Singer, songwriter, actor, dancer…Kat Cunning is doing it all. Besides acting in HBO’s the Deuce and Netflix’s Trinkets, she has new music out and will be touring soon. She stopped by Paste Studio on Monday to play a few songs.
After playing her latest single “For the Love”, Cunning talked about the story behind the song: about how she wrote the song in 15 minutes, about her coming out, about how her mother had been diagnosed with cancer but survived, and about how her mother’s partner then died of cancer. She loves how pop music is “subversive”, an outlet for your deepest feelings through something that mostly just makes you want to dance. Cunning became very emotional when she told the story and emotions are also very evident in much of her singing.
For the session, Kat also brought along some candles and prayer cards that she designed. It turns out that Cunning is excited about religious aesthetics and iconography. On the back of the card, where you normally see a prayer, there are some lyrics from her latest single “For the Love”:
“And I’ve known love that’s wider than
The place in the middle where it’s painted red
And I believe that feat is weaker than love
Just like the magazine read”
That’s a prayer I can be down with!
After the session, everyone nerded out with a old DAT tape of a Prince show and also an old version of “Between the Bars” by Elliot Smith, which Cunning had performed earlier.
Definitely take a listen to “For the Love” on your favorite streaming service and look for upcoming concert announcements at katcunning.com.
You can find the Paste Studios session here.
NOTE: all photographs are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography
