Interview with Mya K

At the end of May I got the chance to catch up with seasoned singer/songwriter Mya K and discuss what it's like being young in the industry, musical growth and finding your rhythm.

How would you describe your sound?

M: Right now, I would say it's a blend between Hip-Hop and R&B, so like the best way to describe it would probably be 'Trapsoul'; like a Bryson Tiller vibe. Yeah, I would say that's the genre I'm in right now. It's literally always changing, I'm super flexible and I'm still young, I have all the tools to experiment so in a year's time it might be very different.

Okay, so I see you've been releasing music for quite a while now, and I want to ask: what's your professional journey been like from when you first started putting out music until now?

M: I'm guessing you've probably done your research and seen how far back it goes, but I've been making music for time. I started making music professionally when I was 11 years old. I lived in Nigeria back then, so I started off as an 'Afro-Pop' artist and obviously I was super young, so I had a lot of adults controlling my journey and guiding me, which I'm super grateful for, but it just meant I didn't have the freedom to express myself. Also, I was young, so I didn't even know how I wanted to express myself. At first, the journey was a bit crazy. I was really lucky enough to be flown out to like South Africa and New York and stuff; I got to do a lot of things and make a lot of music videos but I was so young that I wasn't able to utilise all the tools around me in the best way. So at the age of like 14/15 I stopped making music. I was like "I don't want to be a musician, this is not for me. The music industry is really weird". I met some crazy people *laughs* and the music industry isn't all glitz and glam, there's dark sides as well. So I was like "Yeah, I'm just going to focus on my education". But after like a year of that, music kept calling me back so now I'm rebranding. I'm kind of leaving everything I did before in the past and just starting all over again, but by myself as an independent artist so we'll see where it gets me. It's interesting because I started a long time ago and so many people don't know, even some of my closest friends, because I kind of keep it a secret. It seems like a separate life for me - making music, speaking Yoruba, being based in Nigeria and everything. Now i'm a whole different artist, a whole different person. It's weird to have to start all over again, but at least I've learned stuff from before that I can apply now. So yeah, it's been a cool journey.

Okay so based off of that, what musical achievement are you proudest of?

M: Hmm, there's a few things. Like, I did some big things when I was younger that I'm super proud of. So, I don't know if you've heard of Calabar Carnival, but it's based near where I live. I'm from Akwa Ibom. I performed there 3 years in a row, and obviously Calabar Carnival isn't the biggest festival in the world, but when I was performing there the crowds were in the 1000s. Loads of people were seeing me, I was on a huge stage and I had to overcome stage fright and shyness. So I would say that was one of my biggest achievements, being so young and being able to throw myself out in the deep end. More recently, I would say one of my achievements is just doing it - like I know so many talented people that don't release music because of fear. Apart from this month, the last time i released a track was two years ago, and that's because of anxiety; because I questioned whether I'm good enough (I feel like we need to do more to protect the mental health of musicians). So I would say my biggest achievement is just doing it, just getting my music out there and actually taking that step. It's a big deal, people think it's so easy to release music but that's like your baby that you're putting out there for people to judge.

That's so interesting. I interviewed someone the other week that said something about how immediately they put out a song they hate it, and I found that so interesting. It's like you spend so much time putting your effort into your craft, and then as soon as it's released into the world you find a million things wrong with it.

M: Literally that's probably happened to me with all of my tracks apart from my most recent one; that one I feel like reflects me perfectly right now. But apart from that, all my other tracks as soon as I release them I start seeing all the flaws in them, which is really strange. We're so critical of ourselves, especially when other people can see. When you listen to it in your room or in the studio when you're making it you're like "Oh, this is lit", but as soon as you hear it through other people's ears you're like "Maybe I'm not as good". You just need to believe in yourself, that's the key.

In that case, would it be fair of me to say that your latest song, 'I'm on One', is your favourite song you've put out so far?

M: Yeah, 100%. My roots are R&B, like I love slow jams, I love old school R&B like Aaliyah and Usher, but I like to listen to lit music, I like to dance. I did dance classes for like 10 years of my life, so if there's a good beat, and some lit lyrics then that's it for me. This song is the first song where I didn't think too deeply into the lyrics. I basically freestyled the track, and the beat was produced by Silla the Alchemist, who's dope. He produced it and sent it to me. The track is not like me at all. If you compare it to any of my other work, it doesn't sound like a Mya K song but I was like "Why am I always making this deep music when I enjoy lit music that doesn't have to be too serious and can be played in the clubs?". It's not always about crying to the song *laughs*, which is what I'm used to. So now I would say it's my favourite song because I can actually move to it. I even listen to the song in my room and get gassed by it. I'm like "Wow, I made that". So it's my favourite track today, but literally, even last night, I was in the studio making music and I've made bare stuff so my next track will probably be my best track.

Apart from your professional journey, more personally, how would you say you've grown? Has your music helped you to better yourself in any way?

M: So going back to the mental health topic, I'd say it 100% has. Say I was going down another career path - no matter what it is, whether it's a lawyer, doctor or musician, I'd always have to put loads of hard work in and overcome obstacles; but I feel like being in the creative industry, doing music, is so personal. It's your words you're putting out there; it's your story. you're not just getting stuff from a textbook or following someone's rules, you have to make it up as you go along, kind of, and I feel like it's helped me as an individual, outside of music, to be more confident in myself and to take risks. Also, a big part of music is networking. You need to meet people. You need to go up to people and big up yourself. I feel like that's also helped me just in making friends, like now I'm so confident I can go up to anyone and ask for their number *laughs*, I can go up to anyone and tell them "Yo, you look pretty, follow me on insta." So I feel like it has built my confidence a whole lot and allowed me to network and be proud of myself and kind of show myself off, but not in a cocky way, if that makes sense.

Yeah, of course. Okay, so who would you say are your biggest influences in music?

M: There are so many, I'll just say my top 5 off the top of my head. So Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Jhené Aiko, Michael Jackson and probably...okay he's not one of my influences but someone that I love right now is Don Toliver, who's worked really closely with Travis Scott. I really like him and I'd love to work with him one day.

What does music mean to you?

M: Music to me is my personal therapist. Therapy is expensive you know, if you're trying to get like professional counselling that actually costs money, not everyone has that. But music comes for free. It's the way I express myself, even if I'm not releasing every track. I make a song every day but I don't have 3000 songs out there. Sometimes I just write a song to treat myself and just to talk about my day, talk about my trials and tribulations. So I'd say music to me just means an outlet; a way that I can express myself and create.

Okay so songwriting - is that something you've always been able to do or is it something you had to practice and get better at?

M: I know a lot of musicians, especially if you go on the top charts, do not write their music. That's not really the way it works in the industry. There are songwriters and there are musicians. I, personally, am a songwriter probably before anything. Like I've been songwriting for pretty much my whole life, maybe since I could write. It comes pretty naturally to me mostly because I'm talking about my personal experiences, and I feel like luckily (or unfortunately - I don't know, depends how you see it) I've been through a lot in my life which I'm grateful for because it gives me a lot to talk about. So definitely songwriting came first , then i had to learn music because I wasn't the best singer before, I had to take classes and all of that, but now they partner together perfectly.

Do you have any advice for anyone that's looking to get into the music industry right now?

M: The only advice I have is literally what I said earlier, but it's literally the Nike slogan: "Just do it." Literally just do it. I go to uni and I'm studying music right now, and so many people in my class have not released a track, and that's the easiest part. The hard bit is everything else apart from the track. So I would say just get your music out there. I would also say research your stuff, do it if you really really love it so that your music has some depth to it. Another bit of advice is to be your biggest fan, because no one is going to rate you as much as you rate yourself, so just be super confident in yourself, see the vision and allow other people to see it through you.

Last question: are we going to be seeing anything from you in the near future?

M: Yeah, 100%. Now that I've released this track, 'I'm on One', I feel like I'm on a roll. I'm ready to just keep putting music out there. This song as made me feel super confident. I feel like one of the most important things, which could also be a tip to someone starting music, is to build a good team. One of the key things that I have right now is amazing people around me, so it's allowing me to just drop lots of music. Like producers are sending me beat packs that are completely me and completely my sound so yeah, there's definitely going to be a lot more music dropping this summer and a tape by the end of the year.

Interview done and written by Oluwadara Apampa

*This interview has been edited for clarity.

Click here to listen to her latest single, 'I'm On One', available on all platforms.

Follow her social media to stay updated on his newest releases

Instagram: myakinlock