FEATURE:
Spotlight
Mia Rodriguez
___________
MY next Spotlight feature will include a band…
but, on this outing, I wanted to focus on another great Pop artists who is primed for great things through this year. Mia Rodriguez is a Sydney-born nineteen-year-old who started her career posting covers and other content on TikTok. She started releasing music in 2019. The past year or so has seen quite a few young and original Pop artists break through. I think that Rodriguez is among the most promising and interesting. At the moment Rodriguez has released a series of singles. I think that we will see at least one E.P. this year. I have seen Rodriguez mentioned as one of the names to look out for this year. If you have not discovered her music yet, then have a look and listen. She is an artist that we will hear a lot more from in the years to come. I want to source a few interviews with the wonderful Australian artist. In June, Rolling Stone Australia spoke with Mia Rodriguez about her path into music. It is interesting reading how social media platforms, TikTok especially, has been responsible for Rodriguez becoming better known and getting her music to a massive audience:
“The 18 year old from Western Sydney was a star in her own right before landing a record deal that now sees her represented by City Pop Records in Australia, and Atlantic Records globally. To her fiercely engaged TikTok army that’s surpassed two million, the teenager was just ‘Mia’ when she made her debut a few years ago.
Jumping on board back when TikTok was the App Formerly Known As Musical.ly, Rodriguez became part of a new generation of content creators who were producing material for an audience who remained hungry. Moreover, they were constantly switched on. There’s no better way to build and curry favour with a fanbase than by being hyper accessible, and it was online on this platform that Rodriguez found her tribe.
It wasn’t a smooth journey, though. Like many young people growing up in an, let’s be honest, unforgiving digital age, Rodriguez experienced a severe level of bullying through her childhood and teen years. The years where we’re supposed to be experimenting, discovering our identities and flourishing were, for Rodriguez, spent being mercilessly mocked and denigrated, just because she was different – proudly so.
Propelling herself from YouTube to TikTok, the momentum for Rodriguez as a creator and musician picked up swiftly. From the beginning, Rodriguez has been driven by a desire to inspire others; to influence others who may feel like outsiders to embrace their uniqueness.
Her music, blending pop and electronic vibes together seamlessly, fits under the umbrella artists like Billie Eilish made a global sensation over. Rodriguez’s vocals, flitting between coquettish and powerfully dynamic, reflect the empowered youth of today. They’re ready to rail against convention, but relish their journey of self-discovery at the same time.
With over 11 million streams on her single ‘Psycho’ alone, Rodriguez is still gearing up: we’re only just witnessing her ascent. Recently, her successes were acknowledged and celebrated at the Rolling Stone Awards where she was named Best New Artist. As the accolades and achievements continue to come in, Rodriguez is still mildly bemused that all of this is happening to her.
She owes her career to social media and TikTok, this she can admit, but of course – you’ve got to have the personality and core talent to flip streaming and follower success into an actual sustainable career. Rodriguez has already proven she’s got what it takes to take this thing a long way.
“[When] I started putting covers out there, I was like, ‘This could get me somewhere because I really love to sing, and I’d really like to do that as my career’. I was so fortunate to have been found and then signed by City Pop Records, which is crazy. I did not expect it to happen that fast. And then I got signed to Atlantic Records, which is also really insane.”
“It’s been so much fun, I’ve had so many opportunities. I’d had the chance to move out…growing up, my family didn’t have much money at all, so moving out at 18 was super huge to me. Being able to support myself was also crazy, just off of expressing myself”.
One of the biggest Pop singles of last year came in the form of Billion Dollar Birch. With its evocative and striking music video, it is the most confident release so far from Mia Rodriguez. I am going to bring in other interviews around the release of that track. Women in Pop featured Rodriguez back in September. They asked about music during her childhood, in addition to her thoughts on gender inequality in the industry:
“And what steps did you take to get to that break through moment - was a music career always on the cards for you or did it develop more spontaneously?
I actually worked my way up from starting on TikTok, when it was called Musical.ly at the time. It was way before the TikTok hype and I was bored… it was 2018 and the app was dead at the time so I made a couple videos hoping no one would see them ha ha. But my account pretty much exploded. I enjoyed singing too so I sung covers here and there, and boom! Record labels came swarming in, it all happened really fast and I’m still processing it.
What role did music play in your childhood, and who were your favourite artists growing up?
I absolutely loved to sing, and I’ve always had a thing for it. I was a very shy kid so I never sung in front of anyone. I would come home from school and sing karaoke before my mum got home from work! I was always peeping out the window. My favourite artists as a kid were actually stars from the Nickelodeon show Victorious, that’s where it all started for me!
The world is very slowly opening up again after the pandemic, from a creative point of view what are you looking forward to doing as we get more freedoms?
Oh my god, it makes me so excited knowing that I can finally live my life as an adult. I turned 18 and moved out into my own place during this whole pandemic, and I have never experienced the freedom of living! I’m honestly looking forward to do anything, even just seeing my friends. But especially international travel. I’m planning to go to LA soon.
The music industry has traditionally been a difficult space for women to exist in due to it being run by older, straight, white men for decades. What are your thoughts on gender equality and sexism in music?
Wow, honestly this question made me realise it was normal. I just thought I kept getting unlucky ha ha. Because of covid, I haven’t had the chance to talk to many artists at all. I’ve kinda just been rolling with everything. It is really challenging working and being surrounded with men in my field of work. I started my career in the music industry when I was a 17 year old girl, I grew up without much of a male figure in my life too. So it can be really scary. Especially because I feel misunderstood a lot of the time. I try to communicate more to women as much as possible!
What else is on the horizon for for Mia Rodriguez?
I have recently made an ultimate game plan with my team, and I’m going to release quite a lot of music very soon - with music videos - so I’m really excited for that!”.
There are a couple of other interviews that I am eager to share. In this interview, Rodriguez talks more about Billion Dollar Bitch, alongside why her discovery and success through TikTok was fortuitous and a blessing:
“Billion Dollar Bitch” comes after the TikTok trailblazer’s official signing with Atlantic Records and the success of her song “Psycho,” reaching over 9.7 million global streams. Recently named “Best New Artist” at the inaugural edition of The Sailor Jerry Rolling Stone Australia Awards, Mia Rodriguez creates quirky dark-pop that spans the divide between alternative indie and melodic mainstream styles. Inspired by a wide range of musical approaches, from K-pop to hip-hop, the 18-year-old Sydney-based singer-songwriter-musician began posting inventive videos on TikTok, quickly building a fervent fan following now exceeding two million.
Signed as the first artist to the new City Pop Records label (co-founded by legendary Australian concert promoter Michael Chugg and his business partner Andrew Stone), Rodriguez unveiled her captivating debut single, “Emotion,” in late 2019 alongside an official music video streaming now at YouTube HERE. “Psycho” followed and immediately catapulted Rodriguez to the forefront of Australia’s contemporary pop scene. A third single, “Beautiful & Bittersweet” – like both “Emotion” and “Psycho,” – dropped alongside an official video streaming now at Rodriguez’s popular YouTube channel HERE.
Among the many accolades accrued by Rodriguez in just one short year include being named by Australia’s national radio station as a “triple j Unearthed Feature Artist” as well as a prestigious “Unearthed Artist of the Year” nomination at the Australian Broadcasting Company’s annual J Awards. Rodriguez recently offered a spectacular rendition of Rex Orange County’s “Corduroy Dreams” as part of triple j’s famed “Like A Version” series, streaming HERE; the session also featured a unique live take on “Psycho,” streaming HERE.
o You are rising in the industry as someone who blends between different genres, such as K-Pop, hip hop, pop and more things on the alternative: what are some influences and life experiences that inspired this sound?
I absolutely love anything that gives me goose bumps. Heavy sub bass, meaningful lyrics that hype me up, songs that just make you feel different. I really wanted to incorporate that into Billion Dollar Bitch, I wanted to share the adrenaline! The bass is absolutely booming in that song.
o What got you started in the TikTok world? Tell us about the process behind your content and creation.
I downloaded it when it was called Musical.ly at the time, and the app was really dead. I downloaded it for fun and I didn’t think anyone was on it anymore. And then BAM, 100 followers a week turned into 100 thousand. I didn’t think I was that funny honestly, I was just really bored! But people liked it so I kept going. I’m just so glad I started at the beginning of the whole new TikTok wave. That was such a lucky mistake.
o How has the pandemic affected your creative process as a musician?
Even though it ripped out my chances of performing live and touring, I’m actually pretty grateful for it. It gave me a chance to perform i front of cameras first, where I could just do over and over again until I got it right. It really helped my confidence for the days I actually do start performing live more.
o You are about to release your latest single, “Billion Dollar Bitch.” Could you tell us a bit about the creative process behind it?
I wanted a song the gals and gays could dance to (and everyone else of course, I don’t judge). So I turned up the bass, called myself a Billion Dollar Bitch, and got my bad bitch Yung Baby Tate to rap on the track. The music video is also super weird, I can’t wait for people to see it. Surgeons pulling jewellery out of my stomach can get pretty wild.
o How will this single influence the messages in your music in the future? When people listen to your music, what messages do you want to tell your audience, especially in this upcoming project?
I want to show people that you can achieve anything with confidence. I’ve heard so many people doubting themselves saying “I want to do acting, but I’m scared and I’m not good enough blah blah”. I pushed to get to where I am. I’ve went through bullying, rejection, being extremely shy, my parents separating, abusive relationships, living poor, dealing with panic disorder and undiagnosed ADHD my whole life until now. I want to let everyone know that life is short so act like a Billion Dollar bitch until you feel like one”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Billy Zammit
The final interview from last year that I want to source is from The Guardian. Even though Mia Rodriguez is an Australian artist, she has a definite fanbase in the U.K. I wanted to highlight this interview, as she discussed her pandemic routine, and how she feels about her generation being viewed lazy and Internet-obsessed:
“Despite beckoning stardom, Rodriguez’s typical day now involves waking up at 2pm, responding to fans on social media, playing simulation games like The Sims or Stardew Valley, chatting with friends on Discord, and crashing at 4am. Occasionally she’ll work in the studio, or perform to a small Twitch audience, but essentially she’s wallowing in the same developmental ennui as young people everywhere.
“It’s like being a teenager in an adult’s body. The whole world has been put on pause and you’re kind of just wasting away your adolescence.”
People who experienced pre-pandemic adulthood have been longing for old joys like travel, nights out and surprise encounters. But Rodriguez and her peers have had a profoundly different experience – their entire adulthoods have been shadowed by pandemic restrictions, leaving them dreaming of lives unlived.
She feels her generation is unfairly accused of laziness: simultaneously chastised for a preoccupation with life online, while being told not to take that same technology for granted.
“We don’t really have a choice – we’ve grown up with social media,” she says. “I feel older people are just like: ‘they’re complaining, they have it all, they have all this technology to keep them company’… [but] we’re doing it constantly, every day, and we can’t escape.”
So music remains her outlet. Her new video for Billion Dollar Bitch (co-written with Mad at Disney singer Salem Ilese) continues her established persona – a kind of deranged innocence on a Halloween-high, gulping down bling in place of sweets. US rapper Yung Baby Tate drops bars, while Rodriguez sings playful, self-affirming lyrics over bass and skittering snares.
“I wanted to feel like a Billion Dollar Bitch. I needed a song that can hype me and my fans up and just bring more confidence out into the world,” says Rodriguez. “I wanted to bring a really bad bitch energy to this shitty, sick world right now”.
An artist who is getting better and more memorable with every song she delivers, Mia Rodriguez is definitely someone to watch closely. I hope that she is able to perform internationally at some point this year. There will be questions as to whether we will get an E.P. soon. I suspect that she is quite keen to get one out there. With songs like Billion Dollar Bitch and Psycho out in the world, here is an artist who…
MEANS serious business.
______________
Follow Mia Rodriguez
