Idra Kayne is a woman full of joy and full of ideas. She is not afraid to be forthright, while she will prefer honesty and actions to nice words. Combined with all this, she is an artist, who loves music and theater. Her clear voice is her greatest asset and as she claims, until recently she preferred to sing about matters of the heart. Until “Fairytale” came into her life and “liberated” her.
She would never wear the mask of the person who has heard racist comments. She will always be a fighter whose main goal is development. Unstoppable and creative, Idra is about to become part of a television series with lots of laughs, but she will also take part in three theatrical plays during the forthcoming season. Let’s give her the floor to tell us about all these things.
2024 has been a busy year for Idra so far. A photoshoot à la Janet Jackson put her in the spotlight with many positive reviews. What is her perspective on this project? Among other things, Idra tells us about her childhood, dispelling our suspicions about what she was like. Finally, she refers to her upcoming recording projects and we guarantee that you will read a very enjoyable interview.
“Take it”
We recently enjoyed your performance as a guest on the great Desmond Child’s “Masterclass”, performing Aerosmith’s “Angel” along with him. How was that experience?
Look, when I first got the phone call and they told me that “this masterclass will take place and we have recommended you and send a link so that he can listen to you”, at first I didn’t really realise it, Ithought “it is impossible, it is not going to happen”. But when they told me “okay let’s do it”, I felt extreme excitement along with extreme panic, because that’s when I realised that I was going to sing with a man I’ve always admired, ever since I learned his name. I clearly knew his work and two years ago I was at his concert in Herodion and I was like a child, saying I can’t believe that he has written all these songs and what a life he has led. I think my panic went away after the masterclass, however the experience of singing next to him is indescribable.
Neddless to mention how he is in general as a person, he has an influence, he has an energy without telling you anything. Just being in the same place or on the same stage with this person is shocking!
Last March you gave image to a thought we all had about you. I’m referring to your resemblance to Janet Jackson and the photo shoot you did. How did the idea come about and how do you feel about the result?
Look my whole life I’ve been told I look like Janet as well as Queen Latifah. In the last few years I have started to see “Queen Latifah”. I could not understand the resemblance before.
I personally see more of a resemblance to Janet.
I could feel “Janet” though. Talking about my personal experience as a plethoric, curvy girl, I have swallowed a lot of complex and hate cpmments about my body and because in the last three years I have been experiencing a renaissance, I am accepting and loving myself more, I was thinking about this Janet’s photo shoot -which is iconic since she did it- and I realized that I have to fight a lot of complexes doing this photo shoot. Like all women we want to be attractive and like most of them I want to believe deep inside we want to feel very sexy and very beautiful and because with so much commentary and social, family oppression whatever you want to call it I said “you know what, I don’t give a shit, I want to do a photoshoot that I can feel -sorry now for the word I’m going to say- sexpot and yes I will do that”. I found a friend of mine who I wouldn’t have a problem grabbing my breasts and I decided on it. It was done in the context of my personal development, acceptance of myself along with “rebranding”. Basically now that I find myself and I allow myself to accept me 100% with my tummy and my chest, just the way I am, the way I like it and since I’ve been told for so long that I look like Janet Jackson… take it. In 2018, I think there was a similar photoshoot when a friend of mine and a very good photographer, Chronis Perrakis, had an exhibition called “Covers” and invited various artists to recreate some old album covers. Chronis had photographed me again as Janet Jackson and along the way, I had this inspiration doing the photoshoot you saw.
You didn’t do the same cover-photoshoot I suppose.
No, it was based on another album cover.
If someone follows you on your social media, they will find out that you are a person who makes no bones about anything. Rarely do we get to see an artist takes a stand with substance and arguments about things and on a permanent basis. Has this attitude affected your career at all?
Hmm I don’t think so, for now. I think it helps that I don’t move in a very mainstream field, of course I think that the music we make is super mainstream, it’s just that in Greece it’s considered somewhat underground which… it hasn’t caused me any problems, but it used to cause me problems. I feel that I have a very strong sense of justice and what I say is not absurd or extreme, and I like that now. To come back to the topic, I will tell you that as I get older, I experience a very strong need to start uncomfortable conversations, because we all feel uncomfortable with certain topics. It’s a little bit of not touching these tpics and a little bit of not commenting on them and at some point you say “okay, sorry already, in this life I want to leave a good mark”. That is to say, I was a reasonable and fair person. Although I am not some super fighter who will go down in the streets, but since some of us have the floor, some things should be mentioned and commented on.
Okay, so is this whole issue with politically correct words being judged as “incorrect/acceptable” and I think it has confused people quite a bit on how to express themselves.
Look in the context of politically correct now, I understand how pressured people are in general, because as my psychotherapist says, when you are in a “change of level” phase, that is where the greatest pressure relies. On one hand, I understand that maybe we’re experiencing it a little bit as “too much”, but on the other hand, okay guys, we didn’t say that we’re going to push the button and everything will change and we’ll all speak correctly and not say anything wrong. Just don’t have so much anger on both sides, that is, the one who will make the mistake should hear that “you know what, we don’t say that anymore”, but also the other person who tells him that “you know, we don’t say that anymore” mustn’t say it with a punch in the face.
Personally, I went through the phase where I felt strange and was bothered by so much “politically correctness”, but there are also some things that the existence of politically correctness has saved me from. So I’m of the opinion that you guys don’t need so much anger.
In essence, it is not a matter of changing some words or stop using them. The point is what we do in normal life. I will tell you about a matter that touches me that I have been tired of talking about it all these years, that we no longer use the word “colored” for people, televisions are colored. We normally say the word “black”, but we have demonized the word black. You call a man black, you don’t call him colored. Many people get confused on this. I get it because it’s not familiar to them, but I’ll say it nicely that this term is not a cadet and move on. For someone to use the word “colored” but in his personal life, when someone of a different color irritates him, he will turn around and curse him or call him “Arab” for example, doesn’t affect me at all. The fact that he may write “blacks” or “Afro-Greeks” in one of his writings, but he considers them to be inferior beings and I am now referring to a subject that touches me. Someone may use the term “wheelchair” correctly and not “stroller”, but it will be the same one who will not do anything to change something in the daily life of a disabled person or who considers disabled people to be inferior and problematic, eh ok then we have lost it somewhere there. We’re so much of the say-it-right type, but it’s all about getting it right.
We can say with certainty that you’ve been in a creative orgasm throughout 2023-24 -at least-. You are a performer, actress, radio producer. What is a typical day like for you?
A typical day for me is so tiring and so full at the same time in a good way. I mean, I’m very happy with everything I’m doing and with everything that’s happening to me and that some things have come, effortlessly, but guys, 24 hours is not enough, really. It’s not enough, it’s not possible, we have to add more hours, make it 36 in order to get some hours of sleep.
In a typical day, I will have something to do in the morning. I might have to wake up, deal with my dog, I might have some dubbing, I might have a rehearsal, I might have an appointment, I might have something simple to do like go to the supermarket, that kind of things. Midday is always when I have to go to the radio to do a show and then I might have a live show. Last winter I was in a children’s show in the mornings and we played in schools. So I would wake up and go do a show and then the day would go on. On the other hand, when many things come to you that you want, that also combine livelihood -because let’s face it, art doesn’t pay very well in Greece-, I feel very lucky and very blessed that the 800 things I have to do are at least things i want to do and I’m no longer forced to do some other job that doesn’t express me at all, which I’ve done for too many years, to make a living or to be able to support the other activities I enjoy. I think that anyone who does something beyond the conventional, must do something else to survive in Greece. There’s no other way.
We also expected to see you in the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”. What happened to your scene in the movie?
My scene got cut, but that’s okay, I played it. I never got to see the movie but I think they only kept some audio from that scene. Anyway, some words that I had also recirded in the studio, but it doesn’t matter. I shot a scene with Nia Vardalos. Maybe you didn’t see it because it was cut in the editing, but I have it in my heart forever. Also, from all this I keep that I sent a self tape and Vardalos herself chose me. My scene was with Nia Vardalos, she gave me a very nice gift when I met her again, she was very pleasant and I mean she is a very sweet person who doesn’t do it for the sake of doing it. Then when I saw her almost a year after filming, she came to me and said hello and remembered who I was. I was unfortunate that my scene was cut, but I was paid normally and I was very satisfied with it all.
Your love for music is evident, as is your desire to communicate with the world. Are you the classic case of a person who wanted to sing and give impromptu performances in public since childhood? How do you remember yourself at a young age?
To inform you, I was the exact opposite, because I was a very shy child. However, I always knew that I wanted to be involved in art either with music, theater or both. I was never the kid who would put on a show at the family dinner table. A classic story that my parents always told me when I was three years old is when they gave me one of these children’s pianos as a gift, I called them in the living room and I sat down and played some bunkum for them. I didn’t play the piano obviously and at the end I took a bow. That’s all they remember. Then to a family friend’s house along with some other friends and cousins , we went to her closet, got dressed and did a sketch. In general, I think everyone was shocked when, at 18, I told them that I didn’t want to participate in the Panhellenic exams and that I wanted to be a singer. My family said “what does the child say? is she alright?” However, I think my classmates from school are more shocked, because I was not the kind of kid who was a member of the student council of the school, not even a member of the class council. Whenever I ran as a candidate I was always the treasurer. I never understood why they thought I was doing well in economics, when I have not done well in my life so far. Recently at a live show that I was in, there was also sign language interpretation and one of the interpreters was a classmate of mine from high school. After the concert she came to me and said “hey another one from our school was in the audience and she told me she couldn’t understand that it was you. She doesn’t even remember you at school. I was very much a “humble kid” even though I was the only black kid in school and someone from that alone should remember me.
In the past, you have also spoken about incidents of bullying that you have received.
We have all been bullied in our lives, all without exception. Unfortunately, in the 90s, as a black child from a mixed family, which was not common in Greece in general, I received too many racist comments. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to school, but I knew there were five jerks there telling me five specific things that I couldn’t fight. However, I was never the kind of kid who would answer anything back, nor was I one to share such things with someone. Things had to come to a head in order for me to share it with my parents. I used to swallow it and moved on. I think that’s where all the shyness I had as a child comes from. Especially when we are young, we want to belong to society, but also to be a little unnoticed. Because of my appearance, I couldn’t have that, so I didn’t want to bother unlike now that I really like to bother, because when I bother I know I’m doing something good.
You’ve mentioned that DJ Rico turned your experience into a song and this is your latest single, “Fairytale”. Tell us a bit about it.
It’s not very difficult to understand especially the verse “you want to get under my skin, you want to see what my blood is like”. Rico and I were in the studio at one point and we were writing because we have many tracks ready and at one point he said to me “hey, have you ever experienced racism?” and I was “make me a coffee and I’ll tell you” and I told him more or less some things that have defined me. Then he said to me “give me some time” and in 10 minutes he had written this whole verse. I personally feel very disadvantaged in writing in Greek, it is easier for me to write something in English, and I generally avoided writing about difficult subjects. I prefer to keep it to the love matters, but this song really unlocked me. I think what I liked the most when the track first came out, was that friends, but also people I didn’t know, were sending me messages and they were very touched by this particular verse, either because it had to do with race, religion, sexuality, gender. There, once again, what I was saying before was confirmed, that we have all been bullied for something different in our lives. Someone may have been bullied because he/she wore glasses, which I have also experienced, that is, I was both black and with glasses and with afro hair… which was the triptych of failure back at school.
And suddenly you are reborn as another “Janet” and say in a nice way “kiss my arse” now.
You feel a bit like you’re getting your power back.
Did you really feel it?
Yes very much and because on social media as women we can get criticism, hard comments and a lot of dick-picks, feeling like you’re a piece of meat and that everything you do you do it to attract someone, I said “ah, please! That’s enough.” In the past I might have gotten comments when I wore a top and the top of my bust line was showing and there would be a total blast ‘wow you’re showing your brests’! Guys sorry, I’m a woman, I have breasts it will show and there’s no harm in showing them. Then I said “take it! take it! As long as I want and until the point I want you to see it”.
Good for you! Here’s how you can be an inspiration to people who are looking for the power to “unlock”. Is this a purpose in life after all?
Yes, to me that seems much more important, because we have all been on the side of the weak and as long as I take my strength and somehow show it, I am glad to hear from people that they are inspired by me. To tell you the truth, I prefer on a social level to be told by others that I am an inspiration in that way rather than on an artistic level. Not everyone will like you, what can you do?
To come back to your professional plans, from now on, what are we going to see from you?
Look, if you haven’t figured it out yet, let me tell you that the girl is not very well. She wants to do it all now. You can expect something new discographically, I’m just at the phase now that I can decide how I want to be discographically, because things change, goals change, I change too and I like to evolve and try other things. At the same time, the theater has entered my life very dynamically in the last decade and I know already that I will be in three theatrical plays next year. I have also signed for a TV series, which I will be in and it will be announced very soon.
At least I wish it will be a sitcom.
Look it’s a new weekly sitcom that will air on ANT1. I agreed to do that four days ago and in 10 days I have to start shooting. I believe there is a great need for laughter, because there is so much anger, oppression and depression out there that it would be nice to have something to watch, laugh and lighten up.
Since this year I had the opportunity to follow your progress more closely, I would like to dwell on another highlight of yours that came in the very first moments of 2024. I am referring to your New Year’s show at the SNFCC, which was also broadcast on television. There you proved to us that you have moved to another level in terms of performance. How do you remember this moment?
Thank you very much! I have gotten very good comments about that day really. For an artist this is very big in terms of having to set it all up, prepare it and believe that this is appropriate for that moment because it is a day of huge celebration that some thousands of people choose to spend that moment with you. This means that there was too much stress. I had agreed to do this show since last August. Meetings followed, and then more meetings, to find the musicians, to decide the style, to create the setlist, to get confirmation from the SNFCC, to have everything timed and played as it should be. So I was anxious, because everyone had to be happy and all this within my crazy schedule, as we had to coordinate with 10 people and you know that you have to satisfy everybody, because they had come to celebrate. You want to satisfy them all but you also want to be in it, to enjoy it too. Then you realize how big the stage is, how many people are watching you on TV and I thought… “you know what? I’m going to live it all, because it’s going to be my biggest moment so far”. When you do something with so much love, joy and anticipation, it will get the audience too I guess.
What’s your motto in life?
Interview: Theodore Kolliopoulos
