Arden Kaywin

There is something exciting about being young and in a crisis. It's that time in your life where the decisions you make stay with you for hte rest of your life; Good or bad. So far, it's all been good for ARDEN KAYWIN.Her debut CD QUARTER LIFE CRISIS is getting a huge response in the LA music scene and beyond. KAYWIN proves that songwriting is her lifes work. This CD is collection of intelligent pop songs that speak about the things one wants and things one has to do. Emancipation has never sounded better.

ARDEN KAYWIN's story is like that of many artists who've had their work showcased on ROCKWIRED. It is a story about finding both yourself and your voice and being true to it. Born and reared in a a supportive family in Miami Florida, ARDEN took her high school piano lessons to heart and pursued music at none other than the OBERLIN MUSIC CONSERVATORY. The fear of being ostracized by her fellow peers had ARDEN crafting pop songs behind closed doors. It wasn't until the past few years where her compositions and voice have come into the light with the release of QUARTER LIFE CRISIS.

ARDEN spoke with a ROCKWIRED over the phone on a Friday night. This is how it went.

BL: Where are you from?

AK:Miami, Florida


BL: Was music in your upbringing at all or encouraged by family or anything like that?

AK: I don't have any family members who are professional musicians or anything. I was always encouraged by my parents, who themselves aren't really musical. My mom tinkered on the piano occassionally. It's very funny. When I went back home not to long ago, and we (my family) were going through some old home movies and the oldest home movies with me in them were when I was an infant and in all of them, my mother is singing to me. No wonder I became a singer and a musician. My mother made a song out of everything. I must've gravitated toward music because that was what had soothed me then, and it continues to do that to this day. No one in my family was musical in the professional sense but definitely creative and musically appreciative.


BL: Who did you grow up listening to?

AK: When I was a kid, I grew up in the sort of mid-eighties, which was like WHITNEY HOUSTON and MARIAH CAREY. I just wanted to be them. I would run around immitating the two of them. When I got older in High School and had access to a wider range of music, I really became absolutely enamoured with TORI AMOS and others like the INDIGO GIRLS, COUNTING CROWS. These were the three most influential artists/bands of my adolescence. Even to this day, when TORI AMOS comes out with a new album, I'll buy it without thinking twice, without listening to it or reading a review just because she is who she is. She's an amazing storyteller and an amazing musician. In college, my tastes have broadened. I never really listened to hard rock or hip-hop when I was in high school and now, I have a much more ecclectic music taste which influences what I write for sure. You can't tell that I was listening to MISSY ELLIOT alot when I was writing my album. I know where those little influences are in some of the songs but I'd never point them out to anyone because they're going to be like "Oh my God! MISSY ELLIOT!!! Are you kidding me?" I think being open to other forms of music can only help you as a musician, even if it's not your thing neccessarily.


BL: And you studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music?

AK: I did.


BL: Wow! What was that experience like?

AK: Well, I would never trade it. Even though I'm not doing classical music now in my professional life, it has given me a set of tools and a set of historical references that I think make me a more well rounded musician in general, but being in a conservatory environment, you are completely submerged in classical music. I think some conservatories are different than others but Oberlin was a very traditional conservatory in the sense that if you did anything different, the other students looked at you kind of weird. If you wanted to do musical theater or something or wanted to do pop or rock you became the outsider. I never really explored my pop sensibilities publicly when I was at Oberlin. I would go into the practice rooms and do my thing and then I'd go to class and then I'd go home and close my door and write pop songs that nobody knew about. My friends to this day, who I studied classical music with, listen to my music now and they're like "Oh my God!!! Who knew!"


BL: When did songwriting begin for you? How did that happen?

AK: I always used to write when I was in Junior High and in High School. As a kid I studied Suzuki piano. I don't know if you know anything about Suzuki method but it teaches children to play instruments by ear, so you learn by ear even before you learn to read music. I would sit down at the piano when I was in Junior high and in High school and listen to all of those songs that I loved by TORI AMOS, SARAH MCLACHLAN and THE INDIGO GIRLS and I would figure them out on the piano, and I would sit there and play them and that morphed into making songs on my own. I started off writing music first and not being a lyricist and I would have friends who would write poems about a guy who dumped them and we would set them to music in my living room. That was how the songwriting began. In college, it became my hobby and my release because I was doing very serious classical music in school. Some people would paint, some people would keep a journal, I wrote songs. I never really intended to play them for anybody and I never intended at the time to do anything with it because my focus was classical music.


BL: When did you get to the point of wanting to share you music with an audience?

AK: I actually did classical music professionally after college and when I was doing that I was getting burned out very quickly. At the time, my brother who is in the film business, got me hooked into doing some writing and recording for this independent film soundtrack. I don't know what ever happened with that film, I don't think they ever released it but that was my first experience in the recording studio doing pop music and writing and collaborating and that was coinciding with me being burned out with the whole classical thing and me questioning what I wanted to do with my life and hence the title of the CD QUARTER LIFE CRISIS. A lot of the music on this CD was written during my own quarter life crisis. After being in the studio, I thought "You know what? I need to figure out what I want." So I moved to Los Angeles and I spent about a year with one foot in the classical world and one foot in the pop world and after the things in the pop world started taking off and I saw that people were responding to what I was doing, it really gave me the confidence to say "...I'm gonna cut an album, I'm gonna start touring -" and a year and a half later, here I am.


BL: You've worked with some names here on you first CD like ROB JACOBS (ALANIS MORRISETTE, BON JOVI, SHAKIRA) and RUDY HAEUSERMANN (LISA MARIE PRESLEY). How did you get to know these guys. Was this through your brother?

AK: It was was one of those fluke-y kind of friend things how I got hooked up with RUDY. A friend of his knew a friend of mine and I was looking for someone to produce the album. RUDY is this incredibly down to earth guy and a great producer and we clicked right away. We did one song together first to see how it would go and we both really enjoyed the experience so he jumped on board and hen we finished, I knew of ROB JACOBS because of the work he had done on ALANIS MORRISETTE'S album UNDER RUG SWEPT. I think he did an amazing job on that album. ROB is so well known and he's GRAMMY-nominated and I basically decided that I was going to cold call his manager. I was nobody. All that I had were rough mixes. I didn't even have a manager. Nobody knew who I was. There's this old saying, "The silent wheel doesn't get oiled". I was going to find out who this guys' manager was. I googled him and found the number of his manager and cold called him and I said"Listen, I know he's used to working with big signed artists, but I've got this product and if he would just listen to and if he responds to it at all, would he consider working with someone who is unknown." The manger was a little skeptical but he wasked mee to send him the rough mixes and I didn't hear anytihg for a month. All of a sudden he called me backsaying that he played it for ROB and that he really liked it. After that we met and ROB mixed the whole album for the price of one track . He knew I was indie- I couldn't afford his usual fee. He responded to the material enough to jump on board and that's what RUDY did to and I could not have asked for a better team in that way. they jumped behind me and help me cut this amazing album.


BL: Now that the recording is completed, is the finished product everything that you hoped it would be?

AK: Yeah. It really is. Sometimes you have to force yourself to look at what you've done and pat yourself onthe back. Sometimes I find myself so focused on what next and I don't look back at what I've accomplished but when I listen to this album I'm really amazed that I did this. I hope that when peopl listen to it they can relate to it. It doesn't matter who produced it, it doesn't matter who mixed it as long as you dig on the music and wht to keep listeing to it, that's all I can ask for.


BL: Are there any songs from this CD that stick out for you particularly?

AK: One of my two or three favorite tracks on the album would be ON THE EDGE. It's the second track onthe album. It's a very personal song for me and it's the first song that we finished so it's special to me in that way as well. ME WITH ME is the first track off of the album and that's my empowerment song. I wrote it when I had a really bad date and I came back and I was like "I don't need anybody! I don't need a guy. I need to be with me" and I think a lot of people have felt that way. There is a song called TYPICAL. That song is personal to me because I think that there are a lot of women my age in their early to mid twenties who feel stuck. It's the quarter life crisis thing but added to that gender roles (i.e. Where do I fit in as a woman? Do I get married? Have kids? Do I work?) So many women get caught up in that and they just end being typical. Their beauty, uniqueness and talents are sacrificed because they want to take the easy route instead of soul searching and realizing that we only have so much time on this earth. The song is sayin "Don't be typical...Be who you are." That was a hard lesson for me to learn.


BL: How are the live shows?

AK: How are they? They rock!!!


BL: What are they like for you?

AK: It depends on what kind of show we're doing. I have two kinds of shows that I do. If I'm going to play a larger venue like the AVALON , I take my full band. there are six of us and I'll sit downand play three of four songs out of the set and other times I'll have a keyboard player play the keyboard parts and I'll just do the singing. It's much more of a show than it is an intimate experience. When I play small, more acoustic venues, I'll play piano and have a guitar player and a back up singer and it's much more intimate because I'm playing the whole time.


BL: Any plans for a tour at all?

AK: So far, I have some one-off dates that I'm working on. I'm going to be in Miami, Chicago and Columbus and SanFrancisco.


BL: What do you want a listener to walk away with after hearing your CD?

AK: I just want them to find some kernel of their own truth in what I'm saying. It could something inthe lyrics or a feeling from the music, something they can take with them that relates to their own life. That would have to be it.



- Rockwired.com and DJ Brian Lush

Upon listening to the opening track from Arden Kaywin's sophomore release The Elephant in the Room - �Let it Go� - I was oddly reminded of Tori Amos� �Leather�. It even started off in the same semi-staccato manner, the redundant yet spell-inducing plucking, the subtlety, hell, in part even with the same lyrics� �Look, I�m standing naked [etc.]�. At first I thought, �how dare she? It�s bad enough to use the same lyrics, the same style - just, how dare she�. After the first stanza, however, I knew I had jumped to too far a conclusion. Kaywin had me right where she wanted - clinging onto the edge of a rocky cliff with fingernails bleeding - profusely, apologetically.

�The Elephant in the Room�� creates a playful, imaginative, dreamy world in which Kaywin�s stories are told with a bizarre charm characteristic of artists such as Amos, Alanis Morissette, Rufus Wainwright, and Sarah McLachlan. Her tracks race from one end of the room to the other - via flirty and saucy single-girl anthems (�Lights Out�, �Girl in a Man�s World�), and poignant and beautiful-in-despondency refrains (�The Last Time�) - while consisting of a sound that is all-inclusive, never gender-specific in approach. Smuggling gems beneath a brilliant cover of poplicious hooks and cute promo shots is a clever move, accommodating of listeners who appreciate a glittery exterior while appealing to those who live and breathe for singer/songwriter versatility.

�The Elephant in the Room� is simply fun, however complex in essence. I suppose you could even liken it to a brand new penny. Sure, there are a million others out there - but at the moment, they�ll never be as shiny as the one within your grasp.

Recommended tracks: ��Boys and Girls�, �Grand Soiree�, �Sleepwalking�

CD Review: Arden Kaywin, The Elephant in the Room
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:15AM - By Lindsey Darden
BeatCrave.com
- BeatCrave

Catchy and quirky, singer/songwriter Arden Kaywin�s music draws inspiration from funky pop, alternative rock, and classical. Her second record, Elephant in the Room, is receiving critical acclaim and radio play, setting her on a course for keyboard-fueled stardom. Thanks to Kaywin�s creative talents, and a successful collaboration with 11-time Grammy Award winning producer Rafa Sardina, her genre-crossing compositions and intricate arrangements come off polished and intimate, thoughtful and vivid.

Kaywin trained as a classical pianist at the Oberlin Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, soaking in the music of classical composers while secretly writing pop songs in her private time. She became smitten with divas like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, but credits artists like Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, and the Indigo Girls with inspiring her as a songwriter. Her 2006 debut album, Quarter Life Crisis, introduced her to the public and earned her a nomination for Pop Song of the Year by the 2006 Independent Music Awards. But on Elephant in the Room, Sardina helps Kaywin take her sound to a new level of accessibility: From the haunting piano on �So Beautiful� and the disc�s title track to the eccentric and jazzy �Grand Soiree,� Kaywin�s music stays just outside of predictable territory, yet remains familiar enough to welcome new listeners to join the party.

Kaywin took Suzuki piano lessons as a child, eventually figuring out pop tunes by ear on her family�s Kawai baby grand. And though she writes all her songs on piano, she prefers to focus on delivering engaging vocals live. �I find that as a singer and performer, I feel more comfortable communicating with the audience when I am not sitting at the keyboard,� she says. So who handles keys in concert? �I have an awesome keyboard player [composer, producer, and performer Darius Holbert] who plays keys live with me in my band and I defer to him when it comes to the stage rig,� she explains. With Kaywin and Holbert endorsed by Korg and Nord respectively, gear from the two companies most often provides the group�s keyboard power on stage.

Listen to Kaywin�s beautiful Elephant and learn more at www.ardenkaywin.com.


Arden Kaywin: Classical Chops And Indie Pop
By Robbie Gennet
Keyboard Magazine


- Keyboard Magazine

Playing in front of a laid back audience that included talented actors Topher Grace (Venom was in the building!) and Cedric the Entertainer, along with official Billboard/LG Mobile Beat Hobbit Dave Chung, Arden Kaywin performed on Tuesday night at Jimmy's Acoustic Courtyard. As this was my first time at the indoor/outdoor venue, I was initially underwhelmed by the exterior appearance of the outdoor venue, which from the wrong side looked like it could double as a beach shower pit/public urinal. However, upon entering the hidden side entrance, Jimmy's Acoustic Courtyard - with its unexpected comfortable couches, bar, horseshoe booths, and open air socializing area for people more hip than I - instantly became one of my favorite small venues in the Los Angeles area. Kaywin, whose single "Me With Me" was nominated as the 2006 Pop Song of the Year by the Independent Music Awards, put on an incredible vocal performance for her dedicated fans and won over some new ones in the process. While her name might not initially seem the most memorable, her passionate vocals, unique blend of musical styles, lyricism, and impressive range make her an artist that is very hard to forget.

After the opening act, Kaywin took the stage in front of an audience that was abuzz with activity in both the bar area and the tealight-illuminated performance area. Someone in the crowd smelled like a bongwater smoothie (mmmmm, burnt weed crumbs and stale Evian), and the murmur of voices was becoming a little too loud to ignore, but Kaywin achieved the impossible by quieting the incessant schmoozing with her refreshing vocals. While she generally performs with a full band, she performed with only the accompanying sounds of a keyboard and guitar Tuesday night.

Opening up the show with "Boys and Girls," Kaywin showed off her pop-friendly sound, which, combined with just the right amount of edginess, has made her a unique presence in the indie pop-rock scene. The song featured some very big notes and was definitely not the easiest one to open with, but its upbeat feel and sprinkling of mild profanities (Al Sharpton, eat your heart out) actually made me smile and immediately drew in the rest of the audience. Kaywin announced that this would be the first acoustic performance of many on the night, and the talented songstress kicked things off right, earning some spirited applause and scattered "woop woop"s from the crowd (that never reads as well as it sounds in real life).

The acoustic version of "Girl in a Man's World" started with an edgy, rhythmic guitar line that was slightly reminiscent of Kelly Clarkson's "Never Again," if only because both numbers are noticeably lacking much in the way of sunshine and rainbows. Listening to "Girl in a Man's World" and hearing the variety in Kaywin's voice, I easily picked up on the Vanessa Carlton comparisons that are occasionally made. While her varying styles and well-controlled runs kept her performances fresh, it was when Kaywin reached for the higher notes, utilizing her energetic upper register, that her voice truly shined.

My favorite performance of the night was "Twilight," a slower song with a catchy chorus. Kaywin displayed masterful control over her falsetto, utilizing a gentle, easy-on-the-ears tone during each verse and opening it up gloriously with the bigger notes during the chorus. To use a pop culture reference, it was like driving a pretty sweet car in The Fast and the Furious, cruising along smoothly at first, only to open the throttle, hit the "NOS!!!!!" (Vin Diesel, 2001, ladies and gentlemen), and waste the suburban thug wannabe in the rice rocket next to you who revved you a quarter mile back.

Kaywin then moved over to the keyboard to perform "On the Edge," which I was excited about after hearing her impressive sound check on the instrument earlier in the night (whether she meant to "kill it" during the sound check or not, I do not know, but she certainly did). When she started to play the melody, the audience immediately began cheering, as many of her fans were in attendance. The performance featured a catchy piano tune with some very breathy (kind of hot sometimes, not going to lie...) vocals that seemed to stretch her range in a challenging yet manageable way. Because it sounded a bit Vanessa Carlton-esque, I couldn't help picturing Shawn and Marlon Wayans, all dolled up and singing like two hot "White Chicks" from the Hamptons. On second thought, perhaps that's not the most flattering association, but suffice it to say that the performance was so impressive that the table next to me couldn't keep from declaring collectively, "That was so good!"

In "Butterflies," Kaywin mixed a rock-and-roll guitar intro with a heavily synthesized keyboard and some very Kina - "Girl From the Gutter"-like vocals. It was an interesting combination of sounds that was accented by Kaywin's well-measured use of falsetto. "Galileo," a slower pop song, felt a lot like a throwback to classic pop songs from the 80's and 90's. While I honestly wasn't wild about the rhythmic chorus on this song, the verses were solidly arranged and Kaywin performed a crowd pleasing piano solo at the song's conclusion. In "Random," Kaywin delivered on the song title's promise and gave us a slew of borderline silly lyrics, with topics like MySpace pages, bosses who don't shower, and the power of certain parts of the male anatomy (yes, weiners, ding dongs, tube steaks, magic sticks, etc.). While this wasn't my favorite performance on the night, it was definitely the first song I heard that felt like it was created from the random thoughts people have when they're either really tired, just waking up, fantastically baked, or perched on the toilet, cursing the Taco Bell they ate the night before (oh, but it is just sooo good...I love you CrunchWrap).

Next up was "Me with Me," the song Kaywin received much attention for after it was nominated for 2006 Pop Song of the Year by the Independent Music Awards. The celebrated song has a country-like guitar intro and, again, utilizes much of Kaywin's upper register on the chorus - not an easy song at all to perform. By this point, I was a fan of nearly any song that allowed Kaywin to let loose on the high notes with some freedom, and this was one of those songs. It reminded me a bit of an acoustic Alanis Morissette performance, and it was incredibly engaging to see how Kaywin braved each note and, in turn, how the notes consistently embraced her. She closed out the show with "Numb," a darker song in the style of Tori Amos, but with the necessary uplifting chorus. As she had managed to do all night, Kaywin's vocals embarked on some unique and energetic runs, moving the entire audience with her as she performed on stage.


Arden Kaywin has been called a "hidden gem" and a rising star in the pop music realm. While her sound is definitely not cut from the mold of our beloved teeny boppers ("Come On Over" by Christina Aguilera is still a great jam) and American Idol alumni (You know I love you, Carrie Underwood), she combines a unique blend of witty lyricism, varied melodies, and contrasting styles that are all held together by her bold and passionate vocals. By the end of the show, after witnessing a talent that is already recognized as a star waiting in the wings, I could not help but echo the sentiments of the Kaywin fans seated next to me: "That was so good."

August 09, 2007
Arden Kaywin at Jimmy's Acoustic Courtyard in Hollywood, CA
By Dave Chung
- Billboard.com

This is great, genuine pop music. I feel like I always have to qualify it when I call something pop. I don't mean Britney/Chrisina/Jessica pop. I mean intelligent songwriting, uplifting melodies, strong lyrics, and pleasing vocals. That kind of pop. The only kind we need in my not so very humble opinion.

Amy Lotsberg for Collected Sounds

- Collected Sounds Magazine

It's delightful, once in a while, to discover (with an accompanying jolt of surprise) that, against all the odds, there's some really worthwhile music out there in the mainstream. Arden Kaywin is nothing if not mainstream, but there's more than enough personality, individuality and imagination in what she does to make her debut album well worth investigating. On first hearing, the hardened left-of-centre critic in me was saying, "Yeah, yeah, another Alanis Morissette meets Sarah McLachlan with a twist of Mariah Carey clone," but something kept me listening and after a couple more songs I knew this was something I'd have to pay more attention to. Returning to the album a day or two later, it was already starting to sound like an old friend, and a couple of repeated plays confirmed that Ms. Kaywin has much more to offer than just another goulash of gone-dull girls. Much of the enjoyment in Quarter Life Crisis comes from Kaywin's performances which inject life and vitality into every track.
- Back on the Tracks Online Magazine

Arden's lyrics are clever and intimate. Vocally she's dynamite never allowing her toughness to ever get too "grrrl" but easily as gritty as Alanis. Truly a great album, Quarter Life Crisis tells a story that each and every one of you needs to hear.

Editor's Pick on Smother.net - Smother Magazine

Here you have a new girl to check out if you like girls like Nicole Nordeman, Charlotte Martin, Rebecka St. James and Alanis Morrisette. Arden is a pleasant discovery and the album is a really professional done album with tons of hooks, melodies and a spicy production signed Rudy Haeuermann (Lisa Marie Presley, Kimberly Locke) and mixed by Rob Jacobs (Shakira, Alanis Morrisette, Bon Jovi and more).

Second out “On The Edge” is a great tune and could easily have ended up on the major debut-album of Charlotte Martin, the beautiful “As Long As You Love Me” another really good one, and “What If” a third one well worth mentioning.
This is an album you must check out if you like the names I mentioned earlier in the review because this lady plays in the same direction and I’m 100% sure we will hear much more from her in the future.

By Pär Winberg for Melodic.net
- Melodic.net E-Zine

Arden's debut album "Quarter Life Crisis" is lovely. With her raspy and angelic vocals, Arden is compatible to Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan. But it's Arden's sweet and comforting personality that lights up each song. Through her passion and contrl in her strong singing and songwriting skills, it's easy to see how one can relate to her songs. "Me With Me". "On The Edge", "As Long As You Love Me", "Typical", "Unsaid" and "Over You" are full of honesty and beauty. Quarter Life Crisis is a wonderful album.

Lynda Dale McLean for Celebrity Cafe. - Celebrity Cafe Magazine

Arden Kaywin has a voice as smooth and sweet as her name would suggest, rising and falling deftly over her spritely and sensitive pop. This pianist/singer/songwriter wears her heart on her sleeve, showcasing her songs of life's confusion and love's ache.

Kaywin never lets the album get stale. Her soul is into her work, and it shows in the sheer honesty of the songs themselves. The amount of angst is just right, wanting us to feel empathy but standing strong all the same, without wallowing in self-pity. - Mash Music Mag