Meet... Tiiva

Tiiva; the new star from the world of the underground.

Photo Credit: Yasmine Akim

The London music scene is blossoming with newcomers, but since the launch of Tiiva within the oaths of 2020, the artist and producer are vastly catching the eyes of critics and won't be stopped.

Infused by the love of Charli XCX, fka twigs and James Blake with the addictive blend of their own approach to experimental pop, Tiiva is slowly making a name from the underground music scene to reaching the heights of the dominant world of the music scene.

In the space of a year, the creative talent has released quite the work, from the latest hyper pop 'Bones' to the euphoric 'LOVESICK', fans eagerly wait for what's next as they prepare for the release of their EP.

As Tiiva continues to push through and fulfil each day as it comes, we caught up with the artist to talk more about their latest release, a crazy past year, the excitement of shows and what the future holds.

Firstly, how have you been these past few weeks and congratulations on your latest single, 'Bones'. What can you tell us about this track in terms of the sounds and themes you delve into?

I’ve been really good, how’re you doing? And thank you so much- this release means a lot to me, it’s a song I wrote a while back, and it feels good to be sharing it. The sounds are a lot of my vocals chopped up, with a ton of delays. I use a juno a lot for bass, working in pro tools. The synthetic bass u can hear was made on Ableton when I did a session with Maya (postepski) in Berlin - she had a big influence on this track as well. The song is about the conflict of self-image, the societal idea of beauty and how it can be destructive when we’re trying to act out this false sense of beauty based on IG filters, fatphobia and all the diet fads. It’s a song that’s part lament and part comfort to anyone experiencing that distortion.

Looking into aspects of how society tells us to look and the perception of what is beautiful, how did you personally approach this track, and what was the overall creative process?

Personally, I already knew what I wanted to convey - I have known a lot of ppl with eating issues, body dysmorphia - the obsession with how we look as a society is so toxic. I felt like this was a chance to get some of that down into words, but I didn’t want it to feel too specific to one issue because there’s a lot of societal pressures that affect so many ppl in different ways. I sat down with a bunch of words, and wrote the lyrics as a poem, and then made the beat on pro tools using a ton of samples, subs and high hats. I spent a day or two making the beat and then chopped up my vocals and made the bass line. I already knew what I wanted to say and sing, and that’s half of writing for me, alone but knowing exactly what I wanna say. I added a synth arp in there and some other bass sounds to make it energetic, I reworked the arrangement a bit and added some other drum sounds. Then I took the stems to Maya, and we worked on the arrangement, slightly refining it, and adding some sounds. The whole process was fun and felt like a natural progression from where I was when I first wrote it, to now.

Known for your experimental pop and delving into inspirations such as Charli XCX and fka twigs - how would you describe your sound?

Synthetic but make it human.

With already releasing a plethora of tracks this year, which one has been your favourite so far and why?

Ahhh you can't ask me to choose! (Also, plethora is such a sweet word). Different tracks have had different responses. 'Collide' did well on the Spotify machine, 'Lovesick' made my pals dance, 'It Breaks' was one I really needed to get out. 'Bones', I guess let’s see? The remixes that I’ve released have also been fun because there’s creativity there and a collaborative process, the remixes I made for Tiece, Luan Mei and Arnie Wrong and Kerai have been hella fun to work on. I can't choose, ha-ha, you decide!

As we talk about your music from this year, are you hoping to release a bigger project, and what can fans expect by the end of 2021?

There've been some exciting collaborations that I’ve been working on with other artists, some co-writes and some more remixes. I am also working on an EP, and there’ll be a live show later this year. You can expect a lot more music, more writing (I'm working on a new song right now as well), and I'll be developing some sounds and changing the way I write as I go along, with some more co-writes as well.

On the other hand, what has been your highest achievement of being an artist and what have you found challenging that you have had to overcome?

I think the highest achievement has been just releasing and actually having the belief that this could be a thing. I’m also proud of my writing time. I write pretty fast, and I have a lot of songs. The hardest thing to overcome is often your own barriers, whether that’s self-belief or, practical, time and money and being able to live alongside making art. I've been lucky to work with amazing people, who believe in this, and that has helped so much.

Based in London, who are your favourite rising artists in the area and why?

Tyson, El Hardwick, Tiece, Luan Mei, Arnie Wrong, Roseau, Ehua, Clementine March, Clementine Blue and BB Sway are some absolute top musicians and ppl - go and listen!

Finally, what is the future for Tiiva?

More writing, releasing, some live shows, and some more collaborations - the same but more. Thank you for these boss questions.