Life & Work with Joshua Mika of Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Mika.

Hi Joshua, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hello! My name is Josh!

I was born in Zambia and my family moved to the US when I was 3 years old. I spent my early years in the background, cutting my teeth playing keys for friends, church groups, and youth bands. But when the world shut down in 2020, I moved from the background to the front.

Songwriting is my fuel and my escape to this day. I’m now 21 and trying my best to figure out how to navigate relationships with friends, family, and with my partner. Now that I have a few shows under my belt, I am more and more excited to share my experiences through my writing.

I’m currently working on my second EP, a collection of my most personal and confessional tracks yet. My hope is to speak to what it’s like being a young adult right now, and how confusing, contradictory, but exciting growing up can be.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I dealt with bullying and personal pains the only way I found the process what I was feeling was through writing poetry, and eventually my own songs. For the longest time I felt embarrassed of anything wrote, even though I was the only who was listening. I was so concerned with coming off cringe or weird for enjoying and writing my own songs. I still haven’t complete gotten over this but everyday I work on caring less about what I think others will think about my art, and letting the music speak for itself

Up until my newest single “rest of our lives” I did all my own production and mixing/mastering. Learning how to use Ableton from scratch was very scary at first, but every song I recorded I felt better about the mix. Thankfully I have a local studio that I now record at.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a singer and a songwriter at heart. I have always gravitated towards pop music as an escape when I felt alone. Everyday I dedicate at least an hour or two to either writing or cleaning up my music. Genre-wise my music is indie-pop with synth-pop and rnb influences, but I really like to create regardless of a genre focus. Thematically, my main focus as an artist has been conveying the highs and lows and growing up in the 2020s. I truly am just trying to figure it out like everyone else my age, so I think theres value in telling my story so I might help someone else with their journey.

I’d say what sets my apart is my drive to improve my craft. I remember a vocal coach I had in the past saying that the best way to improve in anything, but especially in songwriting, in repetition. Even when I don’t feel like working on a song or I feel less creative that day, I still put an effort to get something down because each song I write means a better written song in the future. I also have spent time with my vocal coach in the past and with my voice now to sing in a more balanced and healthy way, while maintaining my tone and texture.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
When I was about 12 years old I really wanted to take piano lessons, but the places in the area were all too expensive for my parents at the time. My parents offhandedly brought this up to the music director at the church we went to, and he offered to give me piano lessons for free as long as I eventually played for service too. He taught me for about a year. This kindness was absolutely invaluable and I’ll forever be thankful for the lessons and guidance.

My partner Brandon has been more than just a muse, he’s been so so encouraging with coming to all my shows and telling everyone about my music, and helping me with social media and planning shows. I am extremely lucky to have him 🙂

Lastly my producer Patrick been the newest positive addition to my life and music creation process. From the start he has been so excited to hear that songs I’ve come up with, and he makes the studio process as comfortable as possible. He’s been working as a producer and engineer for a very long time so I really believe in his skills.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshuamika.com/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuamika_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOEXay6mPVUrfTUh9UWAuLA
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3y1FWZbHmGo2j8uM3meVpV