Written by Lauren Rosier
The NY-based multilingual singer, songwriter, and producer, Kentö, shares a new track out today, “Silhouette,” that authentically represents himself. For the past 8 years, Kentö has been creating his own music and writing songs that tell personal stories about his own life experiences.
He says the inspiration for “Silhouette” came to him when he was watching the Olympics’ interviews: “I saw Adam Rippon in an interview during the Olympics. He was full of joy. The best. The coolest. Unafraid to be so visibly himself. If I was younger and I saw someone on TV representing such freedom and self-love, I would be inspired by that. I aspire to be that. I wrote this song imagining myself as a kid and thinking about what I would tell my younger self.”
“Silhouette” is the first single off of Kentö’s upcoming album, Strangers, due out for release later this year. Kentö is inspired by artists like Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, Kate Bush, and Peter Gabriel; and reveals, “I feel like I’m finally making music that is really expressing the sounds that have been in my head all along.”
Kentö was born in Northern Maine to a half-Japanese/half-French father and Brazilian/French Canadian mother. His upbringing and lifestyle as a child, without a doubt, shaped him into the artist he is today.
While he has lived in Maine, Brazil, and Canada, it’s was when Kentö spent his childhood and teenage years in Japan, where he learned about “music from all over the world at a young age.”
After working on a pop/punk project for four years in Japan, Kentö decided he wanted to branch out and create a more timeless sound for himself, rather than what he was forced to become by managers and labels. In 2012, he moved to L.A. and he met artist/producer, Frankmusik [Ellie Goulding, RuPaul, Erasure] and recorded and released his debut EP, Complicated.
Soon after that, his “electro-edged pop music” began getting well-deserved attention from outlets like ArjanWrites and the Head of Apple Music’s Editorial, who referred to the EP as: “potent pop confection that will surely put Kentö on the map […].”
June is also Pride Month, so we also like to feature some of the artists that are transforming what it means to identify LGBTQI+ in the music industry. In 2019, Kentö was selected to join Them [Condé Nast], as one of the first 30 LGBTQI+ ambassadors to help launch the new publication and initiative.
“I am LGBTQI+ and I’m on the autism spectrum, and I think these are all my superpowers. I think pop music tends to have trends that all sound like one thing, and then someone comes along and shakes things up with a timeless sound. That’s the kind of music I want to make. I have overcome a lot in my life, my parents passed when I was young, I’ve battled Cancer, and navigating the world not only as an LGBTQI+ person, but also one on the spectrum has really given me a lot of perspective on the world, life, and music. The amount of joy I feel being able to even be writing this right now that I have is immense. I’m so proud of myself, and I want to just share my music and positivity to the world,” Kentö elaborates.
Connect with Kentö
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify
