In a candid conversation, independent artist and producer Keya Kass talks about making music while working a regular job, building her creative identity, learning the business behind the art and why she isn’t interested in following the usual path.
There is a particular kind of confidence that comes from knowing you are still at the beginning.
Keya Kass has it.
She isn’t speaking from the position of someone who has already made it. She is still releasing music, experimenting with production, figuring out her creative identity and building an audience.
But ask her where she wants to go, and the answer is considerably bigger.
“I don’t want to be known just because I make songs. I want people to know me as someone who creates things.”
That distinction seems to define the way Kass approaches her career.
Q: You describe yourself as an artist, but you’re also involved in production and the creative side of your projects. Why is that important to you?
Keya Kass: I think I have always been curious about what happens behind the scenes. If I have an idea, I don’t want to just hand it over to somebody and wait for the final product. I want to understand how we get from the idea in my head to something people can actually hear and see.
For me, that’s part of being an artist now. You can’t only think about the song. You have to think about the whole world around it.
Q: Do you think artists today have to be entrepreneurs too?
Keya Kass: Definitely. Maybe not everyone wants to call themselves an entrepreneur, but if you’re independent, you’re already doing a lot of those things.
You’re thinking about your brand, your audience, your content, your money, your collaborations, your releases.
You are making creative decisions and business decisions at the same time.
I actually enjoy that part. I like understanding how things work.
Q: You’ve also been balancing music with a professional career. How do you manage that?
Keya Kass: It’s not always easy. There are definitely days when I wish I had more time.
But I’ve also stopped thinking that I need to have everything figured out before I can start building something.
I work, I come back, I create. Sometimes I’m tired, sometimes I have a lot of ideas and no energy, and sometimes it’s the complete opposite.
But I think if something matters to you, you find a way to keep going.
Q: Does having a regular job change the way you look at being an artist?
Keya Kass: It probably makes me more realistic.
Music is something I love, but I also understand that building a career takes time. I don’t want to romanticize the struggle, but I also don’t want to rush the process just because I want things to happen quickly.
I’d rather build something properly.
Q: What does “building something properly” mean to you?
Keya Kass: Having ownership.
Knowing what I’m creating.
Understanding production.
Understanding visuals.
Understanding how to communicate with an audience.
And eventually building a team around me without losing the creative control that made me want to do this in the first place.
Q: Is there pressure to make yourself look more successful than you actually are, especially on social media?
Keya Kass: Of course there is.
Social media makes it very easy to look like everything is happening all the time.
But I don’t want to create a fake version of my life just because it looks better online.
I’m still building.
I think there’s something powerful about saying that honestly.
Q: Your music often comes from personal experiences. Is it difficult to turn something personal into something public?
Keya Kass: Sometimes.
But that’s also why I create.
There are things I can’t always explain by talking about them. I can write them.
When it comes to creating art, that’s how I express myself.
And once you put something personal into a song, you don’t really control how people interpret it anymore. Someone might hear it and connect it to a completely different experience in their life.
I actually like that.
Q: Your latest single, “Dekhta Raha,” deals with a fairly emotional subject. What do you hope people take away from it?
Keya Kass: I don’t necessarily want people to take away one specific thing.
If someone listens to it and thinks about something they’ve experienced, that’s enough for me.
Sometimes you don’t need a song to give you an answer. Sometimes you just need it to make you feel understood.
Q: What do you think people misunderstand about independent artists?
Keya Kass: I think people sometimes see the final product and assume everything happened easily.
They don’t see how many decisions go into one release.
There are so many things happening behind the scenes — writing, production, recording, visuals, content, distribution.
And when you’re independent, you’re often involved in all of it.
It’s a lot, but I also think that’s what makes it exciting.
Q: What kind of artist do you ultimately want to become?
Keya Kass: I don’t know if I can give you one exact answer yet.
I’m still discovering that.
But I know I don’t want to be a copy of somebody else.
I want people to hear something or see something and know it came from me.
That’s probably the biggest thing for me.
Q: And where do you see yourself a few years from now?
Keya Kass: Hopefully somewhere much bigger than where I am now.
But I don’t just mean numbers or followers.
I want to have built something that has my name on it — music, creative projects, collaborations, maybe things I haven’t even thought about yet.
I know it may take longer for me.
But what I’m building, people will know my name one day.
For now, Kass is still in the building stage.
Five singles into 2026, with more music and creative projects ahead, she is experimenting, learning and gradually defining what her version of an artist looks like.
Perhaps that’s what makes the conversation interesting.
She isn’t presenting a finished success story.
She’s talking about the process while she is still living it.
And in an industry obsessed with overnight success, there is something refreshing about an artist who seems more interested in building a career that lasts.
