Enter Katy B. On paper, an ideal contender to finally bridge the gap between the pop charts and the pirate stations. Educated at London’s prestigious BRIT School of Performing Arts (alma mater of Adele, Amy Winehouse, Imogen Heap, Jessie J and Jamie Woon, to name a few) but born and bred on the mean south London streets of Peckham, Katy combines a rough-as-fuck upbringing and street attitude with a genuine appreciation for and understanding of what makes good music – and what sells lots of records. Her debut album On A Mission has been lauded by critics up and down the country, calling Katy “the best of a new wave bringing the sound of the underground to the charts”, and “the singer to take London’s urban scene into the spotlight”. When Katy calls me from her mum’s kitchen in Peckham, she explains that it was never meant to be this way.
“At the time when I was writing the album I liked going out, I liked clubbing – that was just such a big part of my personality – and I just wanted to incorporate the kind of music that was such a big part of my life at the time when I was writing the album,” she explains. “I thought the album might sell, like, 1,000 copies. Then we put the video for [debut single] Katy On A Mission on YouTube, and it had like 500,000 views in a couple of days. I couldn’t understand it.” Although she’s as surprised as anybody by the reaction to the album, it’s clear from speaking to Katy that she certainly didn’t stumble upon this success by accident. When I ask her about UK funky, the grime-house fusion genre that’s sweeping Britain at the moment, she speaks with knowledge and authority on the subject. “Funky came about when DJs who’d been used to playing only garage started playing house music too, but because of the influence in London of grime and bashment and 2-step, it came out sounding not really like house – [so] we called it ‘funky'”.
When you listen to On A Mission, you can hear the staggering range of influences this lady takes in when she’s making her music. As well as the obvious elements of dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass (due in no small part to the album being produced by UK dubstep trio Magnetic Man among others), there’s also smokey lounge and café del mar tones on tracks like Movement and Hard To Get, while Power On Me, Easy Please Me and Go Away contain more high-NRG, bass-driven production that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Flux Pavillion tune. Interestingly, the latter three songs all deal with a common lyrical theme on the album, that of frustration with men; be it with their annoying and ‘cheesy’ come-on lines, or their reluctance to open up and show their sensitive side. I ask Katy if she’s had some rough luck with the fellas recently… “I’m not a man-hater – I know there’s obviously some lovely guys out there – but I definitely have been messed around. Everyone’s had their heart broken, and having your heart broken makes for writing good songs.” Her singular focus on the end result is typical of Katy – throughout our conversation, it’s clear that she sees all of life’s little distractions as possible influences on the most important thing: her music.
Katy is coming to Australia for Parklife Festival later this year, alongside her UK dubstep comrades Magnetic Man, Nero and Example. When I ask her how she thinks an album described as so inherently British will translate to an Australian audience, she doesn’t seem worried… “I think it’s got a universal appeal to it. People in Australia love to dance, just like people in England do. I went over to Poland to play a festival recently and I was really nervous, because it was one of the first shows I’d done outside England, but they were just going mental, really full-on proper raving.”
So, how does Katy stack up as a candidate for the new champion of chart-friendly British urban music? Intelligent: check. Soulful: check. Edgy: check. But crucially, is she hard-working. or will she be sitting back and riding this unexpected success for as long as she can? “No way,” she says, resolutely. “I don’t want to be playing the same set next year as I’m playing this year. I’m gonna definitely get back in the studio as soon as I can. I can’t wait.”
