An Adelaide musician with 20-plus years experience, Kyan Burns has returned after a two-year absence with her new single 'Break Me Down', a song about healing, self-discovery, and finding inner strength.
It was in 2021 that Kyan decided to pursue her own solo path, having been a member of a number of cover acts for two decades and birthed into a musical family – her grandmother is yodelling superstar Zeta Burns (now in her mid 90s), one of the last big top vaudeville performers who still sings occasionally.After releasing three singles across 2021-2022, Burns' next chapter 'Break Me Down' finds the artist processing the grief of losing her mother and the break-up of her marriage.
The song's opening offers sombre, solemn tones of washed-out guitars and electronics that fuse with Kyan's distinct, intense vocals that harbour a searing emotion that eventually launches into an alternative rock sing-along the energised guitars and drums galloping like a runaway horse.
A poppier breakdown two-thirds through creates a hypnotic cinematic experience before the chugging guitar returns as the pounding, pulsating drums amp up the feels, releasing a cannon-blast of fiery passion worthy of a solo dance-off.
Originally released at the end of June, today scenestr is stoked to premiere the 'Break Me Down' music video (directed by the award-winning Gareth Wilkes) today. Enjoy.
"The story behind this song is that after dealing with so many struggles over the past few years, including the death of my Mum, the breakdown of my marriage and two extremely toxic and traumatic relationships, I ended up in a really dark place," shares Kyan.
"I've had to do a lot of healing and remembering who I was and learning to find love within myself again, and not looking elsewhere for it. So this song represents the different parts of me all coming together to be whole again."
The creative treatment of the music video was another cathartic experience for Burns, who definitely leant into her own self-empowerment. "While shooting the film clip it was very confronting as I had to strip down to nothing, but as always I was working with an amazing team and I always trust Gareth's (Wilkes) vision."
Adds Gareth: "When Kyan first came to me with the song to create a music video, I felt it had so much scope to embrace the themes of mental health, self love and self empowerment. I felt inspired to create a story that could run parallel and even enhance the storytelling of the song itself.
"Knowing Kyan personally, and some of her personal mental health struggles, I developed a concept that was based in her reality. I wanted to acknowledge that we all have multiple versions of ourselves – the stronger, armoured front we show everyone and the vulnerable one we try to keep locked away.
"The story tells us that each version can't exist alone and in order to be a happy, well-rounded individual we have to learn to embrace both sides and let them coexist.
"Being someone who struggles to let people see that vulnerability and who always presents a confident front, I knew it would take a lot of bravery and trust for Kyan to allow herself to be exposed in both a physical and an emotional sense. While her willingness to do so was about her own self-healing journey, it also allowed us to create a piece that could have meaning and be helpful to others."
