Changing your name or brand partway through a career can be risky, but rewarding. Renee Liang interviews musician Grace Pageant (aka Anna Kaye) about her new sound, images and name.

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I’ve known Grace, aka Anna Kaye, since the days we started doing poetry together at Poetry Live.  Anna is a poet, songwriter and musician whom I’ve always admired for her guts and determination. Her first EP, Little Bonfire, combines soaring vocals with an easy melodic line which sometimes belies the serious subject matter of her songs.  Now Anna’s moving on with a new album in the works, a new image and a new stage name.  I chatted to her about her new album and the process of changing her ‘brand’.

How did you become a musician?

I learned piano and classical singing when I was a child, and sung in choirs. But I always wanted to be a pop singer, even back in those days. It took me 'til I was in my 20s to start writing songs and playing guitar. The first song I wrote, I got up and performed on an open mic, with the only two chords I knew how to play. I haven't looked back from there.

Do you write songs by instinct or hard work? (or both?)

Both.  Lyric writing has always been instinctual for me, but then I like to hone things a lot, so I might go through 6 drafts to get the best lyric possible. I'm very fussy when it comes to my lyrics! With the music, I'm a singer and writer first, so I have to really work at it, or I just get other people to worry about that side of things!

How would you define your style?

Quirky or indie pop. Hopefully I can continue creating a style that piques people's interest and that I enjoy making too. It's pop but with a quirky twist, I like to bring a bit of the unexpected to the genre. It's playful but sometimes there is a bit of seriousness to the content of the lyrics. They're heartfelt!

How did you approach your new album?

Sonically, I started with the style of the last two songs of my previous EP, Little Bonfire. Also, these two tracks are getting remixed to feature on the album, as I felt they didn't get the exposure they deserved under the previous incarnation.
I've learned a lot since making the EP in 2010. How to work together with a band and things like that.
I'm still weighing up what I want to do on the production side for the rest of the album. I have a few people in mind who I would like to approach to co-produce, Djesan Sukov from Cool Rainbows being one of them but we'll see haha.

What have been your most important influences?

A lot of music coming out Sweden is awesome. Peter, Bjorn and John have produced some great acts, like Lykke Li and Sarah Blasko and I really like their stuff. I'd love to go to Sweden and visit friends one day and suss out the scene.
I'm inspired by the offbeat and quirky side of pop, like Bowie, Talking Heads, that sort of thing.

In your career, you've changed your stage name several times - what were the reasons? 

When I first took on the stage name Anna Kaye, I did what a lot of singer-songwriters do, just took my middle name, to differentiate what I do with my music from my professional life as a writer and editor. I felt that I needed to keep those separate. As I've honed my musical vision and come to understand more about the industry, I realised I needed a stronger moniker.

It needed to be done with this release, because there are several Anna's in the NZ music industry, who are pop artists. One even rhymed with Kaye!  It was the right decision to make and more reflective of the style that I'm coming into I think. Also, it was a chance for me to make a clean break from the girl-next-door in an open mic and to put my old style behind me a bit and give me some impetus to pursue this new direction. Anna means Grace anyway, so I've maintained a link to that.

It's a very risky thing changing your name as a musician and I wouldn't normally recommend it. Especially when you have built a following under the old name, but you have to do what is right for yourself going forward. For me, it was the right thing at the right time. It was now or never.

How important do you think 'branding' is compared to other aspects of the music industry?

I think it's one of the most vital aspects actually, aside from the music itself. There are many talented musicians who will never succeed commercially or in a business sense because they don't have a strong, recognisable image. People need to see and hear something unique and know what separates your music from the myriad of others on offer. You have to believe in your uniqueness and package it in the best way possible. I'm still working on this, but it makes a huge difference. And branding that is appropriate to the style of music too.

There are images and ideas that go with particular genres and it helps people to understand you and what you are about. It can get confusing for listeners if they don't really know what they are getting. So branding is a way to make that clearer for them. Also, making something attractive does the best service to what you are doing. If you treat it casually, so will other people. I've been learning this along the way. It's a fine line I think, because you want to maintain your artistic integrity, but also to connect with an audience, but they both go hand in hand. That's the challenge.

What steps are you taking to stand out as Grace Pageant?

At the moment, it's collaborating with incredible visual artists to have these fantastic music videos. The people I'm working with are just a cut above. We're recently worked on a stop motion video, which I think is going to blow everyone out of the water. So I'm working on the visual aspect at the moment, the fashion and video side. And collaborating with different musicians, particularly producers, to really get it sounding great and experimenting.

What's the next year looking like for you?

Just completed the first video, so that's out now, then two other videos a few months apart. Weekly band rehearsals for the recording. Writing. Possibly a trip to Stockholm to hunt for producers and collaborators and then hopefully the big release at some stage in the future. Heaps of gigs with the band in between to get the name out there too.