Last week, rising star UNA MIA quit her Starbucks job to pursue music full-time. As she delivers a hugely impressive 30 minutes of sultry material at The Great Escape, it seems pretty clear hanging up the apron will pay off.
“I was at Starbucks for like six years or so,” UNA tells CelebMix backstage at Patterns. “I had to put in my two weeks, it was just because I was taking so much time to live my dream, to go on tour, for a while it felt as if I was living this double life.”
Bashful when arriving on stage, it takes just seconds for the Toronto-born star to blossom with silky vocals backed up with charisma when opening on ‘Too Much’. It’s hard to believe it’s MIA’s first-ever festival slot and first-ever trip to the UK, which she announces with excitement early on.
For fans of Mahalia and Ella Mai, UNA MIA is a surefire winner. The songwriter’s pop-influenced R&B boasts easily quotable lyrics and earworm choruses.
Citing Aretha Franklin and Beyonce as inspirations, UNA throws a SZA and Mac DeMarco cover into her set. There’s also time for a curveball version of Rosalia’s ‘DELIRIO DE GRANDEZA’.
“Spanish is a language that always intrigued me,” the singer explains. “I wanted to try something different and expand, I sometimes dream of doing my own Spanish EP or feature. It was to challenge myself and go out of my comfort zone.”
Those covers provide moments of familiarity, but the highlights from UNA MIA’s set come in the original material. The Canadian isn’t wrong when describing unreleased track ‘Nothing’ as a ‘bop’ and upcoming single ‘Move On’ is an ode to the end of a long-term relationship.
“I wrote it after the break-up,” UNA remembers. “It was something I was grieving for a while and needed to get it off my chest. That person played such an important role in my life for so many years. It’s an anthem for getting over a bad breakup.”
The highlight of the star’s visit to Brighton comes in ‘Better Care’, a track delivered so breezily that you’d be forgiven for missing the raunchy undertones in talk of scratch marks and carving names into skin.
“Initially we wanted it to be a steamy song about somebody else,” UNA chuckles. “Then I realised there aren’t many songs about women pleasing themselves and how important that is. I feel a lot of women resonated with that. The song is so fun.”
With songs like that up her sleeve, it’s impossible not to buy into what UNA MIA is doing. If this is the first ever festival slot, the sky is very much the limit.
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