Artist Spotlight: Annika Kilkenny
By Neele Sophie Marx
Illustration by Anastaaijia Simutkina
In an ideal world, childhood is something we remember fondly when moving into adulthood. For a variety of reasons however, this is often not the case. Trauma comes in many forms and some we are only able to truly acknowledge when we leave childhood behind.
Starting a life of one’s own can be triggering as well as healing for many of us. We are growing, closing a chapter and beginning a new one. In order to do any of that, we have to confront some of our most inherit fears.
People process their experiences differently. Annika Kilkenny knew that she could no longer keep her emotions boiled up. It was time to stand up for herself. With that in mind, she went into her room, picked up her guitar and in twenty minutes, a nod to childhood was born. A song by the name of ‘Look Mom, I Made It.’
“I had quite a difficult primary experience and in secondary school, I had thought I had left it behind. But I hadn’t. I was so sick of being stuck in this version of myself, because primary school you, secondary school you, and college you are very different people. And I just wanted to close that version off.”
Annika started playing piano when she was six. It was her entryway into the musical realm. But after a while, it felt restricting to her. While she loves both the instrument, as well as the classical music era, she said it doesn’t leave much room for creativity. What she loves most about music is that you can show yourself to the world through your art. That’s when she picked up the guitar.
Annika Kilkenny is twenty years old and was born and raised in Kilkenny (her last name is, however, nothing more than a funny coincidence). She is currently in her second year studying music at the University of Galway.
When Annika was around seventeen, she wrote songs to get through school. As someone who breathes creativity, the school system, even though she liked it, conformed rather than enabled her to be her complete self. Increasingly music became her outlet. Yet for a long time, she was afraid to share that part of herself.
Finally, she built up the courage to play them to her friend Gráinne. Her friendship encouraged Annika to share her music with more people on TikTok. It was in April of 2022, in the middle of Leaving Certificate exams, when the record label ‘Tinpot Records’ reached out to her. It was one of the hardest choices she had to make, but she had to set a boundary and focus on school.
“I couldn’t talk about anything other than school, I totally thought that I had blown the opportunity.”
During the summer, they emailed her again. To Annika, it came as a complete surprise: “I remember running down to my mum saying ‘Oh they remembered me!’” They scheduled a call and recognising herself in their values and their ethos, Annika decided to sign the contract.
One year after being signed, Annika Kilkenny released her first single ‘Look Mom I Made It’. It is the first song of an EP that is to come out this year. “I want the EP and the music I am putting out to be a nod to childhood to say ‘thanks, but I am going to leave you behind’. So, it just made sense for ‘Look Mom I Made It’ to be the first single and the name.”
“The EP as a whole is very autumnal, very cosy, warm vibes and a lot of orchestration that involves strings. It is very September to December vibes.” By combining classical music with indie, Annika has created her own unique sound, which in combination with her gentle voice, goes right under one’s skin.
While the EP will be released in the later part of this year, a few singles will be shared beforehand. Her second single, ‘The Middle’, was released on the 29th of September and continues her narrative of leaving childhood struggles behind.
Annika got a lot of inspiration from the singer Laufey and her merging classical music with jazz: “Laufey is unreal. She fuses classical with jazz to create this modern pop genre that’s never been heard before. I kind of wanted to take inspiration from that but do it in my own way.” Other important influences have been Mika and Michael Bublé.
Annika has always felt more drawn to instrumental music: “I don’t want to say that there is more emotion in instrumental, cause that is not true. Lyrics can portray what music can’t sometimes. I just feel so strongly connected to music without words.”
She will hear a note, a chord or remember something someone said and knows what it would sound like in musical terms. Then, when she picks up her guitar, she will play a chord progression that portrays how the person or situation is feeling.
Annika’s raw talent and her ability to capture her emotions in both instrument and voice enables her listeners to explore their own complex feelings. For now her goal is to gig more and build up her portfolio: “It’s all about the music and spreading the love” and that is exactly what she is doing.
