Following a transformative artistic hiatus and significant life challenges, alternative rock songstress Dela Kay is back with her electrifying new EP Falling Into Place. As expressed by the album’s title, everything with this record seemed to fall perfectly into place for the Los Angeles rockstar, and from it listeners will discover the dawn of a new artistic era within the universe of Dela Kay. Through hard-hitting musicality and edgy femininity, the alt-pop songwriter has released her most authentic — and personal — volume of work to date.
After a series of traumatic circumstances, Dela Kay took the time to heal both physically and mentally. During this time, she soon rediscovered herself and reconnected with her artistic roots. Now, Falling Into Place symbolizes a phoenix rising from the flame. As Dela Kay overcame adversity, she created an explosive seven-track EP that serves not only as a love letter to herself, but to anybody else who has gone through hardship and heartache. An advocate for feminism and mental health, Dela Kay is the ultimate creative for those who are on the journey of healing, finding who you are and loving yourself every step of the way.
A wide variety of emotions can be found within Falling Into Place. Whether it’s the bittersweet vulnerability of the EP’s title track, the playful flirtation of “Nasty” or the bubbly electro-pop energy of “Go Slow”, Dela Kay’s new EP represents a deep understanding of the artist’s personal healing, growth and transformation. In light of the EP’s release, Dela Kay sat down with Melodic Magazine to discuss the album’s inspiration, advice she has for listeners and what’s to happen next.
Thank you so much Dela! Super excited to get into it. I know the new EP expresses this new vulnerable approach you’ve taken with your music, and it’s inspired by these struggles that you’ve faced in your life recently. How did it feel to share those very vulnerable experiences with the world?
It definitely took me some time to be super vulnerable about it to anyone that wasn’t obviously a close friend or family member, but I think that I’m just very passionate about women’s rights and I think it’s important to talk about. And I think some of the things I’ve been through unfortunately happen to more people than we realize, and I think that if I can provide any sort of peace or comfort or support to anybody else who’s maybe been through similar situations as I have that I would love to be that for anyone.
I love that you’re such a feminist advocate in your music. You’ve always had that aspect to your music, but was there something that pushed you or made you decide to talk about this in the new EP?
I think it just happens naturally. As a writer and an artist, whenever I go into the studio the first thing we always talk about is what’s going on in our lives. And just out of happenstance, even if it’s things that have happened to me years ago or relationships that were years ago, my songwriting is always pulling from real life experience. My producer and co-writer is Stefano Pigliapoco and he’s awesome. He brought in our now friend Nick Cozine, and it was our first write together so I was a little nervous. Stef had some of the track already laid out and we just sat around and started talking about stuff and Nick and I were getting to know each other a bit more. I obviously didn’t delve too deep into my own personal experiences, but some of the lyrics started coming out and it was giving a hopeful vibe for people who have depression and anxiety. And I haven’t really had a song that was totally locked into that situation without specifically going into any details, but I was like, I think this is the avenue I want to take with this. So then we just finished the write and we didn’t even end up changing anything afterwards. I sat with it for a while and every time I listened to it, it was cathartic for myself as a hopeful reminder that as I go through my healing process, when things feel so difficult to get through, or you think you’re past it and it resurfaces again, that it’s all a part of the process and things do get better. It’s so cliche to say and people hate when people say that. But it really does.
I know the new EP just came out today, but do you think digging into those more personal topics is something you’re going to explore with future music?
Oh, I definitely think so. I think that there’s plenty of things that I would like to delve deeper into and be more personal about. Not even just the hardships in my life, but the funny things or the very interesting, specific situations that happen. This EP is kind of just touching the surface of all of that. I think I’ve been figuring out my sound for a really long time and it finally really fell into place when I met Stef. So this EP is kind of an introduction to what you can expect from me, and you can expect more of this. So I think that the reason why I wanted to call the EP Falling Into Place along with the title track is it has been this healing process and finding myself as an artist. It is like the jumping point where I take off from. So I’m very excited to be able to delve deeper into my life. I’m also just a big advocate of mental health and I would love to write things that can help people heal and just be able to connect with my fans more.
You say this is the dawn of a new era with your music. Going off of that, you’ve been releasing music since 2016, and your sound has definitely changed over time. You’ve also said that this EP is your most authentic work to date. What makes it more authentic?
Before, I was doing more deep house pop music, which I still love to death, but I feel like there is an element to that type of music. A lot of times it’s for parties and things that are a little bit more lighthearted, and I fell into a trap. At the time I had a manager who was working to get me signed and Sony was distributing my music, and I think I was just following that path because I had it laid out for so long. But it got to a point where I realized my management wasn’t a good fit. And I felt like I wasn’t being real. I wasn’t really writing anything that was going on with me. It was all just very lighthearted, which is great and fun for that type of music, but I wanted more. So by the time we’ve now gotten to this EP, I feel like I’m not afraid to be bold, be raw, be a little in your face, ruffle a couple of feathers. But also, especially with the title track, I’m not afraid to be more vulnerable about my personal experiences and I hope to do more of that. Like I said, it’s the jumping point into all the stuff that I have coming up after this.
When you made the change from pop to heavier stuff, did you face any backlash from management or the industry or anything? How was that transition for you?
As of right now I don’t think I’ve received necessarily any backlash. Currently I’m independent. I’m kind of doing this thing on my own, which is scary and a lot, but also really great because it allows me to make mistakes. I grew up doing musical theater and when I was little I had platinum blonde hair and did that thing for the longest time. So when I made the transition to music, started getting a bunch of tattoos and piercings and dying my hair crazy colors…like when I released “Nasty,” I think for the people who have known me for a really long time – especially some of my more conservative distant family – that was a little shocking. I think if I ever received any backlash, a lot of people were like, “Why would you do that?” And I think because of the trauma that I’ve been through, people see it as a cry for help. I think that as a woman, regardless of the trauma that I have, I’m allowed to be bold in my sexuality and do what I want and if it calls attention to that, so be it. There’s all kinds of different facets to who I am and that’s one of them. I’m not afraid to be sexual. I’m not afraid to be vulnerable. All those things are a part of me as a person and an artist and as far as those things are concerned, people will vibe with it. Some people won’t, but at the end of the day I’m putting out things that I’m proud of.
Going off of that, you took a hiatus for a little bit between 2022 and 2023 – how did that break change you both as an artist and as a person?
I had just moved from Chicago back to Nashville after college and that’s when I started the music journey. I moved out to LA once before for a brief eight month period and then I went back to Nashville for a year right at the beginning of the pandemic. I feel like everybody’s lives drastically changed, and for me it was May of 2019. That was when I moved to where I’m now at and I still had my old manager doing the deep house music, and it was around August 2019 when I realized this management is not a good fit for me. I didn’t even know if I wanted to be doing this. I was also getting out of a really toxic relationship at the time, and around April 2020 I went back to Nashville and lived at home for six to eight months. I was just writing with my friends trying to figure out what I wanted to do, what I wanted to sound like and just healing and growing. I eventually got to a pretty solid place where I was like, okay, I think I want to delve more into the alt lane. I came back into town and I went to this Halloween party where I met my now really good friend Ryan Dulude who’s a sick producer. I really wanted to work with him and we got together and started making a track which ended up being my song “Old News.” I wrote it with a friend of mine from Nashville named Rikki Jo Randall – she’s amazing. I really think writing with Ryan propelled me into that journey even more, and then I was able to meet Stef. The journey has been treacherous, but it’s been really great and I’m proud of everything that I made in that in between time to figure out how to get to where I am now.
You have a lot of great advice for anyone who’s maybe finding who they are or maybe struggling with some of the things that you’ve struggled with yourself. You say the title track of the new EP is also kind of a love letter to both yourself and people who are struggling. Overall, what advice do you have for listeners who may be going through some of the things that you have gone through yourself?
I feel like I’m still going through my healing journey, so with giving advice I feel like I’m giving advice to myself also. I think a lot of us can tend to isolate when we’re going through things, because we just don’t want to bother people or we just want to get over it so we can just get to the next thing. I would urge people to talk to your friends, talk to people you love and care about and be open to your support system. Because I think sometimes all you need to do is just tell someone about it and that helps you process it. Therapy is great if you are open to therapy. I am a very strong advocate for that. But also, all of our different hardships we go through in life, none of it is easy. And I think that the more you can tell yourself it’s okay to feel shitty about this, that’s the first step of being okay. I think that’s helped me a lot to not get wrapped up in it wondering when it will all be over. My dad always says, whether it comes to finances or anything, it’s just a feeling. It will come and it will go. You just have to let it pass. Everything’s ever changing, and there’s a lot of hope in that. I would just urge people to be one with your demons and befriend your pain. It’s there to teach you that you care and you have a lot of love in there to give and I think you should pour that into your passions and watch what happens. I was so stifled by my experiences that I was not able to process and move forward, and as soon as I took it and just said fuck all this, then I started seeing all the things I’ve been hoping for slowly come into my reality.
That’s such beautiful advice, thank you so much for sharing that. I know the EP just came out today, but what else can people expect to see? What should they be on the lookout for in the future?
Post EP, we’re doing it all again. I’m planning to start releasing music again shortly after, probably around October? October’s my favorite. I’m a Halloween queen, so if you haven’t heard from me by October safe to say you’ll probably hear new music from me in October. But I’m already working on another EP or even album. I don’t even know what it will be. All of that music will probably start filtering out in singles starting again this fall or late summer, and then probably releasing a bigger project this time next year and just going to keep doing it. And I’m hoping to start playing live a lot more, I’m getting that together right now as we speak. I’m trying to get my band together and start working on that. I’m excited to just meet people and connect. I think that the thing I want the most from this EP is to just meet new people, make new fans and continue to connect with people and help it grow, so that is probably what’s coming next.
It was so great talking to you! Thank you for taking the time, I really appreciate it!
Thank you for having me!
Keep up with Dela Kay: Instagram // TikTok // Spotify // YouTube
