Mila Smith And Her Phenomenal Ascension In The Music World

Since the formation of VERVE Magazine, there have been a number of artists within the Cape Town music scene that Jeriah and I had dreamed of one day featuring in our magazine, and Mila Smith was high up on that list.

Venturing out on a First Thursday evening, we locked shoulders with the gifted songbird, casually mingling with her until eventually building the courage to ask her for an interview, with the hopes of achieving a more in-depth view into her gripping world as an artist.

It was no surprise to see how excited Mila was about this proposition, having the SAMA award-nominated talent link up with us on a casual lunch break at Kaya Cafe for an interview, allowing us to accomplish what we had always dreamed of.

Image Sourced From @iammilasmith / Instagram

To kick things off, how did your music journey begin?

"So basically, I feel like my journey with music started very young.”

“The first memory I can remember was when I was gifted a toy microphone at three years old. That’s when I was like “This is really nice!”

“I would always compose songs about my day in my grandparents’ garden, but then it properly progressed when I went to primary school, and I got a singing teacher in Grade Three. I started to learn music, and I got my own keyboard for the first time.”

“Basically, my goal was to always perform at assembly at school, but the music kind of took off in Grade Five when two boys from my school reached out to me. They had seen me perform in assembly and they’d actually just wanted me to help them with one of their music school concerts.”

“And so, we became like this band, we did a few rehearsals together, we did this concert together, and we worked really good together.”

“I wrote original music, so the band got a name called “The Skyscrapers”. It was through that, that I realised music was actually my main thing in my life.”

Image Sourced From @iammilasmith / Instagram

So, from that moment, you knew this was what you wanted?

“I knew from then, absolutely!”

“I will say that we were lucky enough that one of the band members’ mom was able to invest in the band and had music industry experience.”

“We were able to perform, and we had regular performances. But what really took us off was by chance I had happened to bump into my mom and her friend. I didn’t know him at all, but we randomly started talking about my band and the music.”

“Turns out he was a DSTV executive, and they were looking for a jingle for one of their new campaigns, for a new channel called Animania.”

“I showed them one of the songs I had written, called “Megaphone”, and they wanted to use that song. That ran for the whole of December/January in 2016, and following that we recorded our music video for a single we wrote, called “Just Kids”.

“Because of that, we were able to open for Freshlyground, but there was a lot of other great oppurtunities.”

“But in 2018, the band broke up. It was a difficult time because I was wondering how I’d finance everything. Music is expensive. But, by chance, a representative from Platoon happened to see the music video we had done and reached out to me to see if I was interested in being signed.”

“I was, so they really were instrumental in just being able to let me do what I love, make music, and collaborate with different producers, and release all this music, so yeah.”

So, you mentioned you opened once opened for Freshlyground. How was that experience?

“That was great! We did know that they were legendary. Like two years in a row, we were their first acts.”

“I just remember before we went on stage, we all looked at each other and we were nervous, but we were also very regimented in our practicing. We would practice like twice to three times in a week.”

“We were very dedicated, and I had a singing teacher, the keyboarder had a piano teacher, and the drummer had a drumming teacher, so it was very hands on.”

“By the time we did it, we knew it completely, we were very comfortable with our set, and I think it’s really nice when you’re performing with other people because you share those nerves together.”

“The one thing about being a solo artist is that it kind of all falls on you. Luckily now, I’m comfortable. Tanaka and I can be like “Okay, this is it”.

Image Sourced From @iammiliasmith / Instagram

For the most part, did you have a musical background?

“Yah I mean for the most part. I’d say I was always very musical. My family, not so much.”

“Listen, I think there was a deep appreciation for music. Like my grandpa collects vinyl’s, and my mom listens to good music.”

“It was actually my mom, that I would listen to more music around. My grandparents, nowadays, I tend to listen to music more often with them, but my mom listened to a lot of Erykah Badu. She was actually one of the first listeners of Lana Del Rey, I promise you! She would have her CD’s, and I remember feeling so embarrassed because no-one knew about her.”

“I remember wanting to sing one of her songs in assembly, and I didn’t know what the words meant, didn’t know what she was talking about!”

“But with that, I’d say Janelle Monae, my mom really liked listening to her, and with my grandparents it was a lot of 60’s music like Young Hearts Run Free and ABBA.”

“It’s the music I listened to. I don’t want to confine myself to one genre, which I think recently it’s become the way that labels are going and stuff, it’s a lot more a of a push to confine oneself to a genre.”

Having been in the industry from such an early age, what has your experience been navigating the industry?

“I’d say there’s a lot of positives, but I’d also say there are some negatives. I’d say mainly what I love and what I’ve learnt is that Cape Town is so tiny!”

“Cape Town is so small, so often times everyone knows everyone, so it does feel like everyone is up to support their fellow musicians. Spaces like Kaya Cafe have been incremental because they’re holding a space for emerging artists, which is really necessary.”

“That feeling of community is great.”

“Since Covid, I feel like across the board, resources have been stretched and people are expected to do more with less.”

“Secondly, it’s not enough to just be a musician, you also now have to be a content creator. You have to be a brand, which I think is very tough.”

“I think it’s difficult to balance your authenticity with making yourself accessible enough that everyone can relate to you.”

“But I’m still of the belief that your music will shine through.”

Talk to us about being a SAMA 2024 Nominee. How did that happen and how does it feel to have such an honour?

“My God! So, I got a message from one of the label executives with the link, and this was months ago, showing where I could submit my music for a SAMA nomination.”

“I had done it last year as well and lo and behold, no nomination. So, I was not expecting much at all. I remember even calling her to try find out what I should even put myself up for, but she didn’t answer in time.”

“So, I literally just ticked so many boxes. I ticked ‘Artist of the year’, I ticked ‘Pop Album’, I ticked anything, not expecting anything but I was hoping.”

“And like, Tyla blew up and I thought there was no way! Not that I don’t have faith in my own ability, but I wasn’t expecting much.”

“Until I saw the nominations had come out, and then I was hoping to see my name come out and I didn’t see my name. I couldn’t see it on the main SAMA Instagram, so I thought “there goes another year”.

“But then I got tagged, and the announcements were live, by something on TRACE Africa, having my nomination for best Pop Album. I thought maybe it was a scam.”

“I couldn’t find anything, but I knew I was in the same category as Tyla, so I did some research on her nominations, and I found my name there.”

“It was just amazing! It was insane. I called my mom, called my grandparents, the usual suspects I told.”

“I just think it’s very validating. The comparison stuff is difficult when you looking at other people, but I’d also say, Pop isn’t the main genre. It’s more of a niche genre. Pop is a little bit more difficult to get off the ground because the backing is more independent.”

“Just to be in that category with the other artists felt really validating, and I think it really made my year.”

To close things off, what is your opinion on the cultural landscape of Cape Town in this moment in time, and where do you see it going or growing?

“I think we’re at a turning point.”

“Labels were the standard and the goal was always a record deal. Now I feel like we are shifting out of that with more focus on grassroot stuff. More focus on community lead things like VERVE, or Kaya.”

“And, I feel like there’s going to be a lot more uplifment from fellow artists instead of competing with them. I feel like that’s outdated.”

“Even now, other Capetonian Pop artists want to do a tour together sponsored by certain radio stations, and just do stuff together.”

“And do we have hundreds of thousands of followers? Certainly not, but good music is good music. There’s more of an emphasis on collaborations rather than just the bottom-line of things.”

“The intentions are just pure.”

Our time spent with Mila was an absolute joy, uncovering a ton more than we had anticipated from the talented gem.

Trust us when we say, there’s a lot more in store to come from Mila, and we can’t wait to see what she has for the masses.

In the meantime, stream Mila’s SAMA nominated project, “You Need Therapy”, available on multiple streaming platforms, and keep a wary eye out for what more she has to release from her vault.