Settle Down

Kimbra Lee Johnson was born on 27 March 1990 and grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand. Her father, Ken Johnson, was the head doctor at the University of Waikato's student health centre and her mother was an orthopaedic nurse. Kimbra attended Hillcrest High School, rising to prominence as a musician after competing in the national schools' competition Rockquest for three years running, where she was awarded second place in 2004 when aged 14-years-old. At the age of 10, Kimbra had begun writing songs, at 12-years-old Ken bought her a guitar and "after a few years of lessons, she was on stage, performing with her guitar tutors (she was never taught to sing)". Kimbra made her first music video, "Smile", for the children's TV show What Now. Kimbra was a member of the Hillcrest High Jazz choir, Scat, and her teacher, Sue Radford described her as "a very talented young person in a range of different areas".

In June 2010 Kimbra's first single on Forum 5, "Settle Down", was released. She had started writing the track four years earlier – it was finished with François Tétaz. The music video was directed by Guy Franklin. Perez Hilton featured the track on his website citing "If you like Nina Simone, Florence & The Machine and/or Bjork, then we think you will enjoy Kimbra – her music reminds us of all those fierce ladies!" On 10 December, the Australian 'indietronica' group Miami Horror released their single, "I Look to You" featuring Kimbra's vocals. Kimbra also stars in its music video, which features wide-angle and kaleidoscope shots of her in face paint and dresses walking through golden fields.

Kimbra's music delves beyond the "four chord cliché but still maintains strong hooks and catchy melodies that are sometimes unpredictable but satisfying".

She is a very different young singer dressed in antique style beyond her age. Her music is very different. Not very sweet. In settle down, she dressed like a doll which is cute but dark. The little girls shown in the video are pretty scary. It is her style.

Her 2012 tour includes October 23 (Tuesday) at Washington DC 9:30 Club (815 V St NW 20001 Washington, DC, US).