Kenzie Vois: Overcoming vocal paralysis, and new single, ‘On My Way’
Introduction
Up-and-coming musician Kenzie Vois, joined us this week to talk all about his new single, ‘On My Way’, which much like his style of production, is bright and vibrant, drawing inspirations from Bruno Mars and Dominic Fike.
At only 19-years-old, Kenzie has proven his creative worth, and talent attributed to song-writing and producing. His story is also one of resilience, when COVID-19 spread, Kenzie was left with a condition called, Left Vocal Cord Paralysis. Having been unable to sing, he shifted to production, and in 2023, the truly innovative “VOIS” implant from Austria, was fitted and restored his vocal cords.
The Interview
TTM: What are the inspirations going behind ‘On My Way’?
KENZIE: Musically, it’s definitely got to be Bruno Mars, right? Bruno Mars has been my inspiration my whole life, yeah, I think it just kind of came out of nowhere. Bruno Mars, definitely with the Sonics. But the reference song that I had was a song called, ‘Phone Numbers’ by Dominic Fike, especially with the guitar. I mean, everything was done in this room. Like, every song I put out was done in this room. Look this, this is the guitar that I made ‘On My Way’ on, it’s this ‘vibrant’ colour too! Like this is so bright.
Everything from the concept to the beat just instantly hit me. Let’s make this as fun as possible. This is the first song I released with a co writer, who’s my best mate from school. We just kind of wrote this song on a whim. And as we were writing it, I was adding sound effects as we were going so it’s one of those ones that’s just, yeah, just loads of fun.
TTM: It’s crazy how much talent you have at such a young age, it’s really astounding, don’t you think?
KENZIE: I feel older than I probably should. I just kind of take everything as it comes.
TTM: You’ve overcome so much as well, with the surgery, and just being overall resilient.
KENZIE: When I got diagnosed with vocal paralysis, they just said, I wouldn’t be able to sing, and so I just kind of had to accept it. Because of that I had to start producing and writing songs. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have gone all out with making music. So when I got my voice back, it was just the right decision to record everything and start putting things out. It’s given me time to get better, and better at writing music before I put things out too. So it’s kind of been a blessing to learn more about my voice as well. At first, obviously, I didn’t know why it was… why I was chosen for this to happen to, but I guess, everything happens for a reason.
“Make as much art as you can. Be yourself. Make things that you think are cool. Do what you think is right.”
TTM: I’ve never actually thought properly about the technique that goes into crafting vocal’s, until now really. I know that may sound stupid.
KENZIE: Oh no, it doesn’t sound stupid. I would say I think, before I had this issue, I was singing incorrectly anyway, so you know, I was straining my voice and and now that I’ve had those three years of learning how to sing effectively, I’ve I’ve figured out how to sing and not lose my voice every time I do a show.
TTM: What has kept you motivated through all of this?
KENZIE: Ignorance. I suppose ignorance is bliss. I just thought, I can’t sing anymore. Well, which probably isn’t the best mentality. If it happened to me now, I’d be a lot more upset. But yeah, what got me through it is just accepting it and just finding something new to be passionate about. And that was how production saved me, producing music and writing music. When the singing came back it all just glued together really nicely. I’m glad I went through all of that, and I learned a lot about myself throughout the whole process.
TTM: What does the future look like for you?
KENZIE: I don’t really know where it’s going to go, but I want to make excitement. I think I think if I can find a community, that really likes what I make, then I’ll be more than happy. And if that’s like 10 people or 10,000 people or 10 million people, whatever, I’m cool with it, as long as people like it.
TTM: What is that EP going to be looking like? What can we be expecting?
KENZIE: This is all one project. This is all one EP. Really, we got one more song. But it’s going to be an exciting project, because once it’s out, we’re going to start doing some shows.
TTM: What would be your best piece of advice that you could pass forward to somebody?
KENZIE: Best advice that I can give is just do everything. If you can write songs, if you can produce, if you can play an instrument, create more opportunities for yourself. Make as much art as you can. Make things that you think are cool, not that other people think are cool. Just do what you think is right. Just keep it real. Just stay proactive.
TTM: If you had to pinpoint one moment in your career so far, what would be your proudest?
KENZIE: I’m very proud of all the songs that I’ve made, and I think I become a lot more proud when I make them, rather than when I release them, because I’m very protective of them. It’s like giving them away to the world.
I went on stage with Dominic Fike, that’s got to be my proudest moment. And I have done quite a lot of stuff, but that was, that was mega that made me definitely want to be an artist.
