The latest addition to our Culture List roster? North Londoner and R&B favourite kwn. As you’re probably already aware, she’s taken the music industry by storm over the last year – she’s gone from having to deliver packages to support herself while recording to headlining her own sold-out 10-date tour across the UK, EU and US. On top of that, the artist-producer has built a sound and a community that is entirely unique – and growing and evolving every day.
Her latest EP, with all due respect – released in June earlier this year – marks a new chapter: one that is confident, assured, and deeply personal. It followed the breakout success of worst behaviour, a track that originally dropped on her website for a limited time back in 2024, racking up over 5,500 direct purchases in a matter of hours. Then came the Valentine’s Day drop a few months later: a remix featuring Kehlani that took things to the next level and put her name firmly on the cultural map. The video has since clocked moe than 13 million views on YouTube. The pair have continued to collaborate, with kwn supporting Kehlani on the UK and EU legs of her recent tour and featuring on her track Clothes Off.
As both artist and producer, kwn maintains full creative control of her work and her image, a rarity in an industry that still often seeks to mould artists to fit the mainstream. Her sound sits somewhere between R&B, alt-pop and moody soul, but always retains her signature edge. Her presence – masc, Black, unflinchingly honest – is still also a rarity in the music industry, and one she doesn’t take for granted. She’s dedicated to carving out space for those who don’t fit into the industry’s long-held, restrictive norms – if she can show up as herself in music, so can others.
Now with a new single set for release in September and a sold-out international tour kicking off in October, kwn is stepping into a new era, entirely on her own terms. As she continues to build her own cultural world from the ground up, we’re curious to know what’s inspiring her; what drives her. From the surreal, hyper-controlled universe of The Truman Show (that feels far too close to the reality we all live in today) and her deep admiration for the work of African-American painter Ernie Barnes to why she’ll never miss a Notting Hill Carnival, and the creative rituals that guide her writing process, this is what fuels kwn to be the artist we can’t stop listening to right now...
