Alessia Patrizia De Gasperis-Brigante (born 17 March 1990), formerly known as Kai (also stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing systems ...

), is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

singer-songwriter from

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. Best known for her collaborations, she co-wrote and was featured on Flume's

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated " Never Be Like You",

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...

's "Revolution", and "Mind" from by Jack Ü's Grammy award-winning 2015 album.

Early life and education

Alessia De Gasperis-Brigante attended Bishop Strachan School. She is the granddaughter of Italian-Canadian billionaire

Alfredo De Gasperis Alfredo "Fred" De Gasperis (; January 28, 1934 – March 27, 2013) was an Italian-Canadian billionaire developer, and contractor. He was the founder of Condrain, a sewer and watermain contractor based in Concord, Ontario, Canada, and Metrus D ...

. Kai derives her name from the Japanese word ''kai'', which means 'change'. She claims to be something new in music and she only wants "to relate ndshare her stories with her fans and anyone who will lend their ear." On 2 April 2021, she said the following on social media: "Kai was part of me I felt safe in sharing. An aspect of me. But I'm ready to be all of me now. Change is good when it's coming from truth. Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Alessia De Gasperis and I look forward to our friendship and journey together and I'm grateful for your love and support always and forever, ADG (Alessia De Gasperis)"

Career

Early career

In 2011, Kai released her debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, ''11:11'', which included her debut single "I Choose Me", which is frequently used in campaigns for First Choice Haircutters. The EP received minimal promotion and did not chart. In 2012, Kai collaborated with

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

group

Adventure Club Adventure Club is a Canadian electronic dance music duo composed of Christian Srigley and Leighton James, based out of Montreal, Quebec. The duo began as a hardcore punk, hardcore pop punk, pop-punk band before venturing into electronic dance m ...

on the track "Need Your Heart", which features Kai's vocals and writing. The song has been remixed by several artists, including Minnesota, Crywolf, and Candyland. The track peaked at number 2 on the iTunes Electronic music chart.

Breakthrough

Kai collaborated with

on his EP ''Revolution'', co-writing and appearing on the title track "Revolution". She lent her vocals to the track "

Crawl Crawl, The Crawl, or crawling may refer to: Biology * Crawling, any type of tetrapod quadrupedal locomotion with the torso persistently touching or very close to the ground. ** Crawling (human), any of several types of human quadrupedal gait * L ...

" by Childish Gambino for his second studio album, '' Because the Internet''. In 2014, Kai wrote "Sweet Talker", which was produced by Diplo, the title track from Jessie J's third studio album of the same name which was released in October 2014. She stated that she wrote the song with

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

in mind. She wrote and was featured on the track "Mind" on the 2015 debut album of

Jack Ü Jack Ü was an American electronic dance music duo consisting of electronic music producers Skrillex and Diplo, formed in 2013. They released their first official single, "Take Ü There", featuring vocals from Kiesza, on October 4, 2014. They re ...

, a collaborative project of

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

and Diplo. In 2016, Kai wrote and was featured on the track " Never Be Like You" by Australian electronic musician

Flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

. It reached number one in Australia and the top 20 in the United States, as well as becoming her first song to top the iTunes Electronic music chart.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

As featured artist

Other certified songs

Other featured in * 2015: "Let Me Love You Right" (Hunter Siegel feat. Kai)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kai 1990 births APRA Award winners ARIA Award winners Living people Canadian women pop singers Singers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian women singers Canadian people of Italian descent Bishop Strachan School alumni