Kiara Saulters (born May 24, 1995), known professionally as Kiiara, is an American singer-songwriter from Wilmington, Illinois. She is currently signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. Her 2015 single "

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

" peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. She is also known for contributing vocals to

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

's 2017 single "

Heavy Heavy may refer to: Measures * Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight * Heavy, a wake turbulence category used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft with a maximum takeoff mass of 136,000 kgs or mo ...

Early life

Kiiara was born on May 24, 1995, in Wilmington, Illinois. She attended Wilmington High School where she played for the school's volleyball team. While recording her breakout EP, she also worked as a hardware store clerk. She started a studio internship to help familiarize herself with the music process and get practice recording.

Career

In 2013, Kiiara independently released an acoustic pop single called "Bring Me Back" under her real name. In June 2015, after signing a deal to

and changing to her stage name from Kiara Saulters to Kiiara, she released her debut single "

". Later that year, "Gold" was chosen as background music of a 15-second

Apple Watch The Apple Watch is a brand of smartwatch products developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple. It incorporates activity tracker, fitness tracking, Health (Apple), health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates wit ...

commercial titled "Style". The song was her first entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 13. 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 ...

(EP), '' Low Kii Savage'' was released on March 22, 2016. The video for "Gold" quickly gained popularity, reaching five million views during mid-May 2016. On September 15, 2016, Kiiara made her television debut, performing "Gold" on '' The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon''. Kiiara was featured on

's single, "

", which was released digitally on February 16, 2017 and on radio on February 21. She later performed "Heavy" with

Julia Michaels Julia Carin Michaels (''Birth name, née'' Cavazos; born November 13, 1993) is an American singer and songwriter. She has received six Grammy Award nominations, including twice for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year and Grammy A ...

at the Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington concert at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...

which was held after the death of Linkin Park's vocalist

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...

. In March 2018, she was featured on the

Cheat Codes Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself (a cheat code implemented by ...

single "Put Me Back Together". On June 7, 2019, she released the single "Open My Mouth". Kiiara stated that it would serve as the lead single from her debut studio album, along with another single "Bipolar", released on September 6, 2019. However, both were cut from the final track listing, although the first one featured on a deluxe edition of the record. On October 9, 2020, she released her debut studio album '' Lil Kiiwi'', which includes her previously released singles "

", "Feels", and " Whippin" featuring Felix Snow, as well as new singles "I Still Do", "Never Let You", and "Numb" featuring DeathbyRomy and Pvris. A deluxe edition of her album was later released, which included two songs "Intention" and "Tennessee" taken from her debut extended play, ''Low Kii Savage'', as well as two previous non-album singles, "Messy" and "Open My Mouth".

Influences

Kiiara has cited

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

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 ...

Joyner Lucas Gary Maurice "Joyner" Lucas Jr. (born August 17, 1988) is an American rapper, actor and entrepreneur. Lucas first received exposure after the release of his single "Ross Capicchioni" in 2015. In June 2017, he released his fourth mixtape, ''508-5 ...

, Yelawolf, and

as her influences.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1995 births Living people American women pop singers American women songwriters American people of English descent Atlantic Records artists Musicians from Oak Park, Illinois People from Wilmington, Illinois Singers from Illinois Songwriters from Illinois 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers