Rising Artist Kajo Opens Up About His Debut Album ‘Cold Places’

Posted On March 7, 2022

Samantha Colleran, March 2022

Kajo is a genre bending artist who has been working to perfect his musical craft for years. A classically trained pianist and producer who gained attention after touring with rapper Logic (and is now signed to Logic’s label, BobbyBoy Records), Kajo is ready to share his own musical vision with the world, and his recently released debut album Cold Places proves that Kajo is a force to be reckoned with. In a recent º1824 press conference, Kajo spoke to attendees about how music has impacted his life, his biggest inspirations, and how he’s paved his own path in the music industry. 

Kajo’s experiences as a producer allowed him to take things slow and experience things at lower stakes as he moved through the ranks of the industry. His classical training also allows him to see how far he can push his music and what limits exist in terms of creation. Kajo has mastered the art of knowing when to reign things in and when to make powerful music moments that will cause great listener reactions. Taking inspiration from a wide range of artists like My Bloody Valentine, Paul McCartney, Massive Attack, and a number of jazz bands, Kajo shared with press conference attendees that he believes nothing in music is new, but what he is doing is drawing inspiration from past music genres and making it into something fresh. All of his inspirations get jumbled together and turn into what he hopes will be a more original sound than previously heard in music. 

Speaking about Cold Places, Kajo said that the main message he wanted to convey throughout the album is how he grew up. There are 18 tracks to symbolize youth, and there’s a wide range of subject matter covered. Kajo shared that he grew up in a city in California that had a high crime and death rate for youth, so he would spend a lot of time listening to and making music with his friends to keep safe after school and during the weekends, which inspired the track “My Father’s Garage”. He describes the album as a playlist to his former self; despite the coldness of the world and the feelings of anxiety and depression that bubble up in life, everything will be alright. Kajo highlights another song on the album called “Ötzi” which was named after a mummy discovered on the border of Austria and Italy. This song contains his favorite lyric that he’s written, “This is what it means to be a human/ It means to be special in someone else’s eyes”. We all want to feel important to someone and know that we’re living an impactful life, no matter who you are, and Kajo said that this line sums up that feeling perfectly for him. 

Having years of experience under his belt, Kajo shared some of his fears and pieces of advice he’s learned to work through over the years to get to where he is today. One of his biggest fears is the fear of failure, which he has learned to work through, saying that the more failure you get out of the way, the closer you are to achieving success and getting to your goal. He also advised listeners to not let being the best get in the way of doing what you want to do; you may always want things to be great, but not every idea you have needs to be genius. Some of the smallest ideas can be good enough for the time being, and as long as you’re sharing your message and ideas with the world, that’s sometimes all you need to do. In terms of songwriting, Kajo said that the most challenging and rewarding aspects of songwriting is finding new ways to say things that have been said a million times, but when you find the right way to say it it feels like an accomplishment. 

In a world that’s so driven by fast consumption of content, the one way to stay relevant is to make content that’s easily digestible. Kajo has been working to devise ways to be concise in his message while simultaneously grabbing people’s attention. He says the best way to remain relevant is to ensure you’re speaking universal truths and remaining true to yourself. 

With the release of Cold Places, Kajo was most excited for people to finally have their hands on it and pick it apart, talk about their favorite lyrics, and even have producers sample his work. A labor of love and a very interesting listen through that isn’t genre specific, there’s not a doubt in my mind Kajo will achieve these goals of his. Be sure to check out the album on Apple Music, Spotify, or any other streaming service you may use, and follow Kajo on Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date on future releases! Let me know your thoughts on Cold Places in the comments if you give it a listen!