Katie Pearlman: One to Watch

It was February 2026 when KP messaged me out of the blue. I don’t know why she chose that day or why she chose me.

Many of you know that I have been writing seriously / regularly about music for around a year. In various other places, I had previously written about 2 profiles in 10 years of people like Maria McKee and Stevie Nicks. For reasons that were not consciously made decisions, way back in February 2025 I wrote a profile of someone I admired but who could not (yet) be considered famous: Lilly Winwood.

Lilly Winwood had become a fascinating musician for me. I had been drawn to her original songs by the cover she did of Higher Love with her dad. That was recorded years ago, when she was still at school, but I only heard it around December 2024.

Steve Winwood has been a constant presence in my life not only through that song, played everywhere on heavy rotation throughout the ‘80s, but through his song High Life, and especially when Warren Zevon covered it. It turns out that Steve Winwood could only write hit records beginning with the letters H and L. [Not true. ‘Back in the High Life Again’ is its full title. Ed.]

You can read a longer account of my year in music below.

Another early highlight of my year in music was discovering Lola Kirke, just a few weeks before her movie Sinners came out. I warmed to Lola for the same reasons I had warmed to Lilly.

Although Lilly grew up in England and sounds British, Lola was born in London and is the only one of the Kirke sisters to sound American. But with two British parents instead of one, Lola understood British humour and could do a pitch-perfect middle-aged English lady of the manor accent: her mother.

Better yet, both of Lola’s parents come from old English money and are descended from the aristocracy. I quickly began to associate the Kirke sisters with the Mitford sisters. I read Lola’s book, also then new out, Wild West Village. For a while, I might have been clinically obsessed. I met her on Thanksgiving in London and she signed my book. I believe the only way to experience her album Trailblazer in full colour is to read her book while you listen.

In my eyes, the world will not be in balance until Lilly Winwood and Lola Kirke are winning Grammys and filling stadiums.

However the most surprising aspect of my reading and writing about those two is that it allowed me to follow the dots to other musicians. It was through Lilly that I met Cyrena Wages. Lola brought me into contact with Chloe Kimes, a singer so talented and tasteful that she recognised me in London. My brother has never forgotten that day. Lola also introduced me to Willow Avalon and… Katie Pearlman.

It was February 2026 when KP messaged me out of the blue. I don’t know why she chose that day or why she chose me, but I was surprised. My writing had focused on people at the beginning of their journey, people perhaps well-known in their local areas who had day jobs, or who were starting to tour nationally in America, possibly planning their first UK shows.

Katie Pearlman was not someone I expected to hear from. She has written songs for Sabrina Carpenter and Kelly Clarkson and I could not believe she wanted me to write about her upcoming album. The more I played her music, new and old, and the more I read her Substack and researched her life, the more admiration I felt.

KP’s bio is a line from the Edie Brickell classic What I Am and she identifies as Lilith Fair. I remember Lilith Fair first-hand, not through the thrilling Disney+ documentary. I am old enough to have seen Sheryl Crow play for just 400 people in Manchester.

Like Lola, Katie is Jewish. the -man suffix on a family name is a dead giveaway, like Dettmann. Many Jewish-German families ditched the duplicated N to make themselves look less German... really odd when you think about it too long. Improbably, and absolutely not amusingly, one of my ancestors was Hermann Dettmann.

The reason people sometimes ask me to write stuff for them is presumably the same reason Katie’s songs resonate across continents and across generations. I really do my homework, I dig deep, I look beyond the obvious, and certainly beyond the music. What fascinates me is a good story.

That story might be found in the lyrics, like in a good ole country narrative song like Goodbye Earl, another thing I remember from the first time around, before the Chicks were called the Chicks. A great story might be found in the backstory of the songwriter too, and the people who affect me the most deeply are when those two things happen at the same time. That’s what authenticity means to me.

The thing about Katie Pearlman, and Lola actually, and so many of the musicians I write about is that they don’t understand how great they are. All artists are affected by doubt and guilt and anxiety at some point, and some more often than others. The current phrase is imposter syndrome but it has existed for centuries.

If writing is a hobby, this frees you up from some of the fear of failure. Not all of it, but you know you’re not going to starve, even if they write reviews such as my favourite one-star review. Three words: not a book.

At some point in the early ‘00s I made a conscious decision that my writing career was not worth starving myself for. I had a job offer from a top London consultancy at the very moment in history when everyone wanted to be a management consultant and they even made a drama series out of it, House of Lies with Don Cheadle.

I travelled the world and saw the Record Plant, Sausalito, where they recorded Rumours, on expenses. It was the right decision for me, but it inevitably stalled out my writing. Anyway, most male writers are over forty when they first get a novel published. What do you know about life at 21, really?

So I know some of what it means to be a professional artist. Imagine how much more deeply the fear of failure would strike if you depended on your music to eat! This is why I love writing about pro indie musicians. It’s their balls. They live a life I bottled out of.

Over the last few months, listening to Katie Pearlman’s new music, and trying to figure out how I will write about it when the time comes, I have been very severely struck by the range of emotions and styles she manages to cover. I started to realise a while ago that most pro artists can sing in virtually any style. Yes, they all choose one style for their own albums, and generally try to stay in a lane that makes sense to their audience. But quietly, behind the scenes, they can all sing any genre you can imagine.

I admired Katie because she might write for famous people who are essentially pop stars, but in fact she canned her own pop album after it had been recorded. This needs to be dwelt upon.

I have chucked books and many other projects for the same reason, because I lost faith in the output. Sometimes I have released a book that I lost belief in just to get it off my mind. Recording an album involves a fuckload more money than writing a book and it involves lots more people. Not only the musicians but the producer, the mixer, the candlestick maker. Katie had to find the resolve to tell her whole tribe that this album was going in the bin because she could not longer connect with it emotionally. I am shaking my head with awe as I write this. The sheer balls!

What I can tell you is that KP’s new music, her full-length debut album in fact, will not be going in any bin. I am sure she is slightly more excited to share it with you than I am, being so late to the party. Sometimes, though, a latecomer falls hardest of all. But I fully endorse this message and strongly recommend that you play some Katie Pearlman this very moment. If you don’t, your friends will, and you’ll be a step behind the curve yet again. Don’t be that person. Tell your friends: the album of 2026 is this one.

You can listen to Katie Pearlman’s music in all the usual places. You can dig a little deeper here and I strongly recommend her Substack, below. As you might expect she is on Instagram and TikTok.