Since then, they've produced six poetry collections, five studio albums, four plays, a novel, and a non-fiction book, and won a number of awards, including the prestigious Ted Hughes Prize for poetry. But Tempest isn’t talking about merely missing a good night out at a gig or show. On Connection looks at creativity as a means of counteracting the numbness of the modern world. We get so caught up in an ever-spinning consumerist hamster wheel that we neglect what is true within ourselves and one another. “In a disconnected state, self-awareness is one of the first frequencies to be scooped out and muted,” they write. “When this happens, I need creativity to reconnect me.” Anyone who has seen Tempest live has likely witnessed their talent for sparking connection It's early February and they're speaking from their apartment in Catford, a gritty district of South London, which has been their lifelong stomping ground. Geraghty, Hollie (20 January 2023). "Fraser T Smith shares new single 'We Were We Still Are' with Kae Tempest". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023 . Retrieved 21 January 2023. This is a book about connection. About how immersing ourselves in creativity can help us cultivate greater self-awareness and bring us closer to each other.

a b c Mahoney, Elisabeth (27 March 2012). "Wasted – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 February 2018. Kae’s album Let Them Eat Chaos was released in 2016, alongside a volume of poetry of the lyrics (Picador), and was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and the Costa Prize for Poetry, respectively. Their third album, The Book of Traps and Lessons, was released in 2019 and nominated for the Ivor Novello.Coming out was never intended to be a radical act. Tempest doesn’t see themselves as an activist. “The poet’s role is different; it’s why I’ll always be hesitant to talk too much about one element of my experience, however huge. Because poetry is vast. It’s rare and profound, bigger than my experience or yours.” In 2014, they released the album Everybody Down ( Big Dada, Ninja Tune), which was produced by Dan Carey and was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize. [21] Everybody Down was nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize and Let Them Eat Chaos have been nominated for the 2017 Mercury Music Prize. Their accompanying poetry book Let Them Eat Chaos was nominated for the Costa Book of the Year in the Poetry Category in 2016. They were nominated as Best Female Solo Performer at the 2018 Brit Awards. Tijdens de jaren in Antwerpen die volgden op mijn soloreizen naar India greep ik steeds terug naar dat ene woordje om mezelf bij de kraag te vatten als ik in een alledaagse valkuil trapte: opgenaaid in een ellenlange rij van de supermarkt, ongeduldig op het treinperron, struikelend over kleine tegenslagen. De krachtterm ‘India’ stond lange tijd voor (zelf)relativering, geduld en het besef dat je altijd (altíjd!) kunt kiezen om de dingen anders te zien; om van een verloren gewaand moment iets waardevol te maken. Het gif van gehaastheid trachtte ik te neutraliseren met de herinnering aan Indiërs die een halve dag rechtstonden in een gammele bus met de neuzen in elkaars okselvijvers. De saaiheid van een wachtkamer, de traagheid van een rij aan het loket, het groeiende besef van een baaldag, de sleur van werk, poogde ik te compenseren door datgene te gebruiken wat je te allen tijden bij je hebt: je hoofd. Herinneringen, dagdromen, de geuren en kleuren dankzij je zintuigen, het inzoomen op gezichten en het uitzoomen naar een ander sterrenstelsel van waaruit het waanzinnig is dat ik hier überhaupt (be)sta… Nietigheid vernietigt niemendalletjes.

Tempest asks: Who are you, apart from your work achievements and what you can afford in life? Who are you when nobody is watching, when you are brutally honest with yourself, no stage to perform on? Facebook TV Commercial, 'We're Never Lost If We Can Find Each Other' Song by Kate Tempest". iSpot.tv . Retrieved 9 April 2020. In October 2014, their first poetry collection for Picador, Hold Your Own, was published. The collection was a commercial and critical success and its release coincided with Tempest being named a Next Generation Poet.Tempest has an excited energy when recounting each passion project and career high. But when it comes to discussing more personal topics during our interview, they cut themselves off – lots of pensive staring. If we give as much as we expect to take from a novel, a poem, an image or an album (or a conversation, or a relationship), it has a greater chance of becoming profound. As readers, we feel this happen when something speaks directly to our experience and we feel the words burning themselves into us. We get some sense of the poet or the writer as someone we feel knows us. This is the circuit connecting. You may forget the exact words, but you carry a relationship with the text through your life. You may think this was entirely because of the quality of the text, but it was also about the quality of your reading. It is the connection between the author, the text and you as you read, at a particular point, with a particular set of circumstances informing a particular emotional response, that created that sense of deep meaning. a b Donadio, Rachel (6 March 2015). "Kate Tempest, a British Triple Threat, Crosses the Pond". New York Times . Retrieved 7 September 2022. I was so desperate to make it,” they say, “I really wanted success. So I just ignored it, and carried on. For a long time, my dysphoria was also hidden from me. For the last 10 years, it has been gnawing away at me. The increasing discomfort of: when are you going to do something?”

Immersion in other people’s stories cultivates empathy. When we are reading or listening to stories being told, provided there is enough tension in the narrative, our brains release cortisol into our blood to help us focus and concentrate, and also oxytocin, the chemical related to care and empathy. Mettertijd brokkelde de steun die ik in mijn alledaagse leven kreeg van hulplijnen ‘India’ en ‘This is water’ af. Gelukkig vond ik vorige week een kersverse houvast: het boekje On connection van de Britse (slam) poet Kae Tempest. Two weeks later, I am sitting across from Tempest and Murphy once more, this time in a booth at a south London recording studio. A few days earlier, they’d texted to suggest another meeting. “I shied away from talking about myself last time we met,” they say, slowly. There’s a vulnerability to their voice. “I feel like I have to be careful. I’m a storyteller: I know the power of stories.” Through their work, of course, Tempest shares snapshots of their life. But poetry and prose allow details to be blurred; art can exist in the abstract.Drawing on two decades of experience as a writer and performer, Kae Tempest champions the role of creativity - in whatever form we choose to practice it - as an act of love, helping us establish a deeper relationship to our true selves, and to others and the world we live in. Brennan, Clare (23 September 2013). "Hopelessly Devoted – review – Stage – The Guardian". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 February 2018. Their latest collection of poems, Running Upon the Wires, was published in September 2018 to critical acclaim (Picador). Their new play Paradise, a retelling of Sophocles’ Philoctetes, is due to be staged at the National Theatre in 2021, having been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Its play text will be published by Picador.

To really be useful to the connective power of the text, rather than interrogators, we must be the conductors. We, the readers or listeners, are crucial to the text, story or song becoming powerful. We are not impartial observers; we are a fundamental part of the circuitry; if we are not connected, the charge will not be able to flow.

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Alexis Petridis (27 July 2017). "2017 Mercury shortlist fails to spotlight truly exciting British music". The Guardian. I was resigned to living the life I was in,” they say, “and then maybe at 50 when I stopped having this career I thought I might be able to finally transition. But increasingly I couldn’t bear it.” In January 2020, they chopped their hair short. Their eyes light up when recalling the sense of liberation. And then, the pandemic hit. For the first time in what felt like for ever, Tempest was forced to take a beat. A few months later, they came out publicly. Since the release of Everybody Down, Tempest has increased touring as a musician, [22] playing at festivals and headlining shows with their live band which consists of Kwake Bass on drums, [23] Dan Carey on synths and Clare Uchima on keyboards. [24] In August 2020, Tempest came out as non-binary, began using they/them pronouns, and changed their name to Kae. [15] Tempest performs hip hop, namely their signature piece Let Them Eat Chaos, at the 2017 Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho Career [ edit ]