Kaitlyn Bills ’25 — stage name: Kaity B — came to Concordia University Irvine with
“huge dreams of being a singer-songwriter, artist, and producer,” and is now making her first R&B-flavored album while presenting original material in venues around Orange County.
“Concordia was an awesome place for me, and I felt like I was always in a season of learning something new, whether in class or out of class,” Bills says. “The community I was surrounded with helped me to grow.” Steve Young, founding director of Concordia’s commercial music program, calls Bills one of the most talented singers ever to come out of Concordia. He remembers the quiet girl coming in for an audition in spring 2021.
“When she started singing, I was floored,” he says. “I knew right away what kind of God-given talent she had, and I knew we needed to have her here at Concordia. She was going to be a great ambassador of our program.”
Bills chose Concordia’s commercial music program over others because it allowed her to learn production, songwriting, and performing.
“I couldn’t find another program where you got all of that in one,” she says.
She had grown up singing in church, inspired by her older brother, whom she describes as “the extrovert” between them. Her father, who plays the saxophone, filled the house with music by Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson.
“That’s where I get some of my influences, but a lot are from church and listening to gospel music my whole life,” she says.
Bills also discovered country music on her clock radio in middle school and “fell in love with the storytelling aspect,” she says. Those three influences — gospel, Rhythm and Blues, and country — blended to shape her approach to singing and songwriting.
Coming to Concordia “was the start of the discovery of who God wants me to be and what he has called me to do,” she says.
On campus, she embraced multiple activities and “said yes to everything,” which led her to serve in student leadership for four years, and co-coordinate Shout in her junior year, in addition to her extensive involvement with Concordia choirs and ensembles. With Shout, she helped organize a gospel music night on campus during Black History Month. In the Concordia Choir, she held the post of president her senior year and toured Spain, Portugal, Korea, and Japan, plus many domestic locations, with her fellow singers.
“I’ve gained family members from people in the Concordia choir,” she says.
Young says Bills was part of the strongest vocal class Concordia has fielded, and came in alongside a number of great singers. His concerns about whether or not they all would get along were quickly allayed.
“It was a tribute to all of them that they became best friends,” he says. “They praised and challenged each other, and celebrated everybody else’s successes.”
Bills still had technical growing to do, and Young made her try classical music pieces and songs from other genres outside her experience, to push her stylistic development.
“She’s a big Alicia Keys fan, Rhythm and Blues, and I wanted to give her some songs that would stretch her abilities,” Young says. “The first thing she did [when I gave her a certain piece] was look at me with this, ‘Are you crazy?’ look. Like, ‘Why are you giving me this song?’ I said, ‘Trust me. It’ll be the hit of our concert.’”
She did trust him — and it was. Dr. Thomas requested the song be sung at the Gala of Stars, too, because it was so impacting.
“Kaity discovered that the circle of style she fits into is much bigger than she thought it was,” says Young. “She can make any song of hers. Once she had the tools and fundamentals, she could repurpose any song into her world.”
Bills credits many people on campus, including Michael Busch, conductor of the Concordia Choir and Concordia Master Chorale, for modeling Christian professionalism as she earned her Bachelor of Arts in commercial music with an emphasis in songwriting and a minor in graphic design.
“Dr. Busch exudes excellence and diligence in what he does and has a masterful way of teaching and directing so we connect with the music we are singing,” she says. “He brings it back to the fact that we get to glorify God in worship. Whenever we would go on a tour, we weren’t just singing; we were there to glorify God and to lead people in worship through choral music.”
This summer, Bills helped lead music for the mass events at the LCMS Youth Gathering at New Orleans’ Superdome, and was a chosen soloist to perform in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.
“It was kind of like the best week of my life,” she says.
She is now making her own record, and did a session in Concordia’s own recording studio, which is gaining popularity among top musicians in the Christian music industry. Her album’s title track, “We Made It,” is one of the first serious songs Bills wrote — and proves to be a regular show-stopper.
“People talk to me about it afterward every time, without fail,” she says. “It’s about my journey with God and how he has been faithful to me through every step of my life. When I didn’t want to trust him and wasn’t looking to him, and when I was doubting myself and what I wanted to do and how I wanted to live it, through and through, he was always there. Because he died for me, it feels like together we can do anything.”
She remains “super-plugged-in at church” and helps lead worship at several area churches every Sunday.
“That’s fun for me because I get to be part of different worship experiences in so many different communities,” she says. “It’s awesome to know we are doing music for the Lord and doing things we love.”
She married her childhood friend this fall and continues to enjoy a special bond with her Concordia classmates. Every step, she believes, takes her closer to the fulfillment of her calling in the Lord.
“I know God has given me a gift, and I feel when I sing and do music that other people feel and see the glory of the Lord and his light,” she says. “I know that’s what I’m meant to do because God is working through me in that way.”