with all due respect: kwn is rewriting the rules of R&B

Words by Phebe Barnum-Bobb
Photography by Michelle Helena Janssen 
Styling by JoJo Vandalkidd
MUA Alexa Hernandez 

Over the past year, kwn (pronounced kay-one) has become celebrated for her sultry, sapphic bedroom bangers. She burst onto the scene earlier this year with ‘worst behaviour’ featuring Kehlani — a track she originally sold to fans just to cover mastering costs, before it went on to become a bona fide lesbian classic, complete with an equally steamy music video.

But kwn’s rise wasn’t overnight. She’s been laying the groundwork for years, carving out a sound entirely her own. Her nine-track EP, with all due respect, stands as both an ode to Black queer women and a love letter to R&B, while remaining unmistakably and unapologetically kwn.

“I'm obviously super grateful that I'm giving Black queer women a space — not even just women, but men too, the whole LGBTQ+ community,” kwn tells Gay Times. “For me, it's always just been, ‘I'm me. Take me as I am.’ I've grown up with that from a young age. My mum has always said to me, ‘You do what makes you happy. Don't care about what people think.’”

A self-proclaimed “girl who likes girls,” kwn is fully at home in herself. She doesn’t position herself as a spokesperson for the queer community, yet her fearless presence as a masculine-presenting woman openly discussing her attraction to women speaks volumes.

We caught up with kwn fresh off her EU, UK, US, and Canada tour — a run that saw a new bra tossed onstage every night and an ever-evolving parade of thirsty signs — to talk about coming into herself in this latest chapter, creating sexy music, representing the LGBTQIA+ community, and the collaborators she’s dreaming of working with next.