Kam Prada on vulnerability in his debut EP Heartbreak Hotel

By Nimra Amir, April 10 2022—

Calgary-based recording artist Kam Prada released his debut EP Heartbreak Hotel on March 4, accompanied by two music videos for songs “Fast Life” and “Mixed Emotions.” 

With over seven million combined streams from his last few singles and a notable presence on social media platforms like TikTok where he has over 139,000 followers, Prada has received press coverage from TheHypeMagazine and HipHopDX. With such a strong fan base established so early on, the future is promising for this up-and-coming Indian Canadian artist. 

His debut EP, while lyrically emotional, is packed with high-energy beats to take listeners through the stages of heartbreak with Prada’s dynamic sound, throughout which, Prada hits on every emotion that heartbreak consists of. We hear not only the expected sadness but also anger, regret, confusion, fear and acceptance.

The music videos, shot in Los Angeles, serve to bring these emotions from Prada’s story in Heartbreak Hotel to life. The Gauntlet sat down for an interview to learn more about the artist and this project.

With no prior musical experience, Prada at 18 years old made his first song from a hip-hop beat that a friend had given him. 

“We were just kids having fun,” he says. There was no expectation or pressure, music was just an outlet for Prada when a lot in his life was changing. 

He had initially put out music under a different name, but shortly after doing so, the COVID-19 pandemic had allowed him to work on his craft and rebrand as Kam Prada. He says that this year and a half was an integral development period where he focused on simply gaining the knowledge he needed to become a good artist.

“When I started music, I was not automatically good, I had to practice to get good,” he says.   

This development was not just limited to his music but also his business. 

“To be successful as an independent artist, you need to turn nothing into something,” he says. This is where he places importance on also being an entrepreneur. For Prada, this was a learned skill he gained with the help of the connections he had made over the years through networking.

This business-focused approach is also exactly how Prada manages his social media presence. While others say that Calgary is less resourceful for artists when compared to cities like Toronto or Vancouver, Prada has realized his success so far has been largely attributed to promoting his music on social media so it does not matter where he is. 

Even the hate comments on social media — that all artists experience to some extent —  do not bother Kam at all. He says that the algorithm for social media platforms like TikTok just sees hate comments as comments so regardless of what the commenter’s intentions are, the content will only be promoted more so that it can eventually reach the right people. 

In fact, Kam credits his most viral TikTok video with over four million views for gaining as much popularity as it did partially because of the hate comments it had received. 

It is eventually through the progress that Kam had made over the COVID-19 pandemic, in both his music and his business, that he came to the realization — despite pressures as a South Asian person to pursue a more traditional career like a doctor, lawyer or engineer — that it was not far-fetched to pursue being an artist as a career. 

Heartbreak Hotel, created as a more conceptual body of work, is an especially memorable project in Prada’s career so far because of the vulnerability he expressed in it. Even though Prada had previously shied away from such vulnerability in his music, he knows that ultimately it is the vulnerability that is going to set him apart and have an impact on people’s lives no matter how challenging it may be. 

“I want people to have something they can relate to, to know that they are not alone,” he says.

Be sure to give Heartbreak Hotel a listen on Spotify, Apple Music or SoundCloud and watch the accompanying music videos on Youtube.

To keep updated with Prada, follow him on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.