THE BUZZ

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What inspired you to make a career out of music? “I think more than any-thing it was my love for singing. The more I went through in life, the more I want-ed to sing until it got to a point where I knew if I didn’t try to do it, I’d always be left wondering.”

You’re doing very well as an indepen-dent artiste. Would you say that mu-sicians today no longer need record

labels to reach the top, thanks to social media? “Labels are good at what they do but they’re not necessary anymore. With the Internet, you have this direct line to anyone who might want to listen and support you. It’s no longer about labels deter-mining what’s good music but about artistes making music that’s true to them-selves and people liking it for what it is.”

Speaking of which, pira-cy has also become an is-sue. Your thoughts? “Pi-racy will happen no matter what. I don’t think they do

it maliciously, but at the end of the day, I just want to share my music. Between getting it for free and not getting it at all, I’d rather they get it for free.”

The release of In Your Arms creat-ed a major buzz in the mainstream media. What has been the most exciting response so far? “Get-ting on the Ellen [DeGeneres] show was super surreal for me. I love Ellen and I watch her show a lot, so to be sitting next to her was so bizarre. But it was also exciting because it was kind of the first time that main-stream media had embraced my music. It was really nice to feel recognised.”

What would you be doing now if you weren’t a musician? “When I was young I wanted to study bugs or reptiles, but realistically it would be something where I’m directly helping people, wheth-er it’s with therapy, health related or so-cial work.

But you’re doing just that with Run Team Kina, yes? How’s that going?“It’s been amazing so far. Asking people to get healthy with me, bringing atten-tion and money to the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society, has always been something I really wanted to do. I was just in Europe and now I’m in Asia and people have their [Run Team Kina] wrist-bands, saying, ‘I’ve been running’ and they’re raising money for the LLS.”

What’s your advice to aspiring mu-sicians who dream of making it in this industry? “One, to do it as much as possible; write, sing and play at shows as much as you can just because there’s always room to grow. The second thing would be to put yourself all over the In-ternet, because it’s so powerful and if you don’t, you’re missing out on a lot of great opportunities. Do [music] because you love it and do what moves you, not what other people want you to do. Music that’s genuine will come across to others.”

What will you do for your next music video? “I’m not sure yet. But I’d like to use making music videos an ex-cuse to do something creative and fun; probably not another Jelly Belly video, unfortunately.”

So what would a Kina-flavoured jel-lybean taste like? “I’m gonna go ahead and steal an actual flavour; I love the piña colada ones. Or maybe a kaya-flavoured jellybean!”

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THE BUZZ

he music she makes is so lovely, it came as no surprise that California-born and bred Kina Grannis managed to melt the hearts of guys and girls

alike when she swung by Kuala Lumpur. In town for her In Your Arms World Tour, the 27-year-old performed to a sold-out crowd at the Bentley Music Auditorium. This Japanese-European beauty is not your average pop radio star; Kina recorded and self-released three EPs within the four years she was pursuing her degree in social science at the University of Southern California. However, she did not receive airwaves until she signed up for a YouTube account after graduating, entered and subsequently won a video contest in 2007. Her first music video, Message From Your Heart, was broadcast to 97 million people at the 2008 Super Bowl and won her a record deal, but Kina turned it down in favour of independence. Then late last year, she released In Your Arms, a mind-blowing, stop-motion clip featuring Kina herself and 288,000 jellybeans, which further propelled her in the mainstream media, and eventually to stardom. This shy, down-to-earth songstress, who used to strum the guitar in the privacy of her collegiate stairwells (hence her debut album Stairwells), is now a world-touring musician who brings a ray of sunshine wherever she goes. It’s hard to not fall in love with Kina!

T

The world in front of herSinger-songwriter of YouTube fame Kina Grannis struck a chord with her fans in KL recently. Rachel Law tries hard to keep her fluttering heart still.

TAKE 10 WITH KINA!

Kina talks about invisible bunnies, fellow YouTube

stars and friend-zone songs on

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Log on to catch her saying hello to you!

I’d love to be great at the piano because I think you can do so much with it.

In YoUr Arms mV fUn fAcTs! • Made using 288,000 Jelly Belly jellybeans• Compilation of 2,460 camera frames• Created by a 30-member team. • Took 22 months to produce• Garnered 3.5 million views on YouTube over three weeks.