CiDAR PRESS X Kunmie

CiDAR PRESS:

Between the Notes: Delving Inside the Quiet World of Kunmie’s “22"

Somewhere in the middle of August, as the night dwindled down into a new morning, a star-born music artist and famous lover boy, Kunmie, released his debut album for the world to love.

From his first hit song, 'Arike,' to his first EP, ‘Before We Became Strangers,' Kunmie has certainly come a long way, having the greatest firsts an artiste can have. 

Now the soft-hearted artiste has released something magical, a quiet reflection on love, growth and change, and he calls it ‘22’. 

22 comes pulls you in like a soft whisper and holds you seated like a long embrace. It is a sonic masterpiece that moves at a gentle pace. With its deep lyricism and swelling vocals in the background, every note is a place of respite for heavy emotions to be handled with care.

Per usual, CiDAR Press is here to know the stories that lie beneath. Want to know what makes up 22? Well, hop in and let’s find out. 

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CiDAR PRESS: You’ve created something magical with this project. There’s a softness that permeates the music. Does that come from Kunmie the person, or is that how you simply relate to sound as an artist? How much of yourself do you leave inside? 

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Kunmie: I think the softness comes from both. I’m naturally quite a soft person. I feel things deeply, and I’ve never really felt the need to express everything loudly for it to be real. That naturally finds its way into my music. Even when I’m talking about something painful, I’m usually trying to understand it rather than fight it. So there’s a lot of Kunmie in the way I sing, write and even leave space in the music.

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CiDAR PRESS: Why 22? What does that number hold for you, and why did it feel like the right name for this particular body of work?

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Kunmie: 22 represents a particular point in my life. It felt like a number that could hold the person I was becoming, the things I was questioning, the things I was letting go of, and the things I was beginning to understand. It’s not just my age or a random number; it became a timestamp for a period of my life that I knew I would never experience in exactly the same way again.

CiDAR PRESS: If you had to describe 22 to someone who has never heard your music before, how would you sell it in one sentence? 

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Kunmie: 22 is a quiet conversation with yourself about becoming, losing, loving, believing, and figuring out who you are in the middle of it all.

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CIDAR PRESS: Asides the softness, there is a certain quietness running through this album, something that keeps you feeling grounded in your feelings. Was that something you intentionally created, or is that simply where you found yourself emotionally while making it?

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Kunmie: I think it was both intentional and natural. I didn’t sit down and say, “I want to make a quiet album.” I was just in a place where I was paying more attention to my inner world. The music became a reflection of that. I wanted people to hear the songs and almost feel like they were sitting alone with their own thoughts.

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CiDAR PRESS: You describe emotions so gently, but the feelings themselves can be quite heavy, especially in songs like “22”. Do you think softness can sometimes communicate pain more powerfully than loudness and does it personally help you translate those feelings better?

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CiDAR PRESS: If 22 were a person, what kind of personality would it have?

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Kunmie: I think 22 would be someone you meet at night and somehow end up having a three-hour conversation with. Quiet at first, observant, introspective, probably a little confused about life, but very honest. Someone who has been through things but hasn't allowed those things to make them cynical.

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CiDAR PRESS: Your music has a way of challenging people to sit with their emotions. How important is it for you to express that in a fast-paced world?

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Kunmie: Because I think we're moving so fast that we don't always give ourselves permission to actually feel. There's always something to watch, somewhere to go, something to distract us. I want my music to create little pauses. If someone can listen to 22 and confront something they've been avoiding, even for a few minutes, then the music has done something meaningful. 

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CiDAR PRESS: What did the earliest version of 22 sound like, and how different is it from the album we are hearing now? Can you share some of the important processes that shaped the work we hear today? (for context: how it has come a long way from prototype to finished product, any interesting moments that made you change things or keep them).

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Kunmie: The earliest version was much more of a prototype. I was discovering what the project wanted to sound like while making it. Some songs changed completely, some arrangements were stripped back, and some things that I initially thought were imperfections ended up becoming part of the character of the album.

One of the biggest lessons was learning when to stop adding. Sometimes the song doesn't need another layer, another vocal, another instrument or another idea. Sometimes you have to trust what you've already created.

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CiDAR PRESS: If you could add one artist, living or dead, to the 22 universe, who would it be and what kind of song would you make together?

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Kunmie: I'd love to have Frank Ocean in the 22 universe. I think we'd make something very atmospheric and intimate—something that feels like a conversation you accidentally overhear. Not necessarily a song trying to be huge, but one that stays with you after it's finished. You could swap Frank for whichever artist genuinely influenced 22 most.

CiDAR PRESS: How was the experience of the album launch listening party? Was it exactly what you envisioned or more than your expectations. Did it get you more excited for the project you put out in the world?

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Kunmie: It was one of those moments where something that had lived in my head for so long suddenly became real because other people were experiencing it. There were definitely moments where I looked around and thought, “Wow, these people are actually listening to something that came from inside me.” It wasn't exactly what I envisioned, because you can't really envision how people will emotionally receive something you've made. In some ways it exceeded my expectations because I got to experience the project through other people's reactions.

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CiDAR PRESS: How have your friends, relationships, and your faith  helped you in shaping your journey, how did they help the process of the album?

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Kunmie: They've probably shaped the album more than people realize. Relationships give you experiences to write from, friendships give you perspective, and my faith gives me somewhere to take all of those experiences. Faith especially has helped me understand that not every season needs to make sense immediately. Sometimes you're just walking through something and trusting that you'll understand it later. That mindset definitely found its way into 22.

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CiDAR PRESS: You share a deep moment with Wizard Chan on “Unfiltered”, the problem with climbing, haunted by trying to better your best, the expectation of more. How hard was it for you to share that and how do you think that shapes you as an artist, how did it affect your creation of  22?

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Kunmie: “Unfiltered” was probably one of the moments where I had to be the most honest with myself. The idea of constantly climbing and feeling like you're never doing enough is something I think a lot of people quietly experience. Sharing that wasn't necessarily easy because once you put something that personal into a song, it no longer belongs completely to you. But I think that's also the power of music. You take something personal and someone else finds themselves inside it. It definitely affected 22 because it reminded me that I don't want to create from a place of pretending I have everything figured out.

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CiDAR PRESS: What's one thing about your creative process that people would probably find surprising or funny?

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Kunmie: I can spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to get one tiny thing right that nobody else would probably notice. Sometimes I'll obsess over one word, one breath, one harmony or one little sound, and everyone around me is like, “Nobody is going to hear that.” And I'm like, “I know. But I will hear it.”

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CiDAR PRESS: You've got names like Phyno and Zlatan on the project. What was it like bringing artists & rappers with such distinct sounds into the world of 22 and how did you handle it so well?

Kunmie: I think the key was not trying to make them sound like me. They already have such distinct identities, and that's what makes their presence interesting.

I wanted them to enter the world of 22 as themselves while still understanding the emotional language of the project. It was more about finding the right space for their individuality rather than trying to control it.

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CiDAR PRESS: You seem to have created an album that people can really sink into. What do you hope someone discovers about themselves while listening to 22?

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Kunmie: I hope they discover that it's okay not to have everything figured out. I hope someone listens and realizes that they're allowed to feel deeply, to change, to outgrow things, to question themselves, and still have faith that they're becoming who they're supposed to be.

More than anything, I hope 22 makes people a little more honest with themselves.

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CiDAR PRESS: When you look back at the person who started making this album and the person sitting here now, what has changed?

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Kunmie: I think I'm more comfortable with not knowing. When I started 22, I wanted answers. I wanted to understand myself, my music, my direction, even what I thought I was supposed to become. Making the album taught me that sometimes the point isn't to have all the answers; sometimes the point is to become comfortable enough to keep walking while you find them.

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