K.K. Slider is an integral part of Animal Crossing. In previous renditions of the game, K.K. would show up once a week to perform on the players’ islands. But in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’ll need to make your island worth the visit.
In order to get a K.K. Slider show to happen on your island, you’ll need to raise the star rating to at least three. For newer players, this can prove tricky. It’s not entirely clear what Isabelle and K.K. are looking for. There are a few things to keep in mind when working to raise your island’s star rating, however. Read on for all the details.
Further reading
- How to play the turnip Stalk Market in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- How to crossbreed flowers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- How to use QR codes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to customize your island
How to get K.K. Slider to perform
K.K. Slider is a white guitar-playing dog who has a relaxed demeanor. He has been in every Animal Crossing game to date, and even appears ever so slightly in the background of New Horizons. The music in every villager’s house is a different K.K. Slider song. Additionally, players can purchase some of his records from the Nook Stop in the Resident Services building.
Because K.K. Slider is a traveler at heart, he’ll only show up on your island once a week to perform. There are a number of ways to encourage K.K. Slider to appear on your island. It takes a bit of work and patience, so be sure to take your time with this work. Unless you’re time traveling, it will take over a week of work just to get K.K. Slider to perform, so keep that in mind.
Once you’ve unlocked the Resident Services building, Tom Nook will ask that you lay down a campsite and more housing plots. At this point, you probably have paid off our Deserted Island Getaway Package with 5,000 Nook Miles, built Nook’s Cranny, built a bridge, furnished three houses for incoming villagers, upgraded the Resident Services to a building, and laid out a campground. Phew!
After completing all these tasks, Nook will tell you that he’s a huge K.K. Slider fan and that he wants K.K. Slider to perform on the island. However, the island will more than likely not be up to par with Tom Nook’s standards. He wants K.K. Slider to be impressed with your island, so he’ll ask you to do more work (for free). In order to get the adorable dog to visit your island, Nook will tell you that you have to get the island star rating up to at least three stars.
One of the most important parts in encouraging K.K. slider to appear is to talk to Isabelle. Isabelle keeps track of the star rating for your island. She will recommend more trees, flowers, fences, or decorations be added to the island to increase the star rating. What’s more, you won’t have to wait an entire day to get the rating updated. Every time you update or add something to your island, head over to Isabelle and she’ll either indicate whether you should add more of that item or shift focus to something different. The star rating will update automatically every time you speak with her. Just pay attention to what she tells you.
Additionally, be sure to remove any excess, random items on your island. If you’re someone who likes to just drop items everywhere, you’ll struggle to raise your star rating. Picking up extra stones and branches that are lying around will help keep your island clean and your star rating up. Additionally, previous iterations of the game would have players removing all of the weeds. However, in New Horizons, it seems that weeds don’t impact your star rating that strongly. Since the weeds change seasonally, some players enjoy having them there, so don’t feel pressured to pick up every last week on your island (unless, of course, Isabelle tells you otherwise).
Also, planting lots of flowers around your island will help improve your island’s star rating. Flowers will first be found on higher parts of the island, so you’ll need to dig these flowers up and move them throughout your island. Watering them will also help ensure that more show up, which can help increase your island’s star rating.
It’s also important to add furniture and decorations. These items can be DIY items, items purchased from Nook’s Cranny, or items from the Nook Stop. Large items and DIY recipes are especially helpful in making a statement about your island, and it’s the perfect way for your island to stand out. Get creative!
Once you get to the three-star rating, Tom Nook will interrupt your conversation with Isabelle. He’ll inform you that he’s going to invite K.K. Slider immediately. This means, the next day, he’ll put on a show. The first show is usually K.K. Slider performing “Welcome Horizons.” After the initial show, you’ll get a copy of the song and the ability to terraform your island, and K.K. Slider will start showing up every Saturday (or Sunday if there’s a tourney or event on Saturday).
K.K. Slider will start appearing on your island every weekend to perform right in front of the Resident Services building. At 6 p.m., he’ll start taking requests if you want K.K. to perform a particular song. The song he plays you will also appear in your inventory once it’s done. If you have other players on your island who partake in the show, they’ll receive the song in the mail the next day.
There are a few things that are worth noting about K.K. Slider’s songs. There are quite a few songs players can collect from the nomadic dog. There are actually 95 songs in total that players can get from K.K. Slider. This means that, for a long time, players can visit a K.K. Slider concert on the weekend and get a new song. However, there are three songs that K.K. will only perform if you request them. Those songs are Drivin’, Animal City, and Farewell. K.K. Slider will only perform these songs if you type them in exactly as they’re titled, so be sure to spell check before confirming with him!
The songs K.K. Slider sings can be placed into your boomboxes or stereos across the island. If you want, it’s often fun to place a stereo outside and play one of your favorite K.K. Slider songs. By doing this, the adorable villagers across your island will actually start to sing that song rather than the tired song they were singing before. It’s a chance to switch up what the villagers sing, and it’s a nice change at that.
Although the credits roll every time K.K. Slider sings, it’s important to remember that the game isn’t really over. Players can continue to play and raise their star rating up to five. The main part of the story may be complete, but there are plenty of other things to take care of across your island!
