LA-born, Brooklyn-based psychedelic indie artist Kinneret explains how one song can be the key to opening new doors and utilizing SoundCloud to build confidence.
Welcome to Sound Advice, the weekly interview series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into the many facets of Next Pro to reach their audience and grow their careers.
In 2019, Los Angeles native Kinneret uploaded a song that took on a life of its own, racking up millions of streams and becoming a key that would open doors thorughout her career. Written at age 16 while Kinneret was attending a performing arts high school, the success of "No Wind Resistance" reinforced her decision to switch from the theater program to music. Growing up the daughter of two rabbis - Kinneret was inspired by the power of music and words combined, capturing an emotive, introspective energy in her songwriting. Known for blurring genres and infusing trap elements into psychedelic soundscapes, Kinneret continues to build on a strong creative foundation, from capturing emotive, introspective energy in her songs to utilizing her own paintings as album artwork. Calling in as a freshly minted transplant to Brooklyn, Kinneret shared more about the advice she'd give her younger self, the importance of being authentic throughout your creative process, and how utilizing SoundCloud features to engage with fans doesn't take away from the magic of art.
Four years after you released "No Wind Resistance," it is still receiving new comments, likes and plays on a daily basis. What is it like watching new listeners discover the song?
I just love the comments on SoundCloud. That's by far my favorite feature, just because it brings my songs to life. There's no other platform where I feel like my songs are living and breathing. With some of the other platforms, it's like, here's the song you put your heart into and here's a bunch of numbers to go with it. Every day I'm waking up to notifications from someone in Minnesota or Alaska commenting things like, 'This scratches the itch in my brain' or whatever. People resonate with different parts and people hear different things in every song. I turn off notifications for a lot of apps, but I've never turned off the SoundCloud comments.
Learn more about Insights, Comments and Direct Messages on SoundCloud
Seeing how much your career has evolved and grown from when you first released "No Wind Resistance," what advice would you share with your younger self?
On the social side, just remember that some people get it and some people don't, but don't take anything personally. Let your song go out and have its own life. It someone is hating on it, they're not hating on you as the parent of the song. They're just saying, I don't really like hanging out with this kid. [Laughs]. People hate on my favorite artists all the time, so take the hate as like a little pat on the back. You're doing something special, and of course some people don't get it. Another piece of advice is to interact with the fans more. Use the features on SoundCloud more. In the beginning, I was afraid that I would spoil the magic if I became real for people. But that's just impossible. The music is actually not about me, it's about my art. As long as the art has magic, I can't really do much to spoil that as long as I'm being myself.
Zooming out and looking at the presence you've built online, how does SoundCloud fit into that ecosystem? What SoundCloud features do you use the most?
“No Wind Resistance” has been the key to every open door in the past few years. There have been tons of people hearing the song on SoundCloud or finding me on Instagram and asking, “Can I remix this?” or “Can I send you beats?” When I started making music and nobody knew my songs existed, I was desperately trying to find and buy beats from everyone. Now, people want to give them to me, because they’ve actually heard what I do with them.
As for SoundCloud features, I’ve done exclusive drops or early drops for songs. I’ll make a SoundCloud private link and only share it with certain fans. I think having private links is a really powerful tool. When I’m working on demos and figuring out which ones are gonna make it onto an album, those private links get used all the time. Comments and DMs are super cool; just seeing people reach out and take the extra step to send me a little virtual envelope is very sweet. I went on tour in November and it was cool looking at the SoundCloud stats and figuring out where I might have a bigger headcount or which merch to sell at which show based on what kind of fans are in each city. Location data-wise, my fans are all over the place because of the internet viral effect. My top cities are in five different countries, which is kind of crazy. It’s interesting getting an idea of where people live and where they’re listening in from.
that comes with it. You have to figure out what you want your fans to feel from you. I’ve always just really wanted people to think of me as like a super normal person, which I feel like I am. I’m doing music because I want to connect with people and I want to make music that impacts people, but not for any other reason besides that. I try to start conversations off as normal as I can, and just be like, “Hi, thanks so much for listening to my music. I see that you’re one of my most engaged listeners.” I’ll either summarize my journey and just be like, “I’m really grateful that you’re here.” If there’s a song that I’ve seen they commented on a lot or liked or shared, I’ll sometimes say why that song was important to me and hope that they’ll end up sharing back. I think if you’re vulnerable, people end up reciprocating.
Learn how to share private tracks or playlists on SoundCloud
What is your creative process like? Has it changed as your career has evolved?
I think it has changed over the years. Across the board, it’s always about individuality. Why make a song unless I feel like nobody else would make that song? That’s been my drive since the beginning: that I have something unique to say, or a unique way to say it. Before the goal was more like “teenager energy” – it was like, I want to make something different and maybe nobody understands it but I want to make it because I understand. Now, I actually have seen firsthand that people do understand because I have people who listen to my music. So I write more on an inspirational front; I want to inspire people and be myself through my songs.
The general theme is the ways that I’ve struggled in life; all the times that I’ve doubted myself and been insecure, especially as a woman. Now, the drive creatively is how can I be the most myself musically so that people can listen to someone being themselves and be inspired by that. Let’s say I start a song with the instrumental, I’ll listen to it and I’ll be like, “What part of me does this sound like? Does this sound like when I’m feeling crazy at 11 o’clock and I’m procrastinating on stuff?” And if it does, I’ll try to articulate that part of me as best as I can. It’s sort of like a filter that I have creatively. I just do things until it doesn’t sound like me. I’ll write a melody and if it starts to sound like it’s not my energy, then I’ll write something else. My creative process is just like filtration to keep things as “me” as possible. I can polish the songs and make them sparkly and more radio-ready and enjoyable but the core has to be 100% authentic.
Have you ever had any feedback from SoundCloud that has helped guide the process?
I get the most comments when I do something that’s unique and interesting. People are not commenting on the part that sounds like everything else. They’re commenting when there’s a crazy beat drop or a switch up that catches them off guard. SoundCloud has reassured me that if I do weird things in my songs, it will be well received.
What tips do you have for those looking to build their reach on SoundCloud?
I think it happens in the product itself and in your confidence in uploading. You can make draft uploads on SoundCloud, so instead of overthinking and making a song absolutely perfect, try just putting it up there and let your baby see the world. Let your songs come out to play so that you can write new ones. SoundCloud is special because it takes some of the pressure off. You’re running the ship and you’re allowed to release whenever and however you want. Take advantage of that. You can’t really predict which songs are going to catch people’s attention – sometimes it’s the ones that you’ve never expected, so just get them out there.
Learn more about uploading unlimited tracks with Next Pro
What are you currently working on?
I am working on a bunch of new songs and probably working towards an album soon. I’m mainly transitioning right now to living on the other side of the country [in New York]. I went on my two first tours in 2023, and now I’m hungry for live shows. I want to get to know some of the random Brooklyn venues and play the scene out here and then hopefully make my way towards some festivals. Also working on my craft and trying to meet some fun producers to work with. And now that I’ll finally have my own studio in my apartment, I’m excited to go all the way in and put on the wizard hat and get cooking on some fun songs.
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