For freshly 18-year-old singer-songwriter Kellan Christopher Cragg, making music seems to come naturally. His recent debut album, “WRONG BALLOON,” uses genre-blending, ambient and emotive production combined with a stripped-back vulnerability to its lyrics — enhanced by the fact that Cragg makes all his music alone in his bedroom.
One of the album’s lead singles, “AFTER THE RAIN,” showcases plucking guitar and raspy vocals. Cragg never lets the listener get too comfortable, soon pulling them out of a state of calm with the intense and anxiety-riddled “WHY DID YOU GO?” Further on in the record, “STEPWISE” is a must-listen — Cragg reaches a creative height with the ten-minute song, culminating in a truly ascendant last two minutes that bottle up everything Cragg has to offer: Moving lyrics matched with emotionally rousing production.
In addition to signing with the New York City-based label ALTER Music, Craig has garnered almost 70,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and over 36,000 TikTok followers. He spoke with WSN about his music-filled childhood, writing process and plans — or lack thereof — for the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
WSN: To start, can you talk a little bit about how you got into music? What were some of your musical experiences growing up?
Cragg: I started really young, always sort of on the creative side of things. I was left home a lot, and I didn’t go to preschool. It’s kind of odd to think about it this way, but I genuinely think the ages three, four and five were very pivotal years in my life because I was really left to my own devices. I got to just experiment, and that’s how I do things now. I do everything alone in my bedroom by myself. Things haven’t changed. I’ve just embraced the sort of ‘do-it-myself’ process because I know I’m the only one to completely be me.
WSN: You’re a trained competitive dancer in all genres of dance. How did you get into that, and how has that influenced your music?
Cragg: I got into it when I was really little because my mom was a dancer. My brother and I did recreational hip hop for probably a year or two, and then we went into jazz and tap. Then, my brother ended up leaving, but I stayed. I just never stopped. I played baseball my whole life, too. I was dancing and playing baseball until I got injured in eighth grade. I had this realization, like, I really do not like being unable to move and groove. Dancing and music are very separate in my mind. You could say dance is as much an influence on my music as the breakfast I ate this morning. It’s literally just like another aspect of my life. Because my music and my ideas are just a culmination of everything I’m living. I don’t look at it any differently than going outside, walking the dog. It’s just all me.
WSN: What was your writing process for this new album, ‘WRONG BALLOON?’
Cragg: A lot of the songs were ideas or voice memos, like just a title or just a melody. It’s such a rabbit hole to dive into because they were all different. A prime example is with ‘GANER’S CONFESSION.’ I was about to take a shower late at night. I got fully ready to go in the shower, but then I came up with the melody of the song. I remember taking the voice memo and being like, ‘Let me just put something together real quick.’ I just went straight to my laptop, opened the project, and had all those vocals in 30 minutes. ‘STEPWISE’ was a weird one, too. I played the piano loop in that song for hours, just in my room, walking around. I came up with one of the greatest sections I’ve ever done. It’s not that long of a part, it goes by very quickly in the song, but I spent a while writing that section and fine-tuning stuff, which I don’t honestly tend to do. I just knew the lines needed to be the right, exact ones.
WSN: Looking toward the future, how do you hope to grow as a musician, and what are some goals that you have?
Cragg: I honestly really don’t plan stuff at all. Whether I release this stuff or not, it’s not why I do it. It’s why I live. It’s why I feel, and nothing will change that. It’s not a job, it’s not work. I never like the idea of calling somebody a fan. Like that’s not what this is. It’s not why I do it. It shouldn’t be why you listen. Nothing about music is some corporate thing to me. It’s a livelihood, truly. It’s a way of life. The messages I’ve gotten from people are incredibly personal, and that they feel compelled enough to share whatever it is with me because of how a song made them feel is like so beyond comprehension. It’s not about me. I want people, above all, to just feel for themselves and not feel like they have to hop on a trend or listen to a popular song. I’d just love to be able to do this as long as I live right now. It’s all I ever wanted to do.
Contact Ellie Miller at [email protected].