We recently had the chance to chat with Miranda Joan about her music, Femme Jam, her NYC favorites, and more!
upfrontNY: How did you get your start in music and when did you know that this was something you wanted to do?
Miranda Joan: My dad likes to say that my start in music began with me, in the car seat, singing along to “All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crow. I have no recollection of this, but it’s kind of sweet. As far as I know, there is no turning point or big moment where I uncovered music as my path. It sort of began… with singing lessons, which turned into band, which led to music school, which brought me to New York where I now live and have been carving out a career for the past 6 years. Maybe I always knew, and that’s why I didn’t think about it too much when I was growing up. I’m not sure, but I can say that from the moment it began, whatever that moment was, I’ve been drawn to it like a siren song.
upfrontNY: How would you describe your music?
Miranda Joan: I grew up listening to a lot of both singer-songwriter and soul music, so I think there is an underlying quality from both those genres in my writing and in my sound. The rest depends on the production, which recently has been more synth based and flirts with indie and pop lines. It’s hard to step back and hear my music objectively, but I can say that the story, the lyrics, are most important. It’s a massive part of the release for me in music – what I’m saying.
upfrontNY: Who are your musical inspirations?
Miranda Joan: My list of musical inspirations is long; I love music, so it’s hard to narrow it down! But I’ve always been inspired by the greats and have a lot of respect for the singer-songwriter-musician combos like Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Donny Hathaway, and so on. More current musical inspirations are those in what I think of as the greater soul-bowl; artists like Emily King, Nai Palm, Anderson Paak., and again I feel like I could go on and on. There’s a lot of great music happening right now.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about your song Free?
Miranda Joan: Not long after I drowned an Aloe plant, I was overcome by a moment where I felt like I simply could not keep up. That the everyday grind was kicking my ass and I could no longer hear myself over all the noise. Free is about allowing yourself that space to put yourself first, to choose your self, and take care of that person. And doing it without the guilt or feelings of unworthiness, which I’ve found particularly symptomatic of women, who often feel the added pressure of needing to be the nurturers and caretakers of others ahead of themselves.
upfrontNY: What is your favorite lyric from this song?
Miranda Joan: “I’ve tried finding a place for everybody but there’s just no more room left for me.”
upfrontNY: Happy To Have You was released at the end of August. Can you tell us about this song?
Miranda Joan: Happy To Have You is a celebration of friendship. In this case, female friendship. I wrote the chorus while visiting one of my best friends in Brazil. There’s a sample of the two of us singing it on a rooftop while I was there in Rio. It’s all about love and telling the people you love that you love them – simple. And that has a special place in my heart.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about Femme Jam?
Miranda Joan: Femme Jam is a wonderful source of joy in my life it’s hard to know where to start. Hard details – it is a jam session that occurs on the third Tuesday of every month from 8-11pm at C’mon Everybody in Brooklyn. The session is female-led and the house band is an eleven-piece crew of badass musicians, who are also all women. It started with my three close friends Melissa McMillan, Camille Trust and Alita Moses, and myself coming together to organize a jam to see how it would feel to have a space that was both inclusive and female-led, where we could shine a light on the women musicians in our community, connect with one another, and have some fun doing what we love – making music. Every other month we split the cover with a local charity or organization that works to empower different groups in the community. You’d love it. You should come.
upfrontNY: What is your favorite thing about performing?
Miranda Joan: Songwriting is something I do for myself; an opportunity to feel and release, but what I love about performing is that it is an opportunity to really connect. To take your work outside of yourself and share it in hopes that it, too, can connect another to themselves, to a feeling, and hold them, for a moment, in the present. It’s a special thing. That I think can be particularly powerful in today’s fast-passed, productivity-driven culture. It can provide a bit of healing to reach out a piece of your self and see someone, sometimes a complete stranger, extend themselves in return. At least that’s what it does for me when I go see shows.
I also love playing with other musicians, and in New York there is no shortage of extremely talented ones, so it adds a whole new dimension to the music to have the personality and energy of others contributing to the story-telling. It makes it exciting and dynamic. I feel like a kid at the playground. You’d love this too. You should also come to this.
upfrontNY: What is your dream venue, city, or country that you want to perform at one day?
Miranda Joan: This was a surprisingly tough question for me to answer because I love to travel and there is a long list of cities and countries I’d love to both visit and play in. However, there’s something that feels particularly special about playing some of the great outdoor amphitheaters like the Gorge in Washington, or Red Rocks in Colorado, or along the Pacific Ocean back home in Vancouver where I could sing back to the land that I grew up on.
upfrontNY: What has the transition been like being born in Montreal and raised in Vancouver, and now living in NYC?
Miranda Joan: I spent ages 7-18 beneath the mountains and along the ocean, in constant reminder of the power and majesty of nature. There are whales in those waters and bears in the forests. I got to feel wildness, and in that I also felt an understanding in the observation of nature’s order. When I’m in New York, I am bombarded by the illusion that man is bigger than nature, which at times muddies my waters and makes it hard to see clearly. I need that stillness to feel clear, and I think that has been one of the greater challenges of living in the city. The flip side, is that I often find myself overcome with the beauty of humanity, for there is so much of it in New York. We have the ability to make beautiful things. And there is both a community and an audience with whom to share it, and that has made me better as both a person and as an artist.
NYC Favorites
Favorite NYC music venue: Rockwood Music Hall and C’mon Everybody
Favorite NYC restaurant: Calaca in Bed Stuy
Favorite NYC spot for inspiration: My friend’s shows
Favorite season in NYC: Fall
Favorite thing about NYC: The people
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