Write Up By Kelly Holm
As the world turned the page from 2020 to 2021, singer-songwriter Kiera Dillon began a new chapter with the release of her debut album, Perspective, on January 1— and only a few days later, continued the saga when she dropped an unrelated single, “Won’t Make It Easy.”
“I have a lot of projects lined up for this year, and after the album release, I wanted to make sure I kept the momentum going,” Dillon said of the rationale behind the back-to-back release. “‘Won’t Make It Easy’ felt like a good follow-up single.”
Lyrically and melodically reminiscent of Avril Lavigne’s “Tell Me It’s Over,” the track seems to suggest that breakups are easier said than done.
“Baby, I’m selfish for/Asking you back for more,” Dillon belts. “We’ve fallen apart, but you’ve still got my heart/Can’t get enough of you.”
Having grown up in Pennsylvania, Dillon is a 2020 graduate of New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of Technology, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Technology. As a child, she “used to sing every part of [the] day” and began playing local concerts in seventh grade. Not until last year, though, did she begin to release her original music to the world.
“I thought I needed a more traditional career option in case ‘the music thing’ didn’t work out,” she recalled, “[but] a mentor told me that if you don’t treat music as your only option, your Plan B will become your Plan A.”
For over a year, Dillon was devoted to the release of Perspective, which was complicated by COVID-19 with regards to recording and production, despite a speedy writing process.
“It took a lot of regrouping to complete the album during quarantine. I think that’s one aspect that makes it feel really unique and special,” she said.
Meanwhile, the production for “Won’t Make It Easy” was finished a couple of weeks before the completion of Perspective. Originally written in April, the single started as a school project penned over a Zoom call, and was what Dillon called “a great exercise in character writing.”
“We wanted to mimic the sound of some of the famous James Bond themes,” she said. “A large part of the writing process… was creating a character, imagining her headspace, and building a world for the song to live in.”
Of course, debuting as an artist during COVID-19 has brought its challenges, including the lack of opportunity for live concerts, with an audience consisting of more than just Dillon’s dogs. Still, quarantine has brought Dillon opportunity to develop and re-develop her sound in front of a non-judgmental canine fanbase.
“I’ve been really enjoying playing a stripped-down version of ‘Won’t Make It Easy.’ I think it’s really fun to reimagine songs and hear them in new ways,” she shared. “Every project that I make feels like a mini time capsule of progress and growth as an artist.”
Dillon adores Taylor Swift and Gloria Steinem, and has been praised by world-renowned vocal coach Natalie Weiss, who called her “so good, I don’t know what to do with you.” Still, she’s got plenty of items yet to be checked off her bucket list, like winning a Grammy or topping the Billboard charts. This year, her goals include moving back to NYC and finally playing some live concerts with her original material— but she also promises to unload even more fresh tunes, with new experiments in sound and even some collaborations.
“After you achieve any goal, you move on to the next, right?” she says. “There are so many overwhelming details and facets of the music industry, but as long as you can remind yourself why you’re doing it, the rest will follow.”
Follow Kiera Dillon