Profile Spotlight: Interview with MIIST (Singer & Songwriter)
- LA Today
- May 1
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 29
Miist is a singer-songwriter who discovered songwriting at 34, after coming from a difficult life marked by abandonment and cancer. Drawing from profound personal challenges, Miist infuses every song with resilience, hope, and an unwavering belief in the power of love. She is known for crafting meaningful lyrics, encouraging listeners to take simple, yet transformative actions in their day to day lives: whether it’s sharing a smile, offering kindness, or reaching out just to say “I love you.”
7 QUESTIONS
WITH MIIST
1. You mentioned that music saved you when you felt like you were losing yourself. Can you share that pivotal moment when music became your lifeline?
I noticed that a lot of people, including me for most of my life, live in a way to meet the expectations of other people and society in general, or live our lives with a fake persona that we created for ourselves. A mask. It usually is harmless to other people, and we feel “safe” living that way, but the danger is when we lose the ability to keep that identity, when we lose control of the mask, then we no longer know who we are. That’s what I meant by feeling I was losing myself, but I wasn’t really losing my true self, since I never knew who she was. It instead gave me an opportunity to meet “her”, and music was a huge part of it. In my case, at one point in life, I quit my job, got married, became a mom…. all my identities changed at once. I was told my whole life that this is was the end goal, you should be happy when you have it all. But life is a lot more complicated than that… I felt lost… I was losing myself and my mind.
I discovered my musical ability just in time to save my sanity. Through music, I was able to access and process the emotions I couldn’t find a way to share with others. Also, through music, I was able to share those feelings freely with everyone. I finally started seeing myself, the music in me, what kind of person I really am, and my family and friends also, for the first tim,e started seeing the real me. I started living without my comfort mask. There’s still a lot of work to do on finding all of me, but I know where to look now.
In a sense, I did lose my old self, but I also found my true self.
2. Since you rely on "emotional instinct" over training, even arranging for instruments you've never played, can you walk us through how this actually works?
For example, before I wrote the cello line on “Could You Lend Me a Smile”, I had never touched a cello in my life. However, I did meet the cellist I wanted to work with, Eru Matsumoto, and I got to know about her work. She told me she’s involved in a few projects combining music and science to improve people’s health, which I also try to do with my music. When I tried to write the cello for her to play, I listened to the song that I wrote and imagined I was Eru’s cello. I was in her hands, and she was playing me. That is when I started hearing the cello part that is in “Could You Lend Me a Smile”. It’s a gentle and calming melody, instead of a sad one. In her hands, I felt the cello was the voice of hope.
3. You describe your musical ability as a gift from God, saying, "It certainly didn't come from me." How do you maintain that humility and faith in an industry known for being ego-driven?
About a year or so after I started writing songs, I became very afraid of using this gift of music. I think what I was really afraid of is what recognition, fame, if you will, can turn people into. I didn’t understand how it happened, but I was afraid of it happening to me one day. I told my vocal coach at the time, also my friend Sarah Tatto, about it. She told me what she finds helpful to her. “Think of the music gift as a book you borrow from God. When you use it well, you praise God. When you are done with it, you just simply return it to God.” I think about this often. Using the gift of music is not about me at all. It’s all about using it the way it was intended for us to use - to help and inspire others. I’m merely an instrument who was given an amazing gift and I’m here to do my job and enjoy the journey. Once “me” is taken out of the equation, then there’s really no ego involved.
4. What was it like co-writing your debut album with the legendary, 3x Grammy Winner, Narada Michael Walden, who produced hits for Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Aretha Franklin?
Narada is more than a co-writer and producer to me, he’s my mentor. When I first went to see Narada, I didn’t know what to expect; it felt like a dream. A supposedly half-hour meeting turned into a 3-hour jam session. I told Narada before I left that day, I felt “I’m not afraid to dream again”. He said, “You should write a song about it.” So I wrote that song for Narada with that exact title. It was produced by Narada and included in my first album.
During the one month or so it took to write the album and produce it, I was exposed to many different genres and had so much fun. Now I look back at it, Narada was exploring my potential in writing and singing, challenging me, and training me to be a better musician.
Through the whole album, he recorded every track in the live room at Tarpan Studios, face to face with me instead of sitting in the control room. After we were done, he said it felt like listening to the songs from the living room. So that's where the title of the album came from, "The Songs from the Living Room". My relationship with him and the way he nurtured me is a very special thing I will always remember. He’s the only producer who sits in the same room with me to record my vocals. I wouldn’t normally feel comfortable with it, but with Narada, I just knew it was what I wanted. It felt like he was holding my hand through every song, guiding me, as if I were a baby learning how to walk. I was, after all, a newborn to music.
5. You mentioned the "failed promise of social media." As an artist building connection through music, how do you navigate promoting yourself in the digital age?
I believe using social media as a tool to introduce my music to people is great. However, I don’t expect everyone to like my music and respond to my messages. My goal with social media is just to find my audience and direct them to my music and message, even if it means only one person listens to one of my songs, and it helps them feel better.
Because I write and sing in a 70s style, I like to do 70s song covers. People who respond to my covers are very likely to respond to my original music and are more likely to listen to the message I have to say.
6. You've lived in China, Canada, and now the U.S., saying you were "subconsciously seeking something—and found it. Myself." What did each place add to discovering who you are?
In China, I was living to meet other people’s expectations, also to avoid disappointing anyone. And as it turned out, I was very good at that. But subconsciously, I was waiting for an opportunity to shake my world up and have it completely changed.
I thought Canada was that opportunity, but turns out it was just a different version of my life in China. I created a life for myself, and I proved that I can be independent. But still, I was living to meet other people’s expectations. They were just a different set of expectations.
Then, after I moved to the US and got married, like I said earlier, that’s when my world finally got shaken enough for me to want to do the work for me and for my family to find my true self.
It’s not that I couldn't have found myself in China or in Canada, it was just wasn’t ready. I had to reach the point in my life where the cost of holding on to my mask was higher than the cost of letting it go. That moment that I was willing to finally throw it away and discover, as well as show, who I really was, was pivotal to me finding the real me. Strangely and wonderfully, I had no idea who I was until this happened.
Music was a very important instrument in this change as it provided an outlet for my emotions. However, I first needed to realize that I needed help and I needed to find myself, otherwise music alone wouldn’t have saved me.
7. Thank you for your time Miist, you are truly an inspiration. One last thing, we always have to ask, what is your favorite place to visit in Los Angeles?
I love Seal Beach. That’s the kind of place I would live. I would go to the beach for a walk every day, and I love walking around the town. I also love EastWest Studios. It’s my favorite studio in LA so far.
CONNECT WITH WITH MIIST
MIIST
"COULD YOU LEND ME A SMILE"
MUSIC VIDEO
