Kima Otung’s debut EP, “Note To Self” has arrived with the release of the first single from the EP, “I’m Cute”. “I’m Cute” is a self-love summer anthem that was inspired by Kima reclaiming her beauty and not waiting until her features were “trendy” before she chose to love them fully…
ABOUT
Kima Otung’s debut EP, “Note To Self” has arrived with the release of the first single from the EP, “I’m Cute”. “I’m Cute” is a self-love summer anthem infused with witty yet uplifting lyrics. Kima’s lyrics reaffirm women’s beauty and greatness, and she makes clever cultural references to her Nigerian heritage throughout the song, singing “I was born with all this spice, I’ve got flavour; jollof rice.”
Describing the story and motivation behind the song, Kima says “I want every woman and girl to sing this song about themselves to remind them that they are cute as hell, they shouldn’t let anyone make them doubt it.” Kima tells the story of being in school and feeling insecure about her facial features, specifically her full lips which were not yet ‘in fashion’ like they are now. Kima recalls going to lengths to hide her lips in order to look like the other girls around her and the women she saw in the media. This is until Kima realised that she didn’t need the media to validate her beauty before she owned it. She says “don’t wait until the way you look is “trendy” before you realise you’re beautiful”.
“I want every woman and girl to sing “I’m Cute” about themselves to remind them that they are cute as hell, they shouldn’t let anyone make them doubt it.”
– Kima Otung
Kima’s mission with her music and debut EP, “Note To Self”, is to be the voice in the ear of every girl and woman telling them that they’ve got this and counteracting the negativity that society can often harbour. In fact, she chose to call the EP “Note To Self” so that she can go back to the songs in moments when she doubts herself to remind herself of who she is and what she stands for.
Kima says “I called my EP “Note To Self” because I wrote it to serve as a reminder to myself for those moments when I forget who I am, for the moments when life makes me doubt myself. I want to put on this body of work and find my way back to confidence, back to me.” She continues “this EP is the first real statement of who I am and what I stand for as an artist, so I am really excited for everyone to hear it.”
“Don’t wait until the way you look is “trendy” before you realise you’re beautiful.”
– Kima Otung
THE SINGLE AND THE MUSIC VIDEO
The songs on Kima’s debut EP explore important and pressing issues. “I’m Cute” touches on how to love yourself in a world that consistently tries to rob people, especially women, of their confidence. Her song “We Are Not Soldiers” explores the struggles that women face in society, particularly black women, and the damaging impact of society’s expectation of black women to be strong at all times. The effects of this expectation of strength were seen through the emotionally exhausting protests last summer around the murder of George Floyd, all the way to the disturbing statistic that black women are 5 times more likely to die during child birth in the UK. Songs like “Coming for the Crown” and “Runaways” touch on Kima’s mindset, and her deep belief that women should unapologetically chase their dreams and refuse to dim their light to make the people around them comfortable.
“I’m Cute” has already had an amazing reception. BBC Radio Wales has added it to their Welsh A-List meaning that it is rotated on all of their shows for the next couple of weeks. Furthermore, Kima has been interviewed on BBC Radio, speaking about the song. The music video for “I’m Cute” was released this week, which you can watch here:
RELEASE DATES
“Note To Self” is being released as a waterfall EP. This means that a new song from the EP will be released every 2 weeks. The next song, “Monster” drops on Monday 16th August, with “Runaways” following on 30th August, “We Are Not Soldiers” on 13th September and the 5-track EP will be closed out with “Coming for the Crown” which comes out on 27th September 2021. Follow Kima Otung on Spotify and Instagram.
KIMA OTUNG BIOGRAPHY
Kima Otung is a Nigeria-born, Wales-raised, London-based R&B and neo soul artist, signed to Warner Music / W Songs publishing. Kima released her powerful debut single, “Morning”, in 2019 which was featured on ITV’s Love Island and BBC Radio. This year, her rendition of “Head & Heart” by MNEK was featured on Love Island and charted at number 6 on Shazam’s Discovery Chart. Kima’s second single, “If Nobody Told You” was premiered by BBC Radio London where Kima did an interview, additionally, BBC Horizons named it as one of the top releases of the week.
Kima’s music has been featured on BBC Radio 1, Music Insider named Kima as their Artist of the Month, and Madison Square Garden London has named her as one of their up and coming artists.
Kima makes her music for women; to help them realise their greatness. Her mission is for women to know their value, and raise their standards accordingly. Kima cheekily remarks that her aim is to “inception women’s minds and hearts with the lyrics in her music, and make them feel so good about themselves that they demand more from the people around them.” She continues, “we talk about women empowerment all the time, but we rarely talk about the fact that the greatest threat or asset to our empowerment is the partner we choose and the people we surround ourselves with. I want us to be unapologetic about expecting more of ourselves and others.”
Kima’s love for music was cultivated when she was accepted as the youngest member of the Welsh National Youth Opera at 14 years old. The opera was directed by Tim Rhys Evans, the founder of Welsh choir Only Men Aloud. He was moved to tears by Kima’s audition and Kima was blown away by all of the talent in the Opera. Classical music, along with gospel music (which soundtracked the airways in her house during her childhood) still influence her sound to this day.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBSITE
Instagram: https://instagram.com/kimaotung
Website: https://kimaotung.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kimaotung
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@kimaotung
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimaotung
