Southern belle

Popular Kiwi country artist Kaylee Bell talks about balancing an international music career with home life and what the future holds

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Kaylee Bell is one of New Zealand’s finest music exports right now.

The country singer, originally from Waimate, has leapt onto the world stage and made a serious impression. She’s opened for Ed Sheeran, appeared on The Voice Australia, won Toyota Star Maker in 2013 and picked up the Global Country Artist Award at the CMA Awards in 2023. With her fourth album, Cowboy Up, hitting shelves, Kaylee chats to us about the careful balance between life and art.

Who lives in our house with you?

My partner Nick, son James and our dog Thunder.

Tell us about your home studio?

We set this up in 2017. I wanted to make it feel like a Nashville studio. There are lots of awards from both my career and my partner Nick’s career; he was in Midnight Youth. We've acquired a number of guitars, both acoustic and electric, over the years. It has a little kitchenette too, so you can spend a whole day down there if you need to.

How important is it to have a creative space in your house?

For me, this is really important and I really leaned into this on the new record