‘Chicago kid’ KAINA explores the many meanings of home on heartfelt new album

On her new album, “It Was A Home,” out Friday, Chicago singer, songwriter, producer and musician KAINA explores and celebrates the many meanings of “home” over the course of 12 breezy, finely-tuned tracks that see poetic lyrics woven into lush, flowing arrangements.

It’s an album that blends the tender songwriting of 1970s-era Carole King and Stevie Wonder with floating, reverb-kissed harmonies of 1960s pop, rhythmic layers and textures of salsa, soulful melodies of 2000s pop and R&B, and tempered experimentation and moods of indie-pop.

Tracks like “Anybody Can Be In Love,” “Good Feeling” and “Golden Mirror” examine various types of love and the different “homes” we can find in others. Songs like “Sweetness,” “Apple” and “Friend of Mine” guide listeners toward introspection and delve into finding the strength and security of home in yourself. While the title track and “Casita” celebrate the spaces shared with loved ones and the homes we hope to make in the future.

“Home” as a symbol is something KAINA has been exploring since she was about 16, when she penned the lyrics for what would become “House,” the track that leads her 2019 debut album “Next To The Sun.”

“It Was A Home,” asks “who am I outside of that? Who am I once I have a pulse on my position and my identity in the world?” the 26-year-old explained during a recent interview.

“[‘Home’] is so encompassing of all of these,” she said. “You can call yourself ‘the home’ or your family ‘the home’ or your friends and your community ‘the home.’ It’s just so multifaceted what happens in a home,” she said.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The turn inward for KAINA’s sophomore record was inspired by moving into a new apartment in Humboldt Park during the initial waves of the pandemic in 2020. There, she had the time alone to reflect and re-examine her life while making a new home.

By 2021, “the floodgates opened,” and she spent the year writing, recording and producing in her home with her partner and longtime collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Sen Morimoto.

The album’s title track was the catalyst for the whole project, KAINA said. On it, she sings of her childhood home in Irving Park, where she “used to live in a little room in the middle house with a crooked view.” Glossy, nostalgic images of catching lightning bugs and her parents’ late-night dance parties shimmer on the verses before KAINA declares “It was home — not a hill,” on the chorus.

“As a first-gen kid, there’s so many times when your family’s like, ‘One day we’ll do better — we’ll move into a better home, we’ll move into a better apartment,’” said the artist, born Kaina Castillo to Venezuelan and Guatemalan parents.

“It Was A Home” is about making peace with the past and assuring her 8-year-old self that the home her family made was more than enough, she said. But it’s also about letting go of any guilt felt around not enjoying it enough, she said.

By the time she finished making the album, her parents moved out of that childhood home. It was a cathartic, full-circle moment, she said.

“My parents immigrated to Chicago and I’m a product of that,” she said. “I’m a Chicago kid who is creating music inspired by Chicago with the influences of where my parents come from.”

Growing up, some of KAINA’s earliest experiences performing came through her 10 years as a member of the Happiness Club, a youth organization where participants write, choreograph and perform original pieces.

She continued to hone her craft as an artist, writing and releasing music during stints as a student at DePaul University and an intern for major Chicago musicians such as Vic Mensa, Jamila Woods and Noname.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

KAINA points to the legacy of mentorship and collaboration in Chicago music as a point of pride and something that has molded her as an artist, citing a lineage connecting The O’My’S, to Kids These Days, Chance the Rapper, Saba, Jean Deux and many others.

“We all came from a poetry space or a youth organization space,” she said. “We have this beautiful cycle in Chicago of: mentorship — the next one is up, mentorship — the next one is up.”

This strong pride in her hometown and mentorship will be on full display Saturday at the Metro, where she’ll headline an album release show supported by local rising artists Semiratruth and Silas Short.

“I’m just so excited to share that space with them,” she said. “You know, get back to a Chicago night where you’re like, ‘Wow everyone in this city is so good and anything can happen here.’ That’s a classic feeling you run into at a show in Chicago on any given night.”