s just a nice city overall. Like, am I right in saying Oasis is from Manchester? So, they’re already rich with musical culture. Leeds as well, Leeds is making a come up, going to Leeds and seeing the crowds it was crazy, people came up and showed out and supported. What are you saying, do you think Leeds is popping?

Yeah, so the other week I was at a venue called Headrow House, there’s this artist called ATO, he’s from Leeds, he was really good, he’s up and coming but put on a really good show, so I definitely think Leeds is getting a bit more buzz right now. 

That’s hard, that’s hard.

So, with Reading and all these big things happening, what’s the big thing you wanna achieve this year? The biggest milestone? 

I can’t lie, I really want a billboard, in like New York, that would be crazy. I don’t know how I can do that, but it’s achievable if I keep on doing what I need to do. Either that or like doing an interview on Radio 1, and actually having my voice broadcast, especially coming from an immigrant family, putting a Zimbabwean kid on the mic, chatting about his music - not a lot of kids from my background go into music so I think it would be cool. 

That would be really cool. If you could make music with any musicians, who would they be? Top three dream collaborations.

Ooh, okay. I’m gonna say Kanye West off the bat, the vision is immaculate. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is like one of the best executed albums of the last twenty years. I keep giving him excuses, but I don’t think anyone could have made Donda but him, it could have been better, but the vision is crazy. Too many iconic songs, from Black Skinhead, to Gorgeous, to Runaway, he’s always on it, and the fashion and stuff, overall I think he would be a good mentor and good collaborator.

I’d say as well, Arca. She’s so cool, she’s crazy like, I fell in love with one of her songs when I was watching this Louis Vuitton men’s runway and it was her, and she’s sick – and I found out she did production for Kanye, she produced ‘I’m In It’ from Yeezus. She produced something else too, I can’t remember what it was but it was like ‘yo, the sounds are crazy’, and then fast forward to the stuff she’s doing with Charli XCX and SOPHIE, I was like ‘this is cold, this is someone who really knows what they’re doing’, and I’d love to be in the studio with her when she’s cooking up shit. 

Ah, this is a hard one this last one…

What if it was a producer? If you could get a beat from anyone. 

Hmm…That’s a sticky one as well. I don’t really like working with people in a similar lane to me, cause then there’s not really any room to have different shit in the mix. I tend to want people that are doing something different. I might have to get back to you on that one, I might have to think in the back of my head.

What about your dream festival to perform at? It could be anywhere.

Oh, mate, Camp Flog Gnaw. It’s so crazy, that one has to be that I have to keep my eyes on. I’m just a big fan of Tyler in general – I might have to say Tyler to be fair, he’s someone that always evolves and he’s one of the reasons I’m not really afraid to get a little weird and find peace with being different. He’s been like that all of his life, and he’s just produced three classics. He’s 3 for 3 right now. 

Three in a row, back-to-back, it’s insane. 

Mad, right? He had the album of the year this year! 

What are your other albums of the year, this year? 

I think Tyler’s is up there, Keem’s as well was really impressive, I can’t lie. I think Billie Eilish’s new record too, I liked the deviation from her usual soundscape. I forgot what it’s called but there’s one that’s like synthwave, and I was like ‘yo this is getting played on Radio 1’. I feel like she opened the door for that and synthwave is getting played on Radio 1 when builders are working on the scaffolding, do you know what I mean? It’s crazy, it’s so cool

Yeah, I think for someone that’s such a big popstar, it’s really cool that she’s taking risks because you wouldn’t expect that from such a big artist. 

Yeah, it’s like pushing the boundaries. It was so sick. Apart from that, I haven’t been listening to much albums, I wanna listen to the James Blake one and the Little Simz one, I feel like Little Simz is one of the biggest things coming out the UK right now. 

Slowthai’s was really good too.

Oh I forgot about that, you know! Did you prefer that over Nothing Great About Britain? 

I think they’re both really good, Nothing Great About Britain is definitely a grimier sound, but this one has more American influence but there’s so many great tracks. I probably prefer Nothing Great About Britain a little more.

I feel like his new one had a little more grunge like, but yeah I agree. 

He was really good at Parklife. 

PinkPantheress just dropped her album today too. 

Yeah, I can’t wait to listen to that.

Yeah, she’s killing it. I think those are like the main ones though. Frank Ocean’s apparently pending, so that one might be the one. That might be the album of the millennium, hopefully. 

So, can we expect any live dates soon? 

I can’t say anything too much, the only thing about live stuff is that it’s gonna be more intimate, I’ve kind of taken a page out of Slowthai’s ‘Pay What You Can’ tour, I think it’s called? Prioritising smaller, more intimate, better quality shows, than packing out arenas or supporting some big artist. I kind of wanna meet my people, and say hi, and connect, you know? If the stakes are rising, I wanna see all the people that are making it easier for me. That’s the goal. I can’t say much more but it will definitely be centred in the north like Leeds, Birmingham, Hull, Manchester.

Ok, I did this in the last interview and it was quite fun… I’m gonna do some quick fire ‘ones gotta go’ questions. You choose one that stays, one that goes. 

Biggie or 2Pac? 

Biggie.

Frank Ocean or Tyler, The Creator? 

Frank Ocean.

Childish Gambino or The Weeknd? 

Childish Gambino.

Nas or Jay Z? 

Jay Z.

D’Angelo or Erykah Badhu? 

D’Angelo. 

OutKast or A Tribe Called Quest?

OutKast. 

Young Thug or Drake? 

Drake.

Kendrick Lamar or J Cole?

Kendrick, oh, Kendrick! Anyone that says J Cole, like J Cole is great don’t get me wrong, but Kendrick Lamar, we’re chatting about the goat… 

Stevie Wonder or James Brown? 

Stevie Wonder.

A$AP Rocky or Travis Scott? 

Travis. 

Playboi Carti or Lil Uzi Vert?

Playboi Carti.

SZA or Kali Uchis?

SZA.

Lauryn Hill or Missy Elliott? 

Missy Elliot. Oh, that one’s hard! They’re both amazing.

Lil Baby or Gunna? 

Lil Baby.

Slowthai or Little Simz?

Slowthai.

Headie One or AJ Tracey? 

AJ Tracey.

Kano or Dizzee Rascal? 

Dizzee.

Daniel Caesar or Sampha?

Oof! Oh no, no, no… You can’t do that! Fuck, I’m gonna have to say… Daniel Caesar. That one’s hard, how could you do that?

Rejjie Snow or Loyle Carner? 

Rejjie. 

Snoop Dogg or Dr. Dre? 

Snoop.

Some great picks there man… Thank you so much for talking with me today man, I genuinely can’t wait to hear your EP. Make sure to check out Downtown Kayoto’s music. Is there anything you want to say to everyone?

Yeah, navigate to the world, let’s rise! New EP, start of a new chapter, we’re ending one but we’re starting a new one.

Perfect, thanks for joining me man. 

Check out Downtown Kayoto’s music here.