Katie Gregson-MacLeod: 'I’m a Folk Singer-Songwriter First and Foremost'

A few years ago, Katie Gregson-MacLeod left her home city of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands to go to uni in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. But after completing three years of a four-year history degree, Gregson-MacLeod put her studies on hold and returned to Inverness.

She had good reason for doing so – Gregson-MacLeod’s 2022 single ‘complex’ has now notched up more than 17 million global streams after its chorus went viral on TikTok earlier in the year. In the wake of her runaway TikTok success, Gregson-MacLeod issued the close and intimate demo version of ‘complex’ as a single.

A few months later, the Scottish singer-songwriter delivered a more anthemic studio production of ‘complex’, with assistance from Adele, Sia and Foo Fighters producer, Greg Kurstin. Music Feeds chats to Gregson-MacLeod from her home in Inverness about her love of folk music and her future outlook.

Katie Gregson-MacLeod – ‘complex’ (official video)

Music Feeds: What was the arts culture like in Inverness when you were growing up?

Katie: It’s a very small place, small town vibe. So, there’s not like a booming culture here. I think the main culture would be Highland traditional folk, which is amazing and has influenced me in its own way. But comparing it to Glasgow – and even Edinburgh compared to Glasgow – there’s just nowhere near the amount of things going on and the amount of emphasis on arts and on music.

MF: That kind of folk music didn’t appeal to you as a songwriter?

Katie: No, it totally did. I’m like a folk singer-songwriter first and foremost. Indie-folk is how I would always describe [my music]. But I didn’t fully get into folk until I was a wee bit older, maybe 17 or 18.

For the first while I associated it with tartan and bagpipes, you know – like VisitScotland. But when I was 18, I started frequenting Scottish pubs and folk bars, in Inverness but predominantly in Edinburgh, and that changed a lot for me. I really got into folk then and the music that I listened to expanded.

MF: And that’s had an influence on your songwriting?

Katie: Yeah. Sitting around in a pub and one at a time playing on the guitar, playing a song on your own acoustic, that’s kind of where all my music starts. That’s where I find probably the most joy from music and writing. Every weekend going to the Captain’s Bar in Edinburgh, which is my favourite folk pub, like going every few days and just being like, “I wrote this song yesterday.” I love it. Folk has hugely influenced me and a lot of my favourite artists are very folky artists.

MF: Before you got into traditional Scottish folk music at 17, 18, what were you listening to?

Katie: When I was growing up, it was just a bit of everything. My mum plays piano, so she’s a huge music fan and there was such appreciation in my house for music. So, I felt like I got a good range of music in growing up – a lot of singer-songwriters, a lot of soul, more folky stuff like Joni Mitchell, and jazz and musicals – just everything.

When I was growing up and doing performances, it was like poppy, folky – I would always say pop folk.

MF: Do you think ‘complex’ is a pop song?

Katie: I’m definitely still pop folk.

Katie Gregson-MacLeod – ‘complex (demo)’

MF: The demo of ‘complex’ was your breakout single. You’ve released a Greg Kurstin-produced studio version. Does the song feel richer for having re-recorded it?

Katie: I actually didn’t even record it with Greg. It was actually just the demo that we used. So that’s nice – it feels like you really maintain so much of the integrity of the demo because that’s what people connected to so much.

It was very important for me to release that demo in its rawest form. I recorded it in Edinburgh with an engineer called Rod Jones. It was a live take, me singing it once, not even comped. I just found that important to do because also the nature of the song’s popularity was based upon a very raw 45 second clip of the song and I wanted to maintain a bit of that.

There was a bit of nervousness around releasing the rest of the song because the chorus went viral. There was obviously a bit of fear of like, “What if they just hate the rest of it?” But it ended up going really well.

MF: What was it like working with Greg Kurstin?

Katie: He’s very subtle and he really understood the emotion of the song in terms of what to protect and not to throw everything at it for the sake of it. So, yeah, he was the perfect person and gave it very understated production.

MF: Are you nervous about the next thing you release, seeing as ‘complex’ has been so successful?

Katie: I think there is that added pressure to everything now. Obviously with a bigger audience and having more than just me doing it off my own back, there’s always going to be added pressure. But especially in the music that I will be releasing next, I’ve just got a lot of faith in it and I’m really happy with it, which has taken away some of that nervousness. Of course everything has pressure added it to it now, but I’m excited for the next stuff that comes out.