Kaiit’s Back to Take Over Your City

In the eight years since her spotlight-snatching arrival on the scene, Kaiit has found herself in plenty of surreal situations: accepting an ARIA on stage at just 21, opening for the likes of SZA, earning praise from R&B legend Jill Scott, and performing in damn near every performing space in her home city of Naarm.

But late last year, she might’ve had the strangest experience yet—standing inside an Irish castle, among a few dozen, watching Anderson .Paak play an intimate set.

“He was so close, like it was giving Tiny Desk, but we were all standing on the desk. It was crazy,” Kaiit tells Complex AU over Zoom. Then he handed her the mic.

A bit of backstory: in late 2024, the Irish whisky brand hosted its first “Sound Distillery,” bringing together 20 artists from around the world to work and collaborate in a castle resort near Cork over the span of three days under the oversight of Anderson .Paak. Kaiit was the sole Australian in the contingent, and found an instant gravitation towards all things Irish.

She’s effusive in talking about the locals (“the loveliest people I’ve ever met”), their accents (“I couldn’t even wear headphones, I just wanted to hear it”), and their cuisine (spice bags earned rave reviews). But more than that, Kaiit describes an electric creative energy inside the Sound Distillery: artists pairing up, bouncing from room to room, feasting on 24-hour room service, and preparing for a session with the man himself, Anderson .Paak.

“There was a lot of vibing, but then also we were like, ‘Oh, we’ve gotta write a song and record it, and then show Anderson .Paak when he comes in tomorrow, and then perform it the next day,’” she says. “We ended up writing a song one of the nights—well, one of the mornings—with Anderson's trumpet player.”

And that’s what led to Kaiit looking at the outstretched hand of Anderson .Paak, microphone before her, hours later during his impromptu performance.

“Right when Anderson gets to the end of his set, he’s like, ‘Alright, I’m going to play this one song I heard that you were working on the other night.’ Then he starts playing it and they give me the mic and I’m like, ‘Ah, some warning would’ve been great,’” she says.

“But Anderson .Paak handed me the mic, so I’m not going to say no. We roll with the punches.”

It was the crescendo of a whirlwind experience, in which Kaiit connected with the “super lovely, super warm” .Paak and his “big bro energy.”

“He was definitely hyping us up; he gave so much of his energy and knowledge on that trip, and inspired me a lot,” she says.

As part of the experience, Kaiit and her peers were immersed in an Irish experience—joining Anderson .Paak in a “tiny Irish pub in the middle of Cork” and visiting a distillery town, getting up close and personal with the production process of Jameson.

“Some of the rooms you could only be in for, I think, five to 10 minutes max, because you could be literally getting lit just from smelling the room. I was like, ‘Let me stay!’”

As part of the program, each artist on the trip was paired with a collaborator to produce a song. Kaiit’s partner was Malaysia’s CLAUDIA, a “cutesy bubblegum pop” star who Kaiit credits for putting her onto the likes of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter.

“It was really lovely to connect with her and catch her vibe, her process, how she likes to structure and write her songs. I'm the type to be pretty lonesome when I'm creating lyrical stuff, because I just prefer it, but it's nice when you come together as well, and just have fun. I mean, it ain't that hard when you can order bloody pancakes to the room at 2 a.m.”

The resulting song—“Draw Me”—pulls heavily from Kaiit’s world, grounding CLAUDIA’s nimble vocals with a smokey, luscious sonic bedrock that feels like a bridge between Kaiit’s past output and what lies ahead.

On that subject, Kaiit is careful not to reveal too much. Last year, Kaiit returned from an artistic wilderness—a protracted record label issue she prefers not to dwell on—with a new single “Space,” followed not long after by “Lil Mama Theme Song.” The latter, she says, is a good signal of the sounds of what’s to come.

“It’s the 1920s, lots of jazzy vibes—visually and sonically,” she says. “I put my whole heart into this new music. My Nonno, my grandfather, he’s got some vocals on a track, I was thankful to be able to put that on. All my favourite musicians are in the new material too, so it’s going to be very, very, very special.”

Kaiit’s upcoming music isn’t just an opportunity to speak about the last few years on her terms, it’ll be a reflection of the people and the art that helped raise her.

“[Growing up] in Papua New Guinea, there weren’t many films we were watching. It was just the DVDs that we had at home, which we were thankful to have from my grandpa, who ripped them off LimeWire. The main two I can think of are Bugsy Malone, which is an old-school one, and Malcolm X. I probably watched that a little too young, but it’s still very, very iconic,” she says.

“And my Nonno, he loves jazz, he loves Frank Sinatra. Going back to Papua New Guinea, the last time I went, I was on an arts campus where my parents taught when they were pregnant with me and my twin brother… all I could hear was jazz music playing. They said that the jazz department was right next to where my family was living at the time on campus.”

As part of Kaiit’s link-up with Jameson, she’s given fans a taste of the new era with a pair of shows at Mary’s Underground and Punters Club. Kaiit hopes it’s the precursor to an extended run of touring at home and abroad.

“It’s a lot to be doing that in so many ways, like financially, mentally, physically, emotionally… so shoutout to the peeps touring a lot. I definitely want to get up in the shits and connect with people. That’s one thing I’m excited to be doing more of, connecting back with people and expressing the story of what’s been happening.”

More than anything, it’s exciting to hear Kaiit be so excited. Her energy radiates over the Zoom call and, despite the morning call, she’s full of enthusiasm. In today’s creative climate, it’s always a relief to hear that—doubly so for an artist who has been through such turmoil. For those who have been around Naarm’s live music scene for the past decade, they know of Kaiit’s star power. Now, it seems like we’re on the precipice of the rest of the world finding out.