Kings Won’t Stop Until He’s the Best Artist Alive

Kings’ debut single ‘Don’t Worry ‘Bout It’ has legitimately become one of the biggest hits in recent New Zealand music history. It was the highest selling New Zealand single last year and has been so inescapable it broke a record held by Lorde (who else?) for most weeks at number one on the New Zealand singles chart.

Maybe it’s the man bun, but it’s been easy ever since to pin Kings as the type of guy that only makes breezy party songs. Not any longer. His dark and pounding new single ‘Out Here Alive’ sees him switch things up and get serious. The track is from his definitely-going-to-be-huge second album Two, and it’s one with a deeply personal message that highlights in graphic detail some of the dysfunction of his early years. “Statistically, I was destined to perish,” he raps. “Alcoholic, obese and a failed marriage.”

“What you hear in the verse is a true story,” Kings explained to VICE. “I was in anger management and counselling from the last year of primary school all the way through to my college years. For me it was a frustration, but I gained some useful tools of communication that I use today in my music.”

What he wants people to take away from the song is that we’re all in the same boat in the end. “When I sing the hook “we ain’t getting out here alive” I’m stating that in each individual journey, no matter if it’s righteous or bastardised, it all ends the same way.”

Kings isn’t known for collaborating with other artists on his songs. He prides himself on writing, producing, mixing and mastering all of his own music, but he knew MeloDownz would fit right in on the track. After all, he’s every NZ rapper’s favourite rapper. “He’s a dope artist and his message has always been clear through his music. He’s always been a GC,” says Kings.

It’s been a quick ascent for Kings, who won the Tui for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the NZ Music Awards in 2016. “I want to be the best artist alive,” he says of his ethic to go so hard, “and to me that only comes with hours and hours of honing my craft, years of self-discovery and a lifetime of work.”

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