Listen to KAINA’s “Casita”: Re-Upped

Welcome to Re-Upped, Audiomack’s new editorial series dedicated to spotlighting the best and hottest new songs across genres and across the globe. For a playlist of all Re-Upped selections, click here. Enjoy the vibes.

KAINA — “Casita”

Chicago’s KAINA flies Next To The Sun. The singer-songwriter first caught our attention with a haunting feature on Saba’s “FIGHTER,” and went on to release one of 2019’s most evocative albums. Her music—often an ode to her heritage in form and in function as she sings in Spanish—speaks to first-gen kids with a gentleness and candor you’d only get by privileging lived experience in art.

“Casita” is KAINA’s first release of 2021 and continues her streak of holding space for the marginalized and emotionally wrought. As she reflects on her upbringing and missing her community, Luke Titus and Sen Morimoto’s production provides a rustic and lilted soundbed for KAINA. She may sing of broken hearts and the chasms between us, but there’s a thread of hope in “Casita” as well.

“I’m excited to share my new track, ‘Casita!’ The song taps into early 2000s pop while trying to channel vocals and dramatics of the salsa music I love. So much of what inspires me personally and musically is the ability to share my home, my mother’s food, laughs and drinks with friends and that obviously hasn’t been possible in the last year. I wanted to write a song that is a reflection on those moments and like a little love letter to the people I love and miss. I hope that it can still bring a sense of joy and belonging through difficult times to navigate.

“This track is executive produced by myself and Sen Morimoto. Produced by my good friend and amazing artist Luke Titus with Sen Morimoto. It features my long time friend and bandmate Brian Sanborn on guitar as well as my dear friends NNAMDÏ on background vocals and Bay Area legend La Doña on trumpet! Mixed and mastered by the incredible Brok Mende at Friends of Friends Recording.”