Photo Credit Zahra Reijs

The follow-up to her debut EP “The Craze”, Mila V’s latest offering is a rave-ready tale of self-redemption about temporarily embracing your own downfall. Merging breakbeat, electro, techno and pop vocals, the new self-produced track has a dark and unholy feel as Mila V releases “the demons inside of me” in her spiral of chaos and hedonism. 

Explaining the inspiration behind the single, Mila V says – “Smile Now, Cry Later is about a battle of feminine and masculine energy within myself and with a partner that feels the need to rise above. It’s kind of a fuck you and an act of giving up on a hopeless situation, i’m just going to chase something hedonistic now and deal with the repercussions later because theres nothing left to give. Kind of embracing your own downfall for a bit. Letting the demon out in order to overcome it.”

How did you come up with this song?

“S.N.C.L.” Smile Now, Cry Later started when I was making a beat on my Elektron Analogue Rhythm. As soon as this one came out I started to have this kind of 2k pop feel to it and I thought It would be a vibe to combine it with my usual acid and heavy synth sounds. So the instrumental was there and then I started writing the lyrics, at the moment I was going through some stuff and this concept of Smile Now, Cry Later came out. I also have a classic tattoo of a crying and laughing theater mask. I guess it’s finding what is right for you at the moment in some sort of way.

Was there an episode or event that inspired it from real life?

In general relationships where you start to bring out the worst in each other and you know it’s time to give up and embrace your own downfall for a bit. That you feel you can not be your true self in order to not feel overpowering for the other person. But also a reflection on the self and battling your own demons.

Your sound is quite elaborate. What are your influences?

I listen to every kind of music, but I would say my influences come a lot from the Amsterdam nightlife I find myself in. A lot of my friends DJ’s and go to raves or when they started taking me to them is when I really started to pinpoint my sound and get inspired by everything I was dancing to in a trance.

Tell us more about your creative process

I usually start with producing the instrumental, the atmosphere of the music comes from whatever I am feeling at that moment. It’s kind of therapeutic in a way. The melody and lyrics always come later for me. I just start vibing to the song and I see what comes out. The visuals are something I am always thinking of, whenever I hear music, I see a video in my head. I daydream 24/7 about film scenes. It is something I have always done. 

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