Paige Kizer's soulful and powerful vocals take center stage on her debut album, "Unconditional," set for release on Sept. 25.
The Chicago singer-songwriter and her band will celebrate the album's release with an all-ages show at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at Epiphany Center For The Arts, 201 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago. For more information, go to epiphanychi.com.
I had the chance to talk to Kizer about her new album.
Q – Great talking to you. I know
that your debut album, “Unconditional,” is set for release on Sept. 25.
In sitting down to make the album, what were your goals and do you think
that you accomplished them?
My goal with this album was to create something that crossed into both spiritual and secular music. I’ve felt called to do this for a while now and when my college vocal professor, Typhanie Coller, ran into our church gig telling me she had an epiphany about me crossing into spiritual music, I knew it was something I needed to do.
I wanted
to write songs that tackled the many different emotions and feelings
that come with life, but also come with having a relationship with God
or Spirit or whatever you believe in.
I wanted to show the ups and downs
but also have songs that can cross into other areas of life and connect
with people in different ways. I am beyond proud of this project and I
truly hope it brings love, hope, and connection with others.
Q – I know you have been recording and releasing songs over the years. Are any of those songs included on your debut album?
This album is entirely new songs, and none of my previous songs are on the album.
Q – Is there a meaning behind the album’s title?
Yes! The album’s title is the title of our new single
“Unconditional.”
I wanted to use this song as the title track as it
encompasses the feelings of joy and certainty! When I wrote the song
with Sophie Hafer, we took my super slow and sad song I started and
created an upbeat anthem of positivity.
Because the song is about the
certainty of knowing God’s unconditional love, I felt as though it was
the perfect title to this project. And within that certainty, we are
still allowed to feel all the other feelings, such as doubt and some of the lower feelings of sadness that come
with being human.
Q – I understand that you got your musical start playing the saxophone in elementary school (and later got into musical theater) but didn’t discover your love of songwriting until you were in high school. What made you want to start writing songs? What is your process in sitting down to write a song?
I started to write songs when I learned it was a way to process my emotions. The first “real” song I ever wrote was “I Don’t Know What to Tell Myself”, and it was because a high school classmate said something unkind to me and I didn’t know what else to do.
So, I went to one of the
practice rooms, cried for a bit, and then started to play around with a
chord progression. I then started to add some lyrics and singing what I
was writing was therapeutic.
It was when I completed this song that I
felt a sense of purpose to continue down this path. While I can now
write songs when I’m not bursting with emotions, I still feel like my
best writing happens when I need it the most.
My songwriting process
starts with a chord progression. I almost always play around with a
progression before writing any lyrics to help me determine the emotion
or mood of the song.
Then I start to draft lyrics as they come and often
the melody doesn’t come to solidification until all my lyrics are done.
The voice memo app of my phone has been a saving grace as I am sure it
is to many people.
Once I complete a song and if it feels ready, I will
then take it to my band and we will work on the arrangement all
together.
Q – You come from a musical
family; your dad plays the drums and your mom plays piano. Do you think
you were meant to become a songwriter? How have your parents influenced
your musical journey?
I think songwriting was
something I was meant to do; to serve a purpose bigger than myself. I’ve
always loved making connections with people and I truly believe in the
power of music.
Human connection is something we all crave and I hope
that through the music I write, people will be able to feel connected to
themselves, their higher power or their community.
I definitely think
having musical parents influenced my musical journey. By allowing me to
be so involved in the creative arts growing up and supporting me to take
private lessons from fourth grade until I graduated high school, I had
an incredible musical journey with instruments, singing and theater.
And by having such a broad atmosphere, I was then able to find my niche
as being a songwriter.
Q – The first single from the
album is called “Your Voice.” Given the song's spiritual lyrics, is it
also about you finding your voice as a musician?
I love telling the story of how this song came to be. In October of
2023, my aunt Donna was having a women’s conference about Finding Your
Voice in Jefferson, Iowa.
I came and spoke about what finding my voice
as a songwriter was to me. And then we asked everyone to take a piece of
paper and write down what it meant to them to find their voice.
I took
these pieces of paper, went to the church sanctuary and started to
write a song. In about two hours I finished the song and presented it at
the end of the day.
Then, about a year and a half later I did a
workshop with my keyboardist Isaac Meier and we added the epic key
change!
After workshopping it with the band and getting it ready for the
studio, we had Gracie Lubisky write and arrange the choir parts. And
now, the song is out and available to listen to!
I am constantly
grateful that I was a part of that women’s conference because I don’t
know if this song would exist without the inspiration I got from all
those women.
Q – How did your band, Paige and the Kizers, come together?
In the spring of 2019, I was finishing my freshman year at Columbia
College Chicago, and I worked up the courage to ask Aduarius Stutts
(drums), Tria Kraft (keys), and Jonathan Lewis (bass) to start playing
my original music when we came back in the fall semester of 2019.
Then,
when we were a couple of weeks out from starting the semester, I reached
out to Chris Rohner (guitar) and asked if he would join us. The five of
us met in one of our campus music ensemble practice rooms and it was
magic.
While none of the original members are still playing with me, I
am forever grateful that they said yes and helped me bring my original
music to life.
My current band that will be playing these songs live:
Isaac Meier (keys),
Daniel Gayden (drums), Tiago Ribeiro (guitar), Bryan Filippelli
(bass), Sara Stocking (background vocals), and Megan Jacobs (background
vocals), makes me just as grateful that I get to continue to bring my
original music to life, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to thank
them enough. (I also want to mention that Char Vander Molen was a
vocalist on the recordings of this album, and they will be singing in
our live choir!)
Q – I understand that you are
also an instructor at Chicago School of Musical Arts specializing in
voice and piano. What are the main things that you try to teach your
students?
My biggest goal as a teacher
is to instill the joy of music into my students. Yes, we learn piano and
vocal technique, but we also expand into “Why is music important?"
My
students are all very young (K-6 mainly) and I want them to know the
beauty of music and how it is a universal language. I also want them to
know that music is all around us and is a huge point of human connection
and emotions.
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