Michael Kiwanuka Rejected Pop And Landed A TV Theme Song
Soul singer/songwriter Michael Kiwanuka spoke with New York Chapter at 2017's Newport Folk Festival about relevancy, authenticity, and being the opposite of 'pop.' About relevancy and the great folk singers, he said, "They sang what they saw, and we have to do that for today now." As for authenticity, his advice to songwriters starting out is "Never hide behind your lyrics," and "Just be inspired by the things you've always loved." With a production and co-writing assist from Danger Mouse, the first track on Kiwanuka's 2016 album Love & Hate is an unconventional 10 minutes long, called "Cold Little Heart." Since he feels doing pop music is an all-in or all-out proposition, he made the track zig-zag to the opposite of pop but he did hope it would be noticed. HBO's hit series "Big Little Lies" chose it for the theme song, setting the scene of the show for the cast of movie-stars-on-TV including Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Shailene Woodley.
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