101. Single Review of Wildflower by Kat Yvonne

Originally Published March 14th, 2025

About the Artist

When I worked on the summer staff for Appalachia Service Project, I enjoyed my office more than anything. My office didn’t have a very fancy desk, a name plaque, or a computer. But it did have a view. I was out in the natural world every day. Sunrises and sunsets would paint every sky. The Appalachian Mountains were monuments that stood older than time. 

My staff members and I didn’t have televisions. We didn’t have internet service (the internet was hardly a thing back then). We hiked. We scoped out local swimming holes hidden in the mountains. We had a deep connection with nature.

Those memories have been everlasting as I can close my eyes and instantly be transported back there. I can smell the crisp morning air and feel its condensation. I feel the warmth in my heart and the smile on my face, in spite of the string of sleepless nights. Many songs I’ve written have been inspired by these moments at that time. This is a feeling I believe that Kat Yvonne can relate to as well.

Canadian singer and songwriter Kat Yvonne found a connection between her music and her deep love for nature. She describes her debut album, 2022’s Hiding in Leaves, as a “love letter to nature.” (Spotify Bio). As I listen to it, I hear the correlation. Songs like Sun Showers that sound like spring water trickling into a stream. Or Glow in the Dark, with its panned acoustics guitars, sounding like they were played by a campfire in the woods. 

Post Hiding in Leaves, Yvonne has had one other release; a single called Hold On, which was a collaboration with fellow Fifteen Minutes of Fame alumni, AiramFM. Hold On released in 2024, two years after Hiding in Leaves. This time, however, she wouldn’t have us wait as long between releases with 2025’s release of Wildflower.

About the Song

Wildflower is a single released by Canadian singer/songwriter, Kat Yvonne. It was released on February 14th, 2025. At just over 4 minutes, it features Yvonne on vocals and acoustic guitar, accompanied by light percussions and synths. Wildflower is Kat Yvonne’s first release of 2025.

About the Music

Wildflower is a particularly soothing folk song. Its not a slow song or a ballad by any means; it has a significant tempo and a particular timbre in its performance. The acoustic guitars are panned and faded into the song as the song sort of approaches, then is there all around me. A stunning audio performance and production technique as it could easily be equated to standing in a field of wildflowers.

It’s a perfect sound seasonally, as the song has a “spring” sound to it. It is bright and it sort of emerges. Vocally, Yvonne doesn’t force her voice onto her listeners. Instead, it’s a cordial experience, as if she is introducing herself. She has moments where she is all but whispering, almost seductively. Then, as the song builds and backing vocals are incorporated, they are performed in a way that almost resembles a company of dancers more than a choir of singers.

When performing in her higher register, and singing higher parts, she releases out of phrases in a manner that is like weeping, or a sigh. Her vocal performance is very emotional. It’s almost spiritual. She has a deep connection to what she is singing about.

I think this is a beautiful song, melodically. It is so many things but committed to none of them. It has a slow feel and energy but it rebels with a liveliness behind the strum pattern and the movement of backing vocals. It has a quietness in the subtlety of its entrance, but a percussion that gives a louder, more abrupt cadence. Wildflower embodies its namesake as at times it is as uniform as a field of wildflowers and at times, as diverse as one. 

About the Lyrics

Lyrically, wildflower reads like a love letter or a poem to honor nature. Just as the melody of the vocals perform in a dance, so do the lyrics, as if they are stepping into and out of metaphor with each locomotor. 

“Water color canyon, ethereal dream. A calypso orchid near a caustic stream. Indian paint brush, painted rock. Fireweed at the feet of black trunk bark. 

Wildflower, side of the road, between pavement and fence. No where wild left to go, yet they are there wherever you roam. Stating off at the reservoir, always so far from home.”

She captures the essence of the object of this song in a personified way, as if to describe the wildflower as a runaway or a wild heart. A free spirit. It is so profound, so sophisticated, it works as a poetry read even before incorporating the accompanying music to it as well.

Final Thoughts

What Kat Yvonne is doing is working. It is clear that she is very passionate about the muse of her writings. Not only is it present but she has such a deep connection to it, I almost feel jealousy. Almost. 

What I truly feel is admiration for somebody who not only feels so much about something, but they are selfless with those feelings. Kat Yvonne is willing and able to express these feelings in the lyrics she writes and the melodies she sings. My takeaway is this: there are wonderful musicians all around us who simply do unspectacular things a lot of the time. Maybe they don’t feel a connection to their performance because they don’t feel a connection to the work itself. However, if we find passion in what we do, we will incorporate passion into our performance. 

The impression I’m left with is Kat Yvonne is an extraordinarily passionate person. 

You can follow Kat Yvonne on Spotify.

Also follow her on Instagram

To see videos and other content, you can subscribe to her YouTube channel.

If interested in a CD and lyric book of her album, you can purchase at her linktree.

Wildflower released on February 14, 2025 and is available to stream on all major platforms.