Meet K.C. Raniero | Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with K.C. Raniero and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi K.C., do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
The habits that I feel helped me succeed are asking for what I want unabashedly, saying yes to experimenting and to having new experiences, taking rejection as redirection rather than as something personal or discouraging, using feelings of discouragement as motivation to restart, and thinking in terms of how to carve out my own path rather than in terms of how to follow directly in the footsteps of anyone else.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, with my main instrument being piano. I refer to my genre as “gothic r&b.”, and I believe that my defining my own unique genre is a significant factor that sets me apart from others. Whenever I perform or share my music, I’m constantly asked about who my influences are, but I’m never sure how to answer. I love listening to music and I am a very big fan of some artists, but I don’t really see what they do as having much of anything to do with what I create. When I create music, I create from a place of raw expression without thinking about the outcome. If anything, I would say that my influences are my own thoughts, feelings, and life experiences. I think that this naturally causes my music to stand out, because nobody else has the same inner life that I do. When we create from our own inner lives, what we create will necessarily be unique and irreplaceable.

When I was first interviewed by VoyageDenver, I was very excited about the charity music and arts festival that I was in the process of coordinating. Now, having coordinated that festival is what I’m most proud of. The festival, which ended up being called Unity Fest, raised over $1600 for the families of the Club Q shooting victims. While the tragic shooting was the event which inspired me to put the festival together, the festival itself ended up having an extremely positive and uplifting tone. It featured over 50 artists, including musicians, poets, comedians, and even a tarot card reader. Unity Fest ended up connecting many of the community’s creators and art enthusiasts with one another and serving to strengthen the community, and this was so fulfilling to me because connectedness is my primary goal whenever I curate an event or make art of any kind.

I am now in the process of curating another Unity Fest, and this is one of the things I’m most excited about. I’m planning on this one being bigger and even better than the first one, and I’m also excited to see how Unity Fest continues to develop and expand over the next few years. I would love to ideally have two Unity Fests per year, with one being in summer and one being in winter. While the first Unity Fest was in New York City, I would love to expand in terms of location as well, with two West Coast Unity Fests and two East Coast Unity Fests per year. Eventually, it would be great to make Unity Fest a touring festival. At that point, I would love to bring it to Colorado.

Another thing that I’m very excited about is releasing my sophomore album, which I’ve spent much of my time since the last interview writing. I’m planning to call the album “Live from New York”, because that’s exactly what it will be: an album recorded live in New York City. I’ll be singing and playing the piano, and I’ll be accompanied by a cajon player and cellist. I also have someone doing miscellaneous instrumentation as needed, and that person will most likely be adding in some steel pedal guitar and trumpet. Our recording date is set for August, and the release is set to begin in October. I say “begin” because I’m planning to release the album gradually, with a single coming out every two weeks until all of the music has been released. This will allow me to market every single song as a single, which I think can be an interesting marketing tactic to try out. Based on how many songs are going to be on the album, I’m expecting that the whole album will be out by spring 2024.

Getting to where I am today professionally has not been easy, but I got to where I am by remaining optimistic. Something I’ve been realizing about myself lately is that when I tell stories about how I’ve achieved different professional goals of mine, I often focus on the parts where everything lined up, leaving out the parts that involve obstacles, setbacks, and hardship. While it just comes naturally to me to focus on the positive in this way, I’m also learning how important it is to be transparent about the challenges I’ve faced with those who may be looking to me for guidance. Expecting to achieve lofty goals easily is, in my experience, unrealistic. This isn’t a bad thing at all though; If achievement were as easy as we might often like it to be, we would have far fewer opportunities for growth and evolution.

I remind myself of this when facing challenges, and reminding myself often of why challenges are necessary is very helpful to me in overcoming them. When we start over after “failing”, we aren’t starting at the same place we were before. We’re starting with the lessons learned on our previous tries, and this is true whether or not we feel like we’ve learned anything. Sometimes the lessons I learn are so subtle that I don’t even realize I’ve learned them until I find myself utilizing the knowledge I picked up.

The importance of failure is one of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Other lessons I’ve learned have been less abstract and directly practical. I’ve learned so many lessons about how to captivate an audience during a live performance or how to write a great song, for instance. I’ve learned a lot of logistical lessons about how to curate live music and art events, and I’ve also learned a lot about how to effectively communicate in terms of networking and promotion. A lot of the lessons I’ve learned about how effectively communicating to reach professional goals revolve around conducting myself assertively and with confidence.

As a creative artist, I think that my essence is reflected in my art with an intensity that I’m not sure could be replicated outside of my art. For this reason, I think that anything I’d like to tell the world about myself, my brand, and my story should be told through my art. So as my answer to the question about what I’d like to tell the world, I’d just like to respond that I’d like for the world to further connect with my story by listening to my music.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place I would want to go would be the Blo Black Gallery. Femme Fatale Fest was held in this art gallery, so it was one of the first places in Colorado that I went to. A lot of the art had a very contemporary style, which I’m personally a fan of, and even the outside of the building is decorated in a very fascinating and thorough manner.

As far as eating, drinking, and hanging out – I’d love to bring my friend to Union Station. When I first got to Colorado I had to kill a few hours there while waiting for a bus, so I spent the evening exploring Union Station and Larimer Square. It was early November, and holiday/winter lights were starting to appear, which was beautiful, especially alongside the Victorian buildings. It would be nice to further explore the architecture and aesthetics in that area.

As strange as this may seem, I also loved being in the Denver International Airport and would love to go there with a friend. I say this because the airport was such an interesting cross-section of people all at once. While waiting for a flight there, I ended up meeting and being interviewed by Kiptoe, the famed LA-based mural artist and illustrator. This kind of chance meeting wouldn’t happen everywhere, but in a place as bustling, vibrant, diverse, and alive as the Denver International Airport, I wasn’t surprised that such a serendipitous meeting happened.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to Jesse Hed, Taryn Marie, their band The Ragetones, and their Colorado-based music festival, Femme Fatale Feste. Playing Femme Fatale Feste was my introduction to Colorado, and without that festival, this interview wouldn’t be happening.

Instagram: @nyc.kcr

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/01MVeWbygGfE9J3LD95h0K?si=uN8INfqmQEyoGJAAlFPlmw

Image Credits
Rockin the Burbs NJ Aby Haven Andrew Nagy