Name: Kunde
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: Belgian-Cameroonian
Current release: Kunde's new album Late Bloomer is out via W.E.R.F.   
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I’m super passionate about the universe. I think the interest might have low key bled into Late Bloomer too. You’ll hear it when you listen closely to the album. Anyway, I really love to nerd out on the vastness of the universe and collect these little factoids like the fact that all of the atoms in our body are the remains of stars that burned out billions of years ago. It puts things in perspective. I mean, here we are fighting for dominance, meanwhile we’re all a bunch of stardust.  Multicellular beings that perceive themselves as one entity even though there are more germs, that collectively form our bodies than there are people on this planet. The funny thing is, these germs seem smarter than us because at least they team up to form something bigger. We’re wasting so much time, energy and human potential with these absurdities.
Aside from that there are many things that fascinate me, since there are many things I don’t know and understand, I think I might gravitate to mysteries, they keep me hungry.

If you enjoyed this Kunde interview and would like to know more about his music and current tour dates, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, bandcamp, and Facebook.  



When it comes to experiencing strong emotions as as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

Too many too name, but for me that experience is not necessarily tied to a song or a performer, as it is more related to my personal mindspace of the time.

For example, I was going through this break-up and I just kept on listening to Kiefer’s album HappySad, because something about the sonics just soothed my aching soul at that moment. I felt like the nagging pit of pain in my stomach got more quiet as I absorbed the soundwaves emitted through my speakers.



I always do have the strongest sensation listening to records, though. Something about it just hits different.

There can be many different kinds of emotions in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

I think 90% of the music I’m drawn to has a healing or soothing effect on me personally.

I like music that makes my mind drift. Something sweet with a touch of sadness like Bobby Caldwell or something with an Oakey that sets a vibe and hits like bourbon like Coltrane’s "Central Park West," Kiefer’s earliest catalogue or MNDSGN’s "Rare Pleasure." 



But from time to time I like to get hyped and then I put on some Onyx or M.O.P. That’s some good music to shoot some hoops to, dunk on some heads haha.

I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song or composition, does it tend to fill you with the same emotions – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

I’ve had Kiefer’s HappySad album have that soothing effect on me.

But I listened to it way too much and I also studied it so now it’s too much a part of my life to have that effect. Something needs to be relatively new or rediscovered for it to have this effect.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of emotions?

Actually, my mind always gravitates to the soundscapes. I’m very music minded. Even though I’m also a lyricist, it all starts with the music for me. Everything that I write, is born from the music I’m writing on.

As a listener it’s even more noticeable: I can listen to songs for years and still not know the lyrics. There’s something hidden within music that bypasses language. In my experience, people are first of all emotional beings, unknowingly guided by those electrical impulses. We feel before we know how to speak.

As a vocalist I have roles to fulfil, it is a lead instrument. The melodies and the vocal tone hold so much unconscious emotional context. The second part are the lyrics and they bring that emotion home and make it more tangible. If both are aligned with the music, you’ve got magic.

When it comes to experiencing emotions as as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing them? [Where do you feel them, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

I always start out from the music, that’s what moves me. It brings up emotions, thoughts and visions. When I write try to grab those. It’s not always easy because those sensations are fickle and fleeting. But most of the times when I grab my pen, I ask myself this question: what does this sound evoke in me? What’s stirring up? And I take it from there.

Sometimes it’s less palpable, then I need some distance to discern what has been created. While other times it just pours out and I know it’s real.

When I wrote “Late Bloomer,” the title track of the album, dedicated to my mother, I was struggling through the takes because I was overcome by the emotion behind the lyrics and I just sobbed all the way through recording the demo. I had to pause and retrack multiple times because of that.



Mind you, I’m not the type of person that cries easily. So that process was quite cathartic and meaningful.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture emotions best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

It depends, when I’m lucky, I can write up a song in one go. Like when I wrote “CRY” from my previous album Dandelion, I wrote all the lyrics in one go and it really felt like a cleansing experience to me.



I remember feeling really tired and down the whole night after writing the song, because I’d touched on some slumbering trauma.

“Shades of Navy” on the other hand was quite the process. The first part went smooth, Helena and I were wrapping up the session for ‘You Should Know’ and right before we were to leave my studio, we were like “f- it, let’s jam a bit more” and so we did. I sat down behind my setup, finger drummed a dilla-esque groove, whipped up some chords while Helena wrote. We created and recorded the first half of that song in 30 minutes.



The other half though, that was quite the journey. Sometimes you just got to keep on chipping away at the stone to get that statue. Lots of trial and error, take turns only to retrace your steps, getting closer to the destination after each and every exploration.

But I believe that the creative process gets easier after every attempt. So I’m prone to say honing is the main way, either way. Because if you’re able to whip up a tune in mere minutes, that in and of itself the direct result of honing your skills.

How much of the emotions of your own music, would you say, are already part of the composition, how much is the result of the recording process?

When I’m in the process of creating, I try to stay in a flow state. I’m not processing things rationally. I try to follow my intuition as much as possible.

I start by making sounds as in chord progressions, grooves or melodies. I’m not labelling feelings or emotions at first, I’m exploring musical ideas and until I find something that I connect with on an intuitive level. It’s from the moment I start writing, that I feel the need to grasp the emotions living within the music. From that moment I go back and forth between writing and adjusting the composition to fit the emotion or the narrative.

I also love to use contrast. I love to juxtapose sweet soundscapes to bitter realities. But I experiences the creative process as cyclical in nature with lots of twists and turns up until the moment I feel it’s time to move on, that’s when I feel it’s finished.

For Late Bloomer, what kind of emotions were you looking to get across?

Late Bloomer is an homage to my mother. Growing up I remember her saying that flowers that take their time to blossom retain their youth longer. Much like in Dandelion, my previous album, I use stories within stories to tell a broader narrative.

For this one I used a lot of interpersonal experiences to reflect on the world. There are different emotions are guiding you through the album going from immense gratitude, to unease, anger, sadness, regret but also joy and optimism.

Fun fact: Late Bloomer, had a couple of iterations, now that I come to think of it. The first iteration, was in 2018, the working title was Juice and I wanted it to be centred around the observation that human beings are more emotional than rational beings and I wanted to explore all of our emotions.

Finishing Dandelion, the album that released in 2024, gave me the clarity for Late Bloomer. So now I see it as a diptych: in Dandelion I focus on my roots and my relationship with my dad travelling back to Cameroon while in Late Bloomer I focus on my mother and on the stories growing up on European soil expanding on themes of the previous album.

How do you capture the emotions you want to get across in the studio?

To me it all comes down to intention.

I’ve come to find out that even the emotional experience people get from listening to music is subjective. People don’t always agree on what sounds happy or sad. I’ve heard people say that the beat of “CRY” from my previous album sounded happy, while in my mind it has a restlessness and harshness to it. But you know my music has a lot of emotional ambiguity, and I find this to be a reflection of life itself. It’s so beautiful and painful at the same time.

So for me, my intention is what matters the most to me. If you get it you get it and if you don’t okay that’s fine too.

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the emotions, energies or impressions you want?

They are useful tools to enhance and sometimes create the emotional energy of a song. They can even make or break a song.

But for me, in essence, they are tools, so they are instrumental. They’re there to help you express the intention, that’s it. I always try to go for a less is more approach but my curiosity usually gets the better of me.

I try to stay aligned with my intention, the emotions I’m trying to convey. As long as I remember to do that I’m good.

In terms of emotions, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

Interesting question. There is a lot of difference to me.

The moment I’m recording a song, I’m usually getting to know the song myself, especially when demoing. The song is brand-new, it’s barely existing, every decision is or feels formative to its existence. At the same time you’re trying to perfect the idea and the intention behind it. That can create some insecurity or some tension. Like, woah, do I really want to commit to that? That’s why I like to let it rest, take some distance and go back at it with a fresh mind. Tranquility is my friend in this process.

The performance mindset on the other hand is a different beast. In the studio I chase perfection, on stage I chase energetic connection. First of all when I hit the stage, I’m well-rehearsed and I know the music inside and out. So I’m coming with a mission. I’m there to create a moment to last in memory. So I have to ditch tranquillity for adrenaline, get hyped up because being on stage is a huge work out.

I prepare for my shows by doing cardio to allow me to retain vocal and breath control. That being said I’m all about intention when I’m in the studio and when I’m on stage. I try to emit as much of it as possible.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the emotional impact of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

It deepens it, because it becomes palpable what I’m trying to do, which is to communicate my inner world and connect with the people around me.

Recently I’ve discovered a new layer in live interactions ever since I’ve acted on a theatre stage for the first time ever. It unlocked a new dimension to my live performances is centred around intention and it only happens when I’m in a room with people.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the emotions or do you surrender to them and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

I used to try to stay in control. But nowadays I try to surrender as much as possible. It’s more fun that way too.

The only things I want to control is my breath and I’m good. If I trust my instincts and whatever the music and the moment unlocks, we can work magic.

The emotions that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this power to bring about change in the world?

I love this question, I think about it all the time.

The simplest way I can answer it is by looking at my own life. Music shaped me. It consoled me, challenged me, kept me sane, healed parts of me I didn’t know how to face. There’s a cliché that says, “music saved me.” I wouldn’t be honest if I said that doesn’t apply to me. So yes, I deeply believe in the power of music, and art in general, to change lives, and therefore the world.

But that power cuts both ways. Music can elevate, and it can misguide. It can liberate, and it can manipulate. As someone rooted in hip hop, a culture founded on peace, love, unity and having fun, I’ve witnessed how it can be distorted by capitalism to be used as another tool for oppression by promoting destructive rolemodels that guide people to lifestyles that lead to increased chances of stigmatization and incarceration. At the other hand reinforcing stereotypes that legitimize repression.

I’m speaking from lived experience when I say that. That’s why I’m extremely conscious about what I put into my music. I know how powerful words and images can be. I don’t want to contribute to traps I barely escaped myself.