Kina and “Get you to the moon”: “Suddenly everything changed”

He is male, American and part of Spotify's Billions Club. These are the clues for the first and excellent featuring of Kina, the young talent from Acerra, who in a short time made the whole world talk about himself, entering, as the first Italian, with an unreleased song, “Get you to the moon” , in the exclusive ranking of the Swedish digital platform.
He doesn't want to reveal more: “there will be a chance to talk about it in depth”, he tells us, “There won't be much left”.
We reach him with a Zoom call, while he is walking through the streets of Los Angeles.

And he gives us some of his time.
“What happened to me? I didn't understand it either. Suddenly everything changed and from my provincial bedroom I was thrown into the Olympus of international music”.

They all say that, then maybe there are other dynamics…

“Many people think so, some haters write to me and call me recommended, telling me that who knows how I got here. There is also someone who I call the engineer. Well, he knows how to make a hit with billions of plays. He says: it takes a little of this, a little of that. It makes me laugh. I just expressed myself. You know, I'm shy and music was the only way I knew how to communicate.”

Let's start from the beginning. Why does the name Kina have anything to do with the cult hardcore band from Aosta in the 80s/90s?

“No, I swear I didn't know her. But then many wrote to me, fans of the band, saying that I was a usurper of names, and so I went and informed them and discovered them.”

So Kina, why?

“By pure chance, let's say. They were with my classmates from Itis in Acerra, I had to put my songs on a cloud and I needed a name for the project. Everyone had their say, then my friend Michele brought out Kina. “It's short and memorable,” he said. And so I became Kina for everyone!”.

How did they react to the great success?

“Giuseppe is always with me, unfortunately I haven't heard from Michele for a while, but they were all very important””.

Do you remember your first song attempt?

“Yes, I remember it; however, they were notes tending towards progressive house, electro house, I took inspiration from people like Axwell, Avici. Obviously what came out wasn't beautiful, you know, I was little, but it started to make sense. Then with the Kina project I changed my mentality, I stopped following fashions and trends and I did what I felt.”

How much do you think the international TV series that used your songs played a decisive role in the success of the songs?

“I think or I like to think that we helped each other. When “Get you to the moon” was picked up for the Netflix series “On my box” it already had 300 million streams.”

Do you remember when the offer came with Columbia Records? As happens to many, did you think it was a joke?

“Almost. I remember I was playing the Xbox and at a certain point the iPhone started ringing like crazy. They were emails arriving from the world's largest majors. There was Warner, Universal, Columbia. At that point I had a choice. I looked at the rosters and decided on the one closest to me, where there was Harry Styles, the music I grew up with, from a professional point of view. So I signed with Columbia.”

And how did your parents react when they realized they had lost you?

“They said be careful, it's dangerous, who knows what these people want. They didn't understand either. Today, however, they are very calm. They continue to live their provincial life, nothing has changed for them.”

The worst thing someone wrote to you on social media?

“What's this complaint about, you shitty Neapolitan… the classics. Obviously they affect me little, because while I do what I have always dreamed of, their highest aspiration is to come and insult me.”

What do you expect your music to represent for those who follow you?

“It's enough for me that it serves some purpose, to cheer me up in a moment of sadness, to find a moment of joy. Someone even wrote to me that he had thought about suicide, but then, somehow even with my music he changed his mind. This is what makes me feel good.”

Where you live now?

“I'm a bit of a nomad. I live permanently in Lisbon, and I'll explain why. I understood that Acerra had given me everything it could in terms of inspiration and creativity. In Lisbon there is the sea, it reminds me of Naples and the people are wonderful. I also find the food really good.