Meet cathy kio, A Beautiful Artist With A Soothing Voice

 "I've always loved music from a young age. My mum and I would sing around the house and each one of us played a different instrument. It was only when I got towards the end of high school that I realised I really loved it and wanted to do it for the rest of my life."

Full name: Catherine Obla

Stage name: cathy kio

Nationality: British 🇬🇧Nigerian🇳🇬

Genre: Indiepop

Started music: 2020

About:

cathy kio is a british Nigerian upcoming-and-coming musician with a deep passion for music. She has been writing since she was eight and singing earlier than that, but started her official career mid 2020. She has a unique genre which she describes as Indie pop but comes with some peculiarities.

"I would describe my genre as indie pop. More specifically, it's a mixture of soft indie and light pop with some shoegaze and lofi influences."

What do you intend to achieve with your songs?

For cathy, music connects people despite location, belief and more. She wants a border less force, flowing through her music to the minds of her listeners.

"I would love for songs to be listened to by many different people of  diverse backgrounds. I love that no matter where we come from, we can be united by songs. Music is a universal language."

Who are your favorite artists?

Amongst many artists dear to cathy, she named four exceptional artists. 

 Filipino-British singer and song writer Beatrice Laus popularly known as Beabadobee, who had much influence in cathy's early music experience; Samuel Thomas Fender an English Singer, songwriter, musician and actor who also had some late influence on cathy's music; Aretha Louise Franklin, and American singer and song writer often referred to as the "queen of soul" and validates cathy's mixed style of singing ;  lastly Eunice Kathleen Waymon alias Nina Simone, an American singer, songwriter, arranger and human right activist. 

"Nina Simone is a timeless queen who I look up to when I need the strength of character to work past the challenges that face me. I love all of them so much. There are a few more too but those currently stick out the most."

What advice do you have for an up-and-coming artists?

With her experience so far in the industry, Cathy advises artists to put in the work. For her, having the desire to be a successful musician is one thing and putting in the work is another.

"I've learned very quickly that you REALLY have to want it. And not just want it, but be willing to spend most of your waking hours working on or planning your music career. " 

cathy strongly believes in absolute and utter dedication coupled with perseverance.

What challenges did you face while starting and how did you overcome them?

Like most other startup activities, choosing a name could be so vital to the entire work. cathy admitted her initial challenge in getting a suitable stage name for her self.

 I went from 'Yiesiv', which is my middle name, to 'Yellow' and then to Cathy kio. I changed it from Yiesiv because I couldn't get used to people calling me it, and no one could pronounce it properly, (Yes- iv). 

Then I went to Yellow because it's my favourite colour and aesthetic at the time, but it was incredibly unsearchable and no one could ever find my account or music! Annabelle, one of my songs ended up being put under a different account on spotify even. Then I chose cathy kio (lower case) because cathy is already a nickname of mine and kio is a name already in my family. I thought it had a cute ring to it too.

Also, she had some anxiety about posting, with a major concern on likes and  post engagements, but later decided to turn of the like count to ease off the anxiety.

" I try to see my Instagram as a way of connecting with my audience, I won't care about likes - they already like me!"

************************

Social media:

 Instagram

*************************

Streaming link:

 Spotify