Today we’d like to introduce you to Kennady Tracy.
Hi Kennady, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! I’m Kennady Tracy, I was born and raised in Encinitas, California and I currently live in Nashville, Tennessee where I am finishing up college. I am a singer/songwriter, I started performing live around San Diego when I was 11, begging my parents to bring me to every single open mic I could find. My favorite was of course Lestat’s in downtown San Diego. I played there every Monday basically all throughout middle and high school. I used to go down after my dance class on Mondays at like 8 pm when I was 12. I just loved the scene. I was so inspired by all the older artists like Aaron Bowen, Tim Connolly, and Caroline Loveglow who just took me under their wings and helped me out a lot when I was younger.
For college, I first moved to New York City to attend the New School and I played a bit around the city and started getting really into fashion and how important personal presentation and style is in artist branding. Once covid hit, I really needed a change after realizing life in New York wasn’t working for me at such a young age. I decided to move to Nashville after getting accepted into Belmont University’s songwriting program. I’m currently in my last semester at Belmont now! Since being here, I’ve released a series of three singles produced by Caitlin Evanson, Pedro Talarico, and Jesse Dorman (all SD natives!) and I’ve been working on more music, I’ve just been so busy I haven’t been able to put it out yet.
In the past year, I’ve really gotten into artist wardrobe styling in Nashville and found that it’s something I’m incredibly passionate about. I currently work mostly with two incredible up-and-coming country artists, Leah Marie Mason and Carter Faith (they’re two of my really good friends and just amazing artists, definitely check them out!), but I have been having so much fun with them, and just kinda diving into that side of my creativity which is where I’m at right now.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not. New York seemed like a dream to me, and it was amazing and fun, and I had the coolest memories and experiences in my two years there, but I really battled with moving to Nashville. I always joke that I had more of a culture shock coming here than New York because New York is very similar to California in a lot of ways, whereas Nashville is in the South and the culture is just entirely different.
I struggle every day with navigating what I want to do professionally after I graduate in a month (ahhh freaking out about that). I will always be a songwriter, and I definitely wanna release a mini-EP in the Spring. I think what I’ve struggled with the most is that I really do love styling and it’s something I’ve recently discovered I’m good at and I’ve been able to do a lot of styling work I’m incredibly proud of in the past year. It’s just weird stepping into a different field than what I thought I was always gonna do.
Nashville is for sure a writers’ town, so I will definitely continue writing because I think it’s something I could never not do, it’s how I deal with literally everything.
I definitely credit growing up with the amazing San Diego music scene to my passion to have a creative career whether it ends up being as a songwriter, stylist, or both hahaha
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My sound musically is dream/alt-pop. I am heavily inspired by Lana del Rey, Halsey, Lorde, and those kinds of alt-pop artists. My three most recent singles I’m very proud of are called “Numbers’, “Gambler’s Fallacy” and “Problem” and they’re all out on Spotify. I just finished recording a new one and hoping to release that this Spring with a couple other songs. I’ve just been so busy I’ve barely even had time to text my mom back hahahha so hopefully, once I graduate, I’ll have time to finish up that project.
As far as styling goes, the video I styled for Leah Marie Mason is called “Trust Fund Cowboy” and it’s being released this coming Friday, 11/11! I can’t wait for that to come out! I did Leah’s look for the cover of that song as well. I love working with Leah and I’ve done a few other content shoots with her, and she has a few other exciting things coming out at the top of next year that I am SOOOO excited about. Literally right after I finish this interview, I’m running to go dress her for the CMAs tonight, so follow her on Instagram @leahmmason to see my work with her!
I have some super exciting stuff coming out soon with Carter Faith as well. I just did her promo shoot for her new single, “Already Crazy” which is incredible, go listen to it literally immediately. I am super excited about everything coming up with her too. Her Instagram is @carterfaithofficial so definitely follow her to keep up with that.
I also recently created an Instagram where I post all my styling work, @styledbykennady, so follow me there to see all of that!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I think the most important thing to me is being nice and being grateful. I hate when people don’t say thank you or show appreciation, and I always make a point to be grateful for every opportunity. I also think that something that kinda has gotten me a lot of opportunities but also made me lose my mind is that I say yes to everything. Literally everything. I want to meet everybody and take every opportunity that I can.
I also am very big on working with people that build each other up and support one another, I love working with my friends and people I just love and believe in. I think you get the best work when you’re most inspired by and proud of the people you’re working with!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/kennadytracy
- Other: instagram.com/styledbykennady
Image Credits
Mel Rey
Mason Goodson
Kate Zamudio
