Amanda Rosemary Kakia, popularly known as kakia, is a 22-year old artist hailing from Namibia in Southern Africa. She is known for her gentle vocals, intimate, introspective lyrics and minimalist production. She tackles themes of love, loss and mental health in her lyrics.
In the fourth quarter of 2022 she released her debut EP titled, “coming down” — a 4-track body of work packed with emotion and passion. The title of the EP came about when she was working on ‘you haven’t left yet’, the final track on the project. “I liked the idea of the songs being a story and at the end of it letting out a sigh of relief and coming down from all that was going on in my head during the creating process,” she explains.
Regarding the process of creating this beautiful project, she says she first spent a few months where she just wasn’t writing or making any music at all. However, that all changed when she finally wrote, ‘u can’t make me smile’ a heartbreakingly beautiful and honest song detailing her experience with being with someone that she knew wanted to be with her so badly and be good to her but it just wasn’t working.
“After all their efforts, I still felt alone and I felt bad for them because I knew it would never work out. I had to understand those feelings and that someone can want good for you but can also not be good for you at the same time.”
There are plenty of songs written on the subject of unrequited love but there are few that capture the pain of being the object of that affection. kakia offers an interesting perspective to this experience. When you listen to her music, you can hear the influences of the likes of Bon Iver, Mitski and Billi EIlish. However, she still finds a way to make it her own unique sound that is true to her.
After writing ‘u can’t make e smile’, a few more months went by where she was writing but not connecting with any song but it all changed when she finally wrote ‘haven’t left yet’ — a deeply personal song on loss, acceptance and letting go. “Until that point I wasn’t planning on releasing an EP, but after that song I felt like I needed to share what was on my mind in a project,” she explains.
This song was mainly inspired by the dreams she still has of a friend that passed away when they were teenagers. She wanted to write about how she hasn’t left her yet even though it’s been years since she passed.
“Death is something that scares me because once that person is gone, they’re gone for good. Through these dreams I have of her, I feel like she’s assuring me that she’ll always be with me.”
In another way, she says this song was inspired by all of her friends that she was going to be leaving behind in Namibia as she was going to be moving to the Unites States. “I wanted to let them know that no matter how far away we are, I’ll always be back to see them. Because I started the project with 'nightmare’ I wanted the end of the project to feel like a dream.”
This is also the song that she feels most proud of on the project because it changed her outlook on what her music can sound like. “I love how randomly it happened and how much fun I had producing and recording the song. It really was an experiment that went right and is now one of my favourite songs I’ve made. Ever since then I try to remember that creating music doesn’t mean creating perfection but rather capturing a moment.”
The only song on the EP to get a video release is a song called, ‘your song’ — a song that feels like a breath of fresh air, a new chance at something special. The idea for the visuals started with many FaceTime calls between her, Saara Iita and Shili Munyama (the directors of the music video) who took kakia’s initial ideas and wanted to translate them into something of aesthetic quality, while representing the love story that the song is based off of.
“We took a lot of inspiration from the person that the song is about. They have all these cool tattoos so we thought to incorporate that into being a big part of the music video,” explains kakia.
“I can be very judgemental about what I make, and waste so much time wondering if any of it is good enough. After making the EP, I felt proud that I was able to produce something alone that I loved and felt connected to. I had also gone through a rough year so it felt good to be able to put those thoughts into music and actually feel good about what I had created.”
While the first half of the EP focuses on heartbreak and the heavy feelings, the second half is all about healing and finding new perspective. From a song like ’nightmare’ which is basically a passionate voice recording of kakia’s friend lecturing them on how they had to start choosing better partners when it comes to love.
“I made that song to be a permanent reminder that firstly, we should listen to our friends more, and secondly, no person is worth jeopardising your mental health for. It was a literal nightmare remembering what was going on during that time in my life and know that my friends felt that pain with me.”
With her debut EP out the way, kakia is now working on new music and growing her skills as a producer as she prepares for her next chapter. “I’ve been producing a lot, so right now I’m practicing to get even better at that and make songs and projects that I’m really proud of. I want to make sure that everything I put out is really good and feels right.”
