Kaiyah Mercedes Turns Exes Into Fuel With Sharp-Edged New Single

The following feature is now included in our online magazine which is also available in print.

Issue #3

There is something delicious about a song that laughs in the face of its subject, and Kaiyah Mercedes knows exactly how to pull it off. With I’m Gonna Be Famous, the Melbourne-based queer pop-rock artist flips the script on the exes, friends, and hangers-on who once tried to shrink her voice or claim credit for her rise. It's cheeky, snappy, and brimming with the sort of sassy attitude that's present in Lily Allen, Olivia Rodrigo, and pre-peaking Charli XCX's line — acts who understand how to attach flames to truth. 

The song explodes with jangly guitars, hooky hooks, and just the appropriate amount of grit. Kaiyah is both stubborn and playful sounding, spitting her back on past and stepping into own spotlight. At 19, she already has a woman's confidence in that she has rammed against the walls and not shrunk, instead taking up even more space. It is a song for anyone ever instructed to be quiet, smaller, less of themselves — and it throbs like a theme song, sneering and smirking in equal proportion.

Her ascent has been gradual but impressive. Two albums in with more than 1.2 million combined streams, Indie Arrivals, The Pop List, and Pop Sauce placements on Spotify, Kaiyah's established she ain't afraid of pushing genre. Indie pop is at its core, though folk and rock textures are woven throughout her songs, making her sound more like Phoebe Bridgers, Soccer Mommy, and beabadoobee. I’m Gonna Be Famous sharpens her sound even further, leaning into a rawer, rockier palette that suggests she is ready to throw punches instead of simply baring scars.

What makes Kaiyah stand out goes beyond the music. Diagnosed with autism and ADHD at 15, followed by a series of chronic illnesses, she has turned her body and brain into sources of resilience rather than restriction. Her music is not just catharsis, but maps of self-discovery, doorways to being young, queer, and unapologetically different. And that same honesty overflows into her live performances, which function more as point gatherers for community than as typical gigs. Fans are invited into a safe, charged environment that clinically reveres queer, disabled, and neurodivergent life — testimony that music can be art and sanctuary.

You can hear the echoes of pop culture's best comebacks against contempt and skepticism in I'm Gonna Be Famous. It takes the nod of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know, the teen zing of Mean Girls' revenge paybacks, and even the glee sting of Taylor Swift's We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. But Kaiyah never takes on the tropes. Instead, she weaves her own take into a funny and needed song. It's easy to picture this playing in bedrooms, car rides, or at the end of the night when you're messing around with friends about the people who didn't think you were good enough.

The song is also, however, a commentary on fame itself — who gets to own it, who gets left out of the narrative, and how frequently women and queer artists are informed their success isn't theirs. By satirizing those claims in so many words, Kaiyah owns her narrative and won't give the praise away to anyone who sought to put her fire out.

Admirers of the same level of energy will be able to find it in Wet Leg's debut snappy sarcasm, MARINA's Electra Heart campy venom, or even Fleabag's camp confidence. They all tread what it takes to mock rejection's pain and make strength out of hurt. Kaiyah is definitely a member of that legacy, laying down her own voice among the emerging ranks of emerging creatives who refuse to be silenced.

At just 19, Kaiyah Mercedes has already carved out a reputation as one of Melbourne’s most compelling voices. With I’m Gonna Be Famous, she is not asking for recognition — she is declaring it. And the fun of it all is that she is in on the joke, tossing her past detractors a grin as she keeps moving forward.

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