KACY HILL went viral in 2014 with her atmospheric self-released single “Experience.” It was only the second song she’d ever recorded and yet, after being on the road with Kanye West and Vanessa Beecroft for the YEEZUS tour, she found herself signed to G.O.O.D. Music. An EP, Bloo came shortly thereafter, showcasing the sublime range of her voice on the minimalist, ethereal electronic pop track “Foreign Fields,” and the dreamily anthemic “Arm’s Length.” She was featured on Travis Scott’s “90210” and Kid Cudi’s “Releaser.” She covered V Magazine; GQ wrote she was barrelling toward the big time”; New York called her “one to watch.” In 2017, Hill released her R&B-hinged, synth-laden ode to all the shapes femininity can take, Like A Woman. She’s come a long way since then.

The Phoenix-born, Los Angeles-based artist ended her deal with G.O.O.D. Music in 2019. She says cutting ties with the label led her to soul search through her music. “It’s forced me to evaluate why I’m doing what I’m doing.” After feeling voiceless, she’s rediscovered her musical purpose. “I’ve found my reason for doing it.” Combined with the Olympic-style competitive weightlifting Hill picked up a couple years ago, which she says has helped her be honest with herself and hold herself accountable in all aspects of her life, Hill is on a whole new path.

In December of 2017 Hill connected with Francis and the Lights and producer BJ Burton (Bon Iver, The Japanese House) in Minneapolis, where they started laying the foundations of what would become Hill’s new record, Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again. In the following years, the remainder of the record would be made split between L.A. and Minneapolis, with the help of another of Hill’s collaborators Jim-E Stack, the electronic producer who produced Haim’s “Want You Back” and Caroline Polachek’s "Door" and "I Give Up". “I feel like I made an album,” Hill says - a fully formed vision. Is It Selfish is airier and brighter than anything Hill has made before. You can practically hear her relief, and her truth; she sounds as though she’s finally found space for herself.

 Hill says she listened to Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” “probably five hundred times” while making Is It Selfish. Her sonic palette crisply and intoxicatingly based in alternating cool and warm hues of ‘80s and early ‘90s synth music and trip-hop. She also cites nostalgic, underrated classics like "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, Fine Young Cannibals’ "She Drives Me Crazy,” and Sting’s "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" as references for her radiant new sound. And her open-hearted lyrics are inspired by country music—specifically Kacey Musgraves and Dixie Chicks. “There were so many points when I erased who I was without even realizing, because I felt like I should be a certain way” Hill says of the time when she felt stuck in her constricting label situation. On Is It Selfish, Hill says, “I was reacquainting myself with myself.”

She accomplishes this through the shimmering romance of songs like “Just To Say, “Told Me,” and “Palladium,” which are largely about the fear that comes with falling in love, the hesitation to fully give yourself over to another human. “Wanting to give everything and be fully in it—but what if one day they just wake up and don't feel the same and you're just totally blindsided? How do you protect yourself from that? How do you move forward?” A lot of Is It Selfish has to do with trying to let go of certain feelings or ideas, like “Porsche,” on which Hill croons, "No one's gonna tell you, it isn't all about you / but everybody loves you." She is, basically, telling herself to shut up—her inner critic, that is, the one who tells you you’re not good enough, not loved. Or “Much Higher,” the record’s rapturous lead single, which sees Hill grappling with forgiving her parents; and “To Someone Else,” a dreamy track about listening to herself and not the din of industry. It’s a lot to do with selfforgiveness, with finding truth within yourself. Like on “Everybody’s Mother,” which considers her tendency to care for others but not ask to be cared for, and the way she deals with spirituality and finding faith in relationships on “I Believe In You.”

Out of the major label system, Hill has found her true voice. “I don't know how I would have made this album or continued navigating things if I hadn't made those mistakes,” Hill says. Away from the noise, making music on her own, and with her friends, she’s found her purpose in it.