MIA GLADSTONE
Photography credit: Ellie Kitman
Mia Gladstone is a singer, songwriter, and producer who has an innate talent to make anyone who listens to her music feel like they are part of a community, one that Mia leads with vulnerability, openness, and exploration. On Spotfiy, she has over 250,000 monthly listeners and millions of streams of her music. Mia’s EP Cycle/s is out and available to listen to on various music streaming platforms and is well worth the listen.
In addition, Mia runs the Instagram page @producerswhoproduce, an online community of female and non-binary music producers that she felt was lacking in the music industry. Read about Mia’s story, her experiences in the music industry (on both sides of the table) and consider supporting her on Patreon.
So my first question is: when people ask you what you do, what do you tell them?
That is a good question.
I typically say I am a musician. I specify by saying, I'm a singer, songwriter, and producer. I like to throw in there that I'm a producer, because “singer-songwriter” doesn't fully envelop all that producing is. And as a woman, I like to say I'm a producer too. I feel like I always have to reiterate that with people.
Yeah, you run an instagram page called @producerswhoproduce, and I was looking through and I saw one of your captions was that whenever you tell people that you’re the producer on a song people always assume that someone co-produced with you. And that must be so frustrating. Could you speak a little more about that?
It's something I deal with all the time. If I'm doing a live stream, or if people come to shows, they ask who made the beats. If I say it was produced by me, people will be like, “Oh, so who co-produced it?” It’s hard for people to understand that a woman can make beats herself.
I don't know, I guess people aren't used to seeing female producers. And so I've found, along with a lot of my producer friends, that being female, people just tend to doubt that we produce everything ourselves. And I'm very big on crediting. So if I didn't produce something for myself, I will always credit the other person. And I want people to catch on to that trend. But if I only credited myself as a producer, like, I'm the producer.
Even though there are a lot of women making beats, it's just not represented as much. Because you know, you think of a producer and you probably think of a man. I always thought of a man when I thought of a producer. I wanted to change that with @producerswhoproduce, similar to what SheSources is doing. I wanted to create a representation of different demographics of people producing so that people can see and realize “Oh, I could do that too.”
Do you feel like you've gotten the kind of engagement on that page that makes you feel like, oh, this is working… ?
Yeah, people are very receptive to it. It's pretty awesome. I've gotten to interview really cool people. I have a bunch of more interviews coming out. And it's just cool talking to different people who have very different backgrounds and life experiences and finding out how each person found their way to production, despite not seeing other people who look like them producing. It's really awesome. Like, I've gotten a lot of DM’s from people who, from seeing the page, message me “Hey, I started making beats” and then asking me for more specific advice. So something else I'm going to start doing is posting beat tutorials and tips for production for people just starting out.
I really like that because it makes it so much more accessible and less daunting for people who want to follow that path.
Totally, because also producing is so experimental. I always feel like I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm just, putting sounds together. So I feel like it's funny, comparing processes with other people and seeing how we're all kind of just trying to figure it out.
Is there anything that you feel is unique to your process as a producer?
I love to sample my voice. When I'm making a beat. I love to lay random vocals and harmonies and stuff. And then I'll chop it up and sample it, then maybe I'll reverse it. And then I'll try to create the lead from that. I also don't make drums in a very typical way, which I don't know if it's a good attribute but. . . I typically drag audio files together and sequence it that way rather than playing it on a MIDI. I just kind of place them and experiment with how it sounds, which is good and bad, because I'm trying to learn more about drum theory because I want my drums to hit harder.
That’s cool! How did you get started with all of this, what made you want to be a musician?
You have a new EP out called Cycle/s, I really like it. What do you hope listeners will take away from it?
I hope that they will walk away with a sense of vulnerability, or I hope they walk away being able to be more open and vulnerable with themselves and with people that they love. Because the product is very vulnerable. And I'm saying a lot of stuff that I would not say to people in a conversation. But I feel like communicating it through music creates a more open dialogue. It's less of a judgmental space, because this is my art, and you don't have to listen to it. But if you're listening to it, I'm trying to take away that sense of vulnerability and create a sense of community and communicate that we all struggle with the things I'm talking about.
It's about the fact the way that we go through cycles, we go through one big cycle, or many little cycles in life of feeling good about yourself, and then feeling down.
For me, I'll feel like I'm okay: top-notch mental health doing great. And then something will happen. And I'll realize that I'm falling into old habits. So I was trying to talk about it in a more public way. Talk about things like body image and eating issues, all kinds of things that we silently struggle with, but so many people go through. I wanted to kind of create a sense of community in that because it shouldn't be so taboo. I feel like we would be so much more advanced as a society if we could talk about things that we're going through, and not just shame ourselves and each other for it.
I agree with you, and thank you for creating that through your music. What advice do you have for young people who want to produce their own beats and create their own music?
Have you ever felt like you’ve faced a major setback or disrespect from someone, and how did you deal with whatever that setback was?
What is bringing you joy right now?
Honestly, a lot of things. I just moved to North Carolina and I don't know many people here. I've been finding joy in making food— I love to make a salad. I love making different dressings, like tahini dressing, caesar dressing. I'm vegan and I'm very into food. I've been vegan for four years, and I've been vegetarian for 11 years. It's been a long journey, but I've just been finding a lot of joy from nourishing my body and knowing what I put into it.
I’ve also been finding joy in supporting small businesses. Because since I'm new here, it's such an exploration to go out and find the different people to support and people to connect with.
Listening to music has brought me a lot of joy. I get into this depressive state where I don't listen to music or I just listen to the same music for so long. And whenever I find new music that I really love, I'm so happy.
And one more thing is I love laying out in the sun in the morning. Because despite how cold it can get, if you find a patch of sun, for me there's this really warm spot on my back patio. I lie there in a tank top every day and it’s so joyful.
It’s almost like you’re laying there and soaking in your daily vitamins.
It really feels that way because I get up and I’m like: Okay, ready for the day!
That’s a nice morning ritual. I have some other fun speed round questions to finish us off. First, what was the last thing you watched?
I just watched Dexter, it’s a crazy show. I recommend it!
Second question— what’s your favorite book that you’ve ever read?
I love Kinship With All Life. It was written in the 1920s. It's a true story about this guy who connected with this dog on a level where they were speaking telepathically to each other. And then he went on to connect with all these awesome organisms. It gives a lot of perspective on viewing all animals and all insects with kindness and compassion. And realizing that when you fully open up, you can actually communicate and come to an understanding. So I think about that all the time.
There’s one more book that I’d like to recommend: it’s called Succulent Wild Woman. It’s so empowering, especially for women. I love to read it in the morning.
My last question is, if you could tell a younger version of yourself one thing, what would it be?
I would say disconnect from your phone. Go out, be in nature.
That’s a good one. That’s a wrap! Thank you so much Mia for sharing your story.
Support Mia on Patreon here, and listen to her music on your preferred streaming platform here.
