On July 14, 2019, almost one month after the “Euphoria” pilot first aired on HBO Max, episode five would debut Maddie Perez’s backstory. After it premiered, TikTokers popularized the beginning line, “Maddie knew who she was at a very young age…” This quote characterizes Perez’s ability to stay confident and fully express herself. Perez’s assurance in her abilities to carve her own path reflects heavily on Ida B. Wells High School junior, Katie Potts.
Much like Perez, Potts knew what she wanted to do at an early age. When she was seven, Potts received her first guitar. Her stepdad, who was also a musician, taught her how to play in their in-home studio. “My brother played piano and drums, and my mom sings, so, my whole family is pretty musical,” Potts says.
With over a decade of experience on the guitar, Potts has branched out to other instruments, including the mandolin and piano. While practicing instrumental music, Potts has also picked up singing. She publishes her songs on SoundCloud and previews them on various social media accounts like TikTok and Instagram, where she has an expansive following.
Potts has a uniquely cozy voice that creates an indie-like texture in her music. Her songs feel like grass softly scratching at your back on a summer afternoon. In accompaniment with the gentle acoustics of her guitar, the line between indie and country meld together to paint a discography that feels like a watercolor sunset.
“[I draw inspiration from] Carole King, I really love her and like James Taylor— a lot of older music,” Potts says. “ [I’m also inspired] by my own experiences, but also by my family. They’re always giving me ideas and stuff. I feel more connected to them in a sense.”
Potts’ music is heavily reminiscent of the famous Georgia O’Keeffe and her landscapes. O’Keefe often painted in broad strokes and captured the vast mountain ranges of America’s desert lands. However, it wasn’t always a singular color or collection of colors. In her landscapes of New Mexico, the foreground of the desert hills is a dark orange, slowly blending into cooler colors the further the audience ventures into the background. This creates a perfect metaphor for Potts’s music. While her voice and acoustics are warm and relaxing, the more you dig into the layers of her music, you recognize its depth.
“I feel like a lot of my songs are very sad. Lately, I’ve written uplifting songs, but I feel like when you write uplifting songs, they’re not as good—they feel shallow,” says Potts. “But I like to have a mix of both. I think sadness is a more common emotion, something people can connect with. I feel like we focus our time on when we’re sad more than when we’re happy. [When] you’re happy, you’re not thinking about why you’re happy, you’re just enjoying the time. [But] when you’re sad, you’re like, ‘Wow, this is awful.’”
To share her vocal painting with the masses, Potts has gone beyond simply posting snippets on social media, routinely doing open mics on the first Wednesday of every month with fellow IBW Junior Cameron Kirkman. In fact, on March 5, Potts and Kirkman performed at the same venue where both artists showcased their original songs to an audience of friends, family and other paying guests.
“Be open to everything and try different things.” “Be experimental, even if it’s something you don’t want to do like, [for example the] open mics [when] it’s a Wednesday night. I just want to go home and relax, but the only way for me to be known is to actually go out and do things,” Potts says. “So push your name out. That’s what my thought [process] was. You don’t grow unless you spam,” says Potts.
At only 17 years old, Potts is already making a name for herself in the music industry. “My advice to my future self is to not get stretched too thin, because I feel like I can do that really easily now. Don’t put yourself in so many situations at the same time; it simply overloads us,” Potts says.
Marketing herself by posting snippets on social media and performing at open mics, she’s well on her way to becoming an inspiration for other young artists in the future.
