‘Centring, Grounding Yourself In Country’: The Road To Kee’ahn’s Long-Awaited Debut EP

“I was at the MCG – just got back,” Kee’ahn informs via Zoom, beaming excitedly. “We had a dress rehearsal for Saturday [the AFL Grand Final pre-game entertainment]. I’m singing with Baker Boy. Pretty wild. 

“We're singing Thick Skin – Emma Donovan and myself – and then, yeah! Danzal [Baker (aka Baker Boy)] is playing yidaki, and it’s a whole thing. It’s such a privilege – so, so sick.”

When asked how it felt to perform as part of the “Blak choir” Baker Boy assembled to elevate Thick Skin, his response to 2023’s Indigenous Voice Referendum result, Kee’ahn acknowledges, “It was really special. Me, Emma, Thelma [Plum] and sissy Jada [Weazel] just all there in the studio together, like, ‘Okay, we need something strong and meaningful and coming from the heart.’ 

“And it just came together really well, like, Emma gave a couple lines, Thelma was like, ‘Let's do this,’ Jada had a harmony, I gave some lyrics, and then all of our voices together were so strong. So it was really intuitive.”

We’re not sure how Kee’ahn does it, but we feel uplifted – airborne, even – every time we hear them sing. So, when did they first realise they could sing better than most people on the planet? Kee’ahn chuckles awkwardly – showcasing that trademark humility – before responding: “I guess I felt a draw to singing as a kid,” they explain.

“There's a story my family always tells me about living with my grandma. She was the first to hear me sing Disney and The Little Mermaid while I was in the garden. And that was really special, ‘cause she really pushed me to follow my dreams. 

“Then, I guess, singing with my dad growing up – like, harmonising with him and performing with him – felt really magical. We did musicals and weddings and family jams. And the intention was always just: ‘I love this for the way that I can connect with people and express myself.’ 

“Then I got really into it, and technical, and loved all these singers that could do interesting things. And I was like, ‘Okay, how do I imitate that?’ And being an only child, I'd just be singing around the house – loud – all the time; trying to copy these greats that I admire, which was so cool. 

“I met one of them today for the first time, just now: Jess Mauboy. [Mauboy also performed as part of the AFL Grand Final pre-game entertainment, smashing Pharrell’s Beautiful vocal hook during Snoop Dogg’s set],” they continue. “So that was really special, ‘cause she was one of them that I was mimicking all the time growing up.” 

When asked to single out one of Mauboy’s vocal performances they tried to mimic way back when, Kee’ahn offers, “Honestly, her singing Who's Loving You from The Sapphires movie – The Jackson 5 song. Just her runs, the feeling that she has in every single note – she makes it her own. And, yeah, I really was obsessed with that song.”

Their name derives from a term the Wik people use, which means ‘to dance and to play’. By creating and performing soulful music that never distracts from those exquisite pipes, Kee’ahn honours their ancestors. 

With a hip-hop dancer and a singer-songwriter/guitarist dad, who also sang in church choirs, performing is in Kee’ahn’s bloodline. Dad’s side is Kuku Yalanji, Jirrbal and Kee’ahn’s mum is from Badu Island in the Torres Strait. Family jams and sing-alongs were definitely a thing when she was growing up. 

As a kid, Kee’ahn recalls singing a lot of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Etta James with their dad. “He really gave me such a great music education,” they explain. “My mum, too. She was more into modern music at the time, in the ‘90s, early 2000s. A lot of Destiny's Child and Beyoncé, and Erykah Badu. So I feel like that's all influenced my music.”

We take a moment to gush about Love On Top – more specifically, the endless string of octave jumps Beyoncé flaunts at this song’s peak. “Right? Yeah, it's very ‘Olympian’ of her,” Kee’ahn extols. “It’s just like, ‘I pushed this as far as I can go.’ Yeah, it’s so cool.” 

Kee’ahn and her dad performed in some musicals together. “We did Hairspray when I was, like, 15,” they enlighten. “Then we did Rent, and had a duet there in one of the big songs, which was really special. And then we did Little Shop Of Horrors. More to come, but yeah! They were really, really fun.”

Before their foray into musical theatre, Kee’ahn remembers feeling self-conscious. “I was like, ‘Don't look at me. I just want to sing. Just listen.’ And being in the background cast was like, ‘Okay, I can gain some confidence and know that I'm taking up space and I'm singing. And then, you know, when I started doing my solo stuff, I really felt more prepared. 

“I think it was incremental, like, musicals, and then I dropped out of uni and started busking and doing weddings and all these things back home in Townsville. Then moved down to Naarm to join some bands and sing and see how I go.”

Little-known fact: Kee’ahn wanted to be a basketball-playing physiotherapist before her love for music took over. 

“I played [basketball] a lot growing up. I felt like Troy Bolton [Zac Efron’s character] in High School Musical,” they recall, laughing. “It’s just like a, ‘No, I don't want to play basketball anymore. I want to make music. I want to follow my dream,’ kind of thing. I was playing a lot, and I was on the Australian school sports team.” 

Kee’ahn was selected to represent Australia in basketball, which took them to the States for three weeks. “Yeah, that was massive. It was really cool,” they reflect. 

According to Kee’ahn, their debut EP – for me, for you x – captures their “journey so far”, albeit “a long time” in the making. After figuring out “what kind of music feels good?”, they considered “what kind of body of work do I want to tell the story?”.

“Me and my friend Pat [‘Pataphysics’ Marks], who's produced a couple songs on the EP, love yarning about how you have to make time to live before you can write anything,” they share.   

Most of the EP’s songs came together “intuitively”. Kee’ahn typically feels drawn to songwriting “when I have something on my heart that I need to share”. “I also did a lot of collaboration with Jake Amy and Anthony Liddell, who produced three of the songs on the EP.

“And with that, we were doing a lot of songwriting sessions of, ‘Yeah, this is a beat we'll all make together and we gotta lock in and see how we go,’” they add. “And from then on I kind of built this trust, like, ‘Okay, I want to share these guitar and vocal songs that I've demoed and I want you to bring your magic to it.” 

Flute is a recurring motif throughout for me, for you x. So, who do we need to thank for those airy contributions? “Her name's Kasinda [Faase],” Kee’ahn gushes. “I'm obsessed with the flute. I listen to a lot of Minnie Riperton, and I bought a flute now, ‘cause I'm just so locked into how stunning it is. 

“Kasinda has been performing with me for a couple of years now. She's a sax player and a flute player, and just incredible. Those lines you just cannot even imagine-up; she's out of this world,” they trail off, laughing and shaking their head in disbelief.

“I wanted the songs with flute to really hold the listener, ‘cause I guess the meanings are quite, like, ‘you're not alone’ and I feel like flute and all the harmonies and the strings – and Jake's keys playing – really build something lush.”

For Kee’ahn, songwriting “feels like a puzzle”. “Like, ‘How do I keep the message, but say it in a way that fits the melody that also conveys the message really lovely? And what do I want to do with my voice?’” they explain. “So sometimes the melody will just come and I sink into that and be like, ‘Okay, what does this feeling or message or story remind me of?’ and go from there. 

“Or it's the other way around, completely, where it's like, ‘Okay, I want to write about this. This is the poem. This is the writing and the message, let's fit it with some music.”

“But how can I grow flowers when all I've got is weeds/So I'm digging them all up and planting some new seeds…” 

From our very first time hearing Kee’ahn’s outstanding, soul-drenched debut single Better Things in 2020, we’ve been absolutely obsessed. This song was mixed, mastered and released during lockdown, which Kee’ahn wasn't actually mad about, instead relishing this opportunity to walk into the music industry slowly rather than being flung under the spotlight and swamped with promo commitments and the like. 

They actually reckon Better Things particularly resonated with listeners during this time because “everyone was online and needing a bit of optimism”.  

“The song has a lot of hope, right?” they ask. “And I think it was a time where people were just very confused about what was happening and what the future would bring. Finding things to soothe us was so important, and I think the song brought that. And I feel like wanting to share these things with one another really helped that [surge in streams]. I don't know. I feel like, in some ways, music and entertainment brought everyone together in lockdown. 

“I got a lot of messages from people that I didn't know who'd listened to the song, sharing that they just went through a breakup or they listen to it when they're having anxiety. And I think having a bit of a universal message that resonated in a time that was pretty confusing and worrying and devastating – I think it was timing and Community wanting to connect.

“I'm so grateful that I got to tour off Better Things for a couple of years, ‘cause it connected a lot,” they add. “Having Better Things, the first song [released] as the last song [on for me, for you x], kind of ties it all in together.” 

Pre-COVID, Kee’ahn was playing “way smaller shows” – including open mics – and busking, which she found “quite nurturing”. 

“It was a farmer's market every Sunday in Townsville – local community, lots of kids,” they elaborate. “I would learn Disney songs to sing with the kids, and I think it was nice to be a bit background music. But so many people would still support, and it would be such an achievement at the end of it, like, counting all my coins. 

“I had a really good experience with it, just being able to put my own spin on songs that people would know and kind of try my own sound, learn guitar more. ‘Cause my dad taught me, and he was self-taught, so I was just getting to practice my skills and being in front of people.” 

Post-COVID lockdowns, and following Better Things’ glowing reception, their first headline show was sold out. “Wanting to protect people from COVID, we had to split it into two shows,” she recalls. “So [returning to gigging] felt slow, but also like, ‘Oh, I'm about to live – musically – with my own project and be at the forefront.’ So, at the same time, it felt like a lot, too.” 

In 2020, Kee’ahn won the Archie Roach Foundation Award at the National Indigenous Music Awards as well as the Archie Roach Foundation Award for Emerging Talent at the Music Victoria Awards.

When Kee’ahn appeared on episode four of Uncle Archie’s Kitchen Table Yarns, his 2021 YouTube series, her performance of Better Things moved him to tears. 

After Kee’ahn finishes singing, he wipes his eyes, admitting, “I’ve got to gather myself for a moment. Special songs like that have a way of reaching out.”

Kee’ahn smiles, touched, before gently replying, “I’ve got a lot of love for you, Uncle.” 

An anxious person by nature, Kee’ahn explains, “Singing is such a massive tool for anxiety… You have to feel it and release it. And then that's how you can move through it or move on from it. 

“It's hard to rush it, even though logically you know that it's going to pass. But it's like, ‘Well, if I don't feel it right now or acknowledge it, then I'm going to carry it for longer than I need,’ or, ‘Is there any lesson in it?’” 

They also find “centring, grounding yourself in Country” helps. “I love to just go find trees, go near the water. I think that's why heavy has a sound recording of Kuku Yalanji Country, Mossman Gorge – all the water rushing through when I was there. And I feel like that place is my favourite place in the world. 

“So getting to hear that [sound recording] with the song that's about not being alone, and Country holding you, and knowing that your experiences aren't limited to yourself – I think I wanted to really put it in the song in all the ways.”

The EP’s opening track, heavy features a reassuring, recurring phrase: “You don't have to hold this on your own” – leaning on others helps to foster Community.

Heavy’s music video was shot in Kee’ahn’s hometown of Townsville (Gurambilbarra and Thul Garrie Waja), post-flood. A love letter to family, femininity and the lands on which they trod, the clip features Kee’ahn’s actual backyard as well as cameos from their mum, nan, cousins, and aunties.

Reflecting on their musical achievements to date, Kee’ahn lists “all the different shows honouring Uncle Archie” amongst her proudest moments – particularly 2023’s One Song: The Music Of Archie Roach concert, a celebration of Uncle Archie’s legacy, which was hosted by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s NAIDOC Week program at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, a year after he passed. 

“He was such an inspiration – is such an inspiration – to me. And singing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – honouring him and all the songs, and Aunty Ruby’s songs – it was really, really special. That was with Emma Donovan and Dan Sultan, and Jess Hitchcock. 

“Then I got to support Angie McMahon last year in New Zealand, and that was my first time getting to go over there. Getting to support Angie, getting to make music in another place – that was really, really special. 

“My mum had been there the year before and told me how special it was for her, knowing that where we come from – Torres Strait Islanders are so connected to that country, as well,” they explain. “And the history there and just how many people travelled to connect with Country and culture and young people. I thought that was special.” 

Kee’ahn’s for me, for you x is out now, with tickets to their upcoming launch tour on sale now.

Kee’ahn – for me, for you x EP Tour

Thursday, October 30th – The Vanguard, Sydney, NSW

Friday, October 31st – Mirrorball Ministries, Brisbane, QLD

Saturday, November 1st – Dancenorth, Townsville, QLD

Friday, November 7th – The Evelyn, Melbourne, VIC