WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS - PHOTOGRAPHY ADAM A
One to not follow the crowd, Halo Kitsch emerges with her energetic and empowering new track 'I Was A Virgin (On Drugs)'. The single is a retrospective body of work, mixed with rock riffs and defiant lyrics that aim to liberate its listeners. Using the metaphor of a delicate daisy, it conveys the message that they cannot be cut down. F Word chatted with Halo Kitsch to delve into the background of her intriguing name, the meanings behind the music, and what we can anticipate in the future...
Maisie Daniels: Hey Halo, welcome to F Word! What’s something you’d like to take into 2024 and leave behind in 2023?
Halo Kitsch: Hi!!!! Thanks for having me! Yay! Ok I’ve thought long and hard about this. I brought a hula hoop into 2024. Great work out I swear. I’m trying to be more conscious of staying in shape because we’ve been playing lots of shows. And leaving in 2023, I think I’ve left acrylic nails. I want to be playing guitar more often. I saw Kacey Musgraves play guitar at Coachella one year, I don’t know what kind of witchcraft that was. I still think about that sometimes. I’ve tried it, I can’t do it. I’d love to say “insecurity! is a thing of the past! I left it in 2023 the same way my mom left her microwave, she’s already redone the kitchen and not looking back” but for obvious reasons, I’m just going to stick with acrylic nails. I really miss my mother’s microwave.
MD: Why the name Halo Kitsch?
HK: It's sort of came to me in a dream-like vision... It's the second time in my life that I've experienced words in my imagination scramble themselves. Halo Kitsch is the derivative of three names, names of idols of mine -two artists, one actor (it's kind of strange/random his name was included actually, I must've been deep in a binge of Friday Night Lights). I felt like Halo Kitsch was a dynamic title that captured both my delicate, feminine, optimistic side while also being punchy enough to represent my rebellious edge.
I took a poll on my personal instagram between KillLucky and Halo Kitsch. (I'd come up with the name KillLucky when attending an ASCAP convention and listening to a successful billboard rated artist say she went to a party and met a producer and got 'lucky'). Anyways, everyone in the poll voted KillLucky so I went with Halo Kitsch. Also, KillLucky sounded a little bit like I was a dog murderer, and I love dogs so, once I thought of it that way, my decision was made.
MD: Your latest single I Was A Virgin (On Drugs) is a very honest, defiant and empowering track; can you tell our readers about it?
HK: ‘I Was a Virgin (On Drugs)’ to me is sort of a flashback track. Time changes your reflection in the mirror, and it was the first time I’d written about something that far back in my life, which was really fun, exploring those emotions like they were present. I heard the term “daisy cutter” in Avatar 1, it’s Michelle Rodriguez’s line about invading Pandora. Man against nature. I’ve always found it to be so thought provoking. The way I interpret it, a daisy cutter is trying to strip someone of beauty, innocence, purity, hope, just because they can. But the daisy could represent anything you want! Who the heck chops up a flower? If I was a daisy… what circumstances in life were trying to cut me down? I hope that it’s both relatable and empowering in that way. Everyone I’ve ever met in life had someone or something trying to stunt their growth, and now, instead of saying of that thing or person, “they’re jealous of you” or “they’re just a loser” or “life is so unfair” ... we’ve coined a new category that encompasses all of that… “Shake it off girl, fricking daisy cutters, that’s all.” Currently, I’ve just had a Reel do “well” on Instagram. Lots of daisy cutters. I find it comforting to have a word for it. And I’m one tough daisy.
MD: What would you like people to take away most from the track?
HK: My hope is that the track leaves its listener with the powerful feeling that they are the daisy that can't be cut.
MD: What do you find to be the biggest challenge as a female in your industry?
HK: Perverts, mostly. I don’t know. Cue Taylor Swift’s ‘The Man.’ I guess I just hate that I have to be more careful… going alone to a studio session with a new producer is a good example. Like, I’ll probably never do that, what if I missed out on a great opportunity? Another example would be like recently two members of my favourite musician’s team reached out in my DMs and I thought maybe they’d liked my music. I was so excited {laughs}. Turned out all conversation was just leading to a late night “Wyd” -.- . So all that sucks yeah, but I don’t know what challenges men deal with. I try not to see any of my obstacles too gender based because I take so much power in being a woman.
MD: Is there anything you’re currently working on?
HK: Yes I'm playing an intense game of Connect 4. I'm nearly undefeated. I've made a map to what I want my first full length album to look like, and I'm chipping away, writing constantly. But when inspiration hits, say, I'm inspired by something that I don't think fits in my vision of the album, I allow myself to explore "offshoots" of this map. Those are the songs that may or may not become singles to fill the gap in between now and the day that the time has come to attack a project as big as an album. We'll see. I'm far more decisively prophetic in a game of Connect 4.
MD: What genre could you see yourself experimenting with for a future project?
HK: I wanna fricking rap so bad, the problem is, I'm so bad. I'm mediocre. I could maybe get there one day, I'mma keep trying. I've literally written raps in at least two songs (one of them became the bridge in 'I Knew Not To') and the others I chickened out.
MD: And to round things up, what’s your favourite F-word?
HK: Frankly, I'm going to pass on the few that come to mind as both phonetically fun and by whose definition I'd consider my top F words (flux, fortuitous, fornication, flirt, flaccid, fickle… Friday), in favour of one that holds sentimental value. Jillian added "frick" to my vocabulary, which she most commonly used in the statement "Frick it up!" as a sort of like substitute for "Nice!" or "Good job!" She was so fun, so energetic and the phrase kinda feels the same way - its spread like wild fire throughout my inner circle, we all say it and it makes me smile every time.
