INTERVIEW: LEAH KATE AT THE VIC 

By: Elizabeth Lintonen 

Leah Kate took the stage on Friday night at The Vic in Chicago with full force. The singer-songwriter is a brutally honest popstar, lyrically laying out her uniquely female experience through straightforward pop. She’s a captivating live performer, and her Friday night opening performance was full of ruthless criticism of male behavior and juicy anecdotes, all with her signature style of performing: relatable, interactive, and electrifying. I caught up with Leah Kate backstage at The Vic, another stop of the national tour she’s been on with Jess Glynne, and heard more about what her music means to her. 

An L.A. native, Kate moved to New York to pursue her career as a musician. When the pandemic hit, she feared she would never achieve the pop stardom she had been working towards, until many of her songs went viral on TikTok, with over a billion global streams. Hits like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “F U Song” became internationally acclaimed almost overnight. Since then, she has toured solo and with artists such as Chase Atlantic, Madison Beer, and Jess Glynne. Kate’s determination and grit have brought her to become an internationally touring pop sensation. 

EL: Do you have any particular venues you’ve performed at that you’ve loved? What is your live performance like? 

 

LK: My live show is very much me, at my finest. I tell my stories, I talk to the crowd, I am very much unapologetically me on stage. My old music director would always be like ‘stop talking so much, just do the songs.’ I just feel like I am very much Leah Kate onstage. Very high energy, I’m joking around, I’m crazy, it’s like a cardio workout for me. It’s a fun show 

 

The O2 with Anne-Marie was the most fun stage I’ve ever played. It was in front of 40,000 people. It’s more fun the bigger the stage and the bigger the room, it’s always harder when it’s a tiny stage or a tiny room with nobody in it. 

 

EL: ‘Nasty’ is your newest single. Do you want to tell me a little more about that one and how you put it together? 

 

LK: ‘Nasty’ I wrote because I was obsessed with this guy and he basically got stolen from me by another girl and I was really mad and really heartbroken over it. It was one of those people that you weren’t really dating but like you had a thing for so long, and then he just got a girlfriend while you’re talking to them and I was like ‘what?’ It was kind of a delusional song about me showing up to his house to get him back and confess my love and it’s very straightforward. 

 

“I could play nice, but I’d rather be nasty.” It’s self-explanatory!

 

EL: Describe your style for me.

 

LK: I want people to be like “did you mean to wear that?’ and I did. I like to throw things on that you wouldn’t think would work together, but they do. My outfit accidentally works really well tonight, but normally it doesn’t. It’s very fun. 

 

EL: A lot of your songs tell a very clear story. I feel like listening to your music is a lot like gossiping with a friend. Why is it important for you to appeal to people by being vulnerable? 

 

LK: I want to be honest and speak my truth to help people get in touch with their truth. If someone is going through something, they know they’re not alone, and they can listen to my songs and know that ‘oh, she also went through all this shit.’ I guess it’s to make you not feel alone in whatever you’re experiencing because I know that there are people out there that relate. What I go through, I can’t be the only one. 

 

EL: What do you want people to take away from your music and your performance?

 

LK: I want them to just have fun. A lot of my songs are about heartbreak and being sad but I make it fun. Just so they know that you can laugh at whatever you’re going through. I tell my stories, and we work through them together. 

Leah Kate’s opener for Jess Glynne was an intimate pop-rock performance that felt interactive with the audience. She often asked questions, such as “has anyone here ever had a crush on someone they shouldn’t?’ or “does anyone here miss an ex right now” The rock elements in Kate’s pop music translate well into a live performance, and the music comes across as a blend of the genres when performed live. For an opening act, Kate had the audience engaged with her fluid movement, relatable anecdotes, and effortless vocal runs on her popular songs. 

In the purple and blue lighting, Kate’s bedazzled mesh top sparkled as she worked the stage. She feels the lyrics as she sings them, emotion pulling through as she sang her hits such as “What Girls Do” and “Fuck Up the Friendship.” Kate ended with her best known song “10 Things I Hate About You,” leaving everyone ready for Jess Glynne and enamored with her stage presence. 

“This is dedicated to all my crazy bitches in the crowd,” said Kate to her fans at The Vic on Friday, “That’s why I always feel at home here, I can’t explain it.” 

The Vic nearly hit the 1,400-person capacity by the time Kate went on, and more and more people became entranced with her as she bared her soul again, as she’s done every night of the 14-stop tour. She is unashamed, unafraid, and she makes a crowd feel like she sees them individually. There were exclamations of “I know this song!” as concert attendees realized that the viral star was very close to them, sharing her stories and life experience. Kate knows how to make a crowd feel what she’s feeling, get angry about what she’s angry about, make fun of what she does. Her messy realness onstage is what appeals to the masses, which makes her the perfect opener for the pop, dance, and soul singer Jess Glynne. What makes her a breakup supernova in experimental, glittery outfits, a natural stage performer. 

Leah Kate’s music can be found wherever music is streamed. For more information, visit her website.