Meet Kate Yeager, NYU’s newest musical sensation and UVL performer

Kate Yeager is the newest singing sensation to take the NYU campus by storm. Fresh off her outstanding performance at NYU’s annual Ultra Violet Live event on Thursday night, she said: “UVL was a really cool opportunity to create a smaller community within NYU. Everyone who was there now has that night to remember together.” — Now she has firmly cemented her place alongside the shows prestigious alum, and has just released her debut EP entitled “Your Girlfriend”.

Coming from a family of tree farmers based in Upstate New York, it is somewhat unlikely that such a musical talent could emerge over the constant noise of chain-saws and tractors. (I genuinely haven’t a clue what tree farming is, or what it entails, but I assume it’s a loud process… — “we don’t harm the trees,” says Kate, “but yes it is very loud.”)

Kate told me: “No one in my family can sing — I am the black sheep of the family.” So has this lack of family musicality made it difficult for Kate to pursue her dream? Not in the slightest. “My parents are my biggest fans! They’re at every show, and have always been completely supportive of my decision to pursue music. They’ve have given up a lot to fuel my dream.” Her parents and sister have always believed in her talent, and it’s obvious why.

So who is Kate Yeager? “If people want to get to know me, they should listen to my album.” It’s true, she pours her heart and soul into each lyric and each note in such a way that you cannot miss the inherent ‘Kate-isms’ in each song. Lyrics like “you wore the simplest of outfits, but I got caught up in the fabric,” (“I Had You Once”), and “grandfather clocks, oh how they their young make the mistake,” (“Go, Go, Go”) are particular examples of her idiosyncratic yet relatable writing style.

Kate became interested in songwriting at a young age. She began writing “angsty poetry” from the 4th grade, including an emotional piece centred around her mother’s decision to ban her from seeing an R-rated movie entitled “Screw This” (which is of course undoubtably her greatest work). She notes that the majority of her songs in the past have had a more sombre tone, because “crying is awesome,” but that she also likes to have fun both in life and on stage; she now wants to focus on making her music accessible to everyone. She told us: “Everyone wants a space to exist together, and I want to create that space; there are two different kinds of people in the world: either those who are lost, or those looking to get lost.”

Kate’s love of music came even earlier in life when she first heard Clarence Clemons play the saxophone for the E Street Band. In the 8th grade, she bought her first $83 dollar guitar and never looked back. “After I brought it home, my fingers were bleeding, so it had to be taken away.” Within a year, music producer Bobby Held (now Kate’s producer) got Kate her first gig at The Bitter End round the corner from NYU on Bleecker. Now four years later, not only does she go to NYU, but she has a monthly residency at The Bitter End during which she packs the place with fans using only her voice and her guitar. Not only that, but her mother went to NYU as well, and used to go to the Bitter End with her friends. How’s that for full circle?

I naively asked if she had any other musical talents aside from singing and guitar — naturally, I expected her to tell me she also played the piano or ukulele or something, but no – not just those: Kate plays seven instruments – to be perfectly honest you’re lucky if I shower seven times a week, let alone play seven instruments. Like Clemons, she plays a wide array of saxophone types (no, I have no idea either) and the recorder, so hopefully we can expect an upcoming recorder riff on the next single.

When asked her favorite song Kate said: “These are my children don’t make me pick.” Her songs do not only consist of the tracks on her EP — it transpires that there is a wider selection to choose from: “I try to write at least four songs  a week.” Thanks for making everyone else feel like a failure, Kate.

Graphic Design: Mahayla Laurence

Her inspiration is drawn from her day-to-day experiences: “It’s the same thing as writing about it in your journal, or if a painter saw something beautiful and wanted to paint it.” — these “journal entries” of course also include references to past relationships and romantic encounters, some of which have inspired lyrics such as “I’ve had my fill of tainted liars, fly on darling” in “Bird on a Wire” (the person behind that one deserves some sort of award for inspiring such cut-throat poetry). But as Kate so rightly says, “if you’re gonna fuck with a songwriter, you should expect their next hit to be about you.” (Kate is the East Village version of Taylor Swift, but a bit shorter.) So have I ever been the inspiration behind one of her songs? “No.” There’s always the second album, Kate.

Kate’s two favourite parts of performing are, oddly, juxtapositions of the other. She said: “I relish the moment of absolute silence because that’s when people are really listening, and when people are singing at the top of their lungs. It’s a cool feeling when you don’t have to sing the song because they already know it — they wanna be a part of it with you.”

So what’s next for Kate Yeager? This year, she has already released her debut EP entitled “Your Girlfriend”, performed several times at The Bitter End, hosted an open mic at the Q4 Hotel in Queens, recorded an interview for Women’s History Month, and filmed a music video for her debut single “You Got Me Dancing.” Yet again, Kate proves It is almost impossible to be around her and not feel rather inadequate as a human in comparison.

You can hear more about Kate on her website. Kate plans to release her next single ‘Slip of the Tongue’ at some point in March after Spring Break, and has another show coming up at The Bitter End on March 2nd — we’ll see you all there.

Photo credit: Leah Cuker.