Music

One to Watch in Music Singer Kjersti Long

Photographer Kurt Csolak

One to Watch in Music Singer Kjersti Long_1

Why did you choose "The Beatles " to cover? Who's your favorite Beatle ?How did you get approval? Did it  take a long process?

I always wanted to cover the Beatles but I never really picked a song until I went to see the movie, Yesterday.  Which was amazing! I decided I wanted to cover Eleanor Rigby because the lyrics really stuck with me. Oh good question; I had to think about it for a second. Paul McCartney would be my favorite. Um to be honest I’m not sure what the process is, I helped compose the music, and sang the song of course. My manager, Leesa Csolak does most of the behind the scenes stuff. 

When do you plan to release a full album? Do you write your own songs?

We actually recorded the last couple of songs needed for the album a couple weeks ago… the new album should be coming out sometime next year. It’s super exciting! Yes I write a lot of my music and I’ve got some writing partners, too. And of course my parents and siblings sometimes come up with ideas and help me with writing lyrics once in a while. 

Who or What  was your inspiration when creating your band's vibe?

Choose any 80’s band then add violins and make it more modern and bam that's my music  The violins are something I love and add whenever I can and it makes sense.  This is because of a violin artist I really like, Lindsey Stirling. My grandma and dad got me into 80’s rock at a very young age, so yeah, that’s my inspiration. 

 

What's your personal style like? How is your personal style different from your stage style?

So off stage I’m somewhat of a hobo. I actually think it would be hilarious to make a video of the before and after I go on stage for social media. It would be fun. But I’ve got no style at all, just jeans and sweatshirts off stage. But when I’m onstage I’m all dressed up and I actually look like a decent human being. There's a big difference. I'm more edgy on stage.  I’m really a pretty goofy person offstage. But I am my true self on stage as well as off. I guess there's kind of two sides to me.

Do you plan on touring next year? If so, when?

I don’t think we have anything planned at this exact moment that I can share.  Things are always in the works.  I believe we have dates on the East Coast planned and some South Central and on the West Coast that were being discussed.  I cannot wait to get back on stage on a consistent schedule. Before the pandemic I was always performing. People can follow me on socials or subscribe to my YouTube channel and be first to get info. 

How often are you on social media and how can fans reach you via social?

I try not to be on it that much but I do hop on to respond to comments, DM, and post stories. I don’t know my way around it that much so I’m still a little iffy on actually posting. I recently started doing some posts and stories on my own. I leave most of that to my team.  I definitely want to get better at it and be able to share more of myself with my fans. I do respond to all the comments I get. You can find me @kjersti.long. 

Yep, stay tuned for lots of new music. We just released a new cover of Halsey's Graveyard this past week.  You can check it out on my YouTube channel and stream it on all platforms. I have a Christmas cover coming out the end of November, so look out for that and an original single after the first of the year.

Any last words or projects you like us to know about for 2022?

The Christmas song is very very cool, it’s not your average Christmas song, but it is at the same time, it’s a cover of a popular Christmas song that I tweaked a lot to make it more 'Kjersti.' This is similar to what I did to Eleanor Rigby. The new cover of Graveyard is also super duper cool. There's an awesome drum break and we added lots of fun new instruments to it.

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