Anya Mia
Blending timeless influences with heartfelt storytelling, Anya Mia returns with Cold + Blue, an EP that reflects decades of life, creativity, and rediscovered passion. We spoke with her about the music, inspiration, and her artistic journey.
1. Your latest EP Cold + Blue blends retro ballads, R&B influences, folk elements, and neoclassical touches. What inspired you to explore such a diverse range of sounds within a single release?
All of those sounds were part of what I grew up with – the music we had playing in the house when I was a kid. My parents had a lot of the iconic Western classical music records (Beethoven, Bach…), and my older sister had a lot of stuff like the Beatles, and musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. There was also the music I heard on the radio and on TV at the time, a lot of R&B-ish and also folk music.
I think you can’t really help what kind of music comes out of you as a writer – it’s a mix of all that you were exposed to when you were young.
So, I’ve always gone in a few different directions. This EP took a couple of years to put together, as well, and I had a bunch of material ready to go. I chose what I thought was the best of it, and that’s how it ended up so diverse.
2. The title track, “Cold + Blue,” tells the story of a cruel lover through piano and string arrangements. What emotions or personal experiences helped shape this song’s atmosphere and narrative?
It’s the story of my first ex-husband, haha. When I write a song, I usually come up with the rhythm, the start of the melody, and then the first line of the song. When I thought of “cold and blue” the first thing that came to mind was his eyes.
We were both 20 when we got married, so you can imagine – it was a disaster. But, I ended up chalking it up to a learning experience, and that’s where the more philosophical parts of it come from.
When it comes to the music, I was influenced by those big, lush jazzy songs of the 50s and 60s – the one where you might see the vocalist singing on top of the grand piano. I always wanted to sing with a piano and string section, as well, so I bought the sounds of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and taught myself how to use midi.
3. “Corporate Jive” tackles the pressures of the modern rat race with an old-school R&B flavor. What message were you hoping listeners would take away from this track?
It’s a song that speaks to anyone who’s had a crappy corporate job, and it’s really just meant to sympathize with that feeling – you slave away for the company, and in return, they couldn’t care less about you.
It’s also about how a kind of group think develops in places like a corporate office, and you can end up where you feel very isolated from that group when you don’t fall in line. Ever had a job where, after you leave, you try to stay in touch with a former co-worker, or you even just say hello to them on the street, and all of a sudden they don’t know who you are?
Corporations can be a strange place to be.
4. After stepping away from music for nearly three decades to pursue a career in arts journalism, what motivated you to return to songwriting and performing, and how has that journey influenced your creative outlook?
I got involved with a choir. It was a public art project – we sang at a few major events in Toronto. I’d been convinced my whole life that I couldn’t sing, but when I heard myself in the midst of other voices, I thought, hey, maybe I’m not so bad.
It took another five years or so of singing with jam groups – just friends who got together to play music – to develop the courage to become a real singer. That, and a few lessons didn’t help either.
From there, I sang with a few bands and ensembles before I realized what I really wanted was to sing my own material.
5. Your musical background spans classical training, pop, funk, R&B, and live performance in various settings. How do these different experiences come together when you write and arrange new music?
I started learning keyboards/piano back in the pandemic, and that has really helped to bring all of those influences together. I’ve learned to play those different styles (and I’m far from perfect yet!) and it comes down to building a kind of tool kit of techniques that I can bring out to use as needed for each song.
The classical training really helps because it’s a foundation for knowing how to put the ideas I hear in my head to life in the real world. It’s probably the aspect that has helped the most.
6. Beyond performing, you’ve become an active supporter of the local songwriting community through songwriter circles and open mic events. How has connecting with fellow writers influenced your own artistic growth, and what’s next for Anya Mia?
Hosting the open mic and songwriter circle has led to a bunch of valuable and productive connections. With the song Lost In The Water, for example, I met my co-writer at one of the songwriter events. He came and played the guitar part, and said he didn’t sing much, and didn’t have lyrics for it. I told him I heard a melody and lyrics to his music, and we started getting together to work on it. Two years or so later, the results are on the EP.
Nowadays, I co-host an open mic with another writer/musician, and we’re talking about putting together a stage musical later this year or next year (it takes longer than you think to put things together, I’ve found!) We were both part of a New Year’s Eve variety show with another writer, and it was a lot of fun.