Posted by North London has inspired Miraa May’s music so much that you have to look for a point where it didn’t. “Think about who’s from Tottenham, it’s such a musically enriched place to be from,” she explains. “If you’re musically inclined and you grew up in Tottenham, that inclination is only going to come out even more.’
Born in Algeria but raised in the ends, Miraa May is the name on everybody’s lips, even across the pond. With soulful remedies and head boppers enlisted upon her Soundcloud since 2014, her claim to full-fledged acknowledgement is seemingly earned. Rather than sticking to the usual conventions of R&B, her North London influence is evident especially on her most recent EP, ‘Care Package’. That EP’s cover features a manga-fied Miraa May, reflection the inspiration she draws from female-empowered narratives of animes such as Sailor Moon.
But this narrative isn’t the basis of her music. Miraa’s music, she says if fuelled by emotional instinct: whatever you feel is up to you. “Anything,” she confirms. “Whatever you want to feel. If you want to be pissed off, good. Feel something. I would hate for my music to be background noise.”
Describing the music industry as a journey of ups and downs, as the ascendant star reviews her progress so far, the 23-year-old relays a message to her old self: “Take time, relax and it’s not that deep. I would like to give my old self a whole paragraph of advice.”
With this just being the genesis in her music adventure, there are large goals in Miraa’s foresight. “I see myself in a very big house with my friends in close distance. I see my music out there, doing what it does, penetrating the minds of young people.”
What: Emotive soulful R&B
Where: North London via Algeria
Get 3 songs: ‘Nobody’, ‘Might Be Nice’, ‘N15’
Fact: She loves food and wants to open a catering business one day.
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Words: Debbie Ijaduola
Photography: Sophie Mayanne
Fashion: Zarina Shukri
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