NAME: “Kirby” means “church settlement.” But she’s Satan!

AGE: A baby with a projected 200 years until adulthood, at least in the videogame.

FROM: Planet Popstar, where she lives in a dome-shaped house in the country of Dream Land.

OCCUPATION: Main protagonist in a series of videogames by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory; professional “Juniper” cocktail maker.

HOBBIES: Opening her mouth very wide to inhale foes and gain their properties; inflating herself with air to fly. She also enjoys going to Guitar Center, where she engages in conversation with the worst men you have ever met and buys nothing.

LAST BOOK YOU READ: The Bell Jar.

LAST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Fighting enemies, solving puzzles, challenging bosses, abandoning the evangelical Christian church from which she came.

QUOTE: “Poyo!”

PROFILE: A crisis of faith brought forth the sparse, punkish chamber pop of Katy Kirby. And we’re talking a real-deal life change, from homeschooling and worship music in Spicewood, Texas, to indie rock, a short haircut, and a too-good-for-its-own-good interpolation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” on her track “Secret Language.” (As we imagine someone might have told Cohen before beginning his diet of hash, acid, and amphetamines, “Don’t knock it till you try it.”) In a rock ’n’ roll world absent of heart, she’s bleeding with the stuff; a future combination of Alex G, Waxahatchee, and the camp of an ol’ pair of brown leather cowboy boots.*

*It should also be said that despite many of the answers outlined above, Katy Kirby is not to be mistaken for the beloved pink videogame character Kirby, unless the opportunity presents itself to be funny.

Thanks for reading CREEM. This article originally appeared in our Spring 2023 issue. If you prefer to read in print, grab a copy here and subscribe to never miss another one.