Meet Kiki Rockwell, an Innovative New Artist Fresh to New Zealand's Indie Scene
Kiki Rockwell is an innovative new artist fresh to New Zealand’s indie scene. Her visceral storytelling and unique folk lore inspired world has captured the hearts of a huge online audience. She sat down with Ash Wallace to unpack her approach to creativity, and her first ever live performance at Ones to Watch.
The birth of Kiki Rockwell’s project is a ferocious and wild thunderstorm of events. House sitting at the Mount following a devastating breakup, she was stuck inside due to the weather with only a guitar – no internet, nowhere to go, and nothing to do but write. What transpired was a breaking of the dam that saw her release all the creative energy she had. Kiki describes the experience saying ‘song after song just came to me in full force, and I realised I had all of this creativity blocked up that needed to come out’.
After discovering her voice as a song writer, Kiki began a near obsessive pursuit of producing and recording her own music, instantly hooked by Garage Band. She taught herself the ins and outs of music productive, through trial and error finding the sonics that felt right for her stories and completely unique. ‘There are thousands of instruments and style, so how do you make it yours? I want to paint with the same palette but be original every time. If someone has done it before I have no interest in doing it again”.
The project has been influenced by a wide range or genres – with a father who loves blues, and a mother who loves world music Kiki has found herself using elements of a plethora of sounds – chanting, progressive rock, electronic, cowboy, and folk all under the one roof. Perhaps more definable than the sound itself has been her deep connection to Mythology. Both lyrically and in her visuals, Kiki has built a core world around the music that is heavily influenced by Folklore. Her recent EP ‘Bleeding Out In A Forest’ explores Mythology through a new lens, focussed on women throughout history and the forgotten stories of the past.
Her latest single ‘Cup Runneth Over’ was accompanied by an iconic music video directed by Oshara Ardelean. The video is a prime example of Kiki’s talent for storytelling, tracking a complicated dynamic between the queen and king, and their knights. Kiki is fascinated by costume and fantasy and has been since she was a child. “Initially it started with me being shy, so needing to tap into the theatrical side of myself. Being in the wilderness, and the play of childhood.” Now as she grows as an artist Kiki is focussed on building the universe she always envisioned for her music to embody, saying “the world of this came first, and music is the vessel”.
Fresh off her Ones to Watch performance, Kiki is excited to bring her vision to life on stage in future. Her performance style is highly theatrical and dramatic, and carries the world of her music videos on to the stage. ‘My main goal is to make the audience feel powerful and moved. I want them to feel something, and to host that feeling is such a blessing’ says Kiki.
