We were lucky to catch up with Mia Zavaleta recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mia, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path when I hear the album Back to Black by Amy Winehouse in the car with my father and I heard her voice and that struck me right in the middle of the heart and that was when I realized I wanted to sing as she did. That’s when I started hearing a lot of music and singing and then I started playing guitar and everything evolved in order for me to finish school and go to Berklee College of Music.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Mia Zeta, an artist from Argentina. I began my musical career at the age of 14, composing an emotional and sensitive side to my guitar sound. I released my first EP, “Realidades,” in December 2020, which was produced by Carolina de la Muela and featured great musicians such as Nana Arguen, Hernán Jacinto, Matías Méndez, Ayelen Zuker, and Pablo González. On March 20, 2021, I had my first sold-out show debut at the CCSI, with locations as popular as those at Camping and the La Rural Microtheater in Argentina. Currently, I’m studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. At the end of 2021, I released my single “adiós” and participated in Quilmes Rock 2022. I also had the honor of being the first to host the La Era Conductor show at the Vorterix Theater. In 2022, I released my second EP in collaboration with another female artist named Chiara Parravicini. This EP was also produced by Carolina de la Muela and me. This year, I participated in Cosquin Rock 2023 and Lollapalooza Argentina 2023.
My music begins from a completely playful and dreamlike place—a space in my head where I’m allowed to explore both the conscious and the unconscious, as well as experiment with reality and fantasy. References to Alice in Wonderland serve as a reflection of my inner world. Creativity and imagination interplay to produce songs with depth and complexity. While neo-soul is my greatest influence, genres simply serve as another resource to express what I feel and think. Listeners must be open to going beyond, allowing themselves to enjoy both happiness and sadness, embracing their loneliness, and then being able to share and connect with their interior. This allows them to explore the depth and spatiality of our being—a moment of reflection, of searching, of feeling, and then navigating our earthly and real experiences in a lighter and more spiritual way.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being creative is that I can use it as a way to express what I feel and to let go of what hurts, what I love, and what I need. I feel that I can also tell my story in a different way than through social media or actual conversations; I can make music speak for me and represent who I am. This is the way I’ve learned to communicate with others, and it has stayed with me throughout my life as far back as I can remember. Additionally, when someone else comes and says that they really connected with one of my songs, or when I see the audience singing along, it is incredibly rewarding because it shows that people can connect with the emotions and words I’m conveying.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I feel that my goal is to continue exploring my sound and reaching a point where I believe it represents what’s happening in today’s world. I would love to start directing my lyrics and songs towards addressing important contemporary issues while still weaving in my own personal story. Ultimately, I aspire to create music that allows people to truly grasp and believe in the message. I recognize that, at just 22 years old, there’s still much for me to learn about myself and aspects I haven’t fully explored. However, I believe that as I do, I will become much better at everything I undertake. I Would also love to collaborate more and more with other people and become like a band all composing together because now I feel like I do it most of it by myself and the person I am producing with and I love that but I also really love being part of other projects and exploring other people visions.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miazeta__/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCksLusAvM9zSSymy8tnRjgg
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3yYiftL3pMw7AyTLfsitUH?si=cBeCzt0UQ1KUhu-ty7ePZA
Image Credits
zoniamusic, Lola Etala, Ignacio Zavaleta, Miranda Lorenzo