A Conversation with Kate Cosentino
Kate Cosentino is a 22-year-old singer songwriter who resides in Nashville, Tennessee. I connected with Kate through a mutual friend (shoutout Zoe), and we had much to talk about since she is an experienced songwriter with an EP on the horizon. Kate and I discussed the timeline of her making music and how her family is incredibly supportive of her chosen path in life. Regina Spektor, a singer/songwriter was a cited by Kate as a major inspiration in her musical journey, serving as the catalyst for her love of songwriting. Kate and I discussed our mutual love for Phoebe Bridgers and her meteoric rise into the public conscience as well as my lack of knowledge about Neil Young (embarrassing, I know). Kate gave me valuable insight into dedication to one’s artistry. Kate mentioned at one point she considered medicine, but if she was going to go into an uncertain job market regardless, she might as well work in music, something she loves and that she is good at. I also found her comparison of the music scene in Los Angeles and Nashville extremely interesting since she has experience in both locales after studying in LA pre-covid.
After our interview I was granted exclusive access to an unreleased track to serve as a teaser for her upcoming EP. I am very excited to hear more of what she has in the works and an update on the release date of her EP will be found here. The link the Kickstarter for her upcoming EP can be found below.
Please enjoy my interview with Kate Cosentino.
Nik: The first thing I really want to get into is the catalyst of your venture into music. Growing up was it a family member? Maybe a concert?
Kate: It’s very interesting thinking about it because this is what most musical people say but I’m the “black sheep” of my family. I’m the only musical one. I think the things that made me start liking music were Hannah Montana and Guitar Hero 3. With those two things, I went down the rabbit hole and I was like “this is so cool” and I was obsessed with Eddie Van Halen. So that made me really want to start playing guitar and I did when I was in the first grade. Then each year a new musical element came to me. In the second grade, I had a teacher say, “oh you should sing” so I started taking voice lessons. In third grade my voice teacher gave me a Regina Spektor CD and the minute I heard her songs I was like, “that, that is what I’m going to be doing. That is so weird and emotional” and it hit me that music could impact people. Something about her work made me realize that this is a service and I want to give that part of myself to people.
N: After that, was it an upward trajectory from there? At what point did you decide you wanted to go into the music business?
K: I think I’ve always known I was meant to be a musician. It’s funny I was like “cool I’m going to be a musician and a singer/songwriter and that’s it!” Since I was such a huge nerd and into school people would always tell me “oh you should be in STEM, you’re so smart you should be a doctor” so I think for a while I wanted to be a biomedical engineer or a programmer because of the flex of “I’m smart enough and I enjoy those things.” But fortunately, my parents were like “no, you are meant to be a musician, that’s not it.” Fortunately, my parents weren’t like, “be a doctor” they always said, “you are meant to be a songwriter.” Apart from a couple other random interests, I’ve always known I wanted to be in music. Music is where my talent and what I really cared about matched. It hit me in college that I could choose a different career path. But with every path, it’s going to be hard. Even if I went into medicine, jobs are still competitive, even if there seem to be more on paper. So, if I’m going to fight for something, it might as well be the thing I truly love.
N: When did the songwriting come about? Had you always been making songs and one day you decided to record? When did that songwriting begin?
K: The second I got that CD in the third grade and my voice teacher gave me a little journal and told me, “you should write.” From that day I’ve been a hardcore songwriter.
N: Do you ever look back at those third-grade journals? Do you find inspiration from there or is it just for sentimental purposes?
K: It’s both, it’s funny because every time I go home, I’ll pull out my old, falling apart Lisa Frank journal. Sometimes I’ll look at it and go “this is the cringiest thing” and read pieces like “butterflies in your eyes,” something horrible. Then other times I read it and think that maybe I was way deeper when I was twelve than I am now. Like what was I going through? Sometimes I’ll read that journal and think “wow she was way more edgy back then than she is now!”
N: A question I love to ask creative individuals is where do you start with a song? If you sit down one day and want to produce something, do you start with instrumentation, lyrics, melody etc.?
K: I mean there isn’t really a method to my madness, but somedays someone will say something, and I’ll be like “that’s it, I like that line, sounds like a song!” or something will happen to me and I write to process. It’s all lyric driven. But some days I’ll sit down with one of my guitars and just start messing around until I feel the mood. I’m a really big melody person so I’ll just start singing until words come out.
N: To build off that, do you like to allocate time and set a schedule for when you want to create or do you like things to naturally come to you?
K: I think I’ve gotten to a point where it’s my job, so I do have to schedule it to make it happen. And I tell myself no matter what that I’m going to work on it. That way when that lightning does strike and I have an inspirational moment, I am more equipped to handle it. But in some cases when the bug hits me, I’ve just got to leave what I’m doing. “No, I can’t finish this paper, I’m sorry I’ve got to write a song.”
N: I noticed in a few of your songs where you sing in the third person. Where does that third person voice come from?
K: I feel like writing in the third person for me is the way I like to tackle more difficult subjects. It’s like watching a movie, it helps me detach from it. I have a song called “Dirt on it” and it’s up to the listener to decide if it’s about a gay boy or a trans person. But it’s about a boy who’s dad is not happy about what’s going on. And I wrote it in the third person because for one it isn’t my experience, so I felt like it had to be written that way. I feel like if you are watching it happen, I’m not telling you how to feel, I’m showing you this is what is happening with the characters. I want you to be a voyeur and decide for yourself how you feel.
N: I also wanted to talk about the song “Harvest Moon.” I love the bossa nova vibe you went for with that song.
K: Yeah, that’s a Neil young cover. I originally recorded a demo in his style. It’s a hauntingly beautiful song, but then I tried a cool bossa nova version and that’s what we went with
N: Another song I really like is “18.” It feels like an extremely personal track. When we all turn 18 it’s a crazy time and it’s like an existential crisis. Could you delve into that song?
K: “18” is a song I love and I’m proud of it, but now when I sing it, I’m like “I’m 22, disclaimer!” For me it was dealing with the cool parts of becoming 18, like adulthood and reaching that age where people will take me seriously now, but also like “why didn’t I matter before? Why is my voice just now important to the government?” I call it my quarter life crisis song. When we turn 18, we expect to have so much more figured out and we don’t.
N: I remember listening to the lyrics and I like how you went decade by decade, pondering all these questions people are going to start asking you as you get older. I found that powerful that you were like reflecting on these things. Everyone when they turn 18 is like perplexed by this thing called life and we finally feel a semblance of connection because we can finally express ourselves and be taken a bit more seriously. This year has been a very weird year in the grand scheme of our lives, and I am really curious, how did it affect your music?
K: So, when corona hit in March I was studying in LA, I was interning and doing all this music stuff. I was living across from the Warner Brothers studio. It was so fun and great, but I was really overworking myself. I would wake up at 5am, go to the gym, do homework, then go work 9-5, come back, eat, try to write music, and pass out. As fun as it was, I knew it wasn’t sustainable. When the pandemic first hit, I wasn’t super inspired, I was just scared. I went home and I had all this time with my family. I decided that I was just going to take a break and enjoy them. For at least a month or so I didn’t touch my guitars at all. And then with Black Lives Matter and everything that started happening in the summer I was just horrified. There were too many important things happening in the world for me to be putting my stuff out there. And then as we stayed in quarantine and I no longer had schoolwork, I went into the phase of “I have way more time than I’m used to,” so I started doing this one riff a day challenge in January (Shout out She Shreds Media). For a whole month everyone who participated had to pick up the guitar, write a riff or learn a riff and post it on Instagram. I finally had time to learn some riffs I’d always wanted to learn. And it reignited that joy of being a kid and coming home and playing guitar because it’s fun. And that regenerated my love of music because I realized it had been years since I played for the fun of it. I hadn’t played a song that wasn’t for an assignment or for a gig. I learned a snippet of “Cliffs of Dover,” and I mean I’m probably never going to play it at a gig, but it was so fun because I was improving my skills and doing it for the heck of it.
N: What was the like, going from Nashville and the music scene there and then immersing yourself in the music scene of LA? What was that transition like?
K: You know, it's interesting, what I liked a lot about LA was just that everyone is more precious about their artistry and the people that they work with, which I respect a lot. But on the other hand, sometimes it feels like musicians, not all of them, are a little more scared that someone's going to take advantage of them, because to be fair someone might. There's more of a sense of fear there and more of a sense of having to vibe with another person, or we're not going to work together. LA people are like, “yeah, let's get a coffee, and then I'll see if you're cool.” Whereas in Nashville, it's like, “Okay cool, I have three sessions on Wednesday, I can pencil you in from eleven to one, and that's all you get. I'm leaving when that session is over.” What I like about Nashville is everyone's willing to collaborate with everyone, which can also be a bad thing, because then you get into too much. But I just like the spirit of nobody is too small. We're all growing together, which exists in LA, but it's just different. But also, I was there for three months, and I probably felt it was harder to get into the music scene because it was a short period of time. I came to Nashville, and I was at a music college with a million musicians. I already have built a network here. Whereas in LA I knew probably five people in the industry.
N: Is there a concert that you find influential? Was there any live performance you’ve seen that was especially captivating?
K: The best concert I've ever been to without a shadow of a doubt was The Presidents of the United States of America, that band. They were really popular in the 90’s and did a free show in Kansas where I'm from. It was three guys, the drum set was like half of the drum set, the guitar had three strings and the bass had two, but they rocked my freaking socks off. People were screaming these like hilarious, ridiculous songs. I was seeing such a dedicated fan base go crazy for these guys that were just having fun. And they were total dads. It was the best thing I've ever seen.
N: The last thing I really want to touch on is just about your vision for your upcoming EP. Is there any information you can share?
K: it is still definitely in the works. I have a track list of all songs that have been sitting on my shelf since college. I've written, I don't know, 300 songs or more in the past three and a half years. And so, figure I gotta record some of them! Initially, my thought was, to call it the anthology of college lovers and make it about all of my cringy and great and horrible dating experiences (which may still happen). But my songs that are about body image and other social issues are what I’m the most passionate about - so those may get sprinkled in there as well. basically, it’s my college experience in a nutshell.
I asked Kate at the end of our interview if she would like to share a piece of advice. Like every interview, I told her it could be anything she wants. This is what she told me:
“My friend's dad, Scott Horning told me once that ‘life is like a game of golf, because you only really spend a few minutes swinging, so you have to learn to enjoy the walk.’”