Think of Kindness, a.k.a. Adam Bainbridge, as the UN of music and fashion.
Preaching open-minded acceptance, Kindness attracts audiences of all races and sexualities with his R&B-tinged pop and androgynous style. “I’m on this permanent mission to put off anyone with a sort of prejudice,” he tells us in an interview.
The rising singer-producer is also changing the fashion landscape with a signature look: wide-brimmed hats and tailored trousers (sometimes from the women’s section) which are just as cool and effortless as his disco sound. Always carefully planned, his outfits bring concert-goers back to a Motown-era where dressing up for the crowd was considered an essential part of performance.
“I started wearing a lot of suits and men’s tailoring, because I thought it reflected that era when performing onstage was something that was taken deadly seriously,” says Bainbridge.
We caught up with the musician before his performance at Bowery Ballroom last weekend to talk onstage style and his personal mission to “put off meatheads.”
CHLOE DEWBERRY: How would you describe your onstage style? Is it different from the outfits you wear in real life?
ADAM BAINBRIDGE: It’s a mix. The thing about performing onstage for me is that it kind of takes you to a place where you can imagine watching the performers you admire. That could be Prince or Michael Jackson or Beyoncé, or some underground artist. They go beyond the everyday to be onstage. And they do that, not just for themselves, but for the audience. If I could afford the dry-cleaning bill, I might wear a suit everyday.
How do you get into the mindset of performing?
Just being around other musicians, you can sense the energy when the other artists start singing. I can’t really talk about it too much because it might jinx it, but we have a little ritual that we do before going onstage that puts us in the right mindset. Putting on clothes is a big part of it.
When you look out into the audience during one of your shows, what do you notice about the crowd?
I notice that it’s really multi-racial, which I like a lot. My mother is Indian and my father is English and that just makes me happy. I want to see as many different ethnicities at these shows as possible. It’s not favoritism, but if I see Indian kids or the one black kid in somewhere like rural Oregon, I just go, “Yes! This show is for you.” Because that was me in my hometown. The smaller the town, the more it’s dominated by a typical mainstream music culture. I’m just happy to see this whole mix of people. The gender mix is pretty cool too. Everyone represents different sexualities, as well.
It seems like you and your collaborators (Dev Hynes, Kelela, Solange) encourage these multi-culti crowds to come together.
I think about Robyn as a big androgynous gay icon; Dev is kind of getting to that point, too. You shout Kelela’s name at a show and people go crazy because of what she represents. It’s a nice time to exist in music because it’s so chill. You don’t really have to justify any of that stuff, you can just “be.” I’m very vocal about race and sexuality because if anyone has a problem with that, I don’t want them to come to the show. They can stay at home.
Preaching open-minded acceptance, Kindness attracts audiences of all races and sexualities with his R&B-tinged pop and androgynous style. “I’m on this permanent mission to put off anyone with a sort of prejudice,” he tells us in an interview.
The rising singer-producer is also changing the fashion landscape with a signature look: wide-brimmed hats and tailored trousers (sometimes from the women’s section) which are just as cool and effortless as his disco sound. Always carefully planned, his outfits bring concert-goers back to a Motown-era where dressing up for the crowd was considered an essential part of performance.
“I started wearing a lot of suits and men’s tailoring, because I thought it reflected that era when performing onstage was something that was taken deadly seriously,” says Bainbridge.
We caught up with the musician before his performance at Bowery Ballroom last weekend to talk onstage style and his personal mission to “put off meatheads.”
CHLOE DEWBERRY: How would you describe your onstage style? Is it different from the outfits you wear in real life?
ADAM BAINBRIDGE: It’s a mix. The thing about performing onstage for me is that it kind of takes you to a place where you can imagine watching the performers you admire. That could be Prince or Michael Jackson or Beyoncé, or some underground artist. They go beyond the everyday to be onstage. And they do that, not just for themselves, but for the audience. If I could afford the dry-cleaning bill, I might wear a suit everyday.
How do you get into the mindset of performing?
Just being around other musicians, you can sense the energy when the other artists start singing. I can’t really talk about it too much because it might jinx it, but we have a little ritual that we do before going onstage that puts us in the right mindset. Putting on clothes is a big part of it.
When you look out into the audience during one of your shows, what do you notice about the crowd?
I notice that it’s really multi-racial, which I like a lot. My mother is Indian and my father is English and that just makes me happy. I want to see as many different ethnicities at these shows as possible. It’s not favoritism, but if I see Indian kids or the one black kid in somewhere like rural Oregon, I just go, “Yes! This show is for you.” Because that was me in my hometown. The smaller the town, the more it’s dominated by a typical mainstream music culture. I’m just happy to see this whole mix of people. The gender mix is pretty cool too. Everyone represents different sexualities, as well.
It seems like you and your collaborators (Dev Hynes, Kelela, Solange) encourage these multi-culti crowds to come together.
I think about Robyn as a big androgynous gay icon; Dev is kind of getting to that point, too. You shout Kelela’s name at a show and people go crazy because of what she represents. It’s a nice time to exist in music because it’s so chill. You don’t really have to justify any of that stuff, you can just “be.” I’m very vocal about race and sexuality because if anyone has a problem with that, I don’t want them to come to the show. They can stay at home.