Paige Kennedy - News

PAIGE KENNEDY Explores Their Male Childhood Alter-Ego On New Single ‘He Is’

Rising Alt-Pop Songwriter Reveals Details of New EP Doubles Released 14th April 2023 via Open Sandwich Records Supporting NIMMO @ The Lower Third, London - 19th April 2023

Kent-raised, London-based alt-pop songwriter PAIGE KENNEDY is pleased to reveal the video for their new single ‘He Is’ which is released on 21st March 2023. The track is the latest to be taken from their new EP Doubles, which is set for release on 14th April 2023 via Open Sandwich Records, with Kennedy appearing live in London on 19th April 2023 supporting queer dance music duo NIMMO.

Doubles’ closing track and delightfully moreish lofi-R&B gender-queer single ‘He Is’ provides the most reflective and introspective moment of the record, exploring Kennedy’s own gender fluidity in childhood, through the ethereal character ‘He’. Set at the onset of puberty, ‘He’ has a growing awareness of the fact that their days are numbered due to social pressures and body changes. The song also touches on the demand to perform masculinity both through idealised body image and appearing powerful and brave for men of all ages. The official video was directed by Katie Grenville, who says of the visuals, “When Paige described to me the inspiration for this song it resonated with me a lot. For me, the song captures very sensitive and complicated notions about gender identity. The song is about a person in two halves—it’s about developing out of childhood, and the trauma of feeling like a foreigner in a body that is changing and developing beyond your control. It’s about navigating a body in a state of flux, and the loss, and grieving, of a past self that is no longer recognisable in a body that has experienced the changes of adolescence.”

“It’s incredibly difficult to express through art what it means to experience gender fluidity—to try and describe something that is, by nature, constantly realigning, rebalancing and reluctant to classification. I’m extremely happy to have worked on a project where the goal was to bring attention and representation to this particular kind of queer experience. I hope that the song and video resonates with people, and that it communicates what I see as the beauty in recognising and celebrating all the nuances and idiosyncrasy of queer and non-binary gender identities.” Kennedy’s highly-danceable and deeply listenable new set of songs pushes the envelope in terms of sonic influence and range, and is shot through with themes of doubles, which came as something of a surprise to the songwriter. “The theme had been running through the EP without me even realising it,” says Kennedy. “The Mulholland Drive-inspired lead single ‘This Is The Girl!’ is about doppelgängers in the music industry, a theme we explored with the doubles in the music video. ‘Love You From A Distance’ is about getting so close to your partner you lose a sense of where you end and they begin, and ‘He Is’ explores my childhood male alter-ego.”

Written and recorded remotely at home, Kennedy borrowed and clubbed together the recording equipment to get the project off the ground, mixing and producing all of the tunes themselves, and enlisting the help of mastering engineer Nic Nell (Orlando Weeks, porij, NZCA Lines) for the finishing touches. ‘He Is’ follows on from the EP’s well-received lead single ‘This Is The Girl’ and follow up ‘Love You From A Distance’ which has picked up a groundswell of enthusiastic radio support from Tara Kumar, Jack Saunders and Gemma Bradley at BBC R1, Gideon Coe, Lauren Laverne, Chris Hawkins and Tom Robinson at BBC 6music, multiple spins from Abbie McCarthy at BBC introducing Kent, and more. Closing out 2022 supporting Chester indie-pop faves Peaness and Adwaith, Kennedy has also recently been working on co-writing and production sessions for rising stars Nell Mescal and Phoebe Green. New EP Doubles is released 14th April 2023 via Open Sandwich

Paige Kennedy Live Dates: 

19.04.23 - London - The Lower Third (w/ NIMMO)