Meet your new favourite underground pop star: FIA. 

April 2023

Merging experimental pop with techno, house and reggaeton, FIA is the perfect musician for those of us who love their modern sound with a helping of y2k diva attitude. 

A staple of London’s queer rave scene, FIA talks sexuality; inspirations and what life is like for an independent musician going it alone, as she prepares for the release of her new single, Candy. 

Tell us a bit about yourself… how did you find yourself getting into music?

Hi, I’m FIA, I’m your new favourite underground popstar!

In my past life, I created experimental pop with an industrial edge but post-lockdown I started hanging out in the LGBT rave scene of London which inspired me to incorporate dance genres like techno, house, and reggaeton – But I do like to take a genre-fluid approach to my music as I feel boundaries can stunt my creativity.

I got into music at a young age, I started playing the flute when I was 7 – a plan my Ma devised to get me scholarships into good schools. Unfortunately, the plan backfired when I decided that music was the route I actually wanted to take in life. 

As I got older I knew I wanted to get into contemporary music. I would watch the “hot hits” channels on TV and see y2k pop stars in their music videos and I was enamoured by the aesthetics and the escapism of it all.

For me, a project is about creating an audiovisual experience and I like to think of it as a complete package – when I’m producing the music I’m thinking about potential music video ideas; when I’m recording vocals I’m thinking of how it will translate in the live show etc… every creative decision triggers another and that’s what's so beautiful about doing this!

How does your creative process work? Does it all come from you?

As an independent artist, I’ve had to be pretty self-sufficient in my creative process. I write, produce and mix all of my music which is both challenging and rewarding, but it means that the core DNA is always very FIA. As I continue to grow, I do want to branch out and work with other writers and producers as I believe that collaborations are so important when making something unique. Different perspectives and experiences coming together always makes for the most interesting art.   

This new era of FIA has been very collaborative when it comes to visuals though. As I have connected more deeply with the queer community, I have discovered so many incredibly talented individuals that I am lucky enough to call friends and collaborators.

For the release of my next single CANDY, I have been working very closely with 3D modeller and multi-disciplinary artist Worstie to create a virtual avatar of FIA, which is part of a wider collaborative project which will showcase the talents of underground, independent queer creatives. 

The idea behind this is to use the FIA avatar as a vessel to encourage and promote the representation of queer creativity in the Metaverse.

Tell us about your new song candy… what’s it about?

CANDY is a dance-pop banger. I wrote this song when I was in my big kitty energy, it’s all about having crushes on beautiful girls and being in your slut era. It’s inspired by a night spent raving for 12 hours at the TECH COUTURE afterparty on a boat in Hackney Wick. During that night I had the biggest crush on this girl I met, I was getting hit on by all of these boys and obviously was being a sassy bitch to them all but as soon as this girl came and danced with me and gave me that look I got so nervous I ran away! The next day I got home and made CANDY and the rest is history!

What is the message, if any, you want to convey with your music?

Authenticity is really important to me. My music is always a reflection of what I am experiencing at that moment, which is currently the empowerment I am finding in both myself, my friends and the beauty I see in the life I am creating. Although there are a lot of references to the queer experience in my music, it is just because that is what I am experiencing right now – it is just an added bonus that it might be empowering or relatable to other queer people.

Life is always changing and I think that as my life changes, my music will evolve. This is the message I wanna convey to my listeners, change is natural and inspires growth, staying the same is boring so embrace all parts of yourself because all sides are beautiful!

You have mentioned on your TikTok that your new song Candy is about the queer experience and showcasing lesbianism… How is queerness important to you and your creative process? Do you feel it impacts your music?

My queerness, and queerness in general, is so important to me. Being queer is a protest. It goes against societal norms and the act of living your life true to how you feel is one of the bravest things you can do. I am a cis-passing, straight-passing individual so I have a lot of privilege when it comes to being a queer person. For my queer siblings who don’t have this, it is a lot harder to go about daily life without being targeted and discriminated against. I have so much respect for their ability to stay true to themselves regardless of this. 

I think marginalised communities create differently – queerness goes against the grain of society and there’s just something special and unique about art created by a queer person and I think this comes from having to be open-minded risk-takers which inevitably is reflected in our art.

Where do you get the inspiration for your looks from? Would you say you have a persona?

The inspiration behind my looks comes from my friends and community. I have so many creative amazing peers who are the most stylish, interesting individuals and meeting them has really made me up my style – a bitch has to keep up, you know! 

Rave culture also really inspires me. Partying isn’t just about partying; the safe spaces that we all convene in are where we feel comfortable enough to truly express ourselves, both in our souls and through our looks. This has made me comfortable to really explore how I wanna present in my style.

Honestly, I wouldn’t say I have a persona. I think being a crazy bitch just comes naturally! I’ve always been a bit of a weirdo and doing music and being creative is where I feel most accepted.

We have mentioned how being an independent artist means you have to do a lot on your own. How have you found that?

I gotta be honest, it can be really stressful! I’m lucky enough that I work in sync (music for adverts/campaigns/tv shows), which has given me flexibility with my time and schedule. I did the hospitality hustle for a long time and it was nearly impossible to manage my tasks and get everything done so I have mad respect for anyone who can do both!

My days are spent creating, planning and doing admin. I am also part of the collective Aethera. We are an art/rave platform that run events and exhibitions primarily focused on platforming marginalised communities. For that, I book artists, run socials and curate. 

Networking is also a big part of my life – I get to go out to amazing events and have amazing conversations with beautiful creatures. Putting yourself out there and meeting new people is such a catalyst for collaboration and can breed so much creativity.

Although it is hard, I try to find joy in all of my tasks and remind myself that I’m so lucky to be able to be creative for a living. 

It’s honestly about the journey. If I was always reaching for a goal rather than enjoying the process I don’t think I would’ve made it this far – this shit takes time so enjoy it and celebrate your small wins!

Who are your inspirations?

I’m inspired by so many different things! Artist wise definitely Charli XCX, Azealia Banks, SOPHIE (RIP), Tommy Genesis and Taahliah, Amara CTK100, TWST, Cosmic Caz and more.

My friends and community inspire me, raving inspires me, lighting inspires me, and nature inspires me. Honestly, anything that I find beautiful, sexy and unique inspires me.

What have you found has been the biggest challenge in your career so far?

Not giving up!! There are times when you put your whole pussy into something and when it doesn’t manifest the exact response or opportunities that you want it can be really hard to stay motivated. But persistence is key; there could be people that are more talented than you but work ethic and persistence are what will carry you in this industry.

Once I started being more authentic to what I wanted to create and enjoying the process, staying motivated became so much easier. Be true to yourself and the rest will follow.

What would be your advice to somebody who wanted to make music?

Take risks and put yourself out there. You have to back yourself because if you don’t how can you expect anyone else to?

Talk to people about what you’re doing, the more you share and spread the word, the more you manifest your reality. Whenever I meet someone I introduce myself like “I’m FIA, I’m a pop star,” as obnoxious as that sounds. As soon as I started doing it, I started becoming it!

Collaborate and reach out to people you want to work with – the worst thing they can do is say no, and if so it’s not meant to be. 

Not one thing accounts for your success so if something doesn’t work out there will always be more opportunities and sometimes the universe takes things away to make space for new exciting things. 

Don’t let failure scare you or deter you from your dream, failure is good, the more we fail the more we learn and isn’t learning the most slay thing you can do??

What are your goals for the future? What’s next for Fia?

I wanna scale my project as much as I possibly can. I wanna tour, I wanna collab with my idols and I wanna create/release the best art I can – pop star shit you know!

I also wanna use my project as a vessel to platform other creatives, especially ones from marginalised communities; whether this be through collaborating visually or musically, or harnessing emerging technologies to provide representation and collective growth for independent artists. Through technology, we can reclaim ownership of our art and monetise our projects fairly which is something that has been taken away from us through the colonisation of the internet. REDISTRIBUTE CREATIVE WEALTH BICHES!!