Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Lindsay Kay

Canadian singer-songwriter Lindsay Kay has put forth a new collection of songs, and you don’t want to miss them. Centered around womanhood and femininity, the project was made start to finish by women and female-identifying pros. Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with this exciting new voice about her album, For the Feminine, by the Feminine.

PC: How did you discover your passion for music?
Lindsay: I was fortunate enough that my mother noticed an affinity for music in me very early in my life and gave me opportunities to explore that. I was in children’s choirs, voice and piano lessons, and dance classes, but when I started having opportunities to perform solos in the choirs, sing in school talent shows, or just step out on the stage alone and express myself, that’s really when I started to get addicted to the feeling and there was no turning back.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Lindsay: I’ve certainly been very inspired by great artists and songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, but actually, being able to travel and experience art and culture in different places around the world has been hugely important to my work and point of view.

PC: What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned being a part of the industry?
Lindsay: There’s no right way to do things, and if something feels wrong or bad, even if it’s the thing everyone says you absolutely must do, don’t force yourself to do it. There’s always another way.

PC: You just released a new music video for your single, “Lush Life”. How did you come up with its concept?
Lindsay: The video is a behind the scenes look at the making of the song. We had a videographer in the studio with us the morning that we recorded the song. It was really cool to go back to that footage and remember that day and provide folks with some insight into the process!

PC: “Lush Life” is a single off your debut album, For the Feminine, by the Feminine. What inspired the album?
Lindsay: The album was inspired by the feelings of pain and frustration that were coming to the surface of both me and the women around me. It’s a meditation on femininity and womanhood and the ways in which women compress themselves to make space for men. Those thoughts were really at the forefront of my mind in late 2016 and early 2017 when I was writing the bulk of the album.

PC: If you had to pick one song that best encompasses the album, what would it be and why?
Lindsay: I think “Too” really encompasses the purpose and message behind the album. The song is a realization and awakening to the fact that even though we as women have been taught since birth to take care of everyone else, to compress ourselves to make space for men, to be quiet and let the men speak, and to starve ourselves to be desirable, we need space and care and nourishment too. It took me a long time to find those words, but once I did, the song spilled out quite quickly.

PC: As we look ahead to the rest of 2019, what does the year hold for you?
Lindsay: I’m feeling very excited about performing these songs live, and just got home from two wonderful concerts in Calgary and Toronto. I hope to continue performing this music as much as possible this year and to go on tour in the fall and winter.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Lindsay: Keeping Up with the Kardashians

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Lindsay: High School Musical

PC: Favorite book?
Lindsay: Just Kids by Patti Smith

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Lindsay: Angels in America! I saw it in New York last summer when Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane were performing it on Broadway and it truly changed my life.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Lindsay: One Direction, and completely unironically! I love their music.

PC: First album you bought?
Lindsay: Baby One More Time by Britney Spears

PC: First concert you attended?
Lindsay: It was either Rod Stewart or Backstreet Boys—I can’t remember which happened first.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Lindsay: Joni Mitchell’s Blue, because it’s just perfect! The length of it was also very important to me. It’s a hugely celebrated album and is widely believed to be one of the greatest of all time, yet it’s very short. I’m a big fan of concise work, and that album gave me the confidence to release an eight-song album of songs that I deemed great rather than a twelve-song album with any filler material.

PC: Last show you binge-watched?
Lindsay: Selling Sunset on Netflix. It was everything I wanted it to be, which was a mindless lobotomy of a show to watch after rehearsals and performances to wind down. I loved it.

PC: Hidden talent?
Lindsay: Interior design

To keep up with Lindsay, follow her on Instagram, and pick up For the Feminine by the Feminine on Amazon Music, iTunes, or stream it on Spotify.