PentictonNow first encountered singer/songwriter Kennedy Smith during the 2019 Canada Day celebration at Gyro Park.
Sitting at a keyboard on the far right edge of the band shell, Smith had been handed the worst possible time slot of the day. She'd be first out of the gate at 10 a.m., playing to a couple dozen early-morning spectators, a bunch of vendors setting up their displays, and a pack of little kids knocking around golf balls on a makeshift course.
But Smith handled it like a pro, wowing those on hand with her singing prowess and interacting with the crowd just like it was prime time.
That she was just 15 years old made it all the more impressive.
Fast forward five months and Smith is still 15 and still at the keyboard. Only now she's in the basement of her parents place on Penticton's West Bench, where she's invited over some fellow musicians - 17-year-old drummer Tyler Dennis and 16-year-old bassist Jacob Magnuson - to try out the chemistry.
Smith likes the idea of playing part-time with a band. And today the trio is trying out a tune by rising pop singer Anika Rose called "In the End." Soon enough they have a pretty good groove going on.
But she hasn't given up her solo work. Not by a long shot. Indeed, Smith - who goes by the name Kennedy Lauren when performing because "Smith is so common" - has just recorded and released her first "serious" single. It's called "I'm Ready," and it's currently available on most popular music streaming services.
This whole music thing started early. Smith says she first tried piano when she was three. By five she was taking lessons. And by six she was taking singing lessons.
"I've just been into music since I was so young," she laughs. "My parents built me a playhouse, and it had to have a Hannah Montana stage in it."
Her first public performance came at nine, and at 12 she nailed a chance to play Peach Fest by winning her division at that year's Fresh BC Talent Quest. "My mom saw the Talent Quest poster and I said, 'Oh my gosh, I'd like to do that.'"
At 12, the songwriting kicked in. "I wrote my first song in my bedroom and came out and played it on the piano, and my parents were like 'Who's song is that?' And I told them I just wrote it. And they were like 'Wow.'"
But then it happened. Not long after becoming a teenager, Smith walked head-first into a wall. A wall of anxiety. Anxiety that quickly morphed into full-blown panic attacks.
It was a scary time.
"I'd never really had anxiety before," she says. "It first happened at the start of high school. It just kind of hit and I didn’t know what it was at first."
"But it got to the point where I didn't want to go out in public because I was worried about having a panic attack. And at school in certain classes, it would become a routine thing to have a panic attack. And I started to get scared. I didn't want to do things."
She had sessions with a counselor, and soon realized it wasn't the panic attack itself, but the fear of a panic attack that was her worst enemy. It's not an unusual story for anxiety sufferers.
"I mainly had a fear of hospitals," she says. "I was afraid of doing things and ending up there. That was my worst fear."
Not quite knowing where to turn next, she leaned on her passion. Big time.
"Music was one of those things that let me clear my head. I'm a big over-thinker, so music let me relax and my mind would be on it alone. I was doing something I loved. I'd even write songs about it."
These days, Smith feels she's got a handle on it. "It's still there, but I've learned how to deal with it. I've learned that it can't keep me from doings things I want to do and go places I want to go. It's just a fear, but you have to face it. It always passes, and when it does, you’re okay."
And she wants other kids (and adults) to know that if she can beat it, they can too.
"A saying I stand by is that 'I have anxiety, but it doesn't have me,' she says. "When I have anxiety, I go to my music. Everybody should have something special to them that makes them have positive thoughts."
According to mom Wendy, "Kennedy wants to help other kids and teens to continue pursuing their dreams, to not give up even if it gets hard. That it's okay to have those things, and there are ways to deal with it."
With "I'm Ready," Smith dives unabashedly into modern-day mainstream pop. With just a hint of revenge.
Written in just 45 minutes, she says the tune tells the tale of "me getting back at a guy who's played me. And he's not going to play me again."
"I was just sitting at the piano and I got the first lyric, 'I'm right here straight across the room,' and built it off that on piano. I wrote that first lyric down, and thought of a storyline."
And she's still riding high over the recording sessions at Kelowna's Arc House Studios.
"It was really cool. They had a sound booth, and another area where they mix. It was super calming in there. There was so much learning."
Part of that learning was singing and re-singing her lines with absolute accuracy to give the vocals a sense of fullness - a common recording studio technique. And she performed all the harmonies herself.
"We did so many takes of that. It took four hours just for the harmonies," she says. "Higher and higher and higher."
Next up, says Smith, is an I'm Ready video, which is currently in the planning stages. And then sometime in the next few months she'll delve into her song library to decide on a follow-up.
"I've written about 150 songs," she says, "and 30 of those I'd consider pretty good."
Currently, Smith and her bandmates - Dennis, who's a big Led Zeppelin fan and has already drummed at several rock festivals, and Magnuson, who discovered his love of the bass while playing in the Pen High concert band - are looking for other musicians, particularly a guitarist.
If you know someone who's interested, reach out to [email protected].
To check out "I'm Ready," go to this link or search for the song title or artist (Kennedy Lauren) at music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, or Google Play Music.
