In Conversation with TIKA MAYS
Presented by Half-Moon Music // Interviewed by Maliah Aguilar // Photographed by Erin Canterbury
New York City, New York, USA
Sunday 10th July, 2022

Summer in New York City is a vibe that I can get on board with for the rest of my life. It’s a City that feels synonymous with the winter, but for me it feels like this place truly thrives and feels so incredibly vibrant and alive during the summer. I’ve been given the opportunity to tackle my first major assignment as a member of the Half-Moon Music family and it’s a task that I’m so incredibly excited for as I arrive in a City that I adore to meet an artist that I’ve loved dearly since she burst onto the music scene only a few years ago and really established herself as one of the top names within the industry. Tika Mays is unafraid to be herself, to stand up for herself when she needs and not shy away from the battles that she finds herself in. It’s not been an easy ride for her, but she’s stood tall and taken control of her own career in a way that is an inspiration for all young artists trying to break through.

She’s had so many battles with her former record label and she’s found herself feuding with some of her contemporaries, she’s forced her way into the consciousness of the music listening universe and it’s been almost impossible to ignore her since her debut. Beautiful, brilliant, talented, independent and fierce are all words that we’d love to be associated with and Tika Mays encapsulates all of those words and many more. I had the pleasure of seeing her perform live during her breakthrough year and more recently on her Unfinished Business World Tour in Amsterdam, Paris and London. I got the opportunity to spend a little time with her backstage after those shows and she blew me away with her humility and her grace, even in the aftermath of a wonderfully energetic performance she found the time and energy to truly embrace my company. We took a couple of drinks and headed into the Paris following her headline show over there. I’m proud to get the opportunity to be in her company once more but this time in a more professional setting.
Here’s how our conversation went in her home in New York City.

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Tika, it’s been such a quick rise within the industry for you. There’s moments where you’ll release a song and it still shocks me that you’re still a relative newcomer because you’ve covered so much ground so far. How would you describe your rapid rise within the music industry in such a short space of time?

Well what i can describe is that i learned how to make industry work by taking over the storm and it was one of the best experience of my life and i just couldn't even say more but to say that it was one of the crazy life i ever been like my dream have finally come true and i just even began to joy it while it still fresh.

When you look at things from a statistics point of view, you’ve already proven yourself to be so prolific. It feels like you’ve delivered so many singles. Where does that work ethic come from?

Marketing basically i just know when i hear song that make me say it's a single meaning it was an instant hit so my mom who she manages some artist she taught me listen to the song very closely and make sure you pick the right one and i had it repeat over & over again in my head and still till this day i keep hearing it and use it so yeah.

”Anxiety” for me is the song that really made me realise ‘Like, holy fuck, this girl is here to stay’. What would you say was the moment where you realised everything was changing for you and you were really making your mark?

It's like the world is stop like i don't know what going or something like that and they started to notice me more and taking note of my vocal and everyone was supporting me which it make me cry cause i can finally see why i becoming more mature a little bit then i was so it was bless to see why people started to take me serious as an artist now.



Obviously you’ve released your sophomore album, “Truly” in early 2022 which was a huge success for you. What was the inspiration behind that record?

It about how i feel in the truthful way meaning it kind tell a stories but in the way i felt truly truly about this one.

It was clouded in controversy too as you announced shortly after the records release that you’d be leaving Big Diamond Records after a couple of delays and push backs from your label. The album was a big success for you, how did that feel to leave the label with a major hit record on your hands?

Well I was piss off i would say and the Big Diamond would've even try to pay attention to what i have to say and to add to more injury when i send them an finishing product Big Diamond say that it's not marketable and it's doesn't scream hits so for me i was beyond piss when they have to remove the songs that i would've been love to release which i still have my master and it was the five songs it was removed "Bubblegum", Kiss & Tell", "Own Me", "You Gonna Miss Me" which it was my personal favorite & the song that it was initially for Truly but my version was scrapped and it was given to Sophia "I Don't Care". They even had to pushback the album date due to some new recordings and it felt too much for me so i decided to leave the label but it felt good to have a huge success of the record before i could leave the Big Diamond.

I believe you had to step in and demand that your label change singles from “Feel Good” to “My Baby” early on. Was it clear in that moment that you wouldn’t be able to maintain a long relationship with the label?

Imma clear this thing up i personally have no intention to release Feel Good as my first single like it was label idea to release it and i was like alright since i got no choice but to release then My Baby come up and i was like oh scrap that i wanted this song to be release and i immediately tell them like forget Feel Good as the first single i want My Baby to be release as first single off of second album and they hear it as they saw this song as potential to be hit and they were already on board with this so it great to have My Baby release which i still proud till this day.

I believe that there were a lot of elements that resulted in your departure from Big Diamond Records, one of which was the lack of support that you felt you had earned and the amount of support given to Sophia Delaney seemingly undeserved in your eyes. Obviously a lot goes on behind closed doors, do you care to elaborate on those issues?

Um ok so when it come to manage some artist on the label i mean i don't have problem with anyone when they manage some artist but when it come to Sophia Delaney who have huge support it piss me off when you working with somebody that don't like you and it was frustrating to me like you use to manage some artist fairly then manage only one big time and it just annoy me cause personally i wouldn't care if they manage some artist respectively but when it come to not manage all artists it piss me the fuck off when i try to tell them they simply ignore me and i was piss off about that so it not okay to ignore artist when they try to tell you something.

Of course the rivalry between yourself and Sophia has been heavily reported and it’s no secret. Where do you believe these issues came from?

Well label obviously it hurt me to know that they getting Sophia attention more than me cause usually label would start to give me an much idea on where to promote the singles and albums and stuff but really they try to make a rivalry between me and her which i have no problem with her but the fact is that when I try to meet her she was like very bitchy to me like I was obviously confuse cause her personality is fake and normally she'll be friendly to someone but for me she put her hand out and said "Kiss it" i was like... huh? Like it was pissed me off cause this is not the same girl that I knew on her first day of being signed to label now she is bitch so if she hearing this i'm sorry but i'm explaining the fact what went on behind the scenes.

Would it be fair to say that there is no working relationship between yourself and Sophia?

Hundred percent both and there were at that time it was working personally and there were time it not it was just okay so i guess you can it was yes and no in it i would say.

Moving on from those personal issues, you fulfilled your contract with your former label and signed a deal with Ruff Round Records, how would you describe the partnership that you’ve formed with your new label?

Fucking amazing really *laugh* but really Mr DJ Hurricane had his own label which i'm so proud of him and he know on how to manage his own artist which i like so I personally ask him if he could sign me to his label Ruff Round Records and he immediately signed me there also here the best part I can have my own master and keep it whenever i wanna release it or something whatever so it the best feeling that i have all day.



And of course alongside your deal with Ruff Round Records you’re also signed to La Familia which is one of the major record labels in the industry, just how exactly does the partnership work having two record labels?

I negotiate with the label by giving them some profit meaning they get 50/50 percent of the sales something like that i guess it work out in the way it depend on how it working or not so yeah.

Of course the face of La Familia is someone you’ve worked closely with in the studio in Payton, what’s he like to work alongside and what’s he like as a boss?

Okay so Payton is my boss and he was hardworking when it come to some event like he can be sometimes fun boss and sometimes he can be work boss like you can't even blame him for amazing hardworking like he would give you some advice on how to get people attention to your music and how to do this and that and kinda helping me out so i was blessed to be signed to his label La Familia and i'm glad that Payton know what he doing also if La Familia labelmate watching or hearing this hey everyone *laugh*.

Alongside your work as a solo artist, you’ve also stepped into other areas of the industry. You were announced as a mentor on the upcoming season of Star Factory. How excited are you at the prospect of working on that show?

Oh men like i couldn't even express the word but here the fun fact I almost audition for StarFactory but i was too young to audition for Starfactory which i was a huge fan of that show and to be on the Starfactory as a judge/mentor it was amazing that i can finally say i'm on StarFactory.

You’ll be working alongside some of the biggest names in the industry in Ryan Ross Hernandez, Aubrey Mikkel, Alicia Lena and Billy Khan. What can you bring to the table that the others perhaps can’t?

Working with all of them is gonna be very interesting but great and what other don't know what i have to this table is that I looking for someone have that wow factor like someone that can blow me away and i have sweetness in my heart that was kind but can be critical depend on what's what's so yeah.

Keeping with the theme of outside work, you’re venturing into the medium of movies too. How far do your acting ambitions go. Could we expect to see you transition into a full time actress anytime soon?

Maybe it depend on what's film it is if i could handle some work scheduling but for now i'll might do music and act at the same time.

Obviously the majority of us see you primarily as a musician, your performance at the FCA Awards was very well received, it appeared that your performance was full of joy and confidence. How did it feel to get the platform to perform at that high level and then receive such praise for your performance?

I watched back at the last FCA performance in 2020 and i wasn't impress with some technical difficulties but at least nobody knew about this performance so i'm glad that this performance for FCA 2021 was better than the 2020 one was so to be able to take it from watching the video and learn what right and what wrong you'll be able to do better than the one you did before so that what i learn from then get better at the same time.

Live performance seems to be something that you excel at. From the design and detail of your performance it looks like you place high priority in putting on a true show for your fans. You’re currently on a world tour at the moment, just how much fun are you having on the road?

Very fun like i got all of my team including dancer, band, supporting act to go out eat after the tour and party which it was my treat to them and i wanna do something like i can just sit at tour do nothing without actually plan to go unless if i'm tired then i'll sit at the bus taking nap so it was good.

I was lucky to catch up backstage at a couple of your shows in Europe and I’ll be at your Las Vegas show on July 21, what city has been your favourite so far and which one are you most looking forward to?

Probably Paris, London, Austin and Berlin and the one that i'm looking forward to is Los Angeles which it's my hometown & Tokyo.

Okay, and finally you’ve got a couple more legs of the tour to come later in the year. What’s the plan once the tour is finished. Back in the studio or will you be taking a well deserved break?

Um both for now unless if i wanna get busy again then maybe i'll try something different it depend on something such.

It’s been a pleasure spending time with you again. Good luck on the rest of the tour and I can’t wait to see you in Vegas.

You too Maliah and this interview is fucking bomb and i hope to see you in Vegas as well girl!