WYEP hosted a Live & Direct Session with Dutch singer-songwriter Jana Mila, who played some songs from her debut album "Chameleon." She spoke with Kyle Smith.
Set list:
Rosie
Somebody New
It's True
I Wasn't Gonna
Interviewer: Kyle Smith
Engineers: Thomas Cipollone, Tom Hurley
Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Kyle Smith: We are Live & Direct with Jana Mila here celebrating the release of Chameleon that came out a few weeks ago. Jana, welcome to Pittsburgh, first of all.
Jana Mila: Thank you. I'm very happy to be here.
Smith: She's from Amsterdam and has had an interesting last year or so. How's that?
Mila: Well, yeah, definitely. I mean, it all went very quickly. I had to have some patience before the album came out, but it was definitely worth it because now I get to be here. I've been traveling the U.S. the past couple of months, going back and forth to Amsterdam, but mostly in the U.S. I don’t think I would have ever expected this to happen as a little girl starting to write songs. So I’m very grateful.
Smith: You mentioned that you wrote "Rosie" 10 years ago.
Mila: Yes, I have. A lot of the songs on “Chameleon” have been written a while ago, and now they're out.
Smith: Is it true that almost half of the album was written some time ago?
Mila: Yes, almost half of the album I wrote some time ago. I started writing when I was 16. There are also a couple of songs that I wrote in Nashville two years ago when I met my producer, Tom Lombardo. So it’s sort of a culmination of me being a teenager and now being what I would call maybe a grown-up. "Rosie" is the oldest song on the album, and that’s ten years ago now because I’m 26 — I wrote it when I was 16.
Smith: Being in your mid-twenties, how did the connection to a Nashville producer happen, coming from someone living and making music in Amsterdam?
Mila: It actually happened through an artist in Amsterdam named Ilse DeLange. She is a very big artist in Holland and an inspirational person. She introduced me to Nashville because she’s been there many times, has a house there, and knows a lot of songwriters. The first time I met her, she said, “I heard your songs, and I feel like you should go to Nashville. This is your place.” It felt sort of like Disneyland to me because I didn’t know what it was — I imagined cowboys everywhere. She took me on a writing trip, and I wrote the song "Chameleon" with Tom Lombardo. He made a demo for it, and I was immediately sold. A couple of days later, I asked him to be my producer, and he was very enthusiastic. So we made the record, and now I’m here.
Smith: That’s great! Tom produced Kacey Musgraves' big album from a few years ago and quite a few others as well. You got paired up with someone of good stature.
Mila: Yes, I’m very inspired by him. We even wrote a song together just a week ago. I feel like I’m in contact with a lot of people in Nashville, and I’m starting to be part of the scene there. I don’t feel like an alien anymore, so that’s nice.
Smith: What’s it been like being around so many singer-songwriters? It seems to be the hot city for music and recording.
Mila: It’s very inspiring. The house I stay in is on the east side of Nashville. I’m a big fan of Dave Rawlings, the guitar player, and one day I was sitting in the living room, looked out the window, and saw him walk past. I thought, “Am I dreaming? No, wait, I’m just in Nashville. This is my life now.” There are people everywhere that inspire me, and I get to be close to them now, which motivates me even more to write.
Smith: We had Aaron Tasjan in our studios a few months ago, and he talked about his neighbors, like Kim Richey, and how he sees singer-songwriters walking around all the time. Congratulations on Chameleon! I’d love to ask about the song you’re going to perform next, "Somebody New." Can you give us a little insight into its background?
Mila: "Somebody New" is a song I wrote that predicted my breakup. I think my ex-boyfriend didn’t even know at the time, but it was like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s about how you both feel like you’re already looking out for other people, and it’s in the title, "Somebody New." It’s a very uptempo, happy song, but it’s also a bit sad. I’ve got two people on stage with me — Dove on the piano, and they both came from Amsterdam, and Jerry on the left.
Smith: That’s Jana Mila, and the album is “Chameleon.” If you guys could do a couple of songs, that would be great. We're Live & Direct with Jana Mila from the WYEP studios.
Smith: We are Live & Direct from the WYEP studios with Jana Mila. The Dutch artist is here, and her debut album Chameleon is out. The song you just heard is called "It's True," and also the first single from the album is "Somebody New," which came out a few months ago. You’ve been living with these songs for a while now, but what was your goal when songwriting began? Did you have a specific theme in mind when you started the project?
Mila: Well, honestly, it was hard to pick songs. That was the first step because I had a lot of songs already, and I had to narrow it down to ten. If you asked me, I would produce a record every day and release a song every day, and I think any artist would love to do that. The goal for the album was basically to find the ten songs that feel like a good summary of who I am as an artist right now, while also producing them in a way that feels fresh and new to me, even though some of them are a bit older. When I first started writing songs, I didn’t even know I would perform them for people, so the goal wasn’t very clear at the beginning. But when I started producing, it became clear what the songs needed to sound like.
Smith: There are a lot of lyrics on the album that are very personal and leave you feeling vulnerable. Did you have any reservations about being too personal in your songwriting, or was that a goal?
Mila: Yes, I would like to be very personal, but I also don’t want people to start asking too many questions. So I always say that this song is about a character. For me, it’s a way to sort of protect myself, but every song has this hidden Easter egg in it that says something about me and my life.
Smith: Is "Chameleon" the overall theme of the album?
Mila: Yes, absolutely.
Smith: I kind of gave away the theme there about adapting and changing. What has your experience been so far? You've mentioned you’ve been to 24 states for visiting and touring and visiting radio stations.
Mila: We’ve been on a promotional radio trip for six weeks. Then I went back to Holland, and now I'm back here to do more shows. It’s been fun! I'm happy I get to see so much of the U.S. at my age already through music. There have been a couple of very fun experiences. For example, we went to Vegas — not to play, but just to party and gamble. My guitar player loves gambling; he lost $100 in 15 minutes! It’s the only place you leave feeling happy even after losing money. Just being on the road with my band members and Joel from New West Records has been great. I’m happy I get to do this even more now.
Smith: The album seamlessly blends folk, rock, and pop, with throwbacks to the Laurel Canyon era. Has that type of music influenced you on your journey to becoming a musician?
Mila: Yes! When I was about 15, I started listening to Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Simon & Garfunkel — very ’70s records that influenced my storytelling. Nowadays, I’m also a big fan of modern artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Madison Cunningham. It’s a combination of older music and very contemporary music.
Smith: Congratulations on Chameleon! It’s a really great debut record, and we’re fortunate to have you stop by. We hope you can come back and play a show in Pittsburgh sometime in the future. I’d love to hear another song from Chameleon. Are you willing to play another song?
Mila: Of course! This song is about things you weren’t going to do but ended up doing—like gambling away $100.
Smith: Gerry and Jana Mila Live & dDirect from our studios. The album is Chameleon, her debut. They’re in town just passing through, doing a little promotion for the album. I heard a lot of great things about your shows last week at Americana Fest, which is almost like a week-long celebration of music in Nashville. You drove into Pittsburgh last night. Any first impressions since it was your first time here?
Mila: It was amazing! Actually, Kyle showed us around last night in his car, and we got to see the lookout point with a beautiful view of the city lights. We even did a photo shoot there. Now we have about 5 or 6 hours here, so I’d love to meet you after the show to get some tips on where I need to go.
Smith: That would be great! We really appreciate you taking the time to come into the city and play for us. Best of luck with Chameleon, and we hope to see you back here for a proper show sometime in the future. Jana Miller live from our studios. Thank you!