Short Bio
Kid Keen, also known as Kaia, is a transgender, half-Hawaiian independent pop/indie artist from the Quad Cities. Starting her singing career in 2020, Keen has transformed her sound over the years, representing how she herself has transformed from the boy in a bedroom, to the woman on stage. She blends her unique style and experience as a transgender woman to create music that not only tells a story - but is easy to listen to. Don't let this fool you, as she still covers all the hallmarks of a great artist denoting topics like love, dreams, and heartbreak. So whether you want a song to play in your car, a relaxing sound after a long day, or a slow song for you to fall asleep to, only a few things are certain - Keen's relatable lyrics, and catchy melodies will be sure to keep you hooked.
"Hi! I'm Kid Keen!"
Long Bio
"Oh, I'm Kaia..."
"When I first picked up the pen, I didn't realize how dramatically it would change my life..." - Kid Keen
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From a young age, Kaia has always wanted to be a musician. She would perform dances while singing for her mother in the living room, she used to pray that she could be a singer every night for years, and in 2018 she seized her opportunity to join the music industry by starting her career as a... rapper.
Kaia cited her reasoning for starting music as the "best way to release my emotions," because she had social anxiety and found it burdensome to open up to people about the ways she was feeling. Eventually, Kaia fell into a group of friends with artists ghxst.net and K Frost and they would work together every week for almost 2 years - during which they developed their skills together as lyricists, producers, and audio engineers. The group would amass support quickly, racking up 20,000 streams across multiple platforms in just a couple years. Eventually, the group slowly drifted apart leaving Keen with two options; One, she could continue her career as a rapper, or two, she could start to explore singing. Kaia chose the latter option and at the end of 2020, Kaia debuted her first two singing singles, "Those Eyes" and "Urban Stars" racking up over 1,500 plays in the first 3 months. She slowly released songs afterward, but in 2022 everything came crashing to a halt and she stopped releasing music to deal with a more pressing issue in her life - her gender identity.
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For a better part of a decade throughout middle school and high school, Kaia had been internally struggling with her gender identity. Starting at the end of 2013, Kaia states "I started having thoughts every single night and almost every day where I would just wish, and pray, and wish." It all came to a head almost a year later during a visit to her father. Kaia was almost certain she was transgender, but ended up leaving her fate to a coin. She decided that she would flip a coin 3 times, and if it was heads, she was transgender, if it was tails, she was not. It ended up landing on tails twice. She says she looks back on the experience fondly stating, "I think's hilarious I lived my life for a decade by what a coin said." Eventually, the thoughts faded to the background - dull but persistent. She still wished and prayed every night, but she distracted herself with school work and sports. Then, in 2020 the world was changed with the pandemic. Moving to online school had her start thinking about her gender identity again, but it truly came to a head in 2022 when she had a gap year from college. That year brought those thoughts to the forefront of her mind and she developed anxiety and depression. Though in time, she came to accept and love herself which allowed her to become more social than ever before, start releasing new music, and start her dating life again.
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Her music reflects that journey, with her 6th single being the first song she had released in two years, telling the story of the feelings she was going through during that time, which can be read more about here. Simultaneously her music has transformed taking on a new meaning. The songs no longer embody just Kaia's feelings. They're stories, they're vibes, and they're not only for her. They're for the listener whether they need someone to relate to, need three minutes to escape from life, or need. something they can dance to. Kid Keen may be about Kaia, but is no longer just for Kaia, Kid Keen is now for you.
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Through her journey, Keen also came to associate a new meaning to her name in that she tries to have a positive mindset for others:
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Stay Keen!