[FEATURE] VIPER PRESENTS: KAIRO
Get to know Nigerian-born, Texas-raised, alt-Pop, twin brothers, KAIRO. The prolific brothers, EJ and Ak, began releasing viral acoustic covers on TikTok in 2021 and went on to release their debut EP ‘Love Letters from Houston’ which helped to differentiated themselves from stereotypical TikTok artists by focusing on songwriting and cultivating high-energy live shows.
What five words define your sound?
Vibrant, Genre-Bending, Narrative, Innovative, Unpredictable.
Tell me something unique about your creative process
We made 150+ demos before cutting down to the 13 songs on the album.
Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?
‘ANYBODY HOME?’
What inspired you to make that song?
‘ANYBODY HOME?’ tells our story as American immigrants from Nigeria in a very honest but energetic way. We wanted people to know who we are and where we come from.
What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?
‘HANDLEBARS’ was very vulnerable for us to write because we wrote it while we were still experiencing the pain and heartbreak from one of our recent breakups.
What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?
The worst experience was either forgetting a lyric or when to start a song. The best was hearing the crowd knowing all our lyrics and seeing how hyped they were. We sold out first show in Houston at White Oak Music Hall with 250 people.
What is your favourite song to perform?
‘WONDER WHY’ and ‘ANYBODY HOME?’. They’re both so energetic and we love to hear fans scream the words along with us.
Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?
Many artists have inspired us – Tyler, The Creator, Daniel Caesar, Justin Bieber, the list goes on.
What’s the meaning behind your name?
KAIRO is a play on our names. AK are the first two letters in my name and IRO are the last three letters in Ej’s name. Our full names are Akpevwe and Ejiro. We flipped the first two letters of my name, combined it with the last three letters of Ej’s name, and we got “KAIRO.” In that process, we also found out the Greek word “kairos” means “the right time” or “an opportune time,” which we loved.
If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?
Ak: I’d be working a job in computer science or in the music business.
Ej: I’d be working in the music business for sure.
What’s success to you?
Success is when we feel we’ve had the chance to inspire the next generation of artists and creatives on a massive scale, and when we can genuinely say we are the artists we wish existed when we were younger.
What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?
Making our debut album. We knew we wanted a new creative look and an elevated sound. We just kept writing and writing until we knew we had the record we wanted to put out.
Where can people keep in touch with you?
Find us everywhere online at @iloveyouKAIRO!
