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Camila Knight Feels at Home with Her Angels |
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Camila Knight from Barcelona, Spain is a cerebral singer, songwriter and
musician. Although, she is from a completely different set of musical
influences and is of a different demeanor than Taylor Swift, she reminds
this writer, at least of the early days in Swift’s career when she
became one of the first artists to build a strong fanbase through the
use of the internet. Camila Knight is doing the same thing (more about
that later), but it is also her lyrics that long after the music has
stopped leave you thinking about them and applying them to your own life
and reinterpreting them in the context of what, at this writing has been
a historic almost fourteen months of COVID-19.
Did it ever enter Camila Knight’s mind to hold back releasing some of
her songs, since there has been little to no live performances by
artists anywhere in the world during these COVID times?
“The first song that I released during COVID times was “Angels.” I had a
feeling that maybe it was not the best time, because people were
(focused) on other things life. I felt I had to share this song with the
world. The message in “Angels,” is very appropriate for this time.
“Home” is also perfect for this situation. These are crazy times.
“Angels,” is a very, very personal song. It is special to me. I decided
to release it as a single, because of the message that it carries. It is
close to my heart and I came up with the idea for the song, while
playing around with a chord progression and then I started to write the
lyrics. The lyrics came to me in maybe five minutes. I felt that maybe
the song didn’t even come from me, but I was like a medium who was
transferring something, a message that comes from within.
“Angels,” conveys a message that I wanted to get
out and it gives an honest picture of how I feel about the world today.
It is about angels waking up from a dream to a greater awareness of
themselves. I started calling my listeners angels and on Twitch I call
my subscribers angels.
The song was inspired by a dream and it was my mom’s dream. Humans were
angels without the wings, and they had fallen from the sky, but they
could regrow their wings and fly away. Her dream inspired me. The song
is about personal freedom. I feel that we are capable of great things if
only we can free our minds from destructive and limiting thoughts.
Sometimes we unconsciously enslave ourselves by staying in uncomfortable
situations with social conventions, running up debts, hanging onto dead
end jobs and relationships. The last part of the song (talks about) I am
now running free and letting go. I am running away from the rules of
this world. This song really expresses the feeling of freedom.
I think with these inspiring and empowering lyrics that this was the
moment to release the songs, because now people really need these kinds
of messages more than ever. During difficult times like this people are
awakened to other ways of living. Many people go through different
transformations and I have heard that from my friends and from their
friends. This is the moment to bring an uplifting message,” she says.
Camila Knight’s earliest memories of enjoying music occurred when her
kindergarten teacher would play the piano and she would dance with the
other children.
“I remember feeling joy, excitement and enthusiasm,” she says, “and I
also remember my great grandma would turn on the radio and I would sing
and dance with my cousins to traditional folk music.”
Moving forward to the ripe old age of five or six she says, “My father
used to have vinyls and I listened to them. There were records by Elton
John, Queen, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Madonna. My father worked for
a time in England, and he bought those vinyls on one of his trips. Most
of them were British bands.”
Her interest in music and her development continued with singing coming
first, “I used to sing in a local church during celebrations and from
the age of nine. Later, I started to take vocal classes. I also played a
toy piano and mini keyboard, without any knowledge of music theory.
This sounds crazy, but I was so motivated to learn how to play the piano
properly that for one year I practiced on a paper keyboard, because the
instrument at home was in need of repair. A friend of mine helped me to
draw the keyboard on paper and we extended it over four octaves. I would
look at the music sheets and then touch the right keys on the paper,
without hearing the melody and only imagining it.
At the time I was so enthusiastic about playing the piano I knew I had
to practice, because I had to be prepared for my lessons. I was very
motivated. I did whatever I could to practice. I didn’t have the
instrument and it was a great replacement.
I used to write lyrics, let’s call them short poems. They were personal
and my observations about the people around me. I was a shy girl, but I
was also quite mature from an early age. I was able to feel the emotions
and draw my own conclusions. I put my emotions onto paper, and I did not
call them songs. They didn’t have titles or the proper structure of
songs. They were just a way for me to express myself. I had different
ideas for the melodies. I didn’t think of them seriously and they were
just for me. I didn’t even want to share them with anyone else. (She
laughs lightly and says) Maybe they were for my mental health at the
time.
My first song was about the desire to reach something beyond physical
reality. I was a dreamy child, and I was more mature (than my age). I
was always deeply connected to a spiritual world and even more than I
was to the physical world. I wrote from a different perspective than the
one my peers had. That first song was more abstract and more about my
emotions.”
Those deeper themes continue today with her song
“In My Mind,” and she explains, “It is about
feeling overwhelmed, by the circumstances in life. You are trapped in
your own mind and you feel vulnerable. I think everyone can relate to
having moments in their lives when they feel overwhelmed. You have
self-deprecating thoughts and as the lyrics ask, are you good enough?
You can hear in my songs the influences from different genres. It is not
just one genre that I represent. You can’t put me into just one
category. I have been influenced by Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin.
Some of my influences are Soul, Jazz, R & B, Pop and Folk. I have also
been trained as a Jazz singer.
There is a tendency right now for artists to mix genres. I think that is
the future of music.”
Everything about Camila Knight suggests that she was destined to be a
singer, you hear the smile in her voice when she sings, and it is ever
present when you watch her sing.
“I feel so natural when I sing, and I feel like it is where I should be.
This is the best way for me to express how I feel. I am in a different
world and I try to maintain eye contact with the camera (when not in
front of a live audience). I show that I have this connection with
people, and I want to be connected with them. Sometimes I close my eyes
and I am somewhere else, especially with my own songs that I perform.
The songs are so important and personal to me. After I open my eyes, I
realize I was on a short journey somewhere. I am happy to be doing what
I am.
I am happy that I found the Twitch platform and I found a beautiful
community there who enjoy my music, which is a great gift to me. I feel
very grateful for this moment in my life, and I hope it will last for a
long time,” says Camila Knight.
She talks about her social media prowess, “Everything started with
Instagram. I used to have an artist profile on Facebook, but maybe I
didn’t have enough knowledge to promote that, so I left it behind and I
don’t give it much attention. Then I discovered Instagram. I read a lot
about how to promote yourself, as an artist on Instagram, because I was
completely lost. I didn’t know how to reach out to people and to find
other people.
It has really helped me a lot. On Instagram I have many musician friends
and we exchange ideas about how to move forward in the music industry.
Some people have discovered me on Instagram because I post videos with
covers of me singing and of me singing my original music.
Recently, I discovered Twitch. It has such a beautiful community and
people from there if they really like a person, they will go to each and
every platform that you are on, YouTube, Instagram, whatever and they
will follow you, because you already have this connection with them. The
people on Twitch, (she laughs when this newbie asks are they called
Twitchers?) really want to know the person and the connection is much
deeper than on Instagram or any other platform. When they ask a question
and you answer them you will see their reaction and they can see yours.
It is more personal.
I started posting videos on YouTube, but it is a very saturated
platform, but it is still a great way to share your music with the
world. As for my experience I have tested the platforms and I can say
that Twitch is the best platform for you to interact with your community
and to build your community. This builds your real fanbase. I think of
them as pseudo fans, people who will look for information about you and
they will listen to your music. They will go to Spotify or purchase your
music on iTunes or Bandcamp. They will purchase your merchandise, and
this is the kind of fanbase that you want. As an artist you feel
fulfilled when you have a community to interact with.”
The conversation segues into talking about other songs, “I have written
many songs and not all of them have been released. Some of them I have
not shared with the world, only with my band. I can tell you about a
song called “Ghosts In Me,” that talks about ghosts of the past. This is
a very abstract song. I was climbing a hill close to my house and right
at the top of the hill I felt like I was cleansing myself from some
emotions. I had gone for a walk because I wanted to clean my mind. Once
I had climbed this hill, I felt so relieved.
The song is a metaphor for climbing up a hill in your life and then you
reach a certain point when you feel that you want to let go of
everything that has passed in your life, (including), unreleased and
locked emotions. “Ghosts In Me,” was a therapeutic song for me. The song
says, “Now I am free / From ghosts in me / Save me from falling
down.”
As your conversation starts to close, we wondered how this past year has
affected Camila Knight, “It has been a very transformative time for me
on many levels. I have asked myself many serious questions about life
and where I am going. It has been a perfect time to reconnect with
myself and to slow down a bit. I have been inspired to write a lot of
songs during this time. It was a very creative time for me. It has been
a time for self-reflection and meditation. It is the perfect time to
appreciate what we have and to realize that we do not have control over
everything that is happening around us. It is an important time to learn
some important lessons in life. It has been a great time for me in terms
of self-growth.”
As for the future she says, “I am going to be releasing more singles and
then my first EP. I want to keep writing songs and then maybe after one
or two EPs I would like to put out a full-length album. I would like to
travel across the globe and to share music with people from different
countries and different cultures. I like to sing at music festivals
because I like the vibe.”
You can
follow Camila Knight on Instagram.
#CamilaKnightMúsica
#MujeresEnMúsica
#BarcelonaMúsica
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She talks about her song “Home,” which you can listen to and watch on
YouTube, “I wrote
