kwn is hitting the R&B sweet spot

When Rolling Stone UK catches up with kwn, she’s hours away from flying to Jamaica, taking a much-needed pause from a whirlwind ascension. “It’s definitely over-whelming,” says the 26-year-old. “I’m ready to recharge, so I can get back and drop more music. I’m so grateful that I can call this my job.” Having been on and off tour since last summer, she’s rightly capitalising on her viral appeal on both sides of the Atlantic. “As soon as I drop a song or get on stage, it reminds me why I love it all so much.”

Part of kwn’s appeal lies in her emotional resonance – every desire, yearning, premonition and rumination is canvassed for the world to hear audaciously. A firm part of R&B’s global renaissance – proudly intersectional in its cohort of queer artists like Destin Conrad, Kehlani or Sasha Keable – Kwn’s transparency colours this perspective, her cocksure, matter-of-fact approach courting a legion of fans, who often clamour to send her thirst traps. However, it wasn’t always this way for the Walthamstow native, who got dropped from her first record deal in 2023. “I had so much self-doubt at the time,” she shares candidly. Regrouping, she worked with her father at a restaurant as a pastry chef, alongside her job at Amazon. “My confidence comes from wanting to tell the world that they could never do me like that again; I had to believe in myself and put it in the music.” 

Early releases like EP episode wn’s ‘wn way or another’ hint at her poise, but kwn really comes into her own on her last EP, its apt moniker with all due respect asking for for-giveness not permission. Flirtatious, candid and seductive, with all due respect is seared with adornment and admiration, its smoky, sexually charged foundation adding desire back into the R&B canon. The Kehlani-assisted ‘worst behaviour’ acts as a hallmark of its EP’s candour, – the single instantly went viral on TikTok. “F*ck the bed, we don’t need it, sure as hell gon’ break it tonight,” she hisses across the first verse. The pair also collaborated on 2024’s ‘Clothes Off’, their artistic chemistry palpable here too; they would per-form the song together at New York’s Barclays Centre as Kwn inked her new record deal. “I always shout out Kehlani for helping to boost me up,” she acknowledges.

Beyond risqué lyricism lies an immensely talented musician, whose signature of autotuned lead vocals and unedited background vocals add a dynamism and tension that soothes the ear. “It’s a cool juxtaposition that I played around with in my room,” says Kwn.

Her artistic prowess lies in a childhood coloured by constant consumption of juggernaut R&B-artists, alongside her later studies at East London Arts and Music (ELAM). From Dru Hill to Beyoncé, kwn would listen in awe. She names Brandy’s ‘Put That on Everything’ as the “perfect” song to her. “Brandy is the vocal Bible. Everything from the crazy production to the insane vocals and background vocals and perfect ad libs – from top to bottom, it’s flawless.” 

This optimism for R&B is anchored in kwn’s contemporary assessment of the landscape. She’s quick to assert that Elmeine, Destin Conrad, Isaia Huron, Ambré and, in partic-ular, Maeta serve as tangible stewards for the genre’s future. “I don’t think people put enough respect on [Maeta]; her voice is incredible,” she explains.

As kwn gears up to release her yet-to-be-named new EP, she continues to shed her skin, with the hedonism of ‘touch myself’ adding refuge to the accountability that soars across ‘rather never love again’. “These songs are like a one-to-one conversation with myself; it’s like therapy to me. I’ve learned in the past year and a half that you need to feel, talk to myself more, talk to others more. I want to become the best version of me.”

Taken from the June/July issue of Rolling Stone UK. Buy your copy here.

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