[INTERVIEW] Aya Safiya Chats About New Album, “My Other Half”

Aya Safiya sits down to answer some questions about her newest album, “My Other Half” which has been released today on all music platforms! The artist tells us how she got into music, her influences and the difference of her first EP and her newly released EP.

HYPNOTICASIA: Tell HypnoticAsia readers about yourself!

Hi! My name is Aya Safiya and I’m an artist/ singer-songwriter. I was raised in the Bay Area by hippy-generation parents, my dad from California, and my mom from Tokyo, Japan. My parents are both musicians, so I grew up immersed in music. I studied violin as a kid and although I’m sure I was expected to only be a violinist, after becoming addicted to karaoke-ing in Japan I realize my deep passion for singing. 

HYPNOTICASIA: How would you describe your music to someone who is hearing it for the first time?

I would say my music falls under the pop umbrella, but closer to indie and folk rather than say commercial. With that being said it’s still electronic and heavily produced. Recently I’ve been experimenting a lot to find my sound, and with “My Other Half” I definitely feel like I’ve gotten closer to it. The music on this new EP has an ethereal, and hazy vibe which I’m realizing fits my temperament very well. My songs are in English and in Japanese, and they’re generally inspired by my personal experiences and deep emotions.

HYPNOTICASIA: You have an amazing background in traditional Greek and Balkan music. Would you say that has influenced your music style? 

When I write music I intentionally write through a pop channel, avoiding any folk or world music knowledge I have. I’ve heard this type of “singer-songwriter/Balkan fusion” done wrong (in my opinion) so often that it’s somewhat turned me off from that idea. Maybe one day I’ll want to experiment with mixing the styles but for now I’m focused on fully expressing my non-Greek/Balkan side of music. That being said I’ve noticed one subtle element in my songwriting style that is definitely influenced by my background in Greek music. I’ve come to realize that I’m extremely aware of the phonetics of my lyrics. Greek lyrics often not only rhyme but play around with alliteration, and the overall sound of the words.

HYPNOTICASIA: Who or what has been your biggest influence in your career? 

My producer/partner Tano Brock is my biggest influence in my career. I’ve always been such a dreamer with a million enormous dreams, but believed that I couldn’t make them all come true, and that I couldn’t be and do everything I wanted to. So I focused on building on what I already knew how to do: traditional Greek & Balkan music. Then there was a period in my life where I was meeting a lot of multi-skilled, multi-careered people, Tano being one of them. This was a life changer because it made me realize I can be and do everything I want to. Of course I didn’t think it would be easy, but seeing others live that way made me realize it wasn’t impossible for me to live that way too. Tano was especially an influence because he inspired me to delve into the world of pop and songwriting, something that seemed so foreign to me at the time, and then even tangibly helped me by producing my songs and bringing them to life.

HYPNOTICASIA: Do you do music full time? If not, what else do you do? 

Music definitely is my full-time job, but I do also do other work on the side including: graphic design, Tarot reading, and translating English <> Japanese.

HYPNOTICASIA: Tell us more about how you got into modeling, illustrating, graphic designing etc.? 

I grew up being involved in both music and visual arts, and actually until about midway through high-school I was more serious about my visual art career. In my early teen years my biggest dream was to become a Japanese manga-writer. During high-school I got recruited by a ton of bands and started gigging, so circumstantially I got pulled into the professional world of music and as a consequence away from visual arts. Although the basis of my switching paths was circumstantial, I quickly realized music was the thing that I always felt most passionately about. Still I enjoyed visual arts and there were certain feelings and visions I could only express visually, so I’ve kept at it. I tend to work with pencils and pens but I’ve taught myself Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere, and Lightroom and recently have been experimenting with mixing digital elements.

Modeling is actually something I was just about to get into when the pandemic broke out. A few of my friends had been suggesting modeling for the past few years, and I finally started considering it more seriously this winter when a model friend of mine gave me some tips and connections. I’m still hoping to enter that world but it’s definitely tricky to start something so new in this climate.

HYPNOTICASIA: Your 2^nd EP, “My Other Half” which will officially release on the 13^th of July, includes a total of five (5) tracks! Tell us a bit about each track on the upcoming EP. 

“Wakare-uta” is the first single I released towards this EP and it’s a song I wrote after a break-up. It was the first break-up I ever experienced where I was the one left with lingering feelings. I felt so utterly helpless, and sort of outside of my body. A few nights after the break-up the whole song spilled out in front of me, which was a rare thing because usually it takes me many sittings to finish a song, sometimes years. The production part of “Wakare-uta” took a while though. We went through many revisions and what we have now is completely different from where we started off.

“Tooku” is a song my producer, Tano Brock, and I co-wrote together. It’s different from the other tracks in that I wrote the melody to the chord progression and not the other way around. I wrote this song for my loved ones who I’m always and forever missing. I’ve traveled and made friends all across the world, so no matter where I am and how close I am to some of them, I’m always far from others. I tend to be a very very affectionate, passionate, and nostalgic person so this feeling of “missing” is very strong in me. This was a song I wrote right before COVID took off, but it has become especially relevant since.

“Washed Away” is the oldest song on the EP and in contrast to “Wakare-uta” took seven years to finalize. I wrote this song in reaction to the disastrous 2011 Touhoku Tsunami and aftermath. The song reflects my concerns for how little human life seems to be valued in the eyes of governmental entities, the forgetfulness and carelessness that allows bad history to repeat itself, and the ironic relationship that Japan has with nuclear power. As much as I’m criticizing the Japanese government in this song, it’s also an homage to my motherland, it’s culture, and it’s people who I deeply care about, and don’t want to lose.

“Rain Dance” is an homage to my home state: California. I wrote the song in 2014, during the worst times of the California drought. I learned about the concept of rain-dancing for the first time and the idea that we could bring rain through dancing and singing together, and I wanted to do my part by writing a song. I write most of my songs in rain so it felt right. I originally planned to release this song through a different project, and it took some convincing by my producer for me to finally decide to release it under my name. Still, for months I wasn’t 100% about it, feeling like “Rain Dance” didn’t fit the rest of the EP. It wasn’t until the very last day of production that I had an inspiration, tweaked the mix with my producer, and finally felt not only satisfied but ecstatic about the song.

“Anata ga Tonari ni Irunara” is a song reminiscing a scene of friends and lovers making music, skinny dipping, and sunbathing in the wilderness. This is the only song on the EP I wrote since the start of quarantine and my longing for nature, intimacy, and freedom, is immediately recognizable.

HYPNOTICASIA: Do you have a favorite on the album? If so, which one and why?

I don’t really have a favourite, I love all of them.

How is this EP different than your last EP?

One obvious difference is that my last EP was all in English and this EP is all in Japanese, hence “My Other Half.” Sonically I feel like this new EP represents me better. My last EP was my first EP, so I think I was preoccupied with the excitement of simply getting my songs produced and released, and didn’t contribute much to the production style. With “My Other Half” I was more involved with the production and really experimented to find my sound. Content-wise, my first EP stuck with relationships and people, where in my new EP there’s a strong presence of place and home.

HYPNOTICASIA: What advice would you give to someone aspiring to do music?

It’s hard to give advice because I’m still constantly figuring it out myself. But I guess, if I’m to give a piece of advice it would be to stay true to yourself. Find a good balance between taking other people’s criticisms and trusting your own gut because they’re both important elements on your path to wholeness, but ultimately, you want to stay true to yourself, and your music to reflect your authentic self. Also, be vocal about what you’re looking for and what you want to do. There are people in the same boat as you, and people who can help or direct you to help. A lot of action can be stirred up just by vocalizing your vision.