Katherine Reilly, known professionally as Coupdekat (), is an English musician. She is best known for cofounding
Loud LDN
Loud LDN is a collective of female and gender-expansive artists based in London. It was described by '' NME'' in December 2022 as a "community of hellip; drum 'n' bass, pop, and R&B artists at all stages in their careers".
Formed in May 2022 by ...
with
Maisi, but has also released two EPs and has supported
Piri & Tommy
Piri & Tommy are an English drum and bass group, formed in 2021. The group are formed of Sophie "Piri" McBurnie and Tommy Villiers. The pair charted at number 99 on the UK Singles Chart with their single " On & On". They released their debut ...
on their
Froge.tour
Froge.tour () is a nine-date tour by the English band Piri & Tommy. Released to promote their mixtape '' Froge.mp3'', the tour began on 2 November 2022 at Belgrave Music Hall and ended on 19 November 2022 at The Warehouse Project. Sets included ...
.
Life and career
Early life
Reilly was born in
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...
and studied art and photography at
A-level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
.
She started playing the guitar when she was ten,
and started writing when she was 14;
her first works were about love and heartbreak.
She was a member of several bands, including Electric Blue,
which was previously known as Sunseed and dissolved during
lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
.
She spent this period living in
Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/ Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is n ...
,
and after lockdown lifted, spent a year in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
as an
au pair
An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a mon ...
, where she met several people who encouraged her to make music on her own;
her stage name, Coupdekat (),
was inspired by her time there.
Solo career
Reilly's first single, "Ur Only",
was written while still in Paris,
and her second single, "Love Online", a song about online relationships, was released in April 2021,
and became a finalist in Prospect 100's Global Music Competition the following month; the month after that, she released "Little Tescos", a song about
Tesco Express
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
, the only place she could go in lockdown.
She then moved to London for university, and released "Lost in Translation",
a hyperpop song
about dating a
French boy,
which began with vocal samples, and made reference to
Google Translate
Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, and an A ...
, struggling with abbreviations, and
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...
.
On 24 June 2022, she released ''Imaginary Girls'',
an EP consisting of six songs and two
interludes including "Love Online" and "Lost in Translation",
which was less than fifteen and a half minutes long,
and dealt with the internet, lockdown relationships and social media.
She then moved back to her parents' house, and wrote her second EP,
''*For Entertainment Purposes Only'', in July and August 2022, with the songs being produced after she met her producer in October
and set up "Coupdekat camp", where they locked themselves in her room for a week to work on it.
In February 2023, she released "Superglue", an
alt-pop
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s wi ...
song
about a boy who kept entering and exiting her life and which addressed
codependency
In sociology, codependency is a theory that attempts to explain imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive behavior such as addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achiev ...
and
red flags, and which was inspired by "The Reel in the Flickering Light" by
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Ireland, Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first ...
and "Tinkerbell is Overrated" by
Beabadoobee
Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus (born 3 June 2000), known professionally as beabadoobee (; '), is a Filipino-British singer-songwriter. From 2018 to 2021, she released five extended plays under the independent label Dirty Hit: ''Lice'' (2018), ''Pa ...
and
PinkPantheress
PinkPantheress (born 2001) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. PinkPantheress's songs, which are frequently short in length and include samples of music from the 1990s and 2000s, span a number of genres, including bedroom po ...
.
The following month, she released "Babyteef", a semi-autobiographical song about growing up too fast as a result of social media which used premature removal of
deciduous teeth as a metaphor, and which was inspired by
the 1975
The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now based in Manchester, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matthew "Matty" Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer ...
's "
Give Yourself a Try
"Give Yourself a Try" is a song by English band the 1975 from their third studio album, '' A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships'' (2018). The song was written by band members George Daniel, Matthew Healy, Adam Hann and Ross MacDonald, while ...
" and the film
''Babyteeth''.
She then released "It's Not You" in May, for which the vocals were recorded while
trampolining
Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more c ...
on her bed, and then the EP in June, which featured "Stunt Girl". In August 2023, she played
Leeds Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festi ...
as part of
Climate Live
Climate Live is a series of international concerts hosted every year in over 40+ countries. The concert series was developed by Fridays for Future organisers. Climate Live launched on April 24 with performances by notable artists including Decla ...
.
Loud LDN
In May 2022, she met fellow musician Maisi for brunch
after she discovered Reilly via
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
;
there, they discussed the loneliness of being a woman in the music industry and how they were often pitted against each other.
This prompted the pair to set up a group chat
on
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows user ...
called Ladies Making Noise in London for the women and non-binary musicians they knew at that time.
Initially starting with ten musicians including
Piri
The ''piri'' is a Korean double reed instrument, used in both the folk and classical (court) music of Korea. Originating in Central Asia, it was introduced to the Korean peninsula from China, and has been used there as early as the Three Kingdo ...
and
Matilda Cole,
the adding of other members caused the member list to grow to forty people, prompting them to set up an
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
page,
Loud LDN
Loud LDN is a collective of female and gender-expansive artists based in London. It was described by '' NME'' in December 2022 as a "community of hellip; drum 'n' bass, pop, and R&B artists at all stages in their careers".
Formed in May 2022 by ...
.
Reilly used a June 2023 interview to note that the chat had 120 members and that it had moved to
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
. On 4 November 2022, she supported Piri's band Piri & Tommy at
Komedia
Komedia is an arts and entertainment company which operates venues in the United Kingdom at Brighton and Bath, and a management and production company Komedia Entertainment. Beyond hosting live comedy, the venues also host music, cabaret, thea ...
on the
Brighton leg of their Froge.tour.
Artistry
Reilly's early works were inspired by
Blondie
Blondie is a term sometimes used to refer to a person with blond hair.
Blondie or Blondi may also refer to:
People
* Blondie (nickname), a list of people
* Debbie Harry, the lead singer of the band Blondie who is sometimes erroneously referred t ...
,
Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal.
Mazzy St ...
, and
the Slits
The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma ...
,
though in a February 2022 interview with Blender magazine, she cited
Lava La Rue
Aiwa or Ava Laurel, better known by their stage name Lava La Rue, is a British-Jamaican musician and director from West London. They are the founder and creative director of NiNE8 collective.
Early life
Laurel was raised partly by their Jama ...
, Beabadoobee,
Claire Laffut, and
Clairo
Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts, she began posting music on the internet at age 13.
Clairo rose ...
, and in a September 2023 interview with Strand magazine, she noted that her "original roots of inspiration" were Mazzy Star, Beabadoobee,
the Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to em ...
,
Blur
Blur may refer to:
Optics and images
* Bokeh, the aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus parts of an image
* Box blur, a graphic-art effect
* Defocus aberration, blurring of an image due to incorrect focus
* Gaussian blur, a graphic-art effect
...
,
the Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band's ...
,
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joine ...
, and
the Stone Roses
The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...
, and that her second EP was inspired what she described as "computer rock", a "hybrid between indie rock music, and dance and D&B" prominent in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, with "Stunt Girl" specifically inspired by the works of James Ivy. She also mentioned that her early works including "Superglue" and "Stunt Girl" had been composed on her guitar, which she would then record on her computer and annotate with drums, and that later works were started on her computer over a sample such as a drumbeat or a loop.
In addition, she was partly inspired to create Loud LDN by the Nine8 Collective,
a group composed of Lava La Rue, Mac Wetha, Bone Slim,
Biig Piig
Jessica Smyth, known by the stage name Biig Piig is an Irish singer and rapper based in West London. She performs in English and Spanish and is signed to Sony Music Entertainment.
Early life
Biig Piig was born in Cork, Ireland. She lived in Sp ...
, Nayana Iz, Nige and LorenzoRSV.
For ''*For Entertainment Purposes Only'' and its singles, Reilly worked with artist Kelly Ficcara,
who created the character that appears on their artwork,
and Phoebe Dowling,
who shot the videos for "Superglue" and "Babyteeth" on a
VHS-C
VHS-C is the compact VHS videocassette format, introduced by Victor Company of Japan ( JVC) in 1982, and used primarily for consumer-grade compact analog recording camcorders. The format is based on the same video tape as is used in VHS, and ...
to give them a DIY feel.
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
used a December 2022 article about Loud LDN to note that Reilly's "catchy pop songs laid over drum ‘n’ bass beats defy easy genre classification",
while Neil March of ''Fresh on the Net'' described Reilly's delivery as having "shades of
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...
in a jam with
Alice Phoebe Lou
Alice Phoebe Lou (born 19 July 1993) is a Berlin-based South African singer-songwriter. She has released three EPs and four studio albums. In December 2017 her song "She" from the film '' Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story'' was included on the ...
".
Discography
Extended plays
* ''Demos'' (2020, as part of Sunseed)
* ''Shades of Blue'' (2021, as part of Electric Blue)
* ''Imaginary Girls'' (2022)
* ''*For Entertainment Purposes Only'' (2023)
Singles
* "Ur Only" (2021)
* "Love Online" (2021)
* "Little Tescos" (2021)
* "Lost in Translation" (2021)
* "F.Y.E.O." (2022)
* "Superglue" (2023)
* "Babyteef" (2023)
* "It's Not You" (2023)
* "Babyteef pt. 2" (2023, featuring Kkbutterfly27 Xx)
* ".Mp3" (2023)
References
{{Reflist
Musicians from Luton
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
English women guitarists
English women singer-songwriters