“I first got into performing when I was little but it wasn’t until I got into university that I had the
confidence to gig around Dublin.”
Her music best described as pop with R&B influences, Irish artist Fia Moon has been singing ever since she could remember. Assisted by having very musical parents growing up, the artist explains how music was constantly around the house. Growing up listening to jazz and soul, having trained classically, Fia further highlights how she would play 30+ cover songs per night. Subsequently finding herself slowly transitioning into a pop artist.
Discovering XX
Thrilled with her recent release, the artist explains how the song was born out of a break up, and thus an expression of how she was feeling at the time. Whilst the songwriting itself took only a few hours to develop, the challege came through the production, which challenged the artist and subsequently took months until she was happy with the final version. “I guess being so involved in the production process really made me ask myself ‘what do i want my sound to be?’ and ‘how can I achieve that?’” Keen to offer her listeners an opportunity to create a connection and mutual understanding about how we transverse through life’s experiences.
Finding Inspiration
The artist highlights how having a Dad trained classically and Mother as a music teacher, provided huge positive influence over her music career path since very little.
“When I had just left school, my confidence in music was quite low for some reason and there was a long period where I didn’t really feel comfortable singing in public. My mum knew this wasn’t what I wanted deep down so without me knowing she entered me into this competition that was happening in my local pub…”
The artist has since learnt that no matter what your goals are, there are always people who don’t want to see you succeed. Explaining she is her own biggest critic and something she’s learning to accept and instead use to her advantage. In addition the artist has learnt to stop asking for too many people’s opinions on things. Highlighting how it’s good to ask for advice, but the artist only genuinely requests from people she genuinely trusts and admires as she explains it can just end up confusing you rather than providing the clarity you’re searching for. The key to remember is at the end of the day, it’s your art and yours is the only opinion that matters!
Overcoming Mental Health
The artist opens up how due to her parents being on and off for most of her life, she found this something she really struggled with. This subsequently lasted for years and impacted every aspect of her life. Fia explains how she tends to not talk about it too much as she is still learning about it. However, she finds reading and educating herself always helps her to feel like she has some level of control.
“I used to think that I could fix things and took a lot of responsibility for everything
that went on at home which caused anxiety and then insomnia when I was in my
final year at school.”
The artist has been able to learn to accept things for how they are, whereas before she herself wishing for something to miraculously change. She highlights how there is a lot of strength in taking responsibility for your thoughts and how you react to things. According to the artist, talking also helps. However on a personal level, she has found ruminating on negative emotions a bit counter productive. Thus the importance of staying positive.
Social Media – The Tool
For the most part, the artist is grateful for social media as she finds it to be a great marketing tool and vitally important for engaging with anyone who supports your music. “It’s amazing how we’re able to start conversations and online friendships with people we’ve never even met! I recently got the chance to collaborate with a group of Irish women on a project called ‘Irish Women In Harmony’ which began with one of the girls DM’ing me on Instagram”. Humbly admitting the reality of being still relatively new to songwriting and producing, the artist is very keen to experimenting with new material. Due to her music being so personal, the most important for Fia Moon is how she vibes with the person. “I’ve been really lucky with my career up to this point to have worked with some incredible songwriters and producers like Rob Harvey, Lewis Thompson and Dan Dare. They’re all so incredibly talented and have all inspired me in their own ways to be a better songwriter and artist.”
The Irish Woman in Harmony
Having recently completed the charity single with The Irish Women in Harmony; the artist explains how RuthAnne got in touch with her over Instagram and said that she had this idea of bringing together a group of Irish female musicians to record a cover of ‘Dreams’ by The Cranberries in aid of domestic abuse charity SAFE Ireland. Produced remotely, due to isolating in different parts of the country, there is only praise from the artist for RuthAnne. Described as a superwoman as she produced the entire track herself. The sad truth being that with lockdown and everyone being stuck at home, SAFE Ireland has seen a 25% increase in calls which is heartbreaking. “I don’t think any of us expected the reaction that it has had – the single was the first ever female number 1 in the Irish Homegrown Charts, we raised over €215,000, have had millions of streams and views across different platforms and have had the likes of Niall Horan and U2 sharing it.”
The artist admits she adores the likes of Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald because they very much remind her of growing up. Singing effortlessly and with unbelievable soul. Fia Moon notes the key is to ensure you have fun! Highlighting how the best things happen when you least expect it and sometimes the harder you try to ‘be someone’ or achieve something, the bigger the mountain is to climb. To enjoy experimenting, be open to new collaborations, and enjoy the process! The artist greatest challenge to date has been to trust her own opinion above everyone else’s. “Believing in yourself is so important in this industry. I’ve learnt I’m a people pleaser so I often have to check in with myself and ask ‘what do I really want?’ and go with my gut.”
Fia Moon plans to keep releasing new music. She highlights that whilst it is hard to make too many plans with everything going on in the world, the key is to stay positive and do the best you can with what you have…
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