Mia Giovina Gets Nostalgic In Her Latest Single “Time Machine”
Mia Giovina by Tori Sokalski
Over the past year, Mia Giovina has allowed the internet to propel her openly emotional and enchanting music directly to the ears of her loyal TikTok followers, fans, and supporters, but the most amazing thing about her artistry is how she’s managed to gain a following and sing about the most personal parts of life during a year spent at home.
From New Jersey, the twenty-year-old singer-songwriter has spent her adolescent years nurturing her love and passion for music. With a mission to create a safe space for listeners everywhere, Mia Giovina is rising talent, the kind that deserves to be heard outside the four walls of her purple bedroom. This month, Giovina releases her latest single, “Time Machine,” a gentle yet transporting piano track that will immediately intertwine memories of your own childhood with her open-hearted lyrics.
"With my closest friends off in cities hours from me and adulthood knocking its fist on my door, this song felt like it wrote itself more than I wrote it," the artist shares about the story behind the song. "Whether you’re 17 or 70, I hope this song makes you feel something."
Following up her debut single, “Sirens,” which was just released in March of this year, Giovina hints that “Time Machine” is, funnily enough, a step forward in her musical career. With over 174k+ followers on Tik Tok and 200K streams on “Sirens” alone, Giovina is an artist who is just getting started.
Mia Giovina gave Amplify Her Voice a behind-the-scenes look at her songwriting inspiration, her motivation behind sharing her music on social media, and what’s she has in store for her next single.
We saw you were doing in-person interviews and playing shows again for the first time since quarantine this week! How does it feel to get back to performing again?
It feels amazing! I spent the majority of quarantine writing songs almost every day in my little purple room so to get to play those songs live for people has been so much fun!
As someone who is very existential and always contemplating the passage of time, “Time Machine” really resonated with me. Can you tell us how the song came about and what inspired you to write it?
So the inspiration behind the song actually came from a TikTok I saw of a girl crying after realizing her friend wouldn’t be coming ”home” from college for the summer (hence the line “Home is just another place she visits now.”) I watched that TikTok and immediately thought it would be a cool concept for a song so I wrote the line down in my notes app. Later that night, I was feeling super creative and nostalgic and then ended up writing “Time Machine!”
When you shared a short clip of the song on TikTok, so many people who loved it shared it and were saying that they also related to your lyrics. What was that like for you?
Sharing something as personal and vulnerable as your own songs with people is always scary but to see so many people resonating with lyrics makes it all worth it for me. It’s this bittersweet feeling of wow I wish they weren’t going through what i’ve had to go through but also thank god, I’m not alone. It’s very surreal.
It’s one thing to be an independent artist, and it’s another thing to be an independent female artist. Have you found that you’ve faced roadblocks in the music industry because of your gender, and if there’s ever been a circumstance like that, what motivates you to push through it and say, “At the end of the day, I’m still going to make music.”
Even though I’ve just barely stepped my foot in the music industry, I’ve definitely noticed some roadblocks because of my gender. As we all know, it’s an extremely male dominant industry and women are more often than not shut down or not taken as seriously as a man would be. I’m incredibly lucky to have a manager, parents, and fans who, despite any of those struggles, make it clear every day that I am capable of my dreams and deserve to chase them just as much as anyone else.
Can you tell us how you got into music and songwriting? Did it stem from your childhood? What influenced you to fall in love with music?
This question is always super hard for me to answer because I don’t really have anyone memory of falling in love with music, I’ve just kind of always loved it. My family is pretty musical so I grew up in a house that was always singing or playing music. My parents are both songwriters on the side so I think becoming a songwriter myself was kind of inevitable.
I know that social media has played a huge part in getting your music out to people - Has using social media been a creative outlet for you, or do you sometimes find it to be overwhelming? Do you balance it out?
Social media definitely has its positives and negatives. I do tend to get caught in the trap of focusing on numbers of likes, comments, and followers, but I’ve been able to get in the habit of recognizing when I’m posting solely for the purpose of getting a few more likes or followers and then taking a step back to create something I actually love. When I’m posting for numbers, I tend to post my worst content. When I post a video because I’m really proud of a song or a project, I post my best work.
Mia Giovina by Tori Sokalski
It’s been a few months since “Sirens” has been out in the world already! Do you think “Time Machine” is a step forward from who you were as an artist when you wrote “Sirens,” like do you feel like you’ve evolved at all as a musician and songwriter, or would you say between the two songs that they are kind of linked and all part of one story you’re trying to tell?
I love this question. I definitely think “Time Machine” is a step forward. When I wrote “Sirens” back in December of 2020, I was really just beginning to find my voice as a songwriter. I feel like I grow as one every time I write a new song.
Who are some female artists that inspire your sound today?
Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, Kacey Musgraves, and Lizzy McAlpine are some of my biggest musical influences!
What can you tell us about your upcoming music, and what you hope your fans will take away from it?
The next single I’ll be working on is extremely vulnerable. It’s a song about my biggest insecurity so it’s obviously going to be a little terrifying sharing that with the world but I truly think it will help those who need it to feel just a little less alone.
Do you have any advice for young, aspiring, indie artists who want to get into the industry?
I’ve really just started my journey into the industry so I don’t have a ton of experience but one thing I’ve tried to stay true to is making music that I love first. When you start making music to chase numbers or success, you lose the feeling that makes you love music in the first place.
Learn more about Mia Giovina
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