Fall In Love with Mia Raz and Her Refreshing New Album M-Ocean

Who is Mia Raz and why should you fall in love with her right now?

Avant pop musician and performer, Mia Raz, recently debuted her album M-Ocean in September firing a breath of fresh air into our subconscious, as well as a fever spirit of sentimentality regarding, self-care, slowing down and love from songs like You Are My Muse. Her overall focus for this album is concentration, listening and meditation, which is very fitting as dance, yoga and meditation are where Mia feels at home, including her earliest memories of frolicking in the forests at the age of four with her family. Time and not spaces are the ingredients for Mia’s universal message of self-care and unsurprisingly her way of life reflects that. Mia’s lifestyle brand, Discconnected, is a perfect symbol of Mia’s goal to re-energise people whilst giving back, as proceeds made go towards initiatives she supports, like No More Plastic Foundation. Through questioning herself, Mia chooses to act now, making decisions in every moment to let go of any fears in the future.

M-Ocean is pronounced [Mo-tion]

“You are youth and light, you are the one who designs yourself. You are youth and light, you are the one who makes yourself shine” – lyrics from the single Youth and Cracks on the album M-Ocean

Striving for goodness is probably Mia’s most defining characteristic as she continues her artistic journey, after studying acting at the prestigious ArtsEd in London and now pushing for her music. In the hopes of selflessly telling stories, acting, dance and music have helped Mia get braver, bolder and out of her head enough to be free, “since singing, acting, and well-being have always been the priorities for me, I feel like home when I am active in all the three aspects of my life.” Overall, Mia’s message of gratitude, which is sprinkled across her projects creates trust, a vital process which allows our bodies to feel content.

“This album is about motion. We flow, we fluctuate, we are like ocean waves.”

Nature being the purest signifier of our existence, naturally, Mia has gravitated towards taking care of the environment we live in. “We are the planet. Our responsibility is to take care of the ocean, cities, air, as well as ourselves.” On the single Youth and Cracks, Mia sings about her moments of contemplation as she sat under a big tree, revelling in how “we have been living in a pandemic state of mind.” Often from greed, fear, and isolation we forget that the best things in life are free. Discconnected, is Mia’s online platform where her teachings of yoga and combined motion with her music, inspires actions for important causes like plastic waste in the ocean, creating a resource where we are rewarded energetically but can also forward that on for some good i.e. helping nature. No More Plastic Foundation shines a light on the pollution caused by single-use plastics, particularly micro plastics like straws, which have macro impacts on the ocean and its inhabitants. Through Mia’s music and performance, we have the choice of joining a global movement to create change and memories that are good for the now and even greater for our future planet.

Mia loves to interact with people on social media which she sees as a positive tool to share her music compared to its negative impacts. Still, she has accepted that our current ‘pandemic state of mind’ means we need to wake up, breathe and move more – reenergise. Mia has created a path where she’s able to reconnect the dots with her lifestyle and her art. You’ll notice that she has carefully elevated her online presence with visual assets that are shot candidly as she performs in a closet or at home where she is dancing or making coffee. This eccentricity of her art melts beautifully with Mia the person, so you can feel safe in her hands wherever in the world you are, as she guides you through her music with her beautiful breathy voice, always with love. Of course Mia prefers performing live as she can express herself fully, and amazingly, she was able to do just that in Berlin during September, following the worldwide launch of M-Ocean.

Here are some extra special questions which Mia took the pleasure of answering and best believe they will make you fall in love with her even more…

Your debut album M-Ocean has recently launched, congrats. What about the ocean inspired you to make music?

The new songs are inspired by the Ocean, my journey through self-love, love – in general, by dancing, yoga, and meditation. All the topics are interwoven together by one factor – ‘muse’. I explore the concept of being our own muses by prioritising self-care: including physical and mental health, as the foundation for anything and everything that comes our way.

“We are the planet. Our responsibility is to take care of the ocean, cities, air, as well as ourselves”

Gratitude seems to re-emerge in your work, from the single A-muse-ing Life and of course your debut song M-Ocean. What other feelings or emotions are connected to this new album?

Oh god, a lot! There is a lot of relief coming from a deep sadness that I used to have in me. I used to be sad to an extent when I would be smiling so widely to not make people sad, rather the opposite. This sadness I suppose was coming from realising the world around me was not as I imagined it. One of M-Ocean’s ingredients is acceptance – accepting that things are as they are, not necessarily as we want them. And that is ok. Unless we have the control to change them. If we don’t, it is truly better to accept. In the song You Are My Muse, I sing about a deep connection between two people who are not physically together. When I wrote this song, I was in a long-distance relationship with a man, and I was missing him so much, having difficulties focusing on my own things. I was then saying to myself that being apart did not mean being disconnected from each other, as we felt each other’s love and support energetically. The album carries the feelings of longing, nostalgia, sexual desires, and then letting go of all that, accepting the present moment.

“I believe our life is nothing more nothing less than a constant balancing between the opposite poles. I would like M-Ocean to be an energising reminder of that.”

Sales proceeds from Discconnected will be donated to ‘No More Plastic foundation’, why do you think we need re-connect with the planet and be more aware about plastic waste?

We are the planet. Our responsibility is to take care of the ocean, cities, air, as well as ourselves. I have recently read an Instagram post posted by the actress Rosario Dawson. It says: “We do not need to “reconnect” to Earth. We wake up as Earth; our homes, our cities, our plastic, our petroleum, our chemicals. All Earth. And also our beauty, our art, our creations, our emotions, our bodies. You are Earth. Everyday. Your needs are Earth’s needs. Taking care of yourself is taking care of Earth. Healing yourself is healing Earth.” 

Five years from now, how do you want people to remember your debut album M-Ocean, what messages do you want to remember yourself?

I would truly like us all to enjoy our everyday lives more. I would like M-Ocean to be remembered as the light in the tunnel. Maybe a tiny light, maybe a bit silly, avant, but the light. Not darkness. I would like people to always remember that the glass is half-empty and half-full. Things are never just white, nor black. It is our perspective that defines it. We can see the same event in two different ways. Even the scariest occurrences can be seen as something positive. We lose something and we gain something else. We break up with a partner and we uncover our independence or new skills. We feel lonely which forces us to discover self-contentment. We are rejected and we discover our resilience, the list is long. I believe all these qualities will not change in five years, not in ten. We read about all this in books, looking back hundreds, thousands of years. We are extremely lucky that we live in the times when most of life’s rules and ‘truths’ have been already discovered. We have access to all this thus we should not be that confused. I believe our life is nothing more nothing less than a constant balancing between the opposite poles. I would like M-Ocean to be an energising reminder of that.

Watch the exclusive video for M-Ocean below

Mia is our Muse

Follow her on all her socials and support her music and projects on the many platforms listed below

Instagram: @mia_raz

Music: Spotify Itunes

For Yoga sessions, digital and Vinyl tracks: Discconnected.me

Website: Miaraz.com