This past February, Audrey Mika dropped her major label debut EP, ‘5 A.M.’ to much anticipation and acclaim. It’s been a whirlwind 6 months for the Oakland, CA native as she was signed to RCA Records in October 2019, released the EP and was in the middle of her first headlining tour across the U.S. until it was cut short due to the current coronavirus pandemic. Her shows were filled with dedicated and eager fans who discovered her music online from videos of her performing with her signature pink toy microphone. She posted lots of covers on her YouTube channel along with original material such as her two prior projects, 2018’s “Are We There Yet” and 2019’s “Level Up”, which she recorded entirely on GarageBand, but it was her version of Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” that would go viral in the spring of 2019 that helped her amass nearly 60 million views and 1.2 million YouTube subscribers in under a year’s time. Now based in Los Angeles, Mika is focused on evolving as an artist, stating – “This is a new a chapter for me as an artist. I’ve structured everything intently and gone deeper than ever. I’m getting more heartfelt, personal, and emotional all the time.” Mika had been involved in music with initial aspirations of becoming a prima ballerina for the Royal Ballet in London. Although she had dedicated most of her childhood to an intense eight-hour daily practice regimen and countless classes and competitions, Mika started to lose her passion for dance when she was 17 years old. “I lost my passion for dance,” she admits, “It became a really toxic atmosphere, and I stopped. You have to be perfect and technical all of the time. I so was depressed. Music was the only thing that would make me happy.” Mika has stayed busy since returning home from tour, having released a remix of her breakthrough, “Y U Gotta Be Like That” that features KYLE, and more recently, the SAYGRACE track “Boys Ain’t Sh**” that features her with Tate McRae was released this past Friday.
B-Sides host, Pete Mar spoke with Mika about how she’s dealing with the current quarantine, how her tour was otherwise, being creative as a night owl and more. Check out the interview:
