“The entertainment [industry] often requires you to show up as a character.”
“There’s still a stigma around the topic of AIDS,” says R&B singer Mya over the phone. “It’s best to lead with love but also information, awareness, education and community in order to achieve breakthroughs.” The Grammy Award-winning singer, who has been a long-time advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and the fight against AIDS, will be performing at the Bloor Street Entertains after-party at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, in support of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, later this week.
When Mya dials in, she’s one week away from her Toronto show and is calling from Germany, where she’s set to hit the stage before making her way to Canada. This year, the “Case Of The Ex (Whatcha Gonna Do)” singer celebrates 25 years in the music industry, and to commemorate the milestone, she launched deluxe editions of both her Mya and Moodring albums.
When Mya’s eponymous debut album dropped in 1998, the young artist appeared on the album cover sporting a true-to-the-’90s brown lip, with a cascade of curls peaking out beneath a brown bucket hat. When I ask if she’d always embraced her curls, she tells me her hair was once a source of insecurity, as she was often teased about her “different” curly texture.
“I worked so hard to try to figure out what products to use to ‘tame’ my hair because it was considered, at the time, unruly,” she explains. As the budding musician found a home in the arts, she says she felt “uplifted” about who she was and how her hair looked. “I eventually embraced my hair in my later teen years, when I was around healthier environments through the arts. We weren’t focused on vanity and exterior but more so a common goal,” Mya explains. “Being around healthy, positive-minded individuals that aren’t focused on vanity usually comes with less insecurity and ignorance.”
These days, Mya…
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