We often hear vocalists talk about themselves and say that they've been singing since before they even learned words, but for Kiana Ledé, this is a true statement. When she was just a baby, the artist shaped her language by singing more than speaking, and by the time she was a toddler, she was already owning the spotlight as a performer. The gift of song is in her bones and she's ready to show the world just exactly what she has to offer.
Rebecca Lader for MTV
Kiana Ledé is still a young artist at just 22-years-old, but she's no stranger to the industry. At 14 she won a Kidz Bop talent competition and it was the catalyst for what would become her professional career. She signed to RCA Records, released a single, and she believed she was on the cusp of stardom. However, even with all of the exposure, recognition, and fans, Kiana was still waiting for that moment when things would shift and her talents would shine.
Now is that moment.
After being dropped from RCA, Kiana stated she felt depleted. "I didn't know what that meant besides failure," she said. "I just felt like I failed." Then, she got a second chance when Republic Records offered her a deal. She released her EP Myself last year—which boasts features from Offset and Jenifer Lewis— and her single "Ex" broke the Top Ten of Billboard's US R&B Songs chart. She recently embarked on her first-ever headlining tour, and MTV is giving the public a glimpse into the soul singer's world with their new series My Time: Kiana Ledé. "I've worked for this my entire life," she said on the show. "You only get one first tour. You only get one first headlining tour."
In an exclusive conversation with us about her show, Kiana revealed that she feels at this time in her career, people are on the "edge of just starting to recognize and discover" her as an artist. "I've been doing this since I was 14, but this is an important time for me," Kiana shared, saying that My Time will show her in ways that "people don't normally see." Helping her make waves is her team that she calls "definitely a family," especially those who hit the road with her to make this tour a success.
"The tour was awesome. I'm so grateful [to have] my closet friends with me," she told us exclusively, adding that because they "know what I've been through," they're able to offer a "truer perspective" of who she is as a person and not just an entertainer. There are some intimate bits that tug at your heartstrings on her series, including a moment between Kiana and her father when he tells her that he's proud of her using her platform to discuss mental health and depression. In the series, a fan approaches Kiana and tells the singer that she helped them when they were suicidal. "The whole thing about love is you should give as much as you get," Kiana told her dad. "If you're not able to do that then what was the point of life?"
Clearly, Kiana Ledé is taking her second chance seriously, and she wants to show just why it's her time to shine. "I'm focused now on letting people in deeper," she told us. She wants to share her whole authentic self, because before, Kiana admitted that she only gave bits and pieces as she saw fit. "Only the amount of truth I wanted them to know," she confessed. "It's time to take the wall down and go deeper into the truth."
It's safe to say that My Time: Kiana Ledé is the "first step." Get to know more about Kiana, her relationships, her wild style, and her headlining tour as you watch the first episode below and afterward, check out her video for her breakout track "Ex" along with her EP Myself.
