Kira

Written by: Kylie Olsson  
Photography: Erica Bergsmeds

She was in one of the longest running shows Nickelodeon has ever produced and as her role as Phoebe Thunderman in The Thundermans, Kira Kosarin, has amassed an impressive 3.9 million followers on her Instagram and honed her acting skills. Growing up in the public eye can not have been easy but with her family all in showbiz she had some solid shoulders to get advice from.  With the Thundermans behind her the once teen star has grown up and is ready for the next chapter in her life which involves taking over the music industry with her honest, hearltfelt and quirky song writing and impressive voice. Blowout Magazine Editor, Kylie Olsson, caught up with the star at her London Showcase to find out more. 

Kira, lovely to meet you and thanks for inviting us along to your UK showcase.. Is this the first time you’ve performing here?

Lovely to meet you too!  And actually its not, I performed in Manchester last night which was amazing as it was a sold out gig and a really, really fun crowd. However, it is my first time performing in London so when I first walked into he venue I was a little nervous but after sound check its eased my nerves a bit. 

Your first single is coming out in January, tell us a little bit about it?

Yes, I’m super excited. It's called ‘Vinyl’ and it’s a tribute to some of the artists who have inspired my writing and music. We actually arrived her last week to shoot the music video… 

Why London for the video?

Well, we found this great production company and director (James Russel) we wanted to work with so we thought why not combine the two whilst we are over. We found this cute flat in Soho, we cast the love interest locally which was really fun.

The single sounds great can you tell us what’s it about?

It’s really about my first relationship, falling in love and looking back on it, and how the best part of falling in love is falling in love to music and all of the songs that become part of my life. Even now when I listen to those songs its takes me back to that period or any period in your life… and that’s the great thing about music, you always remember the songs you were listening to when you fell in love. So I wrote this song about that and kinda hope that this song could become that for someone eventually. 

You started your career as an actress in the Nickelodeon series The Thundermans but what came first for you, the music or the acting?

It was def the music. I grew up wanting to be in theatre. My family comes from Broadway theatre so I grew up singing and dancing all the time. I started writing music when I was 11 or 12 and that was the game changer for me, music became my biggest priority and passion. I ended up pursuing acting at the same time and The Thundermans came along which was an amazing experience. We never expected it to last 6 years but I’m so grateful that it did. I was writing the whole time I was on the show but I just couldn’t release it because I was busy being Phoebe but now I’m not on the show I finally get to dive back into this whole other world again. 

You mention the song writing being the game changer for you, what artists inspired you with your song writing?

As a child the first inspiration I had was with Corinne Bailey Rae, which is kind of why I wanted to play the guitar, actually her and Tori Kelly and Ed Sheeran were a huge inspiration. They really inspired me and taught me that you can write your own songs. As I grew up I got inspired by the more current R&B singer song writers like Kehlani ans Ella Mai.. and then you have Rihanna and Beyonce who have been my queens my whole life! I really pull inspiration form a lot of different genres and then fuse them into this ‘thing’ which has become me.  

So how long have you been playing the guitar for? 

For about 7 years now. You know, I’ve always written my music on guitar and piano but about a year ago I started playing live and I really thought I wasn’t good enough to play on tour so I was looking for a guitarists and I kept telling them, ‘play it like this, no like this…’ and finally my dad said ‘why don’t you just play your guitar on stage?’… I didn’t think I was good enough and he said, ‘well practice more until you are good enough.’ So I spent the next year practicing in my bedroom. 

Which you post on YouTube…

Exactly. 

Is there anyone out there that you would like to work with?  Maybe anyone you’d like to co-write with?

God there are so many… Every song on my album I either wrote or co-wrote with my producer. I LOVE collaborating and it actually isn’t something I started doing until recently. I wrote a full album whilst I was on The Thundermans, which I never released. That I wrote by myself, and when the show was over that’s when I had the time to start collaborating with other writers. One of my biggest career moments would be to have Chancer The Rapper on one of my songs.  

 What’s next?

2019 is the year of music for me. We have about 15 songs which are ready to go, we are just figuring out what order they are going in and what other videos to shoot. I think this year will just be a lot of releases. 

And will you tour the album?

Yes! I think there will be a summer tour after the album comes out. I really want to do an international tour as when I’ve ever played at some of those shows the crowds have always been so amazing. 

And where will you be spending Christmas?

I’ll be in LA, most of my friends will be out of town but I’ll be with my family which I’m really looking forward to.

To find out more on what Kira is up to go to  https://www.instagram.com/kirakosarin/?hl=en


Photographer & Creative director: Erica Bergsmeds

Art director/Graphic designer: Celine Bachelet

PR/Producer: Azim Majid and Nick Stear/ LOOP PR

Journalist: Kylie Olsson

Thank you to Century Club