“Music is dope, and I love music.”
For any teenager, music is one of those things that is irreplaceable. For Kellan Christopher Cragg, this is more than true. Freshly 17, Cragg released his debut, full-length album, “Wrong Balloon.”
He’s been making music his whole life, however, he only started releasing it these last two years, with his first release “The Enno” EP in 2023. He produces everything himself, right down to the lyrics and compositions, creating a new definition of the indie musician. Taking the raw musicality from his first EP, he experiments with styles and layering, growing into a new version of his voice.
“The project took on a life of its own and became what it is today.”
Beginning the process of “Wrong Balloon” when he was 16, the album was finished in a month, fulfilling every high school musician’s dreams. “Wrong Balloon” rides an emotional rollercoaster that listeners get to experience along with Cragg. Having a strong DIY energy to it, each song gives the sensation of flipping through a photo album, releasing memories from the past.
The music videos, which are creatively directed and produced by Cragg, carries this same sentiment. Which he said was completely accidental. “They kind of just complete themselves and come together in the moment,” he said. “It’s much like the same thing of how the music comes together: it kind of just happens.
Growing Up Emotionally and Musically
Cragg inserts recorded moments of dialogue between tracks, giving the listener the privilege of hearing the process he went through to create the album. This made the album very human and related to its audience, breaking that fourth wall. A few stand-out tracks that do this are “GUN” and “HUGO 525.” It’s spontaneous and raw, which is an ode to his earlier works, keeping a familiar tone attached.
Compared to his earlier releases, he said, “The only difference is that I’m growing up. Living new parts of my life. Realizing more things. What remains, however, is me, the same kid, the same Kellan.”
During the process he explained that he didn’t sleep much, because it was a month-long project. “It was a very weird state of mind and state of flow that I don’t believe I’ll forget,” Cragg said. He said that although there wasn’t much rest, he wasn’t fatigued. For any artist, it’s a huge accomplishment, and being 17, it’s that much more impressive. “It feels like it finished itself. Like I wasn’t actually the one doing anything,” he said.
This surprised me, as I remember when I was 17, I was very hard on myself about things and would take things too seriously. “Wrong Balloon,” however, sounds exactly as Cragg explained. It seems effortless and has a certain flow that, while listening, just makes sense. As someone who listens to albums in their entirety, there are always those tracks that stand out among the others. But with this album, it was like they all bled into each other, like it was a lyrical movie.
That said, the penultimate track, “STEPWISE,” is perfectly placed. Just over 10 minutes in length, it has the rise and fall of any perfect story. It has a sense of teenage angst and that coming-of-age film glory. From the musicality to the lyrical momentum, this has become the reason I return to this album, and shows Cragg’s newfound strengths as a musician.
You can listen to “Wrong Balloon” wherever you get your music.
“I don’t need them to like it, hate it, or anything in between. I just want them to feel it for themselves.”