Pia Mia is a multi-talented artist who has seamlessly transitioned from viral sensation to a pop culture icon. Hailing from Guam, the singer, songwriter, and model first captivated audiences with her smooth vocals and unique style on YouTube. She quickly rose to prominence, collaborating with the likes of Chris Brown and Tyga. Beyond music, Pia Mia is a force in fashion, known for her trend-setting street style and entrepreneurial ventures, making her a modern-day muse for a generation of dreamers.
It’s 16:59 on a gloomy Monday evening and whilst having a few technical difficulties, I hear a sweet melodious, “Hello.” Pia Mia has entered the chat and right on time – it’s 9am in LA. Miraculously, Zoom seems to be working fine after all and I am greeted by a strikingly delicate face with almond eyes framed by long lashes and perfect wings, rosy cheeks and full blush lips, her ivory blonde hair cascading in loose curls and a sweeping fringe, Pia is every bit the glamorous LA beauty you’d expect.
Pia’s story started like most young girls that loved to sing – in front of an audience – at school, musicals, weddings, but the next step was to head to La La Land. She stated, “I came to LA when I was 13 and had no relationships. We had never been part of the music industry or anything like that before, but I was so curious about it. I had never been in a real recording studio, and so I would come out and audition for X Factor and America’s Got Talent.”
She continued, “We came for a summer, and I ended up getting signed to Babyface. Along the way, little things kept happening, and I kept staying a little bit longer, a little bit longer, and eventually I signed a major label deal with Periscope, and I was there for a long time – that’s where I put out ‘Do it again’.
I’m amazed to discover what was supposed to be one summer of “curiosity” has turned into 15 years. However, home is still Guam for Pia. At the mention of Guam, Pia lit up and said fondly, “My whole family, pretty much, is still on Guam. I have a few siblings that have moved to LA over the last few years, but for the most part, everyone’s still home on Guam.”
She added, “Every time I go home, I’m like, ‘Why do I go back to LA?’ It’s so fun – my cousins – everywhere we go, we’re rolling deep. It’s like, ‘Oh, we gotta go to a dental appointment.’ Okay, well everyone’s gonna come, and it’s just really fun to move around in such a big pack like that.”
Pia became an overnight sensation at just 16-years-old when Kim Kardashian posted Pia singing Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” at Kris Jenner’s dinner table with diners including Drake and Kanye West.
She reminisced, “It was not planned, I had remade that Drake cover, and I had been singing it all over the house. At that time, I had been auditioning all the time and put on the spot to perform constantly. I think it’s really cute to look back and see my younger self, I’ve come so far since.”
Since then, Pia has topped the charts with several singles, including ‘Do It Again’ featuring Chris Brown and Tyga, which went platinum in the US, Australia and several other countries. She has also put her hand to acting marking her debut in After, as well as writing a book, The Princess Diaries: Sand, Glitter and Silicone, an impressive portfolio of accomplishments at just 28. Her latest endeavour, her debut album, Anti Romantica – 13 tracks on the trials and tribulations of dating.
Pia explained, “Conceptually, the album captures this interesting moment that I think we all go through when we’re dating, where it’s like, ‘Okay, you’ve done me so dirty, you’ve literally broken my heart. I’m never going back to you again.’ It’s that up and down process of getting out of a situation and refining your confidence, and re getting out there. If you listen to the album from top to bottom, it kind of takes you on that roller coaster of like, ‘Okay, I’m over you. Okay, wait, hold on a second, maybe I’m not okay.’”
Despite being signed to one of the biggest record labels in the world, Pia took the plunge and went independent, creating her own label, Cherry Pie Records in 2019. While creativity flowed recording Anti Romantica, Pia admitted that the biggest challenges were being independent.
She said, “Having to be scrappy and figure out how you’re going to promote the records, how you’re going to expose the album, the more of the back-end side of things. I’ve learned a lot because I’ve spent a lot of time on major labels, and it’s very different not having all the different pieces and all the different people that come together to support you as you’re making a release independently. It’s a much smaller team. Creatively, things came together really seamlessly, we had the perfect team of producers and CO writers that came in.”
Having been on both sides of the coin, Pia relayed the pros and cons, “I’ve known they’ve (the fans) wanted an album for all this time. Now that I’m independent, I was able to finally get one out. I had great experiences on major labels too, but it is nice to be able to have more control.”
She added, “I think for fans being able to see it’s an independent project, it’s really on the artists and the people that support that artist to kind of lift the songs up and expose them and share them and talk about them. I think it’s a little bit more of an intimate partnership, or like a team almost, when you’re independent.”
As much as Pia is passionate about making music, she revealed that, “The best part is always live shows. I love to see people face to face, have meet and greets. I’ve always had social media and been very engaged, messaging back and building these connections. The most rewarding thing is being able to spend time making music that you really love, put it out, and then see people connecting with it, seeing people that are relating to the things that you’ve gone through. There’s nothing like a like being on stage and seeing people singing your song with you – it’s the best feeling.”
A multi-hyphenate, Pia wrote her first book during the pandemic, she explained, “I’ve written since I was young, in journals and with music, and it has been something that I always wanted to do, and never knew when I should do it or had the time to do it.”
She added, “Sand, Sequins and Silicone is a semi-autobiographical fictional romance novel. There’s little things that are versions of things I’ve maybe seen or experienced. I thought it would be really fun to write a book about a pop star in a love triangle with a best friend who betrays her, similar themes that everyone experiences, but she’s in Hollywood, which adds a little bit of a higher stakes. The sequel is coming and it just gets more and more juicy.”
I’m amazed at how Pia manages to balance everything. She said, “You just got to go for it. What’s cool about the industry, in my experience, is things will be really chaotic and super busy, and then you’ll have time off where you can recharge.”
She continued, “I’ve been working since I was young. I started singing for weddings when I was like 11-12 so and I loved having a busy schedule. I’ve always been really motivated and driven to to work and try new things. Life is so short, I just want to have the experiences. You have to be self aware, and if you need a break, take that break so that you can keep going. I love juggling all of it – the busier the better, in my opinion.”
Pia has been in the industry for over 15 years, when asked what advice she would give to a budding artist and what advice she would give to her younger self. She said, “Become familiar with reading contracts. Ever since I was young, my parents always guided me through that and helped me understand legal language. As an artist, it’s really important to to know what deals you’re getting into and the things that you’re agreeing to. That probably is number one.”
She added, “Try to not be so harsh or compare your journey to someone else’s journey. It’s really easy to get caught up, especially with social media, seeing this person’s having this success or this person’s on this show, or whatever it is. You don’t know why the timing is the way it is, but it will make sense when you look back. I felt that throughout my entire career, it’s like, ‘I’m working so hard. Why isn’t an album out?’ You look back on everything, you’re like, ‘Okay, none of those were the right time for an album.’ You just have to stay focused, work really hard.”
When asked what she has next up her sleeve, Pia replied with a smile, “I think there’s going to be more of everything, more music, more live shows, more books, more more acting.” Without a doubt, we will definitely see more of everything from this unstoppable force.
@piamia
