4 to Watch: Sonya Kitchell

Hometown: Ashfield, Mass.
Fun Fact: Kitchell’s debut—as a 10-year-old—took place at the Special Olympics. Her graphic-designer mom created the event’s logo and told promoters her daughter liked to sing.
Why She's Worth Watching: Kitchell sets herself apart from other pop vocal prodigies by penning original material strong enough to match her delivery.
For Fans Of: Joss Stone, Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones

Like many 17-year-olds, Sonya Kitchell is easily distracted. “I’m sometimes so in my own world, I wouldn’t be surprised if I walked into a wall,” she says, giggling. But being a self-proclaimed ‘space-case’ is where any evidence of her young age ends. If you catch the gifted singer/songwriter with her head in the clouds, she’s likely dreaming up lyrics or complex, jazz-informed melodies for her next album. “I need to write in order to process things and in order to stay sane,” she says.

Early on, Kitchell learned to tap into her deepest emotions while writing. “Part of me enjoys being depressed because I know I’m going to write a good song. I like to feel things completely and wholly because then it’s just so much easier to write about.”

Seems like Kitchell hasn’t had much to be depressed about lately. Days away from the April release of her debut, Words Came Back to Me, she’s confidently serene. “Apprehension about life in general,” she pontificates, “is pretty common.”

If Kitchell sounds like a grizzled pro, it’s because she’s been studying and performing jazz since she was 10. Taking her cue from the ‘old guys’ (as she refers to them) of jazz—Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald—she likes to keep her songs mellow and expansive. “There’s a sense of space in older music that there really isn’t now,” she says.

But the singer isn’t ready to let go of her teen years just yet. In opening Words track “Let Me Go,” she begs her parents for more independence. Yet Kitchell manages to strike the perfect balance between her youth and the cool-jazz sophistication of her influences, and ultimately between adolescence and adulthood.

“I try to write and have my songs be universal,” she says, “I want everybody to be able to find something in them.”