Kii Kinsella ‘22, better known as SAINT KID, is a talented singer, songwriter, producer, and musician who has recently enjoyed success for his singles such as Hold Me Down, Problems, and Every Night. As someone who occasionally listens to Saint Kid’s music, I was curious to learn more about his musical journey. We scheduled a time to talk, and the following exchanges are some of the best moments of our conversation.
Jinho Park ‘22: Tell me a bit about yourself.
SAINT KID: I was born and raised in Ithaca. Both my parents make music. Right after I was born, my mom had a tour in Japan, so I was backstage with a guitar case. I feel like it’s impossible to separate me from music, it’s something I live and breathe.
JP: When we think about Saint Kid, we think about Saint Kid, the musician. But do you have any other interests? What else do you do?
SK: I’m really into fashion. I’m really into the idea of modeling, and how styles have changed through time is fascinating. But since school and music take so much time, I don’t find myself doing other things very often. It’s like the school day ends, and I’m already putting guitar down on a track and when I’m not working on making music, I’m responding to emails or getting features for other artists done. I’m really busy between music and school, so I don’t have time for much else.
JP: How do you balance school and music?
SK: In full transparency, I don’t balance it all. It’s a constant struggle—keeping all of my commitments is hard. So I think about what my priorities are. I’m not thinking about college right now, and the second I graduate, I want to go and make music full time. But it is a constant struggle of what really benefits me. Music and school are like two different lifestyles. When I was doing shows it was even more difficult to balance the two. I put on a show at the Haunt, October 18 last year, and when I organized that with Anthony Kannon, and I was selling tickets in the bathrooms. It was fun, but there was definitely a lot of time management involved.
JP: Do you see yourself as someone who likes to experiment, like to switch things up?
SK: One thing that I will always avoid is getting put in a box. I feel like someone’s going to expect something of me, and I’m gonna do the exact opposite. I do really like to branch out, do different things. I want to make a little of everything. I would rather be talked about as a rockstar, than a specific genre of artist, effortlessly switching between those lanes. I’ve got a ton of music coming out soon, and I’m excited because it’s all different.
JP: How do you want people to enjoy your music?
SK: Obviously, I want to make music that people can relate to, or music that helps people through whatever they’re feeling, but I make music as a way I can vent, or get things out. My entire life I’ve made music to cope, so I’m just grateful that there are people out there that like it. I always want to be dynamic—I want to be dropping different music all the time.
JP: Where do you get inspiration from your music? Is it from real life?
SK: I definitely draw inspiration for all of my music from events that happened in my life, between my experience growing up or aspirations. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from romantic aspects of my life. I talk about romance—heartbreak or falling in love. That’s something that’s in a lot of my songs. A lot of them are about my struggles with relationships or commitment—but that’s just where I’m at. I try and tell a story, and so it’s interesting listening back and thinking: this was the start, this was the middle, this was when it started to get bad. It’s like a story, you know—that storytelling is what music is all about.
JP: Describe your process of making and writing music.
SK: I write all of my own stuff, and I produce most of it too. My Voice Memos have a ton of ideas on it, like hundreds of guitar chords or melodies. Most of me making music is me going up to the studio, and saying what’s on my mind, and whatever I’m thinking about that night is what comes out. I like prewriting, and I used to prewrite a lot—up until Every Night, everything was prewritten. But now I find it hard to sing about a feeling that I don’t have anymore—I had it a few days ago, but I don’t feel it now, you know? So now, I just pull up to the studio, and I have long sessions, where I just put down melodies and lyrics. I’ll take the best parts and put a song together. Sometimes I’m working on a song and nothing comes, and I move on.
JP: Who else is in the studio working with you?
SK: I’m so grateful for the community in the studio around me. My engineer, David Brown, he records all my stuff—he’s the first one that hears anything that comes out of my mouth. He’s honest. If something isn’t as good as it can be, he’ll tell me. It’s great to have people around you who can be honest. But in the studio, I like to keep it a small group—there’s usually not more than 4 people around.
JP: What does an average day look like for you?
SK: An average school day… I wake up around 8:30. I shower, and then I join my first class. The second school’s over, I’m making music until 9, and then I do some homework until 12. Then I wake up and do it all over again.
JP: Who are your favorite artists right now?
SK: Post Malone, Dominic Fike, Brent Faiyaz, The Weeknd
JP: Describe the Ithaca music community.
SK: I think the Ithaca music community is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The community is full of talent. It has a lot of opportunities. If the right person finds this area and the talent here, it’s over, you know? I truly believe we have a ton of talented artists in the community. The coolest thing is the unity. We all support each other, we all work with each other, we hype each other you know. We’re all connected in some way, through features, shoots, or sessions.There’s a really strong sense of unity.
JP: I noticed that you’ve been dropping singles instead of longer projects (EPs, albums). What’s the reasoning behind that?
SK: I think it comes down to the fact that I’m changing so rapidly that by the time I had a project together, my sound would have changed. I have enough music to release five albums, but I don’t want to be put into a box or defined by my first album. I want to release singles because they give little glimpses as to who I am. Eventually, of course I’ll drop an album, but I’m sticking to singles right now. There’s also the whole issue of attention spans: nobody has got the time nowadays to sit through a whole album. Especially with TikTok and how social media is influencing music, singles are definitely the way to go in terms of marketing.
JP: As a highschool musician, there’s definitely a lot of stigma associated with that. How do you deal with the criticism?
SK: I’m aware of the stigmas, but I don’t let the talk bother me, from either end. There could be people hyping me up or people saying I’m trash, but I just do what I need to do. If I start listening to the critics, then I’m not going to feel as confident. If I listen to the people who always say I’m great, I’m not going to work as hard and I’m going to get comfortable. I can always get better at what I do.
JP: What is performing on stage like?
SK: For me, it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had. Being on top of stage, people singing your lyrics, being able to show people what you got, your art. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had. What goes into it makes it special too, running my set twice a day, making sure my mindset is right before the day of.
JP: Where do you want to go when you’re older?
SK: I wanna go to L.A. I know people there, but also that’s where the industry is. It’s the energy I’ve always wanted and appreciated. It’s like everybody’s going somewhere, and they’ve got somewhere to be. And I’ve got somewhere to be too. I like the pace of bigger cities. Just being in a big city and making music—that’s what I want.
Make sure to check out SAINT KID’s new single, “Location”. Out now on all platforms!