INTERVIEW: Katelann Maree on music, motherhood, strength and songwriting
A conversation with a remarkable artist about her life and challenges
[Audio version of the interview]
The first time I interviewed Queensland artist Katelann Maree in 2023 I was impressed by how deeply music was woven into her life and being. She grew up in a musical family, the granddaughter and daughter of musicians, and she has been building her own catalogue of songs, including the EP Different Kind of High in 2021. She has released four new singles in recent months, the latest of them being ‘Heaven Someday’, and done all of this while raising a new baby and running a business.
Despite everything else going on in her life, it's not an option for her to not create music, though – that was evident the first time I spoke to her and even more so now. Finding her musical direction has, she says, helped her discover her identity and purpose.
‘I've found who I am as a person within the music,’ she says, ‘and as a person as a whole. I think the music has helped me become who I am.’
Katelann Maree’s music allows her to tell personal stories and express vulnerability, and part of what has always impressed me about her music is that she is not afraid to sound vulnerable in her songs (although she says it was scary initially). When you listen to a Katelann Maree song you really feel like she’s standing directly in front of you, taking hold of your shirt, telling you something that she’s sharing with you alone. Interviewing her shows me why it feels like that: she communicates from a deeply authentic place, and she is willing to show and share her heart.
The past few months and years haven’t been the easiest – her son’s birth was very difficult, and there was a problematic relationship before that – but as she explains, music has pulled her through. No doubt her songs pull others through hard times too, and perhaps this interview will as well. We never know where our stories land, how they connect, and the interview is her story just as much as her songs are.
Listen to Katelann Maree on Apple Music