Downtown Kayoto searches for the outside in “Lite”

Contrary to the expression, moths are not attracted to flames. Millions of years of evolution trained the insects to fly straight based on the position of the sun or moon. The appearance of either flame or fluorescent disorients them because suddenly there are more light sources than there ought to be.

Enter Chiko Chinyadza, a.k.a. Downtown Kayoto.

Just as the post-pandemic world raced outside, Chinyadza locked himself indoors and sought to invest in his musical artistry. Away from the sun and moon, his internal clock became warped by too much time between walls.

Adding insult to injury, inspiration never came. He says, “During a year that I took a break from my studies to pursue music properly, I was in the house so much. I thought when I put school on pause the music would just naturally flourish and things would just work with all of the effort I had put in prior…but that wasn’t what happened, there was more work to be done.”

"Lite" cuts in immediately at the chorus and observes, “I been moving faster from the light / I been losing anger for the fight / I been feeling nauseous all alone since 9am.” The melody is unlike anything in the more than a dozen singles under his Downtown Kayoto guise since 2017. It echoes the spontaneous feel of Outkast or Cee-Lo, as opposed to the lovesick mixture of Post Malone, Drake, Miguel, and Frank Ocean employed in the past. He has landed on a sound to match the eccentric visuals that have become the hallmark of his singles’ artwork and music videos.

The verses, however, are every bit the menacing flow he has brandished over the years. This time the target is himself, “I been living in a bag and a sofa / Tryna fight the feeling / But I feel it man it’s over.” His crisis of confidence is very real.

“"Lite" is a song about fomo and feeling so slumped to a point in which you start doubting yourself and your own capabilities,” Chinyadza says. “Reinvention and growth. This song was birthed from this frustration as well as greed. I still have so much going for me, but in this song I allowed myself to vent.”

That last sentence indicates that the slump is over. In early July, Other Projects (Nine8, Fredwave, Khakikid) will release his six-song EP, Learning In Public, comprising “Lite” – accompanied by a Jack Laboz-directed video – as well as three recent singles.