Kacy Hill

Kacy Hill shapes her adult alternative pop through a gentle vocal delivery and an unconventional, minimalist style. Her path into entertainment began with modeling before she joined Kanye West’s touring ensemble as a dancer, after which she made her first full-length vocal appearance on his imprint via the 2017 album Like a Woman. On her third long-player, Simple, Sweet, and Smiling, issued in 2021, she incorporated synthesizer textures reminiscent of polished 1980s pop, whereas the broader 2024 set BUG expanded her palette through multiple producers without abandoning her understated manner.

Entry into music unfolded indirectly for Hill. While still attending high school in Phoenix, her hometown, she took up modeling and later relocated to Los Angeles to advance that pursuit. Photographer and director Stephen Garnett connected her with songwriter and producer Jaylien Wesley, whose credits already included co-writing Akon’s U.S. Top 20 pop success “Beautiful.” The pair worked on several tracks, one of which, the understated “Experience,” reached Kanye West just as Hill was dancing on his Yeezus tour. West then placed her on his G.O.O.D. roster; “Experience” appeared in May 2015 as the opening cut on the Kitsuné America 4 compilation, and Bloo, her debut EP, followed on the label that October. Two years afterward, the singles “Hard to Love” and “Like a Woman” paved the way for the June 2017 arrival of Like a Woman.

After departing G.O.O.D. Music she issued the standalone track “I Believe in You,” featuring Francis and the Lights, under her own name in March 2020; the song appeared on her second album, Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again, released that June. October 2021 brought another self-released full-length, Simple, Sweet, and Smiling, which placed synthesizers at the center of an aesthetic recalling 1980s adult pop. A subsequent move to Nettwerk preceded her fourth studio album, BUG, issued in May 2024. Crafted with a range of composer-producers including Bartees Strange, Sega Bodega, and John Carroll Kirby, the record preserved her soft-spoken character while enlarging the scope of her sound.