You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishi K. Shirwe.
Just a quick note before you listen,
this episode contains explicit language and frank discussions of mental health.
K-Tempest is a songwriter, rapper, an award-winning poet, and best-selling novelist.
They've been nominated for the UK's Mercury Prize and Brit Award.
Their most recent album is The Line is a Curve, which came out earlier this year.
It was executive produced by legendary producer Rick Rubin.
Kay made the album alongside their longtime collaborator, producer Dan Carey.
I talked to Kay and Dan about how they made the song Move.
You'll hear the first demo they made, which basically sounds nothing like the final version.
In this episode, they talk about how it evolved over several sessions, months apart.
Kay's own life changed a lot during that period.
They came out as trans and non-binary in 2020.
And this song, in part, helps tell the story of what they were going through.
My name's Kay Tempest.
December 2019.
It was the culmination of, well,
a lifetime of being trans and a lifetime of repressing and being confused,