Acoustic artist Kina Grannis may have began her musical journey busking and uploading videos on YouTube, but now she’s an acclaimed songwriter and internet personality with over 1.3 million subscribers who have seen her sell out shows across the world…
She recorded and produced her debut album Sincerely, Me. at the start of 2006 while she was attending The University of Southern California. In August that same year, she managed to release two more albums, One More In The Attic and In Memory of The Singing Bridge, around studying social science, graduating with a degree in psychology a year later.
After her graduation, she began posting covers and originals on YouTube, with her very first upload ‘Message From Your Heart’ being entered in Doritos Crash The Super Bowl contest. The competition consisted of a public vote which lead to one song being shown during the the annual Super Bowl and the artist getting signed by Interscope Records. Grannis won, with ‘Message From Your Heart’ consequently reaching the Top 30 on iTunes and now amassing over 1.1 million views on YouTube. Although in regards to the record deal, she left Interscope a year later, noting her integrity as an independent artist.
After posting a mass amount of videos on YouTube and establishing herself on the platform, she released her next album Stairwells in 2010. It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and number 5 on their Top Internet Albums chart. It received high praise from publications such as Female First who referred to it as mature, well-crafted, soulful. The following year she won the title of SiruisXM’s The Coffee House Best Singer/Songwriter Discovery of 2010 after a huge public vote following Stairwells‘ release.
Her fifth album followed four years later in 2014 in the form of Elements, a 12-track collection of elegant and ethereal indie-folk songs. Taking a more sombre approach, Elements feels more alternative and dark, with blogger Rachel Ann Cauilan saying “Losing herself to her music at some moments and convincingly pleading on at others, the emotions explored throughout this album leave a feeling of comfort and satisfaction. Whether it is a feeling of connection or bliss, this album is an exploration of self.”
This June she released her most recent album In The Waiting, which continues with this matured and more emotionally-driven sound. It was released through her own label KG Records which was set up a year prior through crowd-funding on Patreon. Her most recent goal on the website was to reach 2,000 supporters which would be rewarded with a world tour. She has since met the goal and is currently at 2,205, while the tour itself coming to the UK in September with tickets on sale here!
Website – kinagrannis.com
Facebook – /kinagrannis
Twitter – @kinagrannis