Sensitive, chaotic, and observant, ÊMIA is a Vietnamese-American singer, songwriter and producer who is hand-crafting her own ‘tell-all’ brand of pop music. 

Heavily inspired by artists like Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne, Le follows in her idols’ footsteps through singles like “Teleprompter” and “Needy Desperate Manic. 

As an independent artist, she has gone through many different stages of her career.  From cultivating a following through YouTube covers as a teenager  to providing vocals for a number of up-and-coming Soundcloud producers as a twenty-something year old, She is no stranger to garnering a worldwide audience for a home-made product. 

Through her self-released debut EP, Little Secret, she has been featured on a myriad of Spotify and Apple Music editorial playlists: New Music Friday Spain & Belgium, Fresh Finds and DOPE AF – to name a few. Taking her influences from electronic music, R&B, film scores and musical theater. 

Her sonic universe sounds like your favorite young adult novel and it is as binge-worthy as a late-night soap opera. Powered by seltzer water, sour gummies, and overly-detailed journal entries, she is making a full-length album right now. 

‘VIDEO CALL’ is an EP created by ÊMIA (real name, Anh Le) and Charlie Kurata and is split into two chapters – VIDEO CALL:AM and VIDEO CALL:PM. Although they have yet to meet IRL, the collaboration shows how far an internet connection can go. 

Inspired by their phone calls, Le and Kurata recorded snippets of their conversations and turned them into a collection of songs that illustrate what it feels like to be a twenty-something in a modern digital dating world. 

VIDEO CALL:AM are the daydreams that jumpstart your mornings, VIDEO CALL:PM are the thoughts that race through your mind just before you close your eyes. 

​​What do you think is the most important aspect of your life right now?

Right now, it’s making meaningful connections with people I admire and deepening the relationships I currently have. I feel like the past two post-pandemic years have been an eye-opening time in my life. I’ve learned a lot about the type of person I want to be/ the type of person I want to surround myself with.

What makes this song special in your opinion?

Two things make this song very special to me. One, this was a rare occasion in which I didn’t feel like I had to think too much to write this song. I’m a tragic overthinker and find myself rewriting lyrics to the point where I just make the song worse. But for this one, I felt like I could trust all of my instincts. Two, this was made with one of my best friends and frequent collaborators, Charlie Kurata. He’s a pal of mine whom I’ve known since 2018. We have worked on numerous songs together and we’ve still never met IRL.

What inspired this track?

One night when Charlie and I were chatting, he sent me a meme of this emoji guy smiling in his sleep and there was “FAKE SCENARIOS” written all over it. He sent that to me in reference to our conversation and how we were already making elaborate plans for how life was gonna be with our careers, crushes, friends etc etc. We’re both big dreamers and romantics and I just wanted to capture and explore what that dreaming up “fake scenarios” means to us.

What are some of the core messages here?

The song is bouncy and pretty darn cheerful – if I do say so myself. I think the core message is to embrace the rush that comes with chasing your dream. What can I say? I’m an enabler.

How do you think tik tok and social media are contributing to change an artist’s career?

At this point, I’m sure everyone and their mother is aware that social media (and especially TikTok right now) can connect anyone with a worldwide fanbase. However, beyond just the ability to go viral, I think the bigger impact that social media has on an artist’s career is the amount of resources that are now available to an artist that were once kept on the down low by “music industry professionals.” You can find a collaborator. You can learn a new skill. You can be inspired and learn from how another artist creates. I felt this way about YouTube when I was a teenager, and now this feeling has grown by like 1000x.

What excites you about your life?

I’m excited about the people and experiences I’m bound to have because of where music takes me. I’m gonna be incredibly corny and compare it to photosynthesis. I meet people because I make music…those people become the inspirations to what songs I write…and the cycle continues.

What are some of your core values as a human being?

Respect, compassion, and loyalty

What are your projects for this year?

Fake Scenarios is the first single off of an upcoming EP called, VIDEO CALL:AM.  The second chapter of the VIDEO CALL project is called VIDEO CALL:PM. I also am so excited to share that in addition to releasing my own music, I also get to be a co-writer and producer for other artists! Earlier this year, I produced Brooke Alexx’s, I’m Sorry Tokyo. Later in the spring, ellie d., will be releasing a brand new EP in which I had the honor of producing 3 of the tracks.