Now that we’ve decided to take a step beyond NYC and open up Tonemill for the masses, we get to wander on unknown territory. One of these is a place where hey now, hey nooo-ooow, this is what dreams are made of. You know the place: it’s on the other side of the country, it never rains, everyone is beautiful and successful, we’re obviously talking about Utah.
….we kid.
Sorry Utah! Today our unknown territory is the mighty Californ-I-A. Or in California speak, “We are just like, SO, totally talking about Califuurnuuua.”
Right, now that we’ve expressed our inner jealousy and bitterness through sarcasm for not being in the place where dreams are made of (hey now), let’s introduce you to today’s feature. 20-year old artist/ dancer/ model/ make-up artist/ singer-songwriter and guaranteed upcoming pop sensation…it’s Mia Mormino!
(…See why we were slightly jelly? We also want to be all those things…)
Mormino’s latest single “Chatter” starts by instantly captivating us with her convincing and evocative voice. As the song progresses we are hooked by the unpredictability of the track, surprising us with little turns and twists we don’t expect. The pre-chorus serves us soaring melodies and a final, chilling line in describing doing something one shouldn’t, “But you’ll hurt yourself the most now baby/ That would be so sad/”. Mormino then further laments this by crooning the words “so sad” in a brilliantly arranged melodic duet with an electric, distorted guitar. It’s deeply moving, rousing and persuasive. Sometimes we find young artists trying to ‘perform’ their edginess with lyrics or a production that feels inauthentic, empty or just void of real character. This is 1000% not the case with Mormino – there’s an authentic edginess that emerges which is clearly true to her artistic character, and we’ll follow her aaaaaallll the way to those edges.
Best listened to: when you need to fully and totally unleash your inner (our outer, we don’t judge!) Drama Queen
Listen for: 0:25, when the deep synth-bass enters on the pre-chorus like sh*t is about to go down (and we’re here for it)
Follow Mia here