An Interview With the Canadian Songstress, MIMIKA!

Born and raised in Brampton, Ontario, Mimika first fell in love with writing. She penned countless stories, poems and scripts as a child and transitioned into songwriting right before hitting her teenage years. Couple this with her natural urge and ability to entertain and a long history in performing, Mimika finds herself able to put on live performances that can make a small room feel like a festival stage.

Her newest single “Civil War” is an honest electro-pop track featuring intricate synths and powerful vocals. It would be great if you could feature an interview!

Listen + share here: https://soundcloud.com/mimika_m/civil-war

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1BDMO5FdJRXTddBwbB47Lu?si=Igg3fmoqSQKy920a8xrR-Q

Mimika’s latest release is set to start a succession of new music all leading up to the culmination of her debut EP slated to be released in early 2020. Until then, she is set to continue releasing music, cultivating her relationships with her fans and playing more live shows.

Learn more about Mimika in the following All Access interview:

Thank you for your time! So what does a typical day look like for you lately?

No problem, thanks for talking with me! Lately I’ve been pretty busy, I just finished shooting a new music video that’s going to be coming out early 2020 and so the last few weeks have been a lot of prep for that. Writing treatments with my team, working with hair and makeup, coordinating the set and extras. Lots of exciting things! I’ve also been writing a ton lately with some new collaborators and by myself, I like to set aside at least an hour every day to just sit by my piano and write, it’s my favorite part of everyday honestly. I’m also a full-time student so that typically takes up a large chunk of my day. I study with Berklee College of Music, I’m in their online degree program with a major in songwriting so I literally spend all day, everyday, writing songs for school. Which makes my own writing time even more exciting when there are no rules or guidelines and I just get to write.

Now that we are in the latter half of the year, how has 2019 treated you? What are some goals that you have for yourself this year? How close are you to reaching them or did you already? What are you already looking forward to in 2020?

2019 has been an awesome year for me. At the end of 2018 I put a goal up for myself that by the end of 2019 I wanted to have a body of work that I loved and was proud of and that was ready to be released and I’m happy to say I did that. I spent some time in Quebec recording my EP, I shot two music videos, performed live a ton over the summer and released the first single off of the upcoming EP. One major goal that I have heading into 2020 is to perform somewhere outside of Ontario, it could literally be anywhere in the world, could be part of a tour or just a standalone but that’s my main goal right now for 2020. That and to release the rest of the EP, I have so much music just sitting and waiting to go and it’s driving me crazy.

How did you come up with your artist name? Why didn’t you decide to go by your own name?

I was very lucky with my artist name, a lot of people ask me if Mimika is actually my name and it is! I can’t take much credit for it, actually I can’t take any credit for it, my mom made it up. It’s a combination of two words, one being Mishka which is the Slovenian word for ‘little mouse’ and the second is Mimica which was my grandmother’s name.

Growing up, how important was music in your life? Can you recall the moment when you decided that you wanted to be a musician? Was it an easy or difficult choice to make?

Music has always been a ridiculously huge part of my life. But honestly, before music and before singing I was writing. I remember being in third grade, around 8 years old and writing little books and plays and poems, they published two of them in my elementary school library. Please don’t go looking for them, they’re awful and embarrassing but, I always thought that was pretty fun. I ended up finding my way into songwriting around 12 years old and just never stopped. I actually do remember when I decided I wanted to be a performer, my school put on a production of this show called ‘Showtime’ which essentially was just a bunch of random musical numbers from different shows all put together. I got to do Hairspray, the Sound of Music and Glee numbers and I just remember being on the stage and never wanting to leave. I’ve never had anything be clearer in my life. I just thought “wow, I’m going to do this forever,” and that was that.

Was there ever a time when you thought about doing something else? If you weren’t a musician today, what else could you see yourself doing? Would you be as fulfilled in life?

Egyptologist. That’s it, that’s the profession. I love history and Ancient Egypt is my favorite era to study, I considered going to university and getting a history degree before finding my way to Berklee. But honestly, if I wasn’t doing music I’d have my nose buried in a history textbook trying to get myself to Egypt. I think I would’ve had a lot of fun being an Egyptologist but, at the end of the day there’s nothing that fits me better than music. It gives me the creative outlet I need, it lets me do the things I love most in the world which are writing and performing and I can’t imagine life without it.

What has been the biggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been an unexpected or welcome challenge to it all? What has been the best part about it all?

So far, the biggest surprise for me has been how business savvy you need to be as an independent artist. It’s not just about being able to write and sing and perform. You need to know your facts; what are your numbers like, your revenue versus expenses, can you budget making an EP? Making a video? Are you investing in yourself? Can you read and understand contracts? There are so many layers that, fresh out of high school, I didn’t know were so detrimental but, I’m lucky to be able to surround myself with good people who are helping me learn as I go. It’s definitely been a challenge but, I welcome it because I’ve learnt so much and feel way more confident when talking to people in my industry now.

Let’s talk about your newest single “Civil War.” What was the inspiration for this track?

Civil War was the song that kicked off the whole EP, before I even realized I was writing an EP back in the end of 2018. I wrote this song and then decided I wanted to base an entire body of work, my debut body of work, around it. The track is just an honest, unyielding and specific look through my brain. It’s the realest I’ve ever been when writing and where I would usually change lyrics to make them appear vague, in this track I left everything uncovered. “Civil War” is about mental health and my journey so far with it. It’s written as a dialogue between me and myself, and outlines the story of me realizing that everything wasn’t okay in my head, what that realization was like and, what it meant for me.

I actually have a new song coming out this month! It’s called “Feed Me Lies” and I’m so so so excited for it. I’ve been performing it live a lot recently and I know people are getting excited to finally be able to hear it.

What has been a favorite show of yours so far? What do you think makes an ideal show for you?

My favorite show I’ve done so far was at a bar in the east end of the city called ‘Jasper Dandy.’ It was a really nice space and a chill night and I got to sing a couple songs. An ideal show for me is a show where everyone in the room is enjoying themselves, and I can just have fun and be myself on stage. I’ve always been of the mindset that it’s not about me when I’m performing, it’s about the audience and I’m there to entertain them. It really helps me stay calm and get out of my head when I’m on stage.

Where can people see you perform next? Do you have any upcoming tour dates scheduled yet?

Nothing set in stone yet for the end of 2019 but I will be announcing live dates early in 2020.

How do you think you have grown as a musician since you first started making music? What if anything has stayed the same about your music-making process?

I’ve learned about this thing called ‘revising your work.’ Revolutionary! Game changing! Who would’ve thought right? But seriously, when I was younger I always believed that writing music was just an emotional and creative process and so when a song was written it was written and if I didn’t like it, instead of rewriting or changing stuff I’d just scrap the entire thing and move on to the next idea. Now, I love rewriting melodies and lyrics and having multiple versions of the same song, it’s really fun to look back and see how you’ve grown. The thing that’s stayed the same about my process it that the songs are all written as a story first before becoming a song. I always start with a plot, a beginning, middle and end. I have characters, whether they’re me, people I know, or people I make up and then I write from there.

How do you feel about social media? What do you think social media has done for your career?

I have mixed emotions towards social media. I think it is an amazing business tool and is great for promotion and branding and connecting with people. However, that’s all that social media is for me now. It’s part of my career, part of my job and I view it as such. I plan content, check analytics, try to figure out that damn algorithm. I try not to stress too much about it or take it too seriously but, at the end of the day I am aware that social media is essentially my modern-day business card.

What musicians would you absolutely still love to work with in the future?

My dream collaboration is Jon Bellion. I am always in awe of his writing, his production, just his brain in general. If I could write a song with him I think my brain would just shut down.

If you could design your dream music video right now, what would it look like?

Ooo this is a cool question. I just had a video idea for a lyric video and I don’t want to give too much away because we might actually end up shooting it. But, I’m thinking there’s two more versions of me, kind of mimicking the voices in your head and we’re all just hanging out together.

What has been the best thing a fan has told you? What comment from a fan has truly moved you?

The best thing a fan has told me is that my music feels like I was inside their head when I wrote it, which is amazing to see that people relate to my experiences. A few months ago, I showed a demo of “Civil War” to a fan of mine and she said that it felt like the song was meant for her. A few weeks later she texted me and told me that the song helps her on days when she doesn’t feel like herself and is struggling and that it motivates her to keep being strong.

Where would you love to hear a song of yours played?

I think it would be so funny to have my song be played in an elevator, maybe 50 years from now. I’d be standing in the back corner just smiling while all the young people complain about how boring elevator music is compared to whatever cool stuff they’re listening to then.

At the end of the day, what do you hope people take away from your music?

Honestly, at the end of the day I want people to listen to my music and realize they aren’t alone. There’s a reason why- although it may appear differently- none of my songs are love songs. I want to touch on things that are important to me; mental health, being okay with yourself, dealing with being alone and different from your friends or the people you love. I want people to find solace in my music and see that there are other people going through it too.