A world of through-the-night online writing sessions spurred on by insomnia-driven spurts of creativity has brought us the new artist KOATES from South London.

With a soundscape that he describes as a dizzying fusion of R&B, Pop and electro-pop, this artist who wears his heart on his sleeve in his staggeringly personal music, delivers debut single ‘Somebody New,’in collaboration with Edd Holloway (Lewis Capaldi, Dean Lewis).

Introspective, nostalgic in tone and an exercise in hindsight, the track is one born from the frustration of letting someone who was once important to you go.

An honest offering that speaks of this rising star’s artistic evolution which has seen him become unafraid with his lyricism and thus more authentic in his sound, the track is a turning point in a path towards musicality that will keep growing and changing until it becomes in his words, “microphone to skin,” a musical

representation of the person that is KOATES.
Talking about his creative process for the track, he says:

“I am a naturally nocturnal artist and for whatever reason I never question it, my best hours of creative song writing come through the night and very often in my dreams. ‘Somebody New’ was no exception. I recorded my vocals in my room at 4am. I am a nightmare to live with. I wrote ‘Somebody New’ at a time when I found myself desperate to return to an ex-lover. I noticed that I was looking for her traits in everyone new that I met and the lyric ‘now I feel like all I do is try to find you in somebody new’ is for her. In fact it’s for all of us that we recognise that we may have made a big mistake”.

In the last few months building to this release, KOATES has been working with Gary Go (Harry Styles, Rihanna) and is now in studio sessions with Grammy Award winning Jimmy Hogarth (James Bay, Dermot Kennedy). He was taken under the wing of Sarah Stennett (First Access) as a writer-artist, sleeping on floor during the day in a Tottenham rehearsal room and working through the night producing much of the new KOATES project to come. Playing the Glastonbury PRS stage opened the door to KOATES being funded by PRS. Promoted by ‘Kilimanjaro’, you can also see KOATES perform at his upcoming shows at The Waiting Room and Omeara, to be announced soon.

With music that is as introspective as it is relatable, it’s only a matter of time before this singer breaks through in a big way.

South East London born and bred. He’d often find himself on top of flight cases being wheeled around the world watching his Dad, who performed in the band The Hollies, from a very young age. From the excitement KOATES witnessed, he started writing music and playing in bands. In sheer frustration from too many brains trying to make one decision, we are birthed with the solo project KOATES.