Featured on npr music's All songs considered
"In Ki5's entry video for "Honey," the Michigan-based performer sings about his stress fading as he returns home to the familiarity of a lover. Like honey, Kyler Wilkins' falsetto is sweet; the layers of loops are sticky and soothing, building to a celebratory bridge, then melting back down to calming waves."
—Elle Mannion, Read full article on NPR
Press Photos
(Downloadable)
Ki5 Bio
Vocalist, songwriter, and producer Kyler Wilkins from Ann Arbor, Michigan has been performing as Ki5 using a loop station to build songs in full view of audiences since 2017. Having opened for Erykah Badu, Reggie Watts, and CeCe Peniston and performed as a Sofar Sounds artist, Ki5 represents himself as a seasoned Michigan artist who continuously to spreads his unique style of vocal-driven music to the masses.
His vibrant, harmonic composition style - influenced by his time in a cappella groups - explores the human voice meshed with beatboxing and delivers familiar genres such as R&B, pop, and soul. His honest, empathetic, and freeing style has been influenced by Reggie Watts, and Bon Iver.
His most recent EP release "SoulShine" expresses his love for simple beauty and gives encouragement for living a creative, expansive life with connection and real world experiences at the forefront. It’s an invitation to create curiously, live mindfully, and love freely all while keeping an eye out for those we want to invite in wondrous rivers with us. It’s a reflection of what it feels like to live outside of the safe, predictable fortresses we build around ourselves to protect us from creative, social, and professional risk. It’s there to hold us when we take those risks. Find SoulShine here
NPR's All Songs Considered says this about Ki5's 2019 live-looping performance of "Honey" off his first EP "Looking for the Sun": "Like honey, [his] falsetto is sweet; the layers of loops are sticky and soothing, building to a celebratory bridge, then melting back down to calming waves."
Videos
