Digital Cover Story 46: Kings Elliot

“I must’ve been around 5 years old when my obsession with singing, music, and words started,” Swiss-born emerging talent Kings Elliot tells EQUATE. The singer, who is now based in London, is one of the many young, intriguing musicians who have made their debut over the past couple of years. Nonetheless, it’s her heart-wrenching piano ballads and storytelling lyrics that are not only resonating with millions of listeners and separating her from her peers but have also drawn comparisons to the likes of Billie Eilish and Kate Bush. “Honestly, I’ve seen those comparisons and can’t even compute that they’ve been made. There’s no world in which I can wrap my head around there being anything remotely on par with those two,” Elliot expresses, humbly.

“I write honest songs about things that I struggle with,” she continues. “I build a world with the sounds that to me feel soothing, sometimes euphoric and sad all at the same time, but I want the soundscapes to feel timeless and I hope I somewhat achieve that.”

She credits her mother’s record collection for influencing her passion for music growing up. The band Queen specifically left a huge impression on Elliot. “The choirs are epic,” she says. Her favorite era that she extracts the most influence from, however, dates back a little further. “From the movies I watched as a child and that I now watch for comfort and nostalgia, I picked up how beautiful the music is in those 30s and 40s cartoon films,” Elliot explains.

Pursuing a career in music full-time is easier said than done. In order to afford a roof over her head, Elliot did every job you could imagine just to get by while living in the UK’s capital city. “I worked at a record label, as a receptionist in a studio, a ticket scanner at a club, a barmaid, dating app content moderator,” she says before implying there were even more to name. In order to chase after her dream, Elliot had to “nudge my foot through cracks in the doorway little by little” and insists her foot isn’t all the way in the door yet. What she believes has been helping her make her breakthrough these past two years is “making the music I needed to hear and doing anything I possibly could to make sure as many people as possible heard it.”

People have definitely been listening to Elliot’s material. Her 2021 debut five-track EP, Chaos In My Heart, is already close to 10 million streams on Spotify alone and allowed her to do what every rising star wants to tick off their bucket list: a headline show. In March, Elliot performed at London’s The Waiting Room, where the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Wiz Khalifa have all played. No big deal.

Elliot’s introduction to the world came prior to that when she put out “I’m Getting Tired Of Me” in November 2020. Described as a “soothing lullaby,” the song is about self-loathing and accepting the part of you that you’d rather escape from. Like a lot of the new music that has been released over the past year and a half, her debut single, and the rest of the EP, were mostly created in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. “My closest, dearest collaborator halfrhymes and I had our own bubble and I’d spend about five days a week just living on the couch at his studio and working on the songs nonstop. I knew that if I didn’t release something in 2020 I just wouldn’t be okay,” she explains. With that said, Elliot was already in the music-making mode ahead of 2020’s unexpected turn of events. “We had been writing songs and producing them together for about two years before we ever released anything,” she shares.

“It was so surreal and so validating, not because I got a record deal or an agent, or any of those types of things, but because I got messages from people who had been moved by it, who had been helped by it, who had felt less alone because of it,” Elliot says about the overwhelming reaction the project had on fans. “Just one of those messages would have been enough for me to have my expectations exceeded.”

September 16 marked the release date for Elliot’s sophomore EP, Bored Of The Circus. Just like her debut, it also consists of five tracks and picks up from where she believes the previous left off from. “It’s a continuation and an evolution of a lot of the themes from the first EP, but approached in different ways. The production has evolved and the world has expanded,” Elliot explains. “As a songwriter, all I can do is write and record my truth and pour it into a body of songs, and this I have done very intensely with the latest.”

Unleashing music is still a daunting process for Elliot. In fact, she insists it’s the “most nerve-wracking” thing. “So much of it is out of your control from the second it comes out,” she says. “You can’t make any more changes and I LOVE making changes. But all I ever hope for is for someone to feel moved by what I made, that’s what makes it all worth it.”

“Hope” is the keyword that Elliot uses when asked what she wishes fans to take away from the new project. The EP closer, “Someday, Somewhere,” in particular is what she says is the “most hopeful song I’ve ever written,” declaring it as her very own “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” Elliot continues, “It’s the idea that maybe there’s a world where everything is okay and I don’t have to fight any demons in my mind anymore. To me, ending the EP with that is meant to leave the listener in Oz.”

Leading up to the release of Bored Of The Circus, Elliot embarked on a nationwide North American tour with Imagine Dragons and Macklemore where she performed to tens of thousands of people every night in arenas in amphitheaters, which is quite the contrast to her debut headline show at The Waiting Room that had an intimate capacity of 120 people. “It’s just crazy. It’s unreal. I still can’t believe it happened,” she says about the experience. “Getting the chance to perform to so many people and make a few new fans and friends every night is just so rewarding, it’s an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Support tours aren’t always the easiest. Especially if you’re attempting to warm up a crowd who may not be familiar with your music yet. Even though Elliot’s material thus far is ballad-heavy, she still found herself leaving the stage on a high, even if entering was a little intimidating. “It’s definitely scary to walk out there and sing your heart out about your deepest issues to people who have never heard of you and came to the show to have a party with Macklemore and Imagine Dragons,” Eliot admits. “But, the reactions honestly have been mind-blowing. People come up to me after the show, sometimes in tears, having felt understood by my lyrics and that is more than I could ever wish for.”

A career highlight took place on the same tour. On her birthday, in fact. “We were playing in Denver, Colorado, and towards the end of my set, suddenly my tour manager shows up on stage with a cupcake, and as I turn around so many of the people from the tour had come out on stage, including Macklemore, to sing happy birthday to me with the 20,000 people,” she explains. “My dad had flown in from Switzerland and was in the audience, and it was just entirely surreal I was fighting tears right until the end of my set.”

As previously stated, Elliot’s material up until this point has been full of tender, stripped-back ballads, which only makes sense to wonder if any up-tempo/upbeat songs are on the cards. The answer to that is not right now. But, she is hopeful there will be one day. Another running theme with Elliot’s music is the sad, sorrowful lyrics that tug at the heartstrings. While sharing tender and personal stories can be deemed as a vulnerable thing to do, Elliot finds it easier to write from that place. “Only because when I sit down to write a song, so much of it is therapeutic for me. What I need to get out so often are the sad or hard parts and it’s what I love doing,” she says.

Elliot’s ambition is to be in this game for the long haul. “I want to be able to keep doing what I love, and hopefully make a positive impact in as many people’s lives as possible. I want to have helped people de-stigmatise talking about their fears and troubles,” she shares. But, it’s not just music she wants to succeed in. “I want to open my own animal sanctuary and help as many animals as I possibly can,” Elliot adds.

As far as music breakthroughs go, Elliot is on the right path to superstardom. Her songs are rapidly increasing in popularity, she’s already embarked on a huge overseas tour, and headline shows of her own are already becoming a regular thing. If you’re yet to delve into her back catalogue, just go listen to her EPs and you’ll easily be won over.

On September 28, Elliot will perform her biggest solo show to date at Omeara in London.

Watch the video for ‘Ashes By The Morning’ lifted from her ‘Bored Of The Circus’ EP – 

Stream ‘Bored Of The Circus’ below –