Kitten (with a whip): Chloe Chaidez and the ascent of Kitten

Chloe Chaidez is wise beyond her years.

For those new to Chaidez’s band Kitten however, it might be hard to break through what’s on the surface. The line of 18-year-old fangirls in midriff shirts and fanboys in neon tank tops lining up outside the venue hours before show time could easily be a sign that Kitten is just another passing fad. Chaidez’s relative youth, all of her 19 years, might certainly be mistaken for naiveté. It would also be easy to assume that her father’s background in the LA punk scene is the only reason she’s around. Or, the ogling 30- and 40-year-old men at her show could distract from the brilliant music she’s creating.

But more than anything, each of these pieces offers a glimpse into the music that Chaidez creates as the band Kitten. At age 19, Chaidez has years of experience under her belt but with energy and youth to spare. It is a powerful combination.

After five years opening for the likes of Paramore, the Neighborhood, and Charli XCX, Chaidez has finally stepped out on her own. She completed her first headlining tour as Kitten this summer in celebration of the June 26 release of Kitten, the band’s first full-length album. It is an energetic ode to rock and dance music of years past. But on the LP, as much as in her renowned live performance, Chaidez makes the sound her own—energetic, charismatic, and thoroughly modern.

Midway through her summer headlining tour, Chaidez lounged in her dressing room in Washington, DC’s Rock and Roll Hotel a few hours before her set, discussing her new album, her musical influences, and what fans can expect down the road. Her eyeliner was heavy and smudged and her hair piled up in a messy bun. She sat with her legs propped up on a coffee table or tucked beneath her, her massive black platform shoes discarded on the floor.

It was a different look than her highly curated album covers or music videos, and less fierce than the image she presents on stage. She looked younger than expected, and her speech sounds like that of any other American teenager today. But Chaidez is no newcomer. She has been leading Kitten since she was fourteen, and writing music even for even longer. More than anything, she understood the significance, and the opportunity, of Kitten’s debut album.

The album’s material represents the sum of her life experiences thus far. It’s dramatic and energetic, with cinematic anthems, ‘80s inspired dance hits, and pop tracks that touch on universal themes—love, sex, music, fame. It is endlessly relatable and feels new despite the influences from music made before she was born. Chaidez worked on it for years prior to its release, explaining, “I wouldn’t say my whole life, but kind of my whole life. That’s what a debut record is, it’s your life’s material.” It’s clearly personal, and she was careful when discussing it. She was also consistently and graciously thankful for any praise bestowed upon it.

Chaidez described the album as a journey, taking the listener through three different grooves. It begins with new wave and synth-pop, moves on to guitar-driven tracks, and finishes with ethereal shoegaze. “With every song we’re recording, we like to have a moment,” she said.

If her influences seem old school for a 19-year-old, it’s because they are. But Chaidez has a deep knowledge of the music she draws on. As the conversation transitioned from her album to her musical influences, Chaidez sat straight up, smiling and using her hands to accentuate her points. From Missing Persons to Tears for Fears to the Eurythmics, the bands that influence her are older—and explain the presence of the 30- and 40-year-old guys in her audience who can connect to the origins of the music in a way that many of her younger fans don’t realize.

She is philosophical about what makes good music. In particular, she recognizes that truly good music can and should challenge the listener. New wave influences pervade her sound, but it wasn’t love at first listen for Chaidez, who found new wave nearly off-putting at first. She said, “It was so character-driven. But then suddenly I just fell in love with that aspect that I hated before. That always happens with bands that I end up loving. I hate it, and then the very thing I hated about it I end up loving.”

While Chaidez’s music can hardly be described as difficult listening, it certainly draws on innovative aspects of new wave, punk, and rock that made the genres so exciting at the time. There’s nostalgia that expertly veers away from sentimentality, instead reconnecting with the sound and the energy of the eras that helped define rock and roll.

Chaidez loves the connections that her music makes for her younger fans. She knows that the young girls in her audience relate to her because they see a girl on stage close to their age who looks and dresses like they do. And once they’re on board, she has the power to introduce them to the sounds that preceded the music they listen to now. “It’s cool to talk to people who are a little older who understand, and then to bring to light those bands to a younger audience,” Chaidez said. “I mention Roxy Music in almost every interview I do now. Some of the fans tweet about Bryan Ferry now and it’s so awesome.”

And in return, it’s these young fans that have helped propel Chaidez from opener to headliner. On that June afternoon in Washington, a line of teenagers, mainly girls, waited outside the venue in the pouring rain hours before Kitten’s scheduled set. Chaidez was openly grateful for the opportunities she received as an opening band, but at the same time admitted how exciting it is to have a row of 10 people in the front who know every single word to her songs. Though if the line outside was any sign, there were many more than just 10 who joined Chaidez in singing along to every single song.

These fans give Chaidez a new level of comfort as well. “When you’re opening for a band,” she said, “your goal is to convert everyone in the room to a Kitten fan. When you’re headlining, it’s slightly more comfortable. The people who are looking at you aren’t waiting for something.” This altered attitude doesn’t necessarily mean her performance changes, but it does allow for added confidence and even trust.

Headlining also comes with additional perks, for that matter—though perhaps not the ones that most music fans would expect. “It is nice just having sound check, a dressing room, peanut butter and jelly. Just really, really tiny luxuries that you don’t get as an opening band.” (And sure enough, there was an open jar of peanut butter sitting on a table nearby.)

It would be negligent to discuss Chaidez’s rise without bringing up her writing partner, producer, and manager Chad Anderson. In interviews, Chaidez often calls Anderson the “fifth band member.” He joined the band on tour, and sat quietly doing paperwork across the room until Chaidez sucked him in to the conversation about their writing process.

Anderson and Chaidez first began collaborating when Chaidez was 12. During Thanksgiving that year, they sat at a piano together, casually experimenting and writing a song. Unbeknownst to Anderson, Chaidez took the song and taught it to her then-band members. The same thing happened the next year, at which point Chaidez’s dad made Anderson come out to hear Chaidez sing the songs that they had “screwed around writing” together. The chemistry was natural. The two of them wrote every song on the new album together.

In person, Chaidez and Anderson finish each other’s sentences and repeat the same thoughts. Their writing process is anything but structured, using “any possible combination of co-writing,” said Anderson. Chaidez might start a song on the guitar or Anderson could bring her something nearly fully written on the piano, or sometimes songs are conceived and written completely together.

Chaidez described the process saying, “You have to be really close to someone to write, especially lyrically. You’re putting your ideas and your concepts on the world. And you need to be on the same page with that person.”

Chaidez and Anderson know what each of them brings to the writing process, and where their points of contention lie. While Chaidez yearns for what’s fresh, Anderson counteracts with what’s classic. They didn’t shy away from the conflict that these differing opinions inevitably create in a creative relationship. In fact, Chaidez compared it to a marriage. “When you’re really close with someone creatively, you get in so many fights,” she said. “You think they’re taking the wrong route to where you’re trying to go.”

But once the process is over, “we’ll just sit in the car and listen to it. We just listen to the record fully through when it’s done, and just get a burrito and not talk. It’s done.”

Talking with Chaidez about her music only goes so far, though. To truly understand her power and her potential, she has to be seen live.

Wearing a short leather skirt and a long-sleeved top and tights—both ripped—Chaidez made clear that she is amongst the most powerful front women in rock music today.

The set at Rock and Roll Hotel started off slowly with the Kitten’s first single, “Why I Wait,” a breathy, atmospheric track that sounded just as dramatic live as it does on the album. The energy picked up quickly thereafter. By the fourth song, Chaidez was standing on top of the drum set with a tambourine as she belted out, “Cut It Out,” fans singing along to the pop anthem. The crowd filled up the venue despite the thunderstorm raging outside, and danced with enthusiasm that matched Chaidez’s.

It wasn’t the only time she climbed on the equipment. During a rendition of “G#” that was pure shoegaze, Chaidez clambered up on an amp. The audience oohed and aahed along with her as she channeled rock and roll icons of the past, defiantly jumping back on to the stage. The only connection to the polite, thoughtful young woman talking in her dressing room before the show was the quiet thank you’s to the crowd that followed each song.

Especially during the slower songs, Chaidez sang every lyric with intensity, the words looking like they nearly brought her pain. At the beginning of the encore, she stood alone with her guitar singing, “Kill the Light.” It was slow and beautiful at the beginning. As the song built, so did her emotion; her ambitions were palpable.

Even with near-constant running and jumping, Chaidez’s voice stayed clear and controlled throughout the set, proving that her talent extends far beyond her showmanship.

But her charisma really does make the show. Chaidez knows how to play to her fans, singing directly into the eyes of those in the front of the crowd. At one point she shouted into the mic, “What’s it like being as down to party as you guys are?,” the audience clapping and hollering in response. She allowed fans to dance onstage during the encore, and ended the first encore as she habitually does, sitting on a fan’s shoulders in the middle of the audience.

Chaidez has always been confident on stage, though it will be interesting to see how her performances age as she does.

When looking to the future, Chaidez willingly talked about her ambitions in the near term. She is mainly looking to continue touring, and especially wants to make it over to Europe. She would consider opening for another artist again, but only if it’s the right opportunity. Longer term, “You can’t really say much. You can’t predict the future.” Fans needn’t worry, though. Chaidez said, “I don’t plan on stopping this anytime soon. I plan to make this my life.”

Although she wouldn’t say much beyond that, it’s obvious that her standards are high and her aspirations grand. “Great records take while to digest. That’s what great about them,” Chaidez said earlier. But when asked if she was going to make that great record? “Yeah,” Chaidez replied, laughing. “I feel like talking about music philosophically – you’re held to a standard after you say something. It’s convicting.”

If Kitten is any indication, Chaidez needn’t be worried about convicting herself to something she can’t achieve. It’s an incredible start to what is sure to be a long career. And as long as Chaidez keeps on evolving and experimenting, fans will hear that truly great record from Chaidez soon enough.