EVAN GIIA
Create.Repeat team visits musician EVAN GIIA in Brooklyn, New York to discuss her new song “Down to Earth,” out now! Check out her interview below where we discuss her journey towards becoming the artist EVAN GIIA.
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I’m EVAN GIIA – I make electronic pop music here in Brooklyn, New York. This year is a really exciting one. I am writing my first album. I finally have my own studio. A new era is emerging.
What is it about music that makes you want to make it? Have you always known? Was it a calling since you were little?
I have been obsessed with music since I was very young. I feel like my mom played so much music when I was in her belly that I came out of the womb humming. I have always loved the way that I feel when I listen to music. It helps me recall memories and makes me feel nostalgic – which is my favorite way to use music. I try to put nostalgia across in my music. So when you put it on you are transported back to a time and place in your life.
I have been singing since I was really young, I was classically trained in Opera for 10 years. I graduated highschool and got into Berklee College of Music which was a huge moment for me, but it was very much a big fish, small pond moment. To be completely honest my experience at Berklee wasn’t all positive, I felt a ton of competition and I lost my voice and artistry.
Right after I graduated I lost my identity for a while and felt like I couldn't stand out among other singers. I stopped singing completely. I became a receptionist at a mastering studio and got my music business degree. I was still in the industry, but not doing what I loved. It was a long three years of organizing water bottles, answering phones and sitting at my desk thinking “I need a change – what do I want?” So I started soul searching.
I would sit at my desk and making google doc upon google doc titled ‘my life plan’. I needed to figure out how I could quit my 9-5 and get another job while trying to pursue music.. Being a professional singer never felt like a life that I could really attain – it felt unrealistic. I am really proud of where I am today because I pieced together a new life. There were many years of working two jobs until I could quit and do EVAN GIIA full time. I started teaching yoga and spin on the side, while trying to write songs. It all started to spiral up from there.
I’ll never forget my hour lunch breaks at that job, I would take long walks along the Hudson River and look across the water thinking – who am I, what do I want, what could I be? I had a deep feeling that there was something bigger.
Now in between touring, I go and sit by the river and look at the same water. It brings me down to earth. It reminds me of the girl who had never written a song, never played a show. I never want to lose that perspective. This is the feeling behind my new song, DOWN TO EARTH.
What would you say to people who are still at their 9-5 who feel like they have that deep calling and feel like they are on the verge of quitting?
I would say have a plan. I am a firm believer in waking up everyday and having a plan. I am a type A person and I don’t go into anything unprepared. I think if you take one or two steps everyday towards that goal, it is going to happen. If you put your energy into something, the universe will give it back to you in some way.
So much of your music is about mental health, do you want to touch on that?
I have always strived to write music about something other than love. I try to write about situations pulled from my own life like mental health, feeling good inside and out, inspiring yourself and encouraging others. I want my music to be motivational at its core. I want people to put on their headphones and walk down the street and stand up taller. I want to give people a euphoric feeling. I have a lot of fans tell me that my music has helped them through really challenging times and that is all I could ever ask for. I feel really blessed that I can give that to people.
What do you hope to create that will repeat? What do you want your legacy to be?
It is a crazy concept to think about a legacy, but the older I get the more I think about it. I am closer and closer to wanting a family of my own. I think about what my kids will say about me and my music. I love that my catalog will be a history of snapshots of my life for them. My kids will be able to press play and understand me better and hopefully relate. Leaving behind a body of work is so special.
What are you on the verge of?
I am on the verge of striking down my anxieties that I have in my head about having the best of both worlds. It is my dream to be a musician but also a mother and have a family and give the childhood that I had to my children. I’ve been told I can’t have both. I am excited to prove those stereotypes wrong. I can see it clearly in my head, my babies will have headphones on while watching my shows and I will hold them backstage at my husband's shows. They will have a different life, but they will have our life. I am on the verge of not letting society's standards scare me.