Mia Wray: 'There's A Bit Of Imposter Syndrome, But I Worked Really Hard For This'

Mia Wray sure hears this a lot, but she really does possess a voice beyond her years. When I caught up with Stephanie Ashworth from Something For Kate in late 2020, conversation inevitably went to the young singer’s feature on Bluebird, a highlight from their first album in eight years, The Modern Medieval. After Something For Kate's manager put them onto Wray, getting her to feature on their song wasn’t a struggle. What is remarkable, though, is that the Work For Me singer finished her part in one take.

When I ask Wray if Ashworth was exaggerating, she laughs and confirms that she really did only require one take. “I just went over to their house; they have a little studio set up,” she says from her car – Wray lives outside of Melbourne and travelled into town for better phone reception. “I had listened to the song a little bit, and we just laid down some things and just fit. Then I opened for them and Bernard Fanning at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. That was really special. Stephanie’s great; what an honour.”

That’s not the only thing Ashworth and Wray discuss in common, though; they both recognise the importance and the lack of Australian music programs on our televisions. “I'm so grateful that we had someone like Michael [Gudinski] that fought for [Australian music on television] and was able to pull off that stuff in a pandemic,” Wray says about the Mushroom Vision series, The Sound.

The Sound is where I first witnessed Wray in action, and I don’t know when her music would have struck me if I didn’t watch the episode she performed on. “Being able to have the opportunity to showcase myself in the most authentic way I could possibly show myself on television, on that kind of platform is, is priceless to an up-and-coming artists career,” she explains. “And I definitely think that there should be more of that going around.”

It's hard to forget encountering Mia Wray’s music for the first time when the initial song you hear is her phenomenal Work For Me. A track primarily sung acapella, her single is anchored by thumping drums, a brass section that you certainly don’t hear every day in Australian pop music, and empowering lyrics to match her humongous voice. It’s no wonder why Wray was named triple j’s Unearthed artist for that week in September 2020.

“It's hard to recognise that you’re in the spotlight when you're constantly trying to reach for the next thing,” Wray says about Work For Me’s rapid success. “It’s hard to remember that it’s yours. I’m really grateful for the support I have, but I don’t necessarily think that I’m successful and feel a spotlight on me.”

She adds, “I feel like I’m hustling all the time. Please take this the right way – because I’ve been at this for so long; with this latest project [her Stay Awake EP] and Work For Me, it’s like, I have played music before this. I’ve been playing music for 10-12 years. So, with this project, I'm kind of like, whenever I get support, I’m like, it's about time. Here we go; let's go. Come on; catch up. You know what I mean?”

Wray isn’t speaking from a place of arrogance or know-it-all-ism, but rather, one of self-belief. She’s confident, she’s worked hard, and she knows that the results are great. “There is a bit of imposter syndrome, of course; but at the same time, I'm like, yeah, I worked really hard for this,” she confirms.

2022 has been quite the interesting year for Mia Wray. She feels satisfied with what she’s been able to cram pack into the second half of the year, after spending time earlier this year dealing with illness.

“When I got sick, I was really sad that another thing was holding me back from doing music, because at first it was the pandemic, and then there were a few other things that happened and then getting sick,” she says. “And I was like, oh, man, I just want to hit the ground running. I feel like there's so many things stopping me.

“But I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if I hadn’t gotten sick, I wouldn’t have written these songs.”

Wray has released a string of great singles this year, including Rerun, Evidence, and the title track to her upcoming EP, Stay Awake. “Something that I've learned from this EP is that there's a difference between me as an artist and me as a songwriter. And I always thought that that was the same thing,” she starts. As a songwriter, a track she’s working on can clearly be one genre or this theme. As an artist, however, Wray is still figuring out what being an artist means to her.

“There's lots of different songs and directions I’m going on that EP; it’s a collection of songs with me doing lots of different things that feel good about as a songwriter,” she explains. The Stay Awake EP has also come with a learning curve. “I've realised that I need to be the artist and I need to figure out what that thing is and stick to that.”

Wray’s love for music keeps her going and gives her further notice within the music industry and listeners. Stay Awake, with its funk, unique soul, and the balance of a poppy sound against lyrics about a friend dealing with depression, is a mishmash of every musical thing Mia Wray loves in the best possible way.

“I do like making modern nostalgia pop music with some nods to classic stuff here and there,” she smiles as we arrive to the music video for the titular track. While Wray is a charismatic flailing dancer in the music video, she is not a trained professional. “I do love dancing and I do want to take a class, but I never want to do anything too choreographed on stage or in a music video. I don’t think that’s my vibe,” she laughs.

Last month, Mia Wray opened for Vance Joy on his Long Way Home tour, alongside The Rubens, Budjerah, and Thelma Plum. One of the shows was at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt, an experience Wray’s manager always predicted for her.

“I remember when I first met my manager in the end of 2019 or something, and we've met up right near the Opera House. He was like, one day, you're gonna play here. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah,” she begins, ever the humble singer. “And here I am playing at the Sydney Opera House supporting Vance Joy. It was such a beautiful day; the crowd was probably the best crowd I played to for the whole tour.

“Even more surreal was that I got to get up on stage with Vance Joy for his Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! cover. I messaged him because it was the last show of the tour and I was like, something special has to happen on the last show, so I inserted myself in his show,” she laughs.  “I messaged him being like, I want to get up and do the Madonna bit and then he extended the invite to Budjerah and Thelma Plum, but Thelma didn't end up getting up and doing it. It was just me and Budjerah. It was completely surreal singing to 12,000 people.”

It's not the first unreal experience Mia Wray can recall about this year; after recently playing her first headline show in London, she’s one of the first 50 artists announced to perform at the May 2023 Great Escape Festival in Brighton in the UK. Representing Australia beside Wray will be BIG WETT, Phoebe Go, and Tasman Keith – the festival will be headlined by UK indie-pop sensation and Ed Sheeran's Australian tour opener, Maisie Peters, and British singer-songwriter and Mercury Prize-winning artist Arlo Parks.

Before she flies back overseas, however, Mia Wray will embark on her biggest Australian tour to date. She will play nine shows across the country in March 2023, including Awaken Festival on the Mornington Peninsula in late March. “Because the last tour I did was just three shows – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane – I’m extra pumped for this one since we’re playing way more shows. I’m so excited.”

Mia Wray will release her Stay Awake EP on Friday, 10 February 2023 via Ivy League Records. You can pre-order it here. Tickets for Wray’s upcoming Australian tour are on sale now.