It started off as a joke. A lighthearted project. A simple desire to see what might happen if the ideas in her head became something more. For Atlanta-based artist Killian, that spark grew into her debut album LINEN, where she blends humor, vulnerability, and curiosity. This experimental and enticing project serves as a reminder that not all creative endeavors have to begin with a grand plan, but with the simple decision to try something new.
Describing LINEN as “funky, fun, and danceable,” Killian frames the album as both a celebration and a reflection of herself, weaving themes of self-growth into each track. Midway through, she opens up about her struggle with alcoholism and her journey to sobriety. In “SPIRIT,” she shifts from the raw confession, “Been drinking everyday, I refuse to be okay,” to the vulnerable plea, “God, will you help me? I wanna be okay.” It’s a turning point revealing her willingness to confront pain while healing. This vulnerability grounds the project thematically while shaping her sound, fusing honesty with an undeniable flow.
Killian draws inspiration from the genres she grew up with, from old-school R&B to independent hip-hop. Smooth melodies have bursts of talk-singing for a conversational, almost playful edge. Layered with disco rhythms, R&B grooves, and hip-hop’s rawness, these sounds and textures make her music lively and full of joy.
As her sound continues to evolve, she hopes to convey a sense of authenticity in her music to help process life’s complexities. Her approach not only reflects her growth as an artist but also her desire to connect with listeners on a deeply human level. Following LINEN’s release, Killian sat with EveryDejaVu to discuss its five-year process as a project that started as an amusing thought before evolving into a personal and liberating expression of artistry.
First of all, congratulations on releasing your debut album! That’s an incredible milestone. What does this release represent for you?
Thank you. I’ve been working on this album for a little over five years. This is the first time that I’ve ever written a project. From a personal level, it’s definitely quite a big accomplishment for me because this obviously is my debut album. The way that I started writing music was that I was essentially trying to make jokes. I went to a comedic music set one time, here in Atlanta, and was like, “I could do that.” The person I was dating at the time—I went to him and he played guitar—and I was like, “Let’s write a song together and let’s make it funny.” I had so much fun with it that I just ran with it and started writing my own music. This is kind of the result of me not taking anything too seriously and having complete fun with it. That’s why the album is a little bit cheeky and a little bit sassy. It was pure joy to write this album. From a personal perspective and an artistic perspective, this album represents joy. The album is called LINEN because it’s like the hook, “Black joy is the currency of the future.” That’s kind of like what the entire album is about. It represents the joy that I have felt while writing it. Each song has its own sort of message.
Was there a specific time you knew you wanted to make an album?
I always knew that I was writing an album from the beginning. “GODDESS (BLESS USPS)” was the first song I wrote, and that was my first single. When I wrote that, I was like, “Let’s do this big.” It’s not that this album was made in full in two weeks, but I wrote the majority of the album in two weeks. I always knew that I was putting together an album because I was in a state of mind where I was like, “This is hilarious and fun, and I don’t really give a fuck, so let’s just do it.”
Why did you make the decision to release the album exclusively on Bandcamp?
Originally, the decision to just launch it on Bandcamp was because of convenience. I knew I wanted to launch it on July 22nd. I had been working on the album for so long that I just wanted to release it. I needed something that would post it immediately because I was running out of time to get to that date. With other streaming services, to do it properly, you have to give them a fair amount of time.
That being said, I’ve actually made the ultimate decision to keep it exclusively on Bandcamp for a number of reasons. First of all, I’m absolutely excited. I’ve been doing a lot of research into Bandcamp, and I’m really excited about their community and the way they support their artists and build community around their artists. I ultimately see streaming services as more of a marketing tool than an actual money-making tool to support me as an independent artist. I essentially feel that if I put my album on Spotify or on any of those other streaming platforms, I am giving it away for free. I’m still putting singles and stuff on Spotify and in all the different streaming platforms, but I’m going to be a little bit more selective about what I put on there. Then, I want everybody to be able to go to Bandcamp and actually purchase the project. I realized I got my first two sales on Bandcamp the other day. In order for me to make the money that I made through other streaming services, I have to get like 12,000 to 15,000 streams, which takes time, especially for a brand-new artist.
What song was the most challenging to write?
The most difficult one to write from an emotional standpoint was “BOYFRIEND.” I’ve gone back and forth a million times about if I wanted to release that song, just because it’s so deeply personal to me and so deeply vulnerable. Writing it was a little painful and a little bit cathartic. It’s essentially about my alcoholism and how it has manifested in my relationships—both romantic and platonic—but mostly romantic. The song is very cunt and it’s a very dancing-at-the-club kind of thing. But because it’s so vulnerable, it was hard for me to write and hard for me to release. I know there are people out there who relate, and that’s why I write and release what I do. The conversation around alcoholism is a really important one, and you don’t always see that because it’s so scary.
Were there any recurring themes you noticed that kept coming up as you wrote the record? Was there anything that shocked you or surprised you in any way?
The fact that I wrote an album shocked me because I was a full-grown adult when I started this album. I was 28 when I started, I’m 33 now, and I had never made music before. I always saw people who had been doing music since they were little. I was making music alongside them, and was like, “I’m brand new here. I just got here.” I was surprised by how much I needed this, needed to process. This album represents a decade of processing for me, possibly more. I would be lying if I said this album didn’t help me grow into the woman I am today. Growing the fuck up is a huge theme of this album. It’s about joy, but it’s also about growing up. I grow a little bit more and more as the album goes on. The song that shocked me the most was probably “WATERWORKS.” That song is always going to be funny to me because I was so sick of myself when I wrote that song. It’s literally this self-aware moment where I’m just like, “Girl, shut up. Stop being so emotional.” I mean, I literally was in bed crying over a boy that didn’t matter. I was like, “Oh my God, wait a minute. I have a song.” I took out my phone and started writing, and I recorded a phone demo, and it was this moment where I was just sick of myself. I think that shocked me the most. That was the last song, actually. It’s fitting that that was the last song I wrote on the album. I wrote that maybe 2 years ago.
The album blends elements of different genres and creates a very unique, one-of-a-kind sound. What artists influenced this sound you created?
I grew up with a lot of different sounds in my house. I grew up on old school R&B, I grew up on classic rock. I was definitely an emo kid when I was 13. I mean, I’m still secretly an emo kid. When I was in college, I was loosely involved with, and still am loosely involved with, the independent hip-hop scene here in Atlanta, and so that I draw influences from. I was so serious about this album when I first started writing it. I wrote an entire document with inspirations, and artist statements, and all of this different stuff. I laid out all these artists I was influenced by. I would say the top ones are Janet Jackson, for sure, I love Chaka Khan, Donna Summers, and Tracy Chapman. They’re just a lot of different Black female artists across the board that I really admire, and I pulled from all different areas of my life.
Pivoting a little bit, the album artwork for this record is really striking. What was the concept behind that, and how does it tie into the music?
We did all of the album and single artwork in one photo shoot. So if you look at the “GODDESS,” “LINEN,” and “SEESTER” covers, they’re actually segments from different parts of the album. The inspiration, obviously, I wanted to have white linen. I also wanted to tie in blue velvet. In the song “LINEN,” there’s the lyric, “Linen is the skin of God. Velvet is the dog of sin.” So the blue velvet I have at the bottom that I’m sitting on is a reference to that. Each item represents a different song. You’ve got the disco ball, the two hearts in the corner, the candelabra. It was just a collection of items that represented something from the album.
If this album could be the soundtrack to any film or TV show, which one do you think it would be?
I’m a huge fan of Issa Rae’s first big project, which blew her up—Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl.
What do you hope people take away from this album about who you are as an artist?
I definitely want people to respect the versatility of the kind of music that I can make. I definitely see myself as a songwriter first before a singer. Some of these songs were just written on the fly. When I wrote “SEESTER” and “HULU,” the lyrics were just placeholders. I was like, “I’ll eventually change this,” and I just never did. Because of that, I find a lot of the lyrics very funny because this is just a stream of consciousness. On the other hand, there are some very vulnerable moments—that is something I really pride myself on as a songwriter and as an artist. The authenticity behind what I’m writing. When I say I’m a songwriter first and a singer second, I actually don’t think I could give any of these songs to anyone else to sing. I think it’s so authentically me, and because they’re so personal, they’re very universal.
How do you hope to grow as an artist or experiment in future projects after releasing this album?
I actually have a multiverse of projects. I have an alter ego called Villian. She makes spooky, rock-inspired, horror movie soundtrack music. I already have a project for her, and then I also am in a band called Eucalypto that I started with my producer, Micah Freeman, and our bandmate, Nelsun Rhodes. We call it the music of the diaspora. Pretty much anything, like Black music, bossa nova, neo soul, gospel, that kind of stuff. That’s what I’ve been working on outside of LINEN. But going forward, the next Killian project I’ve been working on is a bit more vulnerable, less funny, more disco, and less funk. It’s a lot more personal and a lot more emotional, I would say.
