Premiere: KS Anthems’ Best of my Love by KStewart X Jean Tonique

London-based singer-songwriter KStewart has recorded a cover of ‘Best of My Love’ for her new project, KS Anthems. Kate worked with producer Jean Tonique on The Emotions’ classic as an instalment of the series where she’ll release interpretations of her favourite tracks for free download and streaming.

“There’s a lot of red tape involved with putting music out these days, and I wanted to find a way to put tunes out without any of that hassle.” Says Kate on the concept of ‘KS Anthems’  “I’d been putting up little videos of cover versions on Instagram which people seem to love.  I thought it would be cool to actually record some of the tracks in full and get them out there and so we came up with the idea of ‘KS Anthems’.

I want to show people the tunes that influence my music, so I’ve chosen songs that I really love. There are a few genres in there as I listen to lots of different stuff – R&B, dance, hip-hop, pop, old classic disco – whatever as long as the melodies and vocals are on point.

We had the idea of getting each track produced by a different person and reached out to all these amazing people that are making cool music at the moment. I’ve always worked with producers that are doing something fresh like Karma Kid, TCTS and Shift K3Y as I think that’s the best way to come up with exciting tunes. Hopefully, you all can sing along to these.”

We spoke to KStewart ahead of the premiere – Find out what she had to say…

Hey Kate! For those who don’t know you, could you tell us about you in 140 characters or less? 

My name is Kate Stewart, KStewart for short! I’m 22 years old, I’m a singer who makes Pop/R&B music. I have a big voice, my forte is accents and impressions and I’m terrified of being sick. 

A little bit over 140 characters, but we won’t complain. You’re releasing KS Anthems which are your covers of different songs – what can you tell us about the idea?

I decided to start posting little clips of covers on Instagram, it got a lot of love, and after seeing how good the reaction was to them I decided to make a mixtape, consisting of refix versions of both new songs I love and old songs I grew up listening to. I have some wicked producers featuring on it.

Your music taste could be described as pretty eclectic – if you had to pick only one genre to focus on for the rest of your career, what would it be and why?

I would have to say R&B, most of my favourite songs and artists come under this genre, it’s the kind of music that makes me feel something, and made me want to start singing in the first place. 

Your career first kick started following the tour you did for Bondax as a live vocalist – how would you say you have changed since that tour both music wise and personally? 

When I was touring with Bondax, I was listening to a lot of dance and deep house music, which definitely influenced a lot of my early stuff, even though I still have influences of that in my music, I’ve moved more towards pop and R&B due to what I currently listen to the most. Personally, I feel that tour set me up for every show I do, it disciplined me and made me realise I need as much sleep as possible if I wanna be the best I can be! 

You spent two years travelling the world to perform anywhere and everywhere – what are some things you’ve learnt from travelling to a numerous amount of destinations? 

I learnt I can actually travel for 24 hours! I always thought I wouldn’t be able to do that Australia trip, but I did it! Not with ease and definitely not without moaning.. but I did it! I also learnt I can function and perform on very little sleep! (Not that I recommend it!)

Big names such as David Guetta, Diplo, Skrillex and Craig David are self-proclaimed fans of yours – how do you process that kind of reality which seems pretty surreal to most?

I just took it as a massive compliment! It did seem really surreal to me when I was working with David and Craig, but I feel it made me work harder and pushed me to be the best I can be, because I want to be working with people like that everyday!

We’d probably have to put it on our CV! If you were to make an exclusive mixtape to give to us full of songs which described you as a person, what songs would definitely make the track listing?

• Run To You – Whitney Houston – because it’s my favourite song of all time
• Freakum Dress – Beyoncé – because it’s extremely sassy
• Emotions – Mariah Carey – because it’s my feel good anthem

Get an exclusive first listen of ‘Best of my Love’ below.

Featured image courtesy of: Warner Music