As the daughter of a Chef and DJ father and a music obsessed mother, she had grown up listening to an eclectic mix of sounds. At 16, she left school to go to East London Arts and Music College; ‘That flipped everything on its head. It was a complete game changer’ she says.

How did the name kwn come about? What does it mean? You’re artistic identity seems linked to where you grew up. Tell us about the feelings and memories associated to Walthamstow.

I don’t actually remember the exact time i came up with kwn but it was originally spelt k1 and then everyone kept telling me it looks like i’m a drill rapper on paper hahahaha. so then i took my initials from my last name and realised i could get away with kwn.

I’ll be honest walthamstow holds both good and bad feelings for me i don’t think i’ve taken influence from where i’ve grown up but i’m definitely aware east london breeds a different kind of talent and that i’m forever grateful for.

The first track that I heard of yours was the fairly recent one called ‘no cinderella’. Though I was moved by the modulation, rhythm and overall synthesis, it made me not only at ease to be an androgynous woman myself but also bit sad on how boxed in genders still are through various societal subtleties. However, tell us how did this track come about for you? What’s the story behind it?

It’s interesting you’ve interpreted the song in that way, cos that’s not the intention i had when writing it but i’m glad you and others can feel seen by it. i hope more people can find their own stories through my music, i always say even though i might’ve written a song about a specific moment it’s up to other people to take it on however they want and that’s the beauty of music/art in general. for me, no cinderella was the expression of me falling for someone who wasn’t really feeling the same at the time.

Kwn, once upon a time, tracks in an album used to be of a bit longer in duration. Now that we are in a post modern and post truth era, the creative and artistic direction has become warped making our attention span less leading pressure for artists to remain authentic yet relatable. What you think of the evolution of music and its latest phase that we are experiencing. How do you feel to be an artist in this time period. What’s good and bad according to you?

I’ll be real i love short songs and i love an interlude. i think sometimes riddims don’t need to be full to be great, one of my favourite songs is ‘famous last words’ - ty dolla sign. sickest interlude and it’s only got 2 lines. this phase of music is weird though, feel like no one really knows how to just be themselves anymore, artists either try too hard to be different or don’t care enough about their craft. i think there was a better balance back in the day. also i feel artists need to start stepping out their comfort zone more, we’re so scared of trying new things and feeling like we’re not good enough when it doesn’t work out the way we thought it would, i’m defo a victim of that we all go through it but i’ve learnt that we can’t push boundaries without stepping outside of em.

It’s evident that your family’s inclination in similar creative and artistic pursuits have influenced you, but I’m curious about your very own self discovery when you studied at the ELAM. The time period before it, during and after it. How did it all come together? Please take us through your pivotal moments and experiences. What all shifted in those years?

I’ll always say going to ELAM changed my life, sounds cringe but it’s the truth. secondary school was so weird for me i can never explain it just wasn’t for me i woke up every day dreading it but i had a few teachers that got me through so shouts to them for real.

During secondary school and after, before i went to ELAM i was just hanging around the wrong people, no one i was around was chasing any kind of goal/dream and it was bringing me down in the process. once i reached ELAM it was just a whole different world i’d never been around anyone that had a passion for music like me apart from my pops and it just motivated me to go harder. then fast forward after my first year there one of my bredrins i grew up with passed away and once that happened i was like yeah nah i gotta just stay focused, keep grindin and be the best i can be.

You have started releasing your work fairly recently. Right in the peak of Covid to be precise. Take us through that time in particular, how did the first release ‘wn way or another’ come about, what’s the story and how did the overall creative process go?

Ah lockdown was a lot. i think i opened my laptop maybe 3 times max. i felt so demotivated and uninspired i didn’t even know how to process any of that time, plus i was in the middle of trying to sign to BB which wasn’t the easiest process due to covid. wn way or another was a crazy one, made that song in 2020 so was another gem just sitting in the vault. as soon as i started playing around with the guitar sample i knew i had something. messed with some drum grooves, tendai slapped a bass line on there, we wrote the song together and rest is history.

kwn now your new track is coming out very soon. Please take us through the over all creative process of it. What’s the story there? What inspired you to craft it and what are your intentions or expectations from this one, since people have already adored you since the beginning and you reaching more people each passing day.

wn up - big tune! started this banger with my good friends iO and Dyo. I did a little week and a half camp where i just brought in a load of my favourite people to work with and we just put in the work and made some slappers. but yeah nah, wn up was super fun to make, me and Dyo started it and then Sasha Keable came and helped me finish it off with some bad boy harmonies and vocal production. This riddim for me is creatively free and unapologetically kwn. i’m basically speaking to someone’s ex telling them you thought i had your seconds but you were never first anyway hahahah.

My intentions for this one is to just show people the versatility I have, put me in any genre and I’m gonna give you a banger regardless. And it also shows i’m not afraid to do songs like this even if they don’t feel 100% kwn in the process I know i’m gonna make it my own by the end of it.

Looking into the future 5 years, what do you imagine you will have achieved and is there anything you hope you’ve improved on/ learnt to do professionally.

5 years is a long time boy. i gotta do at least 2 tours by then hahaha. but nah, whatever is planned for me will happen. I try not to think too far ahead and take every day as it comes. of course there are things I want to achieve eventually, headline shows, travelling the world, grammys, working with my idols, getting into other creative areas, there are so many I could list but honestly i just try to follow the path I’m given. what is meant to be will be and I live by that for real.

Last but not least, who are your 4 favourite underground music artists who you’ve recently discovered and you'd like to give a shout out.

Sheeeeeeesh! this is hard cos i really don’t be listening to a lot of new music. buttttt i would say DAMEDAME*, Amie Blu, Essosa and Humble the Great i been banging their music non stop recently.