INDI KENDALL JOY
Session 2 Episode 2
INDI KENDALL JOY
Indi is an emerging songwriter who uses music to explore storytelling, symbolism, culture and social issues. In her Next Chapter interview with host Emma, she explains that her songwriting is heavily influenced by literary techniques and her wider interest in the arts. Rather than writing without purpose, Indi builds songs around stories, emotions and messages, often drawing from personal experiences, her friends and subjects she has studied.
Her songwriting process changes from song to song. Sometimes she begins with scattered words and ideas in a word map, while other songs arrive within minutes. This flexible approach allows her work to keep growing and evolving.
Two songs discussed in the interview are Lion and Ant. Lion is inspired by Indi’s Macedonian father, her cultural background and a psychology paper about domestic violence. The song uses repeated ideas of protection, fear and control to create emotional tension.
Ant, short for The Absurdity of the Anonymity of Her No-Named Title, was inspired by Henry Lawson’s The Drover’s Wife. It explores the way women’s identities and contributions can be overlooked, while also honouring Big Mama Thornton.
With her first music video currently being edited, Indi’s next chapter is already beginning.
Full Video - Premiers August 6th 2026 - 7pm
Next Chapter Interview
Indi Finds Meaning Between the Lines
For Indi, songwriting is never just about finding a catchy melody. It is about uncovering the story underneath it.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Next Chapter series, Indi spoke with host Emma about literary techniques, cultural identity, social issues and the importance of giving every song a purpose.
Her approach feels closer to writing a short story than creating a standard pop song. Symbolism, character, imagery and hidden meanings all play an important role in her work.
“I’m a sucker for literary techniques,” Indi explained.
She often takes inspiration from her own experiences, stories shared by friends and issues she has encountered through her studies. Rather than simply retelling these moments, she expands them into larger narratives that allow listeners to find their own meaning.
This love of interpretation extends beyond music. Indi describes herself as a supporter of the broader arts, enjoying the process of examining an artwork and noticing the smaller details, symbols and choices made by its creator.
She also considers herself a maximalist when it comes to meaning. While aesthetic value remains important, she wants her work to have a reason for existing.
That perspective makes her music feel unusually thoughtful for an emerging artist.
Writing Without a Formula
Indi does not follow one fixed songwriting method.
Sometimes she begins with a word map, filling her notes with disconnected phrases and ideas before finding a way to bring them together. On other occasions, a song can arrive almost completely within 10 or 15 minutes.
Instead of treating this inconsistency as a problem, she sees it as part of her growth.
Her process changes alongside her experiences, allowing each song to take its own form. This willingness to experiment is one of the most interesting parts of her development as an artist.
Indi is not trying to perfect one formula.
She is building a collection of creative tools and learning when to use each one.
Family, Language and the Story Behind Lion
One of the songs discussed during the interview was Lion, a work in progress inspired partly by Indi’s Macedonian father.
Wanting to honour his language, she included short Macedonian phrases within the lyrics, including words meaning “little kitten”. These details give the song a personal connection to family, heritage and the way language can carry emotion between generations.
However, Lion also draws from a far heavier subject.
While studying psychology in 2023, Indi completed a paper involving domestic violence. She felt that some of the examples used in the material were outdated and did not fully represent the complexity of these situations.
That frustration became part of the song.
In her performance, the lion becomes more than a simple symbol of strength. It appears caring and protective, but also threatening and controlling. The lyrics repeatedly shift between protection, pretence and defence, creating uncertainty about whether safety is genuine or only being promised.
The song does not provide an easy answer. Instead, it explores the emotional confusion that can exist when protection and fear begin to overlap.
Giving Unnamed Women a Voice
Indi’s other work in progress, Ant, has an even longer full title: The Absurdity of the Anonymity of Her No-Named Title.
The idea began with an English essay about Henry Lawson’s The Drover’s Wife. Indi became interested in the fact that the central female character is never given her own name. She is identified only through her relationship with a man.
From there, the song developed into a wider examination of the injustices women may face in workplaces, bars and everyday public spaces.
The track also honours Big Mama Thornton, whose performance of Hound Dog came before the version made internationally famous by Elvis Presley.
By connecting Thornton with The Drover’s Wife and the real experiences of her friends, Indi gives attention to women whose names, stories or contributions have often been ignored.
These are ambitious ideas for a song, but Indi does not present them like a classroom essay. She turns them into emotional images, repeated phrases and characters that listeners can interpret in their own way.
A Performance Filled With Tension
Indi’s Next Chapter performance of Lion is poetic, theatrical and deliberately uncomfortable.
The song opens like a story being passed between generations, introducing a lion whose glory is accompanied by a burden. As the performance develops, the language becomes less certain.
Is the lion protecting someone, controlling them or convincing them that the two things are the same?
Words such as “protect”, “pretend” and “defend” return throughout the performance, taking on different meanings each time. The repetition becomes more intense as the song progresses, creating the feeling of a thought that cannot be escaped.
The vocal delivery also shifts between spoken storytelling, melody and emotional urgency. Rather than following a predictable structure, the song moves according to the story it is trying to tell.
It is complex, but that complexity is the point.
Indi wants listeners to think beyond the first meaning of a lyric. Her songs invite people to notice what is being said, what is being hidden and whose perspective may be missing.
The Next Chapter
Indi revealed that her first music video is currently being edited, with a release expected in the future.
For an artist whose work is already filled with visual imagery and symbolism, moving into music videos feels like a natural next step. It will give her another way to build meaning around her songs and bring the stories inside them to life.
Indi is still developing her sound, but she already has a clear creative identity.
She is not interested in writing music simply to fill silence. She wants to explore culture, identity, power and the stories people often overlook.
In a music industry that can prioritise quick hooks and short attention spans, Indi is choosing to slow down and make every word matter.