Simple, Silly, Soulful. A Detroit native raised a little bit of everywhere else, Kristen Merritt has played everything from intimate coffee, bar and lounge settings, to larger festival-style events, and has delighted crowds no matter the room capacity. As a solo artist, Kristen has found her sound in the self-coined “high-key” (high energy) neo-soul genre, and spices up her set with the occasional funk or soulful pop song, telling a new story with every original and cover she gives her unique flavor to. And speaking of flavors, her favorite oscillates between peach and pineapple. 

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Kristen finds her musical roots in groups such as Take Six, and neo-soul greats such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott. These artists defined their genres in terms of their soulful musical compositions and lyrical storytelling ability, both elements in which Kristen takes great inspiration from when creating her own music. Newer inspirations of hers include artists such as Daniel Caesar, Jacob Collier, Hope Tala and H.E.R.

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In the two years of her solo career, Kristen has amassed a modest but excited and engaged following between Spotify, YouTube, and Instagram. Her second single, “Ending” garnered over 30000 streams on Spotify, having been added to the Spotify Editorial playlist “Fresh Finds: The Wave”. Subsequent singles of hers have been added to local Spotify Editorial Playlists including “New from NYC: R&B and Soul” and “New from NYC: Indie”. Of her musicianship and release of her well received single “Ending’ Doug Nunnally of The Auricular writes:

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"Glossy. Wistful. Poignant. Daring. The new single “Ending” from singer-songwriter Kristen Merritt is a soulful reverie of reflection, presented with a gracious sound & incisive lyrics."

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Kristen Merritt’s next project is her debut Album “Joi”, set to release later this year. After running a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the visual elements of her debut album, that overfunded at 243%, Kristen Merritt is set to release the album in late September, and will release three singles with accompanying music/lyric videos in May, June, and July, respectively.