Kaylee Bell: From Viral Keith Urban Moment to Her Biggest Tour Yet

[SPEAKER_01]: Today, I'm misunderstood with Rachel Yucatau.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's turn your fucking view, look at things.
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you play that key?
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's watch the phone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, I want to try and write a song.
[SPEAKER_00]: Using is mini, Keith Urban Song titles.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just remember Keith was the first to push his button and turn around.
[SPEAKER_00]: I moved to Australia, and I won a competition that called Toyota Starmaker, which obviously keep everyone back in 1990.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like there was that moment of those sort of years that I was just like, this could actually be something.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was born in a tiny little country town of about 3,000 people in the middle of the South Island in New Zealand, and started singing when I was four years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: Never ever thought I'd do it as a career.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's about chasing your dreams.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you were opening for Ed Sheeran, Kane Brown, Brad Paisley.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Ed Sheeran stadium to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it didn't get any bigger than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was life-changing for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did Keith ever say anything to you backstage?
[SPEAKER_01]: You ever talked to him after?
[SPEAKER_01]: Every artist has a moment that changes everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: For Kaylee Bell, it was when she walked on to the voice Australia stage and sang her song Keith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Written about Keith Urban, and then found herself performing it in front of Keith Urban himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: That performance went viral and overnight the world knew her name.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what makes Kaylee's story remarkable isn't just that one viral moment, it's everything she's built since.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's now the most streamed female country music artist in Australia.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's toured stadiums with Ed Sheeran and Kane Brown, and she's done it all as an independent artist without the backing of a major label.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now Kaylee stepped into her boldest chapter yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's released her most personal album to date, Calboy Up, and is gearing up for her biggest headline tour across New Zealand.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's also navigating the brand new role, which is motherhood, while proving that women and country music can define success on their own terms.
[SPEAKER_01]: This conversation is about the dream that started in a small farming town in New Zealand, the viral moment that made the world pay attention, and the courage to keep betting on yourself when the spotlight shifts.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please enjoy my conversation with Kaylee Bell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for joining me today on misunderstood how are you all the way from New Zealand.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so nice to be on here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having it week today, right, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm really excited to have you on because I sat and watched that video of you on the voice with Keith Urban, you singing your original song to him and having him turn turn his chair.
[SPEAKER_01]: And honestly, I must have watched it five times that I cried every time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, like I thought it was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, who is the woman with you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, my friend in the side line see me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the one that was like, yes, it's got every word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I get a lot of questions about this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, she's one of my best friends at Australia.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I moved to Australia when I was like 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm then, um, basically hit no friends and she was one of my first friends that I made there and so it was so nice.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so sweet.
[SPEAKER_01]: She showed her so many times and she was so proud.
[SPEAKER_01]: She knew every line.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was jumping up and down.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just thought it was like the sweetest.
[SPEAKER_01]: thing ever so i want to get to that moment but before we get there i just want to hear a little bit about you because it was so fascinating to see you up there with such confidence and obviously you had made it so far at that point so can you tell us a little bit about your childhood and where you come from
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was born in a tiny little country town of about 3,000 people in the middle of the South Island in New Zealand and started singing when I was four years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: We actually grew up on American country music randomly.
[SPEAKER_00]: My grandparents used to get it through like a reader's digest situation and then we'd sing in talent quest.
[SPEAKER_00]: My brother and sister and I would sing in talent quest around New Zealand.
[SPEAKER_00]: like almost every kind of second weekend, you know, we were always out playing country music.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had lessons every week and I just really fell in love with it from such an early age.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, never ever thought I'd do it as a career, you know, it was something that it was just like a hobby.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like I said, started with the family and I moved to Australia when I was 21.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sort of bit the ballad and moved over there and started coming to Nashville for the first time about
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just had a long deep love of country music that started back with the amazing females of the 90s, I'd say, and even before that, you know, lamenting the lessons of the world, the faith, hills, the shenires, the just so many amazing females that I got the chance to grow up on.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's such a different thing to sing versus to write.
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I correct?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it seems like they're totally different talents and you seem to possess both.
[SPEAKER_01]: So did you do a lot of songwriting in your childhood or as you grew up?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I started songwriting when I was about 14.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had this competition through the schools called Rock Quest and basically you put together like a rock band and you wrote your own songs.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there was kind of the way I sort of fell into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'd always loved creative writing and poetry.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'd always just been obsessed with writing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was something I was always just doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think just naturally, when you
[SPEAKER_00]: apply the writing to that and it was something that kind of came quite naturally and then I just think through so many years of coming in Nashville and being surrounded by that songwriting community and understanding, you know, the value of songwriters and seeing people get up and do that for a job was something I didn't grow up with.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was super fortunate to get over to Nashville so young and see that that was actually like
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm just always striving to particularly with my songwriter, be a bit of someone who I'd think that's where it all comes back to as the song.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's the great part because it humbles everyone, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: When I once know, one's more important or better than the song.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm always just trying to write the best song so that I can.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think country music is interesting in the way that the songs are so much more passionate or I'm not sure what the word is, but there's so much more I love country and it's so much more fulfilling to listen to a song and I've heard myself say a few times to people, oh my god, listen to the words.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or didn't you love that song and they're like, yeah, it has a good beat, but they like miss the words and in country music, it's not to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's so about the beat.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about the words and how they fit with the beat.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's such a good feeling.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting married at the end of the year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have a country.
[SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, but we have a guy who's flying in because he is a like a country DJ where he matches all those great songs up with like, you know, the 80 songs, but like because I love them so much and they resonate with me and it's just like my favorite of all, you know, the genres or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the lyric and the end of the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that drives country music and you know, everyone in Nashville is always trying to write their hook.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like they're a little lyric twist that you didn't see coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think is everyone's kind of end game and nobody does it better than Nashville.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the Nashville right in community is
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it's kind of where it's at.
[SPEAKER_00]: And um, yeah, I think you're right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a country song for every situation in life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And um, I think that's what's so special about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's those those storytelling components and, you know, growing up on the other side of the world in a tiny little country town.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really felt like they were actually talking to me like they were my big sisters and I was learning lessons and life through them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I totally understand what you're saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what was the first moment in your life that you knew, like, oh, wow, maybe I could make this into a career.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that at and tell me if I'm getting this wrong at 18, you won the New Zealand Gold Guitar Award, that the first thing that you won that you were like, oh, I'm kind of good at this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I actually think it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like that's kind of the pinnacle one in New Zealand.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was sort of around the time that I'd just gone off to college or university.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it was something that you know, you're starting to kind of actually think about what you're wanting to do with your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that really was that thing that kind of cemented it for me where I was like, OK, this could be a real thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, like I said, I moved to Australia, not long after there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I went a competition that
[SPEAKER_00]: which obviously keep them on back in 1990, which was really amazing to be part of that whole star-maker legacy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think between those two things, I feel like there was that moment of those sort of years that I was just like, this could actually be something, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, in between, did you have any other jobs?
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of jobs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, why don't you do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my gosh.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I worked at a newspaper, and I worked out at a farm stay in the evenings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was juggling a couple of jobs that a time I was doing full-time cafe work at one point.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was gigging like three or four nights a week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always tried to make sure that I was regularly playing music.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, even if it was pub gigs, I was always doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: probably minimum two or three gigs a week and that's based.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually started doing the pub gig thing really young in New Zealand with a friend of mine where he actually played like every Friday and said today in my small town right from the age of 16 and it was kind of the way I paid for my college on my university and I think it was those years of like just teaching you how to handle every situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: and you know how to sing for three or four or five hours a night and not lose your voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I actually, yeah, I love that I, you know, did those sorts of things early on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was juggling an early childhood career at one point, but I've always just done what I've had to do to make it work, you know, and it wasn't all the voice that this has become a full time thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it takes a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's what I've learned.
[SPEAKER_00]: and you kind of just got to do what you got to do, you know, till you can do the thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's get into the moment at the voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, how did you decide you were going to get on the voice?
[SPEAKER_01]: How did you do it?
[SPEAKER_01]: And how did you write that song before that?
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a bit of a journey that I saw.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually had the idea like in the middle of the night.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was on my, I just recorded like a little voice memo.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was basically just the chorus melody like the de de de de de de.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I woke up the next morning and listened back.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was just hearing like a lot of like Keith kind of titles as I was singing it like just how they would fit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I started writing it down and, you know, I actually just didn't really think much of the idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sort of tried to take it to some national rights and then just kind of chickened out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I was writing with two really good friends, one day Lindsey Rhymes and Phil Barden and Nashville.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, guys, I've got this idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's absolutely crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: But basically, I want to try and write a song using as many Keith Urban Song titles.
[SPEAKER_00]: to tell the story, but to make it as subtle as possible, so that if you weren't necessarily familiar with Keith's music, you would still, the song would still make sense, and it was one of those songs that we literally wrote in like 40 minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of wrote itself in a way that I feel like some of the best songs I've had have been that way, you know, like some days, it's, it's a, it's a grind and you're the if from nine to five, and then some days you get these like little
[SPEAKER_00]: Flux of the universe helping you out and that's what that song was.
[SPEAKER_00]: We wrote it in like 40 minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had the demo that night.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then I sat on it for ages again because I was just like, this is a terrifying idea to write like basically a tribute to someone I have looked up to my whole life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't know like, you know, is it crossing any weird lines?
[SPEAKER_00]: So it just sat on my, my demo kind of inbox for about nine months and I'd be driving around every now and then
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a good song, I just think maybe at some point I just need to put it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, long story short, put it out in 2019, went out into the world, kind of did it's little thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we obviously went into COVID and we were getting to the end of 2021 and we'd been on some pretty harsh restrictions and you deal with what we could do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'd kind of got to that really, I feel like probably a lot of people got to this point during COVID-19.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like I had to stop feeling sorry for myself and be like, I'm going to start and make some positive changes and I kind of decided that it was this week and I was just like whatever the next opportunity is that falls into my lap, I'm going to do it no matter what it is and how scary it is and it just so happened that the voice, the audition came into my emails that next week and I was like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Here we go, I'm gonna try something new and something scary.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh, wait, okay, so was it just a random blanket like spam email that they send to everyone?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just the generic, like we're looking for auditions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I, like I see it, I've made that decision.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to make some changes, get back on track with my life and so I applied and got accepted straight away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, wait, wait.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you apply?
[SPEAKER_01]: What tell us how that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, you just seen in a little video of singing a song.
[SPEAKER_01]: And was it that song?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it wasn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't, I think it was, I think it was the Dixie Chicks, because originally I was made to be doing land and slide by the chicks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it must have been the one that I seen turned.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, seeing a little video and they kind of reply and you end up having like a video zoom and going through a bunch of different songs.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we went through, they kind of make you have a list of like 200 songs
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I think we landed on the chick's landslide and so as far as I knew that's what I was going to be doing I had the flight was booked like this was all happening within like a two week period like it was very close time out when they're like okay you made it you're going to be on the voice really like no fucking way
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I think cause I haven't quite quickly it was one of those things where you're just like like more of a logistical thing like okay, like it was just missed time in the 2021 and I was like how like I just you know like the borders were all weird like I knew if I was going to Australia there was no way I was getting back home to New Zealand so it was like
[SPEAKER_00]: It was actually like a bigger picture thing of like, okay, like, is this going to be a logistical thing that can work?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've got to tell the family, I'm not going to be home for Christmas and all the things, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are they still just quarantining?
[SPEAKER_01]: Were they still quarantining back then?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I was like 14 there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so yeah, so you had to book like a place to get back into New Zealand.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was December 1, 2021 that I flew out to Australia.
[SPEAKER_00]: But actually, I think the borders were actually starting to become quite flexible.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as soon as I landed, it was like this new strain went through and then everything just shut down again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was a little, it was a very weird time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we started filming for the voice and then basically we just had to go on like a fall down lockdown again over Christmas.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was quite a weird experience from memory.
[SPEAKER_00]: But basically, I landed in Australia.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to do three days of quarantine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, the day I got out of quarantine, the voice team rang me and they're like, we've thought about this and we actually think it's stupid that you're not doing your song Keith, we love that song and it just so happens that Keith Irvin's at coach.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was me funny.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you didn't know he was going to be one of the coaches.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, we didn't know who the coaches were yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was just like a lot of information to digest.
[SPEAKER_00]: So once wait.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in Australia, do they change the coaches all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like in America, they're always the same, but I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they do, um, and Australia, they kind of swapped out, um, like I think Keith had been a coach the first year at at launch, which was like back in 2015 and then I think he just did the one year and then, um, someone you would come in.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like there was always like one kind of seat that was sort of interchangeable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, they weren't sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: They hadn't confirmed obviously COVID and it just made everything really difficult.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there was, um, yeah, no confirmation of who they were.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the day I landed like I said, I basically had this overload of information of, yeah, the fact that I would be singing my original song, which is amazing for a TV show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you don't get to sing an original song very often.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I definitely had that moment of like have I done the right thing if you know what I mean, it's just like this could go in any direction like there was no safety net, you know, it was very much like.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is it, like, I'm gonna be singing my song to the back of his cheer with no idea if anybody's gonna turn around like it was terrifying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I've ever been as scared in my life, actually.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So do they have a, like, a prep day with you where you get to practice?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is a band playing behind you or what, what is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so we went in for a, we went going for a sound check.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye.
[SPEAKER_00]: feel like it was either the day before or the morning of.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the coaches aren't around a lot of the time in that sense, you know, they obviously, they get pulled in when the actual filming starts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got, um, I got a sound check with the band, which was really, like, so necessary.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, that really just made all the nerves kind of feel like, well, at least I get to play my song with a really cool band, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And where they get it, the way they wanted to play it immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like they because that song was obviously recorded and like I see we went into COVID.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I actually hadn't had the chance to play that song live very much with the band.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was such a, even there alone, you know, it was like, it went back to that decision that I made for myself that I was like, I can't be stuck in this rap that COVID's kind of put us all in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to take some responsibility for my life and some ownership back.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even that moment alone, I remember just thinking like, this is why,
[SPEAKER_00]: I made these decisions to take some opportunities because even just getting the chance to sit on that stage and play my song with that band that day was one of those feelings again like you can do this like you've got the suck it was such a nice reminder having not had much much stage time for the for the previous couple of years during during the lockdowns you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right so we'd have a question when you, sorry if this is ignorant but when you say
[SPEAKER_01]: you weren't necessarily working with like managers like how what do you mean put it out?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you put it on YouTube, like what did you do that it was out?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I remember in watching the clip keeps said I've heard this song, a friend of mine sent it to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what did that mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: How did the world heard it before?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I've released, I've always been independent and self-managed, and that song was released.
[SPEAKER_00]: Black and E, independent artists can release a song, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: On Spotify, on Apple Music, I actually did make a music video for that song and Nashville as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so that song rolls out in the world on every streaming platform, um, but like I see, I don't didn't have management.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was an independent artist.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was one of those things when I released it, I always felt like that song deserves the bigger audience that I could probably have given it if that makes sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been till that moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess what I'm asking is up until that moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was out for people to listen to, but had not a lot of people
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, do okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say in Australia because I serve a step to radio myself and I was sort of growing a little bit of a fan base, you know, just through years of slog and yeah like playing shows and putting music out and writing music like I've always done that like yeah that's always just been the thing that I've done so people were kind of discovering it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, on the own terms, like you do, we were lucky that Spotify was really starting to become a thing into our 19.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was starting to get discovered globally.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like I said, I just feel like it just didn't quite have enough of a team or a support around it that I guess a label or something could have given it at the time to have pushed it out to a bigger audience.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, okay, you're filming at this time.
[SPEAKER_01]: What happens?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was there really a studio audience there that was as big as it seemed?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 100%.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was actually pretty much, or it was midnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think by the time I made it up on stage that night.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like,
[SPEAKER_00]: be honed, like we'd been there since like, you know, they'd bring you in at 9 a.m.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the morning, been like, your audition could be any time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And midnight, I finally take the stage and did a silly people go ahead of you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just like all day, you're in a sort of a back stage room.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know, there's 30, 40 people.
[SPEAKER_00]: And each audition takes a lot of time, you know, so they have to reset every time between
[SPEAKER_00]: No, not at all, I couldn't see a thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, you can't have no idea what you're walking in two in a lot of cases.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what also makes it really new of wrecking.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember the minute they walk you over to the big arena that it's in, you just hear that, you know, that hum is like a halt of an audience that you're just like, if I wasn't there before, I'm definitely nervous now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK, so they set you up on stage.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have your guitar.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have Megatar, walk up on stage.
[SPEAKER_00]: The most terrifying part of the voice of the voice is those moments that you walk out.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see it on TV, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: The artist walks out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's just this waiting period of like, it feels like,
[SPEAKER_00]: a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like five minutes, it's probably only about 20 seconds, but it's just silence.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, I will never forget that moment in my whole entire life.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was
[SPEAKER_00]: so daunting.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, my life could change in any way right now for the best or for like the worst reasons you just never know, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the band starts to play.
[SPEAKER_01]: You start with your guitar.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there's a countdown.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: It happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: The band starts to play.
[SPEAKER_01]: You start to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from your, so the view as the viewer, when this all comes out, you see their faces first, and you start to see their reaction as a viewer, but obviously you're not seeing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what are you seeing up on stage and how are you feeling as you're singing and what's the reaction from the audience?
[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously your friend looks like she stood up and like, tell me what that was like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like you said, you're singing to the back of four
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know if the audience, like this is an original song, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea if the audience have ever heard this song.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's a no whole other element that I think is different to most artists that get up there and sing a cover in the audience.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like, oh, this is my favorite song.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I love this song.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, there's like a, I feel like there's a reference point with the cover song that you can be like, oh, I like this version or all this is different from the original.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas when you're sitting in a room, it's like a whole nother territory that you're in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Although, although, don't you think that people can back fire?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, if you love like a George Michael song or a Taylor Swift, whatever it is, and you love what they do with it, and then someone changes it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It might be really good, but it's not how you know it in your mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you did.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're so right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess there's, um, there was a freedom to it that it was just like this is something
[SPEAKER_00]: I just remember feeling a lot of like warmth and support from the audience.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I feel like they were working at what the song was about as it was starting to unfold.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just remember Keith was the first to push his button and turn around and I just remember feeling this like weight drop off my shoulders.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, oh my god, I can breathe that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like.
[SPEAKER_00]: So amazing that feeling and like you see it having my friend Tory on the side like jumping and singing every word like I couldn't have picked a bit of hype hype man to me.
[SPEAKER_02]: That totally.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was I feel like she was such a mess of support to me and that in that first moment of like that initial start of that song like I said when people are still sort of figuring out like the key three differences
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, yeah, keep turning around, which was like I said, one of the greatest moments of my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think all the coaches sort of won by one started turning up to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I was like, okay, this is actually quite enjoyable now.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like now I'm suddenly singing to these people's faces.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, um,
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I said, I don't think I'll ever forget that moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a really good lesson of why you should do scary stuff sometimes because it works out and it feels good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that you said that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just one last question with that whole thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did Keith ever say anything to you backstage, or have you ever talked to him after, you know, oh, tell me, okay, go.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he hasn't actually, like I said, the filming of the voice, the year I did it was a little different in the sense we kind of went straight into the cycle lockdown and so the same kind of thing applied for all the contestants we were kind of had to everyone was kept very isolated like even as artists we weren't allowed to share cabs going into the studio.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was it was quite a different filming, but the comments that keep made like on the show obviously that someone had seen them song like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks whoever that was.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I hope one day I feel like the dream would be the one day get it to play that song with Keith somewhere in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, until that moment happens, I just I had to be like that, you know, it was written as a tribute.
[SPEAKER_00]: with all the best intentions.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like I said, he was a massive inspiration to me being kid from New Zealand, both of us moving to Australia and now sort of trying to take on the Nashville thing and I've just always loved his music and respected what he did, what he's done for all of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it was interesting to watch because first of all that girl was
[SPEAKER_01]: Like nothing was going to get in the way of her having you on her team, but Keith almost seemed like tongue-tied is the way that I felt like I don't know if he was not in a space to like take it all in enough at the moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he was so overwhelmed with it at the moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm not sure how to read him because obviously I don't know him, but I thought
[SPEAKER_01]: all over you like this is like almost like crying like I cannot believe somebody did this for me which I'm sure he felt but I feel like I couldn't figure out if he wasn't in the right headspace or if it was just like he was so overwhelmed that he didn't want to get emotional.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm glad that someone showed you that much obsession with how good you were because you totally deserved it and all four judges knew it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just was a little bit pissed that
[SPEAKER_01]: that Keith wasn't more vocal about how precious he was.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is my opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think, like you say, these things go really fast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like the length of the song, everything's pretty condensed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you're only saying for about 45 seconds or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, and I feel like a lot of it was, I'm not sure if the whole kind of audition has come out on YouTube.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a lot of different versions of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a few Betty Bosz.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was saying some really beautiful things, which was really nice.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I think there's definitely an element of like probably surprise because yeah, I mean, the more probably didn't see it coming, but yeah, I like I said, I agree with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just hope that he really.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels good about it because that's the way it's intended and written and yeah, hopefully one day down the road We can do do something together in that space that feels right for her man and for me and Yeah, I guess that's the reason I end up in Team Gis I was just like she's gonna fight for me Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh somebody go for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that experience obviously changed the trajectory and blew you up much bigger.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you were opening for Ed Sheeran, Kain Brown, Brad Paisley, who are my messing?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it seems like you've been with the biggest names.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we've been so fortunate.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the Ed Sheeran stadium tour.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it didn't get any bigger than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was
[SPEAKER_00]: I said it was the most amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was six weeks that we were on tour with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you get picked for something like that?
[SPEAKER_00]: You just get pitched like everybody else.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so one day you just get a phone call and you're like Ed Sheeran wants you to tour with them and you're just like falling over on your bed or if on your bed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, obviously, that's like, how do you react?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I remember it, well, I really do remember this whole experience really well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was New Year's, I even were about to go on stage to play a festival called Rhythm and Bands and New Zealand, we were in Gisborne and yeah, I couldn't email through being like,
[SPEAKER_00]: you guys are confirmed to play Ed Sharon's shows, which we're actually only happening like, I think we started three weeks later with them, so again, I think some of the best things are when they just happen really fast and you don't have time to overthink them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I just cannot speak highly enough for Ed Sharon, I feel like,
[SPEAKER_00]: one of the nicest humans hands down, even if you took away all of a success and the fact that he was phenomenal at what he does, he's just a really cool human.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I just loved hanging out with him and talking to him and his crew, and all their band and crew were all on WhatsApp chats with his crew and they were just amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: If there were more insurance in the world, we would be in a much better place because here's a phenomenal human and he treats people so well right from the top, right down to the bottom and it was inspiring.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really set us up with our touring culture to really treat it in that same sense of like everyone's treated equally, family, you know, we look after our people.
[SPEAKER_00]: life changing for us and it also really changed the game for country music in New Zealand You know, I was starting to get some music on mainstream radio which hadn't happened in New Zealand for about 20 years So a lot has shifted for country music, you know, as a genre Since since we got that experience so that's something that I've been really big on as just trying to just
[SPEAKER_00]: be such an advocate for country music out on the side of the world as well, and it's been amazing to see the success it's having now on the mainstream space, because like I see growing up as a kid playing country music over here, it just wasn't a thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it wasn't on radio, it wasn't cool, it was like...
[SPEAKER_00]: just didn't really have any noise around it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now to know that the next generation of kids coming through are going to be able to turn on the radio on here, it just, that's, that's the ultimate for me now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: You talked about being self-managed, like what is the most misunderstood part about managing yourself and not going with some big conglomerate?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think no one cares about your career as much as you do yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got told that really early on on the piece and it stuck with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And through there, I've just also had to learn how to do things, which has been a blessing because now I know how to do things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't have to rely on other things and other people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say I've recently signed with C3 Management in America, which has been amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always wanted to have a management team in place for America.
[SPEAKER_00]: but I still self-managed for all of Australia.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just think I'm in a better place to even make that decision now because I know what I need and what I can do myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's a lot of power.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just sort of being the CEO of your own business.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's very much that Taylor Swift sort of style of running your own ship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's something that I have always had to do by default.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm so grateful now because I think it's important to know what's going on
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a new tour.
[SPEAKER_01]: Calboy up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell us like what stories or emotions were you hoping to capture with this new album?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's an empowerment message, it's fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I have a lot of female fans, particularly at the come out to tour, which we absolutely love.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I always feel like I'm speaking to them a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think my message is always one of empowerment, you know, never see it all for less than what you deserve.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's about treating people right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's about chasing your dreams, all the things that I've,
[SPEAKER_00]: done with my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done a lot of scary things, move to Nashville, move to halfway across the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I haven't had anybody around me telling me to do the things or holding my hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've always had to just go and get them for myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think a lot of that message comes through on my music.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then also I've just had a wee baby boy in January who's six months old and so it's been important to write about that journey as well because you know being a mom and music is scary and it's a space that I think it's important that we talk about it because
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're just kind of expected to get on with it and that's how I tried to sort of go with it and just carry on my career and he's just kind of going to get pulled along and think part of it, which I think is awesome, but yeah, I think there's a lot of discussion in that space that still needs to be talked about.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, their songs songs for him on there as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a favorite?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I feel like to play live cowboy up was just such a jam and with this next lot of touring, we're really always trying to step things up and we're going to get some dances and this is going to be a lot more action.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think my life show is very energetic and it's very up and it's sort of based on, I've always been the biggest shyness of twin van.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that I would love to see more females filling that stadium space as headliners, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think we're lucky to have grown up in the nineties with
[SPEAKER_00]: people like Shania showing us that that was actually a thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So she was so good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she wasn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, those that I remember drive, listen, I'm 50.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember driving and college like leaving on weekends to drive long hours going home in the car and listening to her album and just singing every word with my best friend in the past year's heat.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was with her feet out the window and like just harmonizing and like her to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: She had the best
[SPEAKER_01]: the best songs ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: The best songs, like, what her a mutland created together was magic.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I regionized book every year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always go back and read it because I just think who journey has been so inspiring to me as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, she really, she came from nothing and she made it happen for herself and she did things differently.
[SPEAKER_00]: And
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, she had a record that was a massive success, but she held off and made the come on over record, which was a record that allowed her to go and play those big spaces.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, what she represents to me is just what I would love to see more females being their space.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm always going to fight for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And try and make music that would work.
[SPEAKER_00]: when that opportunity comes along, you know, like I always try and write for for stadiums.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so our touring is always growing and this next to a like I said, there's no different.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have more visuals and more it dancers and fun than and just try to keep pushing the boundaries.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you plan for a live tour?
[SPEAKER_01]: So wait, before you answer that, one of the biggest movies is a couple years ago, not last year, whenever it was, when a star as a born came out, did you see it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, everybody loved it, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We were all obsessed, got Lady Gaga, and Bradley, we are like, are they dating, or they not dating, or they like, it moved over from the movie to like, we wanted it to be really like, it was so good, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But the thing that was so entrancing about that whole thing was watching her as this character that was similar to,
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, not unsimilar from your original story where you're just like playing gigs and like people who know you know you, but it's like in these little spots and all of a sudden, you're on stage, but then her character changes, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: She obviously goes to pop and does whatever she does and her husband's character Brad suggests that she's like not being true to herself and authentic to her music and blah, blah, blah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, I only bring that up because I wanted to ask you, is that something that really happens in the music world?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you find that it's really hard to stay true to what you love to make it on the radio?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have to play a certain type of music or a beat to get on the radio or to be seen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that any of that reality?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a really good question.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like that's probably everybody's question to themselves and the thing that they're always like probably analyzing their music and asking themselves, have I lost myself for the bigger machine, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think one thing I learned was, I mean, the song for me that broke into mainstream radio was the most country song I've ever written.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the irony of that was the lesson, like, write what you love, write what you do naturally.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the rest of it will work itself out, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: you know it's there's so many elements that you know like it has to be right song right time all the different things so if you're constantly trying to chase this beast i think you've just you've already kind of lost i think um you just got to be really patient in the industry is what i've learned in um just keep moving forth like as we talked about earlier the song ones at the end of the day and anytime i felt lost in the industry i've always just come back to songwriting and trying to
[SPEAKER_00]: The the best song I can on that day and that's always served me well and and like I said that mainstream radio 60 so I've had came from a song I need a thought it would come from so yeah there's so much so much to learn from that awesome All right quick fire questions three of them a song that never fails to inspire young
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, shenai, I mean, come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK, obviously, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most surreal pinch me moment so far, besides the voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's here and sitting, having a wine backstage, talking to him about songwriting and everything that I love in the world around music was still some of the most dearest memories to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you hope people take away from your music when they hear it for the first time?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, energy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I hope it inspires them to go and do something, you know, whether that's going like make that decision that they've been kind of like on the fence about and they're like, do I do the hard thing or do I like stay the lane?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I just hope it inspires people to to go and live their life.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got one life and I really want people to live it as business they can.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, what advice would you give to young women, women who want to break into
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you've got to be patient and you just got to look at it as a marathon, it might seem like a sprint some days, but it's a long game and you've just got to hang in there because it took me over ten years for my moment to come with the voice Australia and it might take me another year for the next opportunity but I'm willing to wait if that's what it takes so you've got to be in it for the long game.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Kaylee, tell people how they can support your journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell people where you're on tour right now, how they can find you, follow you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so just Kaylee Bell Music on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all the socials.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I run my own socials.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love hearing from people and I try and always write back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish you the best of luck.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to watch what comes out of your tour.
[SPEAKER_01]: And listen to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you make it back to America where we can George and I can come see you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you guys got the IP to get for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amazing, we will definitely take a picture of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good luck to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: See you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening to Ms.
[SPEAKER_01]: Understood.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host, Rachel, you could tell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please be sure to subscribe to the show and give us a five-star rating and review.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Understood with Rachel, you could tell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have ideas for the show or want to reach out email us at info, Ms.
[SPEAKER_01]: Understood podcast at gmail.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's spelled m-is-s-s-understood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much, and I'll see you next time.