YouTuber’s Passion for the Unusual Becomes a Full-Time Job

Her electronic cover of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" logged close to 40,000 hits on YouTube in March, and that's just her most recent piece to make waves. From her home in Kansas, artist and musician Kawehi makes crazy beats by mashing the decades, belting out Michael Jackson and looping it perpetually, and spinning cycles of Britney Spears' tunes on the floor in front of her couch.

Kawehi gives the Good News Blog a look at life as a musician and YouTube sensation.

EGN: Your music is amazing! Tell us a little bit about yourself.

K: I'm 31. Right now, I live in Lawrence, Kansas and my full-time job is... you're looking at it! Musician. Singer/Songwriter. Loop fanatic. My husband and I quit our day jobs two years ago to pursue being creative full time -- and it's been quite the up/down journey, but I wouldn't change anything for the world!

EGN: How did you get into music and create such a unique concept?

K: I've always been into music -- even as a little kid. I was nicknamed "lekio" -- which means "radio" in Hawaiian. I recently started making music through creating live loops after deciding that I was bored with just playing guitar and singing. I had all of these ideas and sounds in my head, but none of it was coming through with just a guitar and singing. After researching, I found the right gear for me, and pretty much locked myself in my garage and taught myself how to make the kind of music I do now. I learned a lot of things through watching tutorials on YouTube. It's a wonder what you can learn through the Internet nowadays!!

EGN: When turning bands like Nirvana into electronic numbers, what's important to keep intact, and where do you get creative?

K: As for covers, my approach is always this: The original song is fantastic the way it is. Why replicate it exactly the same way?

EGN: Any song off-limits?

K: No song off-limits -- well, nothing that I've come across yet.

EGN: What do you think about being a YouTube sensation and what are your goals?

K: I love being a Vimeo sensation. Vimeo is a great hub for creative people, and if they're fired up about your art, then I feel like I'm doing something right, but being any kind of sensation is never a goal for me. I seriously just want to keep creating the kind of music that I want to... and be able to pay the bills. It isn't an easy job, so being able to do that is an incredible feeling. People are constantly asking me what "The Dream" is -- well, I'm living the dream, baby!

You can catch more of Kawehi's work here!