Kat Kennedy Is Anything But "Boring"

The best feeling you can get from a musician's oeuvre is indescribable. It's a feeling of knowing, where as soon as you hear a few notes, you not only know exactly who it is that's singing to you, but you feel like you know something about them. It might come from artistic honesty, but it doesn't always. What it truly embodies is the realization of an artistic identity they embrace and exploit. They know who they are, what they're supposed to sound like, and how to write to maximize that sound for all it's worth.

Kat Kennedy has found that sound. Her recent string of singles, "Party", "Unpacking", and "Bittersweet", have perfected her approach. As I described it before, Kat is following in the trend of 'Daria rock', taking a sound similar to Taylor Swift's "Folklore" album, but removing all of the natural cheer Taylor can't help but have in her voice. Kat's music is sadder, more 'numb', and nailing how so many people have been feeling for so long.

In the case of this new song, it comes in the form of the celebratory realization that she is now 'boring'. She is trading the exciting life of chasing the wrong people for the wrong reasons, and instead settling in to how good it can be to have nothing to do but be together with nothing to do. It might be 'boring', but that boredom is where deeper feelings are able to come out. How do you know if you actually like someone if you're constantly doing exciting things that get your adrenaline pumping? Anyone could look good when you've been wondering if your parachute is going to open. Someone looking good when you've been staring at them staring at a screen for six hours is a completely different ask.

So what exactly does a numb anthem sound like? Kat is showing us, as the music swells to the most powerful hit an apathetic musician can apply. The music is still subdued and slightly monochrome, but the energy getting the magnetic filings to move into a beautiful pattern is enough to get our toes tapping. Head-banging hurts after a few minutes, but this is something we can do all night long.

The advantage to being boring is that anything you do of any note will suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world. When a boring person manages to get the lid off a jar without needing one of those doohickeys from Bed Bath & Beyond, it's exciting. When a boring person solves the final Wheel Of Fortune puzzle before the contestant, it's exciting. When a song comes along and makes us feel better about not wanting to be exciting, paradoxically, it's exciting.

I am a boring person, and having a song that celebrates the beauty of being boring is exciting. They say life is in the simple pleasures, and that's what Kat's new song is. It's a simple pleasure that reminds us we don't always need to be searching for the next mountain to climb. Sometimes, remembering to breath is all the success we need. Now we have a soundtrack for that.

Oh, and Kat is definitely not boring. If you need the proof, just listen to her song prove that point.