Kimiko Glenn Shares Humorous Insights on Modern Dating in Her New Music Career

Kimiko Glenn is best known for her acting roles, but the Orange Is the New Black star is now stepping into a new role: pop singer.

Known for her roles across Broadway and TV shows and films like Orange is the New Black, Liza on Demand, Baby Shark and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the 36-year-old actress has been working on a new project — a music career. Under the name KIMIKO, Glenn independently released her latest single “Just Like That” on May 29, where she sings about getting emotionally fixated on someone who gives inconsistent attention. It is set to be one of the tracks in her debut EP, Modern Dance, which is scheduled for release sometime this summer.

In mid-May, Glenn performed a mix of unreleased songs at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, where she was one of the openers for rising pop star Maty Noyes. One week later, I met Glenn via Zoom, where she was chatting with me from her friend’s apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Glenn states that her “eclectic” taste was shaped by her parents and her own interest in musical theater. She grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, before living in New York City and Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.

“I feel like I grew up with a lot of Queen and Celine Dion. Obviously, The Divas. I loved The Carpenters, [and] just a lot of random stuff. [And] Michael Jackson,” Glenn tells me. Her friends also introduced her to Regina Spektor in high school, and she has always been her top artist. “I just think she’s so descriptive and interesting and specific, and her stories are so bizarre and also so moving. Her musicality is just epic.”

As for the music she is releasing under KIMIKO, Glenn is very inspired by the female artists that are popular today, such as Sabrina Carpenter, Lily Allen, Chappell Roan, St. Vincent and Taylor Swift.

On her upcoming EP, Modern Dance, which she hopes to release in July, Glenn explores the awkwardness and complications of modern dating and situationships.

“If you’ve seen modern dance, really, it’s the opposite of ballet. It’s kind of like experimental, almost artistic-looking. It’s not as fluid and beautiful and gorgeous and perfect as ballet,” Glenn said. “At times, it’s stiff and disjointed and weird and awkward, and that’s what dating feels like in this modern day, and so that is the metaphor of modern dance.”

That theme was on full display during her Hotel Cafe set, where several songs drew directly from her own dating experiences. Before singing her second song of the night, “Threw Up In A Bush,” an unreleased song about a guy Glenn was seeing at the time who literally threw up in a bush after a night out, she tells the audience that some of her songs are about a guy friend she was hooking up with, but he was in a relationship with another girl for seven years.

Though Glenn says that 95% of her dating experiences have been horrid and it’s become an inspiration for her art, it was never fun to go through. But with Modern Dance, Glenn hopes that listeners sense that, compared to her acting work, Glenn is really playful and finds humor in the situation.

“I think there will be a poignancy, but also, I don’t want it all to feel gloom and doom, so that’s why there always has to be a sense of humor with it all,” Glenn explains. “Also, hopefully, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, she sings, and I really like her lyrics, and I want to hear more.’ Hopefully, that’s what people leave with too.”

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Despite how difficult it is to date these days and how expensive it is to bring a child into this world, Glenn has hope and still desires to get married and become a mother one day.

“I’ve always felt a maternal calling. I’ve always wanted to be a mother. I thought that was my life’s purpose, and it sucks because I think the world has informed me otherwise,” she admitted. “Not only is it incredibly difficult to find a partner who can be a partner, like, that’s kind of a major issue. Like, I don’t see many men looking like husbands or fathers.”

Glenn tells me that she isn’t dating or seeing anyone at the moment and has stopped trying. But if someone were to express interest, she is open to that.

“I’m in a place of, like, I don’t know if there’s hope, but also, I hope that there’s hope. I’m seeking the betterment of men and people learning the right lessons, and hopefully coming to the right conclusions and being better to one another,” said Glenn. “It’s not that I’ve abandoned hope of that, but I had to loosen my grip on it.”

“Just Like That” by KIMIKO is out now on all streaming platforms.

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This story was originally published by Parade on Jun 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.