Between some strange behaviours like announcing he’d run for president and publicly denouncing Kylie Jenner for signing with Yeezy Boost competitor Puma, we actually can’t fault Kanye West for finding this talent. One night in 2013, while working on tour with the rapper, Phoenix-born musician Kacy Hill played the song above – the first she’d ever written – for a makeup artist. A stylist then got a hold of it and the track, in all it’s FKA Twigs-esque synth-pop, made it’s way to West. Sweating, and with a self-described “ugly” jacket on, Hill met the rapper backstage after one of his Atlantic City shows. He signed her to his label G.O.O.D. Music on the spot. Releasing her debut EP, Bloo, last October, Hill will be performing at this year’s Splendour In The Grass. So before you buy your Hunter Gumboots, Dylanlex choker and chain bralette, get your friends excited to see Yeezy’s protégé. A few talking points…

She actually wasn’t Kanye’s back-up dancer as is frequently reported
Yeezus tour choreographer Vanessa Beecroft sourced a lot of her static movement performance models from American Apparel ads. Hill was one of them and auditioned for Beecroft who then enlisted her as one of West’s “dancers”. She was one of three who couldn’t actually dance but instead was an “accessory” to the show.

 

A photo posted by Kacy Hill (@kacyhill) on

 

She left the Yeezus tour to focus on her music
After the first leg of the Yeezus tour, Hill said goodbye and went back to Los Angeles to start making music. It was in this time her song Experience and her mesmerizing falsetto vocal was passed around the Yeezy stable and eventually to the rapper himself. He called her with five words, “Meet me in Atlantic City”.

 

A photo posted by Kacy Hill (@kacyhill) on