Katus Myles x Jaydonclover 'Keep Me Waiting' - Review & Interview

Katus Myles x Jaydonclover ‘Keep Me Waiting’

Words by Naima Sutton @naimasutton

In the landscape of UK music, I would say hands down Birmingham and Manchester both come bringing contenders so strong that on a good day they could go toe to toe with London (maybe not all the boroughs at once). Don’t get me wrong, I have a love for my home but none of us can afford to sleep on the music from these two cities especially with the calibre of R&B artists they’re producing.

Let me introduce Katus Myles, a producer and artist from Birmingham. Having released two singles in 2021 Live From The Red Room/Sleep Alone and Chasing Summer. Myles follows up with the first single for his forthcoming EP “The Inbetween”. A duet with Birmingham R&B sensation Jaydonclover called ‘Keep Me Waiting’. A soulful R&B tune that begs to be played as you look at a city skyline at 2am. I had the chance to speak to Myles about his release ‘Keep Me Waiting’. Below we talk creative experimentation, his ambitions for 2022 and the up and coming artists he reps.

INTERVIEW BELOW:

I got a lot of love for the Birmingham scene so I’m glad to be talking to you. Imagine yourself at the end of the year. It’s new years eve, 11 months time. What are the best things that have come out of 2022 for you creatively?

Katus: First and foremost I'd want to be dropping the best music that I've done so far. So let's go with that. Secondly, I’d want to be hitting new heights. I’d want to see even more growth on the streaming side and try my best to do my first headline show before the year's done. I would like to do one in London at some point but I think I need to start with the foundation and have my first show in Brum, I think that would be cool. Then kind branch out more after that. I'm working on a new collection of clothes this year as well, which has been fun. Before I started making music, I had a clothing line so I was into the fashion side of music a lot. I have new designs dropping soon, very soon, actually.

I’ve been a big fan of Jaydonclover since her ‘Recovering Lover’ EP and I’m curious to know how this collaboration came about - because you play off each other really well?

Katus: So, just like yourself, I'm a big Jaydonclover fan. ‘Recovering Lover’, that’s my EP. When I was at uni and revising, it was my relaxing EP to listen to. And I think she liked a lot of my stuff as well so the project came together with that kind of mutual respect. It was one of those ones where, because I think her music is so amazing, it was like If we're gonna do a song, it has to be the right song, and has to be done the right way. So ‘Keep Me Waiting’, that was a song that I was sitting on for quite a while, I wanted to go about it in a different way. Because I think with music, you do have to experiment. To have a feature where the featured artist doesn't have a verse or doesn't have a hook was definitely trying something new for me. Once we got to the stage where it was ready. I sent it over to her and then she just went crazy on it.

Okay, talk me through this track, what is behind it? What does it mean to you?

Katus: I think after the last project I made ‘D.B.K.M’, I wanted to take a bit of a different direction. I wanted to be more personal and talk about myself a bit more. My experiences and how I feel about life. Because the music I dropped before came more from different people's perspectives. Or from my perspective about love, but there's more than just love in life, you know, there's so many other things that affect you and inspire you.

When I was writing it, I was writing about my journey. I feel like I'm quite laid back. So there can be times when I need to push myself to go out and get the things that are waiting there. The life that you want is kind of waiting for you in some ways. And that was the message that I wanted to put across. It's okay to try and do new things. Whatever the case may be as long as you try. 

The second half I also wanted to be a duality in terms of love and life. I wanted it to be like that person is there waiting, go get the kind of thing, go put in the work to get them. So I wanted it to kind of have a bit of a double entendre and you can take whatever part means most. And everyone tells you to enjoy the journey, that the journey is more exciting than the destination. So I try to keep that in mind. But yeah, even with the creation of this track, I made that around October 2020. So it's kind of old now. But I like to sit on music quite a bit.

Who are your biggest influences when it comes to making music and who are your little gems (like your favourite up and coming artists)?

Katus: Okay, so my biggest influences you gotta let me know if this is a shocker or not. Definitely Frank Ocean. I feel like I have different sides to me when it comes to music, I'd put PARTYNEXTDOOR in there too and I mess with A2 a lot. Obviously, I like R&B and rap music. But then even when it comes to the music that I'm going to be dropping after this project it's not all rap or R&B, there are still other genres I’m trying to touch into a little bit.

In terms of my little gems I have to shout out some of my people then, I would say, Kea, there’s Neisha. I've got a few songs with Neisha, I've got songs with Kea as well. But yeah Neisha is so sick. And Kayfaraway too! 

LISTEN TO ‘KEEP ME WAITING’ BELOW