INTERVIEW: Kings Elliot releases her second EP 'Bored of the Circus'

Swiss born, now London based singer-songwriter Kings Elliot creates lushly cinematic music that takes hold of her inner struggles and transforms them into something heartfelt and beautiful.

First releasing music in 2020 with the single ‘I’m Getting Tired Of Me’, a gently swinging track that mixes pop with jazz and soul, it describes the trauma of living with anxiety and mental health issues and was accompanied by a remarkable music video that features Elliot suffering a panic attack on camera.

Her raw honesty with her music and visuals have since become a trademark of her art, and on Friday Elliot released her second EP Bored of the Circus. Continuing to tell honest stories of her experiences with mental health, it is set to a beautiful soundscape inspired by the music of the 1940s and 1950s, while still remaining contemporary with polished production. Alongside previous singles ‘‘Til I Die’, ‘Butterfly Pen’ and ‘Cry, Baby, Cry’ the EP features two new songs. ‘Ashes By The Morning’ is a highlight, a gorgeous piano ballad which details Elliot’s need for her partner to support her through her difficult periods. ‘Someday, Somewhere’ is a gentle tune, with an almost lullaby feel to it which reflects on if one day she will be “fine” and her fight with mental health will be over.

Kings Elliot is a very special artist who creates very special music that is not only a joy to listen to, but is also doing extremely important work normalising mental health. With her music attracting streams in the hundreds of thousands and a tour across the US supporting Imagine Dragons, Elliot is becoming a major breakout star. We recently caught up with her to find out more about her career and Bored of the Circus.

Hi Kings, so lovely to speak to you, you make beautiful things. How are things with you?
Thank you! Things are really good. The [Imagine Dragons] tour's been going for weeks and I've never been on tour so this is like a first experience. It's crazy and I'm definitely a little bit homesick!

You have an incredible EP, that's just been released. Talk me through Bored of the Circus.
It’s five songs that I wrote about what goes on in my head, what I go through on a daily basis and what I've struggled with ever since I was a teenager. 'Bored of the circus' to me, means being bored or tired of what's going on round and round and round in your head. It's a line in 'Butterfly Pen', which is a song that I wrote at the beginning of the pandemic and immediately we wrote the line, I was like, ‘that's the EP name’ because it just sums up so much for me.

This artwork for the EP is beautiful as well, you have rescued the clown from the horror bin!
I'm so passionate about that image, the sad clown, and I've had it in my head for so long. I've wanted to create a photo like that for so long. For me, it represents what goes on inside, but what I don't show on the outside. The sad clown is finally whatever's going on inside is painted on the outside. I think it's so beautiful, and melancholic, and so poetic. It's just so wonderful and that's why I wanted it to be the artwork.

I want to speak to you about 'Ashes By The Morning'. It's so beautiful. Can you break down this track?
I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder a few years ago and it makes having relationships very, very hard. 'Ashes By The Morning' is about if a trigger gets triggered, or a button gets pushed, you can ultimately destroy the whole relationship because you suddenly just see pain and go into self destruct mode. Some people might just go into saving mode and then walk away, whereas I will go into self destruct mode and destroy the relationship. I wrote this song because I felt whoever I'm with has to help me so I don't destroy the relationship, and I don't metaphorically burn the house down so we don't end up ashes by morning. You have to hold on and make me stop so that we can survive this. It's almost like you have to jump and stop the bomb from exploding because once I get triggered, it's very hard to stop because it sends me into overdrive.

Talk to me about the fact that you go full Kate Bush on your record in the fact that you record all your own backing vocals, she did that too. You're in good company.
I really enjoy it is the main reason. Also, the you are broke and making music the last thing you want to do is hire a choir! Me and my co writer, were just like, ‘oh, we want this huge choir’ and were then like ‘well, how are we going to do it?’. So we just built my voice in 100 different ways. I got the inspiration from Queen and 1940s songs. I remember hearing it first time in Disney movies, these really old ones where you'd hear, the choirs that are kind of eerie and beautiful at the same time and I just wanted to build something like that. The first time we tried it was 'I'm Getting Tired Of Me', and we just were like, ‘let's just sing the whole chorus in 100 different voices’. When we listen to it back, It sounds like different people. We have a lot of fun doing it, because me and my main collaborator, Halfrhymes, we do it all in the same room and we laugh a lot because I sound funny sometimes.

You have said that with your music you try to create the perfect pop song for the 21st century by reaching back into the past. Can you talk to me about this idea?
I find the past very, very inspiring. I really enjoy creating this world that isn't now because I look for this escape all the time. I like to listen to the [music from the] 1940s and 1950s and I remember when I found that music. and I realised it's just beautiful. I want to incorporate that because why wouldn't you? It's so gorgeous. I love being inspired by the past because it's another time that isn't now, and that means it's another world that isn't right here. To me that's escaping, and I love doing that.

Gorgeous. Making music is clearly a catharsis for you, because you're writing such brutal songs about love and mental health. Being that you're on your first tour, how has that been for you having these incredible personal songs sung back at you?
That's surreal. The thing is, I'm on a support tour and most of the time, people don't know me. But there's been many times now where there's people that know me, or maybe they looked me up before the show, and they've listened to the songs and they're singing along. That is crazy. For me, that's the most surreal thing. I always think, ‘ah it can't be true!’ With Imagine Dragons, you will also get the parents that are there and they're like, ‘my daughter's a huge fan’. I'm always like, ‘are they mixing me up with someone?’ I just don't believe it! It's just surreal, to be honest, [but] if anyone knows the lyrics, I'm like, okay, they can't be lying, because they know the lyrics, so…!

Has music always been part of your life? Have you always created it?
Yes. Singing was like the thing that came first, I was in kindergarten, just singing a lot and being ‘I want to be a singer like Britney Spears’. I joined the choir as soon as I could, which was when I was nine and then always sang the solo parts. I started writing songs to songs that already existed, I got a little keyboard, I would just write my own lyrics and sing my own songs on top of the already released song. When I was 13, I made a little CD, with 12 songs for a school project. I was always making and writing music. Every time people asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ it was always music.

That's beautiful. It sounds like you've got an incredibly supportive team behind you as well.
I do now, but in Switzerland, it's not really a career option. I was definitely told a million times that this is not a career option. I worked in a bank, and I did all of that stuff, and saved money until I could move to London and pay for music school. It took a few years, I've been in London now six years and I've only just put out my first EP last year. There was a lot of no's, and a lot of, you can't do this. Even though I am still at the very start, now I have been able to quit my day job, and I'm on tour so I feel like the people that said, ‘This is not possible’ at least I've half proved them wrong so far! I'm proud of the fact that people said no, and I just stuck to my guns all this time.

Bored of the Circus is out now via Verge/Universal Music. You can download and stream here.

To keep up with all things Kings Elliot you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.