Kat Perkins, a Season 5 standout on The Voice, has a new single and fans will be delighted to discover there’s more new music to come.
The single is a hard-driving rocker name “Drive,” and Kat told FM94 in Little Falls, Minn., that she approached it with a pretty simple mission.
“Growing up in rural North Dakota, one of the things we did for fun in the summertime when school was out was driving around,” she recalled. “We would roll our windows down and blare music. And I wanted to capture that feeling in a song.
“As shallow as that sounds, that was my mission — to capture that feeling of the summer and having fun and picking up my girlfriends in my car and driving around.”
Kat told Voice Views that Shelly Fairchild, her best friend in Nashville, wrote the song with Stephony Smith and Peter Amato.
“All three are top notch in the industry, and I’m honored that they had me cut the song,” she said.
Oh, and judging by the reaction when she performed it live for the first time last weekend, Kat accomplished her mission.
“My fans couldn’t help but move their bodies and feel happy,” she said. “We also did an acoustic version as an impromptu performance with a harmonica and guitar, and it was a blast. It’s definitely a rock-and-roll party song.”
There’s also a video on the way, she told Voice Views. It was filmed in May in Los Angeles and should be out in a few weeks.
“We got to rent a ’68 Mustang convertible and drive around Hollywood,” Kat said. “I had a bunch of my friends with me, and we even shot at the beach at sunset. The video is gorgeous. I can’t wait for fans to see it.”
“Drive” hit iTunes last Tuesday. Kat plans to follow it up with an EP of all original music on July 10.
Kat was known as a rocker on The Voice and from her pre-Voice days fronting the band Scarlet Haze. The new single follows the same vein, but she said the new EP will feature a variety of music.
“My fan base on The Voice turned out to be from 5 years old to 85,” she told FM94. “I feel like the best thing I can do to speak to those fans is to make a record that is completely broad and will appeal to everyone.
“So it has a little rock, it has a little bit of pop, it has some blues, and it’s got some theatrical stuff on it and it’s got some ballads. So it’s kind of something for everyone.” You can hear her full radio interview here.
Kat wound up finishing in the Top 5 on The Voice after landing a spot on Team Adam Levine with her cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman.”
She already released a five-song EP post-Voice — “Fearless” in September — and also provides the lead vocals on a Scarlet Haze album from 2012.
“The most memorable thing, however, was getting to go to the Middle East to spend Christmas performing for the troops. It feels so good to give back through music.”
You can keep up with Kat on her website, Facebook and on Twitter, where she’s @katperkinsmusic.
Editor’s Note: For a look at albums and EPs released by former Voice contestants so far in 2015, head here. And please let me know if I’ve missed anyone.
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