Community Spotlight: Kathryn D’Costa Is Learning to Trust the Journey
For Los Angeles singer songwriter Kathryn D’Costa, music feels a little like opening someone’s diary and discovering it has a soundtrack.
“I would say the music I make is like if a diary entry had a sonic backbone with a feminine touch of gingham and overthinking in between.”
It might be one of the best descriptions of Kathryn’s music because it immediately tells you something about the person making it.
Personal. Feminine. Thoughtful. And maybe thinking about things a little too much.
“I'm definitely for the people that want to let loose but are always grounded.”
For Kathryn, making music never felt like a decision to become a creative. It was simply something already inside of her.
Something That Had to Get Out
“It was the only thing that felt like second nature in a way that was healing, empowering, and inspiring all in one.”
Kathryn says creating never made her feel different or out of place.
“It never felt out of the ordinary or something that made me different, it just felt like something that was a part of me that I just had to get out.”
That relationship with creativity has continued to evolve alongside Kathryn herself.
Lately, she's been trying to become more present in her personal life, something she says has naturally started finding its way into her music.
Her current musical rotation includes Wolf Alice, Stereophonics, and The 1975. But inspiration doesn't always require headphones.
“I also just like to go outside and take in whatever it feels like the universe has to offer right now.”
Coming of Age, Again
Kathryn is currently revisiting the project that introduced an important chapter of her music: her debut EP, Coming of Age.
But she's not simply rereleasing the same project.
About a year after the original material came out, Kathryn is working on an expanded edition titled Coming of Age (older and wiser).
“I'm releasing it about a year after the original matter came out, but this time with some more insight and even more depth that I have since felt within myself.”
There's something fitting about revisiting a project called Coming of Age after actually having more time to live.
The original songs captured Kathryn at one moment.
Now she gets to return to them with another year of perspective.
Older.
A little wiser.
And still figuring things out.
Choosing the Risk
One of the hardest parts of Kathryn's creative career isn't necessarily creating the music.
It's wondering whether she's moving fast enough.
“Definitely feeling like I'm stagnant even if I'm not.”
Creative careers don't always provide obvious scoreboards. Kathryn recognizes that there isn't a formula that can tell an artist exactly how close they are to succeeding.
“Pursuing a creative career isn't one where you can directly measure the statistics and figure out the logistics of what the success rate is, and that means this is a risk to take.”
And then you have to wake up and choose that risk again.
“So, waking up every day and saying that, ‘Yes, I'm going to take that risk,’ can be difficult.”
But Kathryn isn't allowing that uncertainty to stop her.
“The more work I put in and the more I hone in on my craft, I feel like I'm prepared to take on the world honestly!”
A Win She Can't Talk About — Yet
There is also something happening behind the scenes that has given Kathryn a reason to stop and recognize her own progress.
She has an upcoming sync placement.
That's about all she can tell us for now.
“I'm really proud of an upcoming sync placement that I can't say much about.”
What makes the accomplishment particularly meaningful isn't just securing it. It's allowing herself to actually be proud of it.
“It's one of those moments where I truly feel proud of myself for securing that because I'm not usually proud of myself, but here we are haha!”
We'll take it.
The People Who Believed Early
Kathryn is also very aware that she hasn't made this journey entirely alone.
At the top of that list are her parents.
“I really want to give a huge shout out to my parents for driving over 80 miles to take me to all of my shows and for just supporting me wholeheartedly in pursuing this career and believing in me.”
She doesn't take that support lightly.
“I know that I'm lucky and not a lot of people have that so I definitely don't want to take it for granted.”
Kathryn also recognizes the people who supported her before there was much evidence telling them that they should.
“I think it takes a lot to tell someone you have faith in them.”
Knowing those people were rooting for her, she says, has made pursuing a creative career that much more enjoyable.
Kathryn + Milk Room
Kathryn understands something that comes up again and again in these Community Spotlights:
Creating can be lonely.
“Pursuing a creative career feels super isolating.”
That's part of what makes creative community important to her.
“To have an organization that doesn't make you feel stupid for wanting something more, something ‘unattainable,’ is huge in the mental battle of pursuing any art form.”
And that is what Kathryn says Milk Room represents to her.
“Milk Room is such a beautiful and talented community space that I'm so grateful to know of and continue to work with for the greater good of the arts!!”
Kathryn is still coming of age.
Maybe every creative is.
The difference now is that she gets to look back at where she was, recognize how much has changed, and put that new perspective back into the music.
A little more present.
A little more confident.
And, appropriately, a little older and wiser.
Follow Kathryn D’Costa on Instagram and TikTok at @kathryn.dcosta and learn more about her music at kathryndcosta.com.
https://youtu.be/y9wzjupJW24?si=AA5yzGersyhvMlDC
https://youtu.be/E3tIZiZQ1q4?si=Jyr5Lzcpxb4mnZwp
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