Stream "Filter", the New EP From Cincinnati Based Pop Artist Katie Bates
Filter is the second EP project from American pop artist Katie Bates. It will be released on March 22, 2019 by Katie Bates/Amada Records. It has been 2 years since she released her first self-title EP, “Katie Bates”, whom she co-wrote with Dolly Parton’s musical producer and director Kent Wells, in Nashville. For “Filter”, she joined forces with songwriter Tejai Moore from the GS Boyz. Bates and Moore wrote “Pretty Toned Filter”, “Love Again”, “Shifting Gears”, and “Hurts So Good” together. Bates wrote “Naked” and “Heart You Times Two”. The EP’s contents were produced in Cincinnati at Blacklite Productions with producer Tony “2Tone” Burkhart. “Filter” takes on a completely different lyrical theme than Bates’ debut self-title EP. “Filter” takes on a more mature image as a pop artist opposed to the country/pop of the self-titled EP. Primarily a pop album, “Filter” also contains influences of electro-pop, alternative, and RnB.
“Filter” was written and recorded from October 2018 to February 2019. All of the lyrics on Filter, Bates wrote at her full time job as a receptionist at an Orthopedic clinic. “Writing lyrics and putting them into a song is cheaper than therapy sessions. I didn’t have a very challenging job so I got bored very quickly and would just write lyrics and poems while I was at work.” The EP’s lyrics mostly deal with the theme of romance. “There’s a lot of story-telling. Lyrics are very important to me. I like when a song tells a story.” The songs feature different metaphors of love. Producer Tony Burkhart said that each song portrays Bates as a “starry-eyed romantic.”
Bates’ current single, “Naked”, is featured on three compilation albums through Amada Records and the DJ Grid. One album, “Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica”, hit #1 on the Billboard Reggae charts, earning Bates her first Billboard plaque.
Two more songs off of the EP are receiving positive attention, which are “Pretty Toned Filter” and “Heart You Times Two”. “Pretty Toned Filter” is about living within a filter, where everything seemed real but nothing was real. “Heart You Times Two” was inspired by Orange Is the New Black’s character Piper Chapman; when she was describing how home felt, she said, “it feels like coming home after a long trip.”
If you’re a fan of Khalid, Taylor Swift, or Alessia Cara, you’ll love the “Filter” EP, so stream and share it below and be sure to connect with Katie Bates on her social media!