Speaker 1: On Ktalk dot Seal done today on the app on
Speaker 1: DEARSTV channel eight feet five.
Speaker 2: And across the city on five six seven am. Join
Speaker 2: the conversation. This is Kate Talk. Let's go from the
Speaker 2: theater now to the music stage, and I'm delighted to
Speaker 2: welcome into studio Mea Lord. Mia is a South African
Speaker 2: indie pop artist from kay Town. She is known for
Speaker 2: her songs Citrus and Fantasy, and she is joining me
Speaker 2: right here in studio on weekend breakfast this morning. Mia,
Speaker 2: Good morning, Thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Good morning, thank you for having me so you.
Speaker 2: We were told by our colleague at KFM, Carl Waste,
Speaker 2: that you are the person we must interview, and I'll
Speaker 2: tell you that's a big feather in your cap. When
Speaker 2: Cale Waste says mere Lord is the musician that you
Speaker 2: need to get into studio.
Speaker 1: Wow, I'm flattered. Thank you, Carl.
Speaker 2: Mia. Tell us a little bit about your career in music,
Speaker 2: how it all came about.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, well, I come from a family of musicians.
Speaker 1: I guess I've been writing since I was eleven or twelve,
Speaker 1: and it only really started taking off when I shamefully
Speaker 1: dropped out of high school. I started producing things in
Speaker 1: my room by myself on my really really old iPad
Speaker 1: and producing very badly as well. But the songs themselves
Speaker 1: started getting good at it around that stage. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I've I've just kind of been going through the motions.
Speaker 1: I only recently got things properly produced, and I guess
Speaker 1: here I am, I'm just seeing how it goes, Honestly.
Speaker 2: Mia, you said it all kind of started when you
Speaker 2: shamefully dropped out of high school. Do you feel that
Speaker 2: way about it? Do you feel shameful about the fact
Speaker 2: that you dropped out of high school a little bit?
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. I feel like there's a bit of a
Speaker 1: you know, if you tell someone you've dropped out of
Speaker 1: high school, they probably assume that you're, you know, a
Speaker 1: bit thick, or you're not in things or something. But
Speaker 1: I dropped out because I was struggling very much with
Speaker 1: mental health issues and depression and social anxiety and things
Speaker 1: like that, and addiction started at that age as well,
Speaker 1: So I guess I had my reasons.
Speaker 2: I'm glad that you are open to talking about this
Speaker 2: because I think it's almost a pandemic. I think so
Speaker 2: many of our young people are struggling with their mental health. Ye,
Speaker 2: in this day and age, and the fact that you're
Speaker 2: willing to share and say, look at me, I'm a musician,
Speaker 2: and yes I dropped out of school, and yes I
Speaker 2: really struggled with my mental health.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still do a lot, especially now being putting
Speaker 1: myself in the position of being a musician. It feels
Speaker 1: like there are a lot more eyes on you. And
Speaker 1: as someone with social anxiety, even sitting here talking to
Speaker 1: you now is kind of difficult, and knowing that people
Speaker 1: are listening in. So I'm not too sure why I
Speaker 1: did it, but I'm glad to talk about it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: You're obviously very talented, and it's wonderful to see somebody
Speaker 2: being true to their talent and sort of living the
Speaker 2: path that they were meant to do. I just you know,
Speaker 2: it's interesting because you look at people performers, particularly musicians.
Speaker 2: I mean you watch them on stage performing and you think, wow,
Speaker 2: they've got it all together, They've just have the best life, right,
Speaker 2: and yet behind the scenes, your people just like us.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I constantly think that I have a few
Speaker 1: friends and uh, you know, people that I'm familiar with
Speaker 1: on the Cape Town music scene and I'm constantly looking
Speaker 1: at them, comparing myself to them, the amount of followers
Speaker 1: they get, someone's going on tour, this person's doing more
Speaker 1: live shows than me, or getting more streams than me.
Speaker 1: It's very tricky to navigate this whole scene while keeping
Speaker 1: your mental health in check.
Speaker 2: And you must be very aware of that. Especially as
Speaker 2: you grow and go forward become more popular and more successful.
Speaker 2: You're going to need your own personal boundaries and tools
Speaker 2: in place to cope with that.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing yeah, yeah, I've already tried starting to implement it.
Speaker 1: Like with restricting myself on social media, I had to
Speaker 1: like force myself to take a bit of a break
Speaker 1: and stop like comparing myself to everyone else because, like
Speaker 1: you said, it's it's all a facade. It's it's this,
Speaker 1: it's this image we put out there for other people
Speaker 1: to see. It's not who we really are. And you know,
Speaker 1: I just have to see to try our best.
Speaker 2: Where do you get your inspiration when it comes to writing?
Speaker 1: Uh, definitely, I guess I'd just say my emotions in general.
Speaker 1: I only really write as an outlet of for for
Speaker 1: any strong emotion I'm feeling, and I can't really force
Speaker 1: myself to write. I've never written with other people because
Speaker 1: I cannot sit down in a room and collaborates and
Speaker 1: get that stuff out when I needed to. I have
Speaker 1: to just if I'm feeling really depressed one day, or
Speaker 1: if something's happened in my life, I have to sit
Speaker 1: down and try and write about it. It's the only
Speaker 1: way that I can physically feel better. Okay, Yeah, so.
Speaker 2: It happens quite organically for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Luckily, I've had enough organically stressful times in
Speaker 1: my life to get quite a good amount of songs
Speaker 1: written in a short period of time so that I
Speaker 1: don't have to constantly worry about I need to write
Speaker 1: so that I can get the next thing out. I've
Speaker 1: got like thirty or forty songs that I'm just sitting
Speaker 1: on waiting to put out because I just let it
Speaker 1: happen organically at this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's the end goal for you? Are you like, oh,
Speaker 2: I want to be the next Taylor Swift or are
Speaker 2: you just sort of living what you feel like you
Speaker 2: were meant to do and enjoying the ride.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess both. I've always wanted to be a singer.
Speaker 1: My mom was a singer and a band, my dad
Speaker 1: was in a band, my grandmother was a classically trained singer.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was born into a family of musicians,
Speaker 1: and from a very young age, I've always wanted to sing,
Speaker 1: no matter how many many times in my life I've
Speaker 1: tried to like not pursue it because I felt like
Speaker 1: this is too stressful, I'm not meant for this, But
Speaker 1: I've always ended up going back to it because it
Speaker 1: just feels like what I'm supposed to do. And I
Speaker 1: guess I'm kind of just trying to ye find my
Speaker 1: feet with it. But I can't lie and say that
Speaker 1: fame isn't enticing for sure. I'm not too sure where
Speaker 1: I want to end up. But yeah, I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to be casual. I suppose me.
Speaker 2: I are you going to be performing in Capitan anytime soon?
Speaker 2: Can listeners get out and see you somewhere close by? Oh?
Speaker 1: Gosh, not at the moment. I don't have any shows. God,
Speaker 1: I keep kicking myself in the butt because I know
Speaker 1: I need to start performing live. It's just difficult at
Speaker 1: this very point in my life with personal things going on.
Speaker 1: But hopefully in the next few months you'll be hearing
Speaker 1: about live shows you can come to and.
Speaker 2: I'm guessing probably with all you young people, the best
Speaker 2: way to follow your journey would be Instagram.
Speaker 1: Yes, probably.
Speaker 2: Let our listeners know your handle and how they can
Speaker 2: follow you.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think it's Mea Lord Underscore Music. That's my
Speaker 1: Instagram handle and you can find me on every streaming platform.
Speaker 1: I'm on YouTube as well Facebook under the same name
Speaker 1: Mia Lord. Yeah, see if you can find me.
Speaker 2: We're going to end by taking a listen to your
Speaker 2: song fantasy Mia, tell our listeners what it's about.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I wrote this about how I slash. We
Speaker 1: tend to project an image onto others to fulfill a
Speaker 1: certain fantasy that we have, Like this infatuation that can
Speaker 1: sometimes take over your life is easier than living your
Speaker 1: actual life. You need to like, living your daydream is
Speaker 1: way easier than living your life. So that's what it's
Speaker 1: mainly about, and getting into a bad cycle of prioritizing
Speaker 1: that daydream and fantasy world over your real life.
Speaker 2: What a relevant message to people young and old in
Speaker 2: today's age, Mea, is there anything else that you'd like
Speaker 2: our listeners to know?
Speaker 1: Ah? Just I hope you enjoy. I hope you enjoy
Speaker 1: enough to go stream it and try and follow me
Speaker 1: on Instagram and stuff so you can keep up to
Speaker 1: date with any other music that's going to come out here.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for coming into studio this morning, Mia,
Speaker 2: and I'm sittingly going to follow you in just a
Speaker 2: moment on Instagram and hopefully catch you live in action.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Just in future, let's take a listen to
Speaker 2: that single fantasy you.
Speaker 1: Boys yourself comfort. I'm naturally inclined to hold them to
Speaker 1: a standard keeping