Catching up with Kaylee Bell feels a bit like jumping into a moving car — the woman doesn’t slow down. Since we last sat together, she’s become a mum, released new music, toured Aotearoa, and somehow ended up performing with Jelly Roll after he sprinted side-stage to watch her set. It’s been a year of big moments and even bigger heart.

Kaylee talks openly about performing while heavily pregnant and returning to the stage just six weeks after having her son. That mix of naivety and grit carried her through, and now it filters into her writing too. Songs like Mankind, written with close friends in Nashville, have taken on a whole new meaning as she figures out motherhood alongside the rest of us.

Her shows have become their own community. Three generations turning up together, kids dressed like her, mums having a night out and singing their lungs out — that joy is what reminded her why she loves this work so much. And the support goes both ways. This year, Kaylee released a Christmas track to raise money for Starship, inspired by her own experience and a desire to give families some light when they need it most.

From cold-messaging icons to dreaming about Shania Twain hearing her tribute song, Kaylee brings the same warmth and guts to everything she does. It’s impossible not to root for her.

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