8 Things You Should Know About Kid of the Star System

London’s Kid of the Star System is truly one of a kind.

An alt-hip-hop artist who weaves together disparate genres to create a soundscape all her own, she is one part Dessa, and one part PVRIS, mixed with a whole lot of other things, including darkwave, trip-hop, and synth rock.

Totally unique, the incredible creativity of her music is matched only by the heartfelt emotion of her lyrics.

All of this can be heard on her recently released sophomore album, Luminous.

With Luminous shining brightly, here are eight things you should know about Kid of the Star System.

Her name represents her love of space 

Kid of the Star System’s cosmic name stems from her love of all things outer space.

“I’m obsessed with space, and everything to do with it,” she says, “I like constellations, I like stars, I like solar systems, and the possibilities of many thing, so I was like alright, I’m technically a child of this universe, I’m learning, I’m still growing, so I like alright, I’m Kid of the Star System.”

Family members were her first musical influences 

While she says numerous family members introduced her to great music, she points to car rides with her dad as having an especially big impact on her.

“He would be constantly blasting Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, or classical music, or jazz music,” she remembers, “so that would be ingrained in my head. I would be singing along as a kid, being annoying in the back, just shouting, screaming, and yet jamming along. That’s where it all started.”

It didn’t take long for Kid of the Star System to want to be singing her own songs, but she says, “I don’t think (my) parents, or anyone, took me seriously until I was poking them like, ‘I want this instrument! I need it! I want to do a thing.’ Then when I started making bands back in high school, that’s when they were like, ‘Oh, OK, she actually wants to do this.’”

She’s always refused to be boxed in 

Kid of the Star System’s music doesn’t fit neatly into one genre, and that’s because she’s always taken issue with the concept of limiting herself.

She remembers very early on, “As a kid I think someone left MTV on, and I think a Nirvana video, and a Lenny Kravitz video, one after the other, came on. I was like – what is this? I want to play guitar! I was really fascinated by whatever came on, and I got hooked to many things.”

Linkin Park would become a favorite, as would Eminem.

In school, however, liking a litany of different artists meant not fitting into a specific group. Kid of the Star System was OK with that.

“You know in school how often there are different cliques? I noticed when they were like, ‘Oh, you can’t like everything. You need to stick to one thing.’ I was confused by this … I was like, no, I don’t want to choose. I like this, this and this.”

Her early bands spanned the gamut of genres 

To get to the sound she has now, Kid of the Star System experimented with a number of genres along the way. Her first band was a metal influenced project she describes as, “A bit of Kittie, a bit of Linkin Park, just the heavier side of things.”

Her music lightened up a bit as the years went on, as she remembers, “The bands after that started going into like rock-pop, or the punk rock-pop route.”

Her final band before going solo was a duo that was, “More of a pop-ish thing.”

With no single sound suiting her, she says, “After that I was like screw everything, and everyone, let me do this by myself.”

Her new album, Luminous, takes on the world, and herself 

“Luminous has a bit of love, a bit of self-critique, and a bit of – hey world, we should be here,” Kid of the Star System says of her sophomore effort.

“It’s a half self-critical album, and me wanting more from what is currently happening in life in regards to the human way of what we’re currently going through right now. I feel like you hear the year 2023, and what we’re currently seeing, I’m like – shouldn’t we be further along right now?”

She adds that, overall, “I feel like my music is a nice reminder that there are alternatives to what you’re currently going through.”

“Sleepwalking” was an easy choice as the lead single 

With much of Luminous focused on the concept of potential alternatives in life, the song “Sleepwalking” stood out as the perfect way to introduce people to the album.

“That’s how I feel our current state of living is,” she says of “Sleepwalking,” “(and) I feel like there is more to what we’re currently experiencing. It’s kind of like a slight stab at things, but also – hey, there’s more. We could be over here.”

More videos are on the way 

Up next for Kid of the Star System will be the release of a video for “Horizon Double Negative.” The song is one that’s especially close to her heart.

“You go through your life trying to explain yourself, you just want a sense of understanding from everyone, you just want everyone to get you, or get it, instead of having to explain, so I’m hoping from this (song) it will be done.”

While she doesn’t have any more videos shot, she says, “I might just put visuals (out) for the whole album, because in my head I’ve got this whole cinematic going on, so I kind of want to give you an idea of what’s in my head, basically.”

Live shows are in her future, but there’s been a slight delay 

Luminous came out in early September, and Kid of the Star System had a number shows booked in support of the album, but had to postpone all of them because her laptop died just a handful of weeks after the album’s release.

“I was midway through arranging my set, so that really upset me,” she says, “I was like, yeah, I’m gonna sort out the live set, and then it just went BOP, and it just died on me, and there was no way of fixing it, so I have to get a new device.”

While her laptop dying has caused a number of problems, she remembers her main thought was, “Thank God the album is done!”

Once she gets the tech side of things is sorted out she’ll be booking shows again, as she considers to the loss of her laptop nothing more than a temporary setback.

“The album’s out,” she says, “That’s what’s important.”

For more Kid of the Star System, check out kidofthestarsystem.com.