Castlemaine singer-songwriter Kian has shared his first new music of 2024, ‘Try Hard’. The song is slated to appear on his debut album Wake Up, which is scheduled for release later this year. His 2023 single ‘The Way’ is also expected to appear on the album. Kian originally wrote the song with fellow singer-songwriter Nick Ward, although the original version the pair made together was later lost due to a hard-drive malfunction.
It was ultimately remade with producers Pip “Count Bounce” Norman and Rob Amoruso, who have worked with Kian on several singles in the past. According to Kian, the song is an intentional flip of the dismissive term “try-hard”, dropping the hyphen to make the title literal – as in, to try hard. “I wanted to flip the term on its head from something negative to something I can own,” he said in a press statement. “After all, since when is caring a lot about something you love and trying the hardest to make it happen not cool?
“Chasing a dream and doing things out of the norm can be thrown back at you as if you think you are better than your peers. I struggled a lot with this growing up, feeling embarrassed, judged, and, in turn, placing that judgment upon myself. As life has gone on, I’ve come to know this is often something that stems from people feeling frustrated that they don’t have it within them, or at least haven’t found what it takes to do these things themselves.”
A music video for ‘Try Hard’, directed by Matt Wilson of AW Studio, has also been shared. It can be viewed below.
Kian – ‘Try Hard’
Ahead of Wake Up‘s official announcement, Kian has been announced as the main support on The Band CAMINO‘s upcoming national tour. He will join the band for their east-coast dates this March: Friday the 1st at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre, Sunday the 3rd at Melbourne’s 170 Russell and Tuesday the 5th at Sydney’s Metro Theatre.
Further Reading
KIAN and Becca Hatch Unite on New Collab ‘All of Me’