LA by-way-of South Florida indie pop artist myah is a tenacious and proficient pressure exploring her feelings via deep, impassioned items – all of which come to the fore on her boldly dramatic debut album, ‘i don’t know what i’m feeling.’
Stream: ‘i don’t know what i’m feeling’ – myah
For years, myah (aka Mariah Morgenstern) has been the inventive pressure shaping the visible worlds of music’s greatest names.
Her manufacturing credit span a powerful listing of artists, from The Marías and 24kGoldn’s chart-topping “Temper,” to Kehlani’s “Little Story,” Steve Aoki’s “Final” and “Invítame a Un Café,” Tinashe’s “X,” and Oliver Tree’s “Cowboys Don’t Cry.” In 2025, her skills behind the digital camera earned her a Telly Award for the self-directed music video, “the foyer.”
However myah isn’t only a visible storyteller, and he or she’s now greater than ever turning her focus to the music itself. Initially hailing from South Florida and now based mostly in Los Angeles, her sound fuses different rock, pop, and pop-punk vivacity with the emotional fringe of Midwest emo guitars. Together with her mix of biting angst, melodic heat, and cinematic imaginative and prescient, myah is stepping out from behind the digital camera and onto heart stage.
Independently launched on August 29th, her debut album i don’t know what i’m feeling explores relatable themes of affection, loss, surprise, and longing, inviting listeners not simply to listen to her songs, however to see themselves inside them. myah attracts from her personal profound, intimate experiences, however leaves the door open for her viewers, making her music undeniably particular. By avoiding pronouns when she will be able to, myah makes it simple for anybody to reside throughout the tales she creates.
Atwood Journal spoke with the up-and-coming artist about her burgeoning signature sound, musical influences, her new album, and a complete lot extra: Learn our interview under and stream i don’t know what i’m feeling, out now!
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A CONVERSATION WITH MYAH
Atwood Journal: Your music blends different rock, pop, pop-punk, and Midwest emo, how did your distinctive type come to life?
myah: I’m the youngest of 5, and once I was a child, my brother Devin gave me his iPod. He advised me that if I began listening now, I’d have the very best style in music by the point I obtained to school. I feel each little lady needs to be cool like their older brothers, so I agreed. That iPod was my first actual introduction to music, and it had all the things a 7-year-old in all probability wouldn’t have found on their very own: Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Nationwide, Blink-182, Sigur Rós, Sum 41, The Killers, Netherfriends, The Postal Service, Speaking Heads, Wolf Parade…the listing goes on.
As I obtained older, I used to be tremendous into Midwest emo and goth scenes. I listened to a variety of metallic and screamo, however I additionally did musical theatre and cherished R&B and synthpop. Fairly than commit to creating music that had one sonic voice, I needed to see how I may pay homage to all of the completely different manufacturing decisions I cherished that made me really feel one thing.
These numerous style eras from my life in the end grew to become this melting pot of textures that bled into my music type, and I feel that’s why individuals have had hassle inserting what artists I sound like, which is an effective factor to me. I’ll let listeners uncover the precise influences on their very own, however should you’ve ever questioned why I discuss in a few of my songs, that’s the showtunes.
You will have cited influences like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foxing, and Modest Mouse. In what methods have these artists formed your method to songwriting and efficiency?
myah: If I have been to select a band that has formed the best way I carry out reside, that might undoubtedly be Twenty One Pilots. However in relation to songwriting and manufacturing, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foxing, and Modest Mouse have influenced me essentially the most.
I feel their lyrics sing like poetry. It’s clear they write about issues they’ve truly been via or thought of, versus one thing extra manufactured or written by another person. Meaning quite a bit to me as a listener. Their manufacturing decisions are all the things I love about different music; it’s visceral and atmospheric, lo-fi and experimental, you simply can’t escape the best way it makes you’re feeling.
I feel Karen O is likely one of the biggest vocalists of our time. She’s a powerhouse with an unbelievable tone. “Maps” and “Skeletons” are two excellent songs. Lyrically, they’re repetitive, however they don’t really feel lazy. She takes repetition, makes it hypnotic, and actually lures you in. My monitor “all the time need you” was impressed by that type.
Modest Mouse’s lyrics are so introspective and self-aware, whereas having this kind of darkish humor behind them. The way in which Isaac Brock writes about his nervousness surrounding residing a complacent life – or a life with out objective – is one thing I relate to quite a bit. Folks suppose Modest Mouse is simply “Float On,” however you possibly can’t hearken to that tune with out listening to “The World At Massive” proper earlier than it. Good Information for Folks Who Love Dangerous Information is what impressed me to make an idea album with interludes and songs that roll into one another. I feel he did it greatest. “The Horn Intro” is genius. The affect that band has had on me is monumental.
Foxing’s lyrics have a stage of vulnerability and craving that’s laborious to disregard. “Rory,” “The Medic,” “Bloodhound,” and “Slapstick” are all phenomenal songs each story and production-wise. I feel Foxing is a good instance of how one can nonetheless be rock and have these epic, heavy, headbanger songs, whereas additionally discovering moments to be quiet and comfortable. I perceive my very own human expertise higher as a result of these artists invite you to expertise theirs, and that’s as a result of they authentically lay all of it out on the desk. I attempt to write music simply as significant.
Rising up in South Florida, how has your background and atmosphere molded the sound you create at this time?
myah: Rising up in South Florida is a singular expertise, and I feel the media offers us a foul repute. The place I’m from, you possibly can drive an hour to Miami and see South Seaside, or drive a bit over an hour to the Everglades and get a lesson on swamps and alligators. In the event you really need an journey, you possibly can maintain driving south till you hit the Keys, which really really feel such as you’re being transported to a unique period.
The panorama right here is so vivid that I attempt to make music in an analogous manner; the place you possibly can shut your eyes and it’s simple to image, virtually like a scene from a film. I used to be a child when Hurricane Katrina hit. I used to be in center faculty when my mother got here house from work and located a child alligator in our tub that my brother Hunter had caught. I went to school subsequent to Common and Disney World.
Florida has an unbelievable music scene, particularly should you like pop-punk music. There can be no Ocean Avenue with out Jacksonville, Florida, and that tune exists as a result of whenever you develop up right here, you perceive how vital Florida is in comparison with different locations. The individuals, the seashores, the reminiscences – there’s a lot life right here that ranges from easy to simply weird, and I like to take all of it in.
Florida can really feel prefer it’s frozen in time, and I feel rising up in such a various place, with so many area of interest life experiences, allowed me to create music that feels lived in. My house is wealthy in historical past, the place the solar shines vivid a lot of the 12 months, and has the very best afternoon storms throughout the wet season.
All of that distinction formed the best way I write. I feel that’s why my music can sound dramatic however dreamy and acquainted, as a result of I view my hometown in that manner. It’s very romantic to me.
In case your music have been a taste, what wouldn’t it style like?
myah: Like a taste out of your childhood that doesn’t exist anymore. It’s nostalgic, however candy, and also you didn’t notice you missed it till it hit you unexpectedly. You already know that scene in Ratatouille, when Anton Ego takes a chunk and all of the sudden, he’s transported again to his childhood? That’s what it tastes like.
Your newest album is titled i don’t know what i’m feeling. What impressed you to decide on that title?
myah: I battle with expressing my feelings verbally, which I’ve realized is tied to one thing referred to as alexithymia. Just about my entire life I’ve had all of those emotions and ideas in my head, however I didn’t know the best way to say them out loud, and each time I attempted, nothing got here out. The most effective visible metaphor to explain that is when Ariel loses the power to talk in The Little Mermaid. That’s what it felt like.
Once I began writing music, it was like abruptly, I used to be capable of talk what I used to be feeling. The lights turned on. One tune led to a different, and earlier than I knew it, I had this physique of labor that didn’t have a reputation. However whenever you zoomed out, it was a group of songs that expressed so many feelings that possibly there wasn’t a single one to land on.
I instantly thought, “God. Individuals are going to suppose I’m insane. This can be a lot.” I feel that’s why the title monitor, “i don’t know what i’m feeling,” is so self-aware. As somebody who views life with a romantic lens, I couldn’t say this album was about love or heartbreak. It’s extra about studying and discovering for the primary time the best way to articulate your self, and in doing so, realizing you don’t know what you’re feeling, since you’re feeling all the things. I assumed love was easy, till I began to actually unpack simply how complicated it truly is.
The compelling 17-track assortment opens with “dissolve,” a deeply emotive and introspective monitor that explores the uncooked ache and vulnerability of heartache. Might you delve into the story behind the tune?
myah: “dissolve” is the primary monitor on the file as a result of it units the tone for what’s to come back. It captures that preliminary emotional collapse as soon as a relationship has ended, and also you kind of really feel such as you’re residing on a loop in sluggish movement. In the direction of the top of penning this album, I used to be going via a really dangerous breakup, and it felt like a punch to the throat.
How may I’ve been so silly? So flawed? How may I be so weak, so cautious, and in the long run, I nonetheless obtained burned? It felt like the ultimate straw of all of the relationships I had skilled. Throughout my relationship with this particular person, I used to be so satisfied I obtained it proper, that when it ended the best way that it did, I felt like I couldn’t faux to be robust anymore, and that’s once I wrote dissolve.
It’s a self-aware crash-out tune, and sonically it builds the identical manner a crash-out would. The tune is about going from being safe to anxious as a result of your associate is avoidant and drifting away. “Uh oh, I’ve completed it once more,” is the logical aspect of my mind speaking, realizing that I had made the identical mistake once more, however as a result of I’m a romantic, I tricked myself into believing I could possibly be sufficient to alter another person’s psychology.
That’s the issue with being a romantic. You suppose love is sufficient, when it’s not. Simply since you love somebody doesn’t imply they love you again or perceive you, and when that grew to become clear, I crashed out laborious, so I put these emotions into the monitor.
“glitter” is about abandoning a small piece of your self for somebody, a refined reminder that you just have been there. Are you able to clarify the tune’s message in additional element?
myah: In a broader sense, sure, “glitter” is about abandoning a small piece of your self for somebody, and I feel glitter might be changed with any private memento, relying on the listener. For me, glitter is a literal calling card. I’ve worn glitter eye make-up practically day-after-day for the final 5 years or so, and it’s change into a signature of mine.
There was this particular person I used to be courting who despatched me a textual content about discovering glitter of their house, and it made them consider me. That was the primary time I obtained a textual content like that after which it grew to become a sample. I’d get messages concerning the glitter left behind. “Your glitter’s on my cheek.” “It’s in my hair.” I assumed, “Huh, I’m kinda like a glitter vigilante. I ought to write a tune about this.”
I don’t suppose there’s something extra intimate than sleeping subsequent to somebody, which is why the hook says, “Is there glitter in your sheets? The place we prefer to sleep?” Fairly than making it overt, I stored it extra harmless. In my view, there’s nothing just like the simplicity of falling asleep on the sofa with somebody you care about, and I needed to convey that emotion.
At its core, the tune is about desirous to be romanticized again – to be the particular person somebody can’t cease fascinated with, reasonably than all the time being the one who’s doing the considering. The repetition performs into the craving. There’s one thing lovely in the concept that a small piece of glitter can activate a reminiscence, and on the finish of the day, reminiscences are all we have now.
We’re all accustomed to the expression, “I dodged a bullet.” Sometimes, it’s used to specific aid or gratitude for avoiding a unfavorable state of affairs. Your closing launch, “dodging bullets,” explores a unique perspective. Even after avoiding the worst, the particular person remains to be grappling with the lingering ache that got here with it. How did you deal with conveying the emotional complexity of transferring on whereas nonetheless feeling the impression of previous harm?
myah: As I discussed earlier than, I used to be going via a foul breakup in direction of the top of penning this album, and it was the primary time in my grownup life I had been fully blindsided by a relationship ending. I didn’t understand it was coming, and it felt like a bomb went off. Once I advised my associates or my friends the way it occurred, each response was the identical: “You dodged a bullet!” Nevertheless it obtained exhausting.
I didn’t need to be some robust lady boss. I didn’t really feel empowered or higher off. I felt betrayed. I needed to cry. I understood that I had dodged a bullet, however emotionally, I used to be devastated. Once more, like my opener “dissolve,” I struggled with the truth that my feelings couldn’t meet up with the logical aspect of my mind. I knew so vividly that anybody who may harm me the best way they did was not somebody I ought to need. And but, due to my very own points with abandonment and self-worth, my coronary heart broke of their absence. I discovered myself in a determined loop of attempting to grasp.
Finally, I requested myself, “Why does dodging a bullet harm a lot?” And I got here to the conclusion that simply since you dodged one doesn’t imply you weren’t grazed. It doesn’t imply it was clear, that there was no impression. And what’s extra heroic than taking a bullet for somebody? Would you do it, if it meant they’d keep?
In my grief, these have been the questions I requested. The lyric, “Hit me!” was an homage to one among my favourite motion pictures, The Darkish Knight, when the Joker dares Batman to run him over. He knowingly dangers all of it, and he invitations the destruction head-on. I feel we regularly try this in poisonous relationships; we compromise ourselves in alternate for ache, if it means the particular person will keep.
That second of desperation is what impressed the group chant within the outro. It’s not the healthiest response, however I feel it’s a really human one. All of us need to be sufficient, to matter, to be chosen, and whenever you aren’t absolutely healed post-breakup, you’re feeling such as you’d reasonably fall on the sword than be alone.
Having since healed from that relationship, I feel dodging bullets is precisely what a harsh, no-contact breakup appears like. I knew it needed to shut the album, as a result of it leaves you with a query: “Did she survive it? What is going to the subsequent chapter appear to be?” And people solutions are presently being written.
What’s subsequent for Myah?
myah: That’s an incredible query. I’ve a music video for dissolve dropping, and I’ll maintain making music movies since I take into account my visuals an enormous a part of my artistry. My future plans are to hopefully open for a extra established artist so I can play these songs reside. I’d actually prefer to tour. Though the album is out, there’s nonetheless a variety of work to be completed to succeed in extra individuals, so I’ll be specializing in that for some time.
Do you have got a responsible pleasure tune or artist that you just secretly love?
myah: I don’t have any artists or songs that I wouldn’t need individuals to know I hearken to – I’m a fairly open guide should you let me be one. However in order for you some good, funky music to hearken to, I like to recommend Structure in Helsinki. Particularly, their tune “Do the Whirlwind.”
I really like that tune, and it has superb manufacturing components. The breakdown at round 2:45 – inform me you don’t instantly need to begin dancing the second you hear that. They’ve a variety of bizarre indie pop songs which are great. You’ll be able to inform they didn’t care about conforming to something; they simply made what they preferred. The textures and particulars of their manufacturing are among the greatest I’ve heard. 10/10 advocate.
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