Singer-songwriter Katie Gregson-MacLeod, known for her viral song “Complex”, is coming to Stirling in October. Brig had the opportunity to interview her before starting her second tour.
Her latest EP Love Me Too well, I’ll Retire Early was released earlier this summer, and in late September, she will be going on a tour across the UK (and some cities in Europe). The Tolbooth in Stirling will have the honour of hosting Katie on Thursday, October 2.
Going on tour
Katie’s career shot off back in 2022 when clips of her song “Complex” gained overnight virality on TikTok. Since then, she has been touring and writing music, while also finding respite from it all in her hometown, Inverness. When talking to Katie regarding this tour she explained how it is going to be a bit more “back to basics.”
“l feel, like kind of, the most relaxed and ready and excited for a tour that I think I ever have. I don’t know, something about the way that I’m doing this tour, which is just me and my support act Lizzie in my car…” she said.
She says that with a more “stripped back” tour format, there will be more responsibility on her, while also going back to the fundamentals of it being more about the music itself.
“I also feel like it helps me feel more connected to it. Everything is – it’s like a bit more of an adventure…”
This tour will have about 15 tour dates across the UK and some dates in Europe. When asked about this, Katie mentioned how they “put a bit of conscious effort into adding some shows in places that I hadn’t been in”. Stirling, amongst several other cities, is one of these new locations. Playing in these new places is something Katie says she is really excited about.
“…It’s really funny how like when you put the shows on sale, I’m in my head like: ‘Oh no one is going to know to come because I haven’t been there before,’ but actually some of them have been, the best-selling shows.”
Focusing on the music
Back in 2022, the online reaction to her song “Complex” turned Katie’s life upside down, with the BBC and several other publications covering her overnight success.
“Yeah, I mean it’s pretty mad. I feel like part of the nature of that kind of online world is that, you know, it’s not linear. So, you’ll have bizarre things like “Complex” and “Teenage Love” happening. But you might have like months and months or years in between those moments.”
Today, Katie has just over 250k followers on TikTok, with more people still finding her through her music. Most recently, her single “Teenage Love” gained extra traction with its visceral and memorable outro. She goes on to say:
“…You know, my preoccupation is with trying to connect my music and to write honestly and to love what I’m doing. But it’s quite nice when those moments, such as ‘Teenage Love’, do resonate, because it reminds you that people are still listening.”
Katie has been working on a new album and, with this in mind, has tried to keep herself focused on being true to herself and her personal creative style rather than the online virality aspect.
“And it’s really not… there’s like not one hint of pop in it [the album] or like not one hint of ’TikTok song vibe.’ And part of me is like: ‘Oh it’s a shame that I could maybe never have that moment again, that connection with that many people’, but also it’s the trade-off that I’m like… completely at peace with because it’s the most honest music I’ve made so far.”
Katie will be playing some of the songs from her unreleased album on the tour – something fans can look forward to. She goes on to talk about how it is unpredictable as to which songs do well.
“But it’s also the case that you just never know what every song is gonna do like “Complex” for instance. It’s very far from what I would have thought of as a TikTok song or a hooky pop song… If it happens, it happens. But it was really nice, earlier this year, to have that moment with ‘Teenage Love’ because it was unexpected and it just kind of re-affirmed and re-engaged me with that audience again.”
Being signed to Matt Maltese’s record label
This year, Katie signed with artist and songwriter Matt Maltese’s record label Last Recordings on Earth. They have worked together in the past, and the collaboration between the two continues with Katie opening for some of Matt’s concerts in November.
“It’s been really cool. Matt is someone that I’ve been a fan of since I was a teenager… and I remember at university being obsessed with his first album and thinking that he was just a songwriter for the ages as soon as I saw him. And so, to now have this relationship with Matt, both with the label but also as collaborators and tour with him as well, it’s just really full circle.”
She goes on to talk about her first co-writing session being with Matt and the benefits of having a boss who knows the industry as an artist and songwriter himself.
“And also, his level of input, it’s whatever I want it to be. You know, I can go quiet and just like have space to write, or I can call upon him for advice and help and collaboration. It’s just very relaxed. It’s a really great relationship and I’m excited to go on tour and play some really cool venues that I wouldn’t get to play otherwise.”
Thoughts behind her latest EP
Katie’s EP Love Me Too Well, I’ll Retire Early is about trying to find peace and harmony in what you do, especially when you’re in an industry as volatile as the music industry. Katie talks about her favourite lyrics in the EP and what it means to have those songs with her officially on this tour.
“I think I really like a couple. There’s one from that song, ‘Love Me Too Well, I’ll Retire Early’, I like the lyrics in that song probably the best… That line comes from the second verse, and I like ‘The more you give the less I’m worthy, love me too well, I’ll retire early’. I like that couplet.” She continues, “That song in general is, it’s kind of directed to both the person I was writing it about, the partner, but also the label and the audience.” She concludes, “…That song, and that second verse represents the whole EP quite well.”
Katie goes on to reflect on how the theme of the EP relates to her past and being unexpectedly thrown into the limelight.
“…The EP, which wasn’t a conscious effort to write an EP, it just happened this way, I was thinking a lot about success and at the time I’d definitely felt like I’d experienced a version of success that I never would in my life. But I had experienced it and it came hand in hand with, what I felt was, quite a lack of control over what was happening.”
“And I think it… so it made me reject ambition and success internally and start to feel really uncomfortable with the whole thing. And so, it’s quite funny, first of all, to have that be the context for this tour, which is the biggest yet for me, kind of ironic.”
Katie was dropped from her label, Columbia Records, back in 2024. She went home to the Highlands, where she was able to reconnect with the “root feeling” in making music that she’d felt she had been distracted from. It was during this time that she started working on what would become this EP.
“But also, it’s really fitting because the EP was written about wanting to run away from things at times…” she continues to say, “And I think this tour, as I said before, it goes back to that root feeling; it’s just me and the guitar for the most part.”
“…And the way I think about the career and the way I think about music has reached such a sense of peace now. It feels like really no pressure whatsoever. I don’t know why that is. There’s no version of success that I need to achieve to be happy. And that’s such a freeing thing, because you can just focus on the right things.”
Final Reflections
For her last words of advice to her past self and to those who listen to her, Katie talked about what she’s learnt in her journey these past years.
“I feel like I’m learning so much right now… I’m in this period of real reflection and I’m having a great time. The lessons I’ve learned as I was making the EP… I guess a lot of it is like: ‘Your version of success should be self-defined…’”
“I think just be patient and easier on yourself. That’s what I’m doing. If you’re young, you don’t need to be figuring it all out. Like, you’ll figure something out, then you’ll change your mind in like 2 minutes, and that’s quite alright.”
Katie’s songs put the tumultuous experience of youth in such a comfortingly witty way. With a keen insight and the lyrical and musical ability to express it, there is no doubt more people will continue to find her and her music.
More information about Katie and her upcoming tour can be found on her website.
Featured Image Credit: Megan Henderson
2nd year History & Journalism Student at the University of Stirling. Moved over from Sweden in 2024 to study in Scotland.
