Q&A: ARA
Mexican-Italian artist, ARA, is shifting the landscape within the indie-pop realm with her otherworldly sound and striking visuals. While wandering the desert, she describes the experience as “the cognitive dissonance as a mixed woman in America, the disassociated state that overcame me in the wake of rape and emotional abuse, the ancient, sacred, spiritual space that we all must enter and surrender to at the center of our Self.” On her latest EP titled The Desert, the rising songstress blends together a mixture of hip-hop, pop, and R&B. We had the opportunity to chat with ARA surrounding the creative process behind one of her most intimate records.
Photo: Miarden
Do you mind introducing yourself?
Yes, hello, friends!! My name is ARA, and I’m kinda new to this planet. Thank you for being here!! What a precious gift!!
How do you feel about the release of your sophomore EP, The Desert?
Honestly, I feel anxious and insecure but also I also feel excited and curious!! I feel a lot of different things all the time. Everything is always changing! Right now I feel really grateful for all of the beings seen and unseen who made this project possible. My family, my friends, my guardian angels. All of the beautiful plants and animals on this planet. For water. For my creative partner Miarden. I am also hella humbled by the creative process and tenderly in awe of artists everywhere. May we be fully liberated.
How do you think it differs from your debut, Hail Mary?
The Desert EP is deeper and darker than Hail Mary. Hail Mary takes place in this sacred garden at the center of the universe while The Desert is more like a message from the underworlds. Also The Desert EP is a visual project and my face was literally not on the internet when we first released Hail Mary. Now it is. Feels like an appropriate metaphor.
After listening to The Desert, it feels like we’re diving into so many different perspectives of your life/art. What was the creative process behind it?
The songwriting process is pretty straightforward and tends to happen all at once. With The Desert, I wrote most of the songs at home on the central coast. Miarden is pretty much constantly composing and I pray for songs to come through me until they do and then I record sketchy demos on my computer that he graciously tracks and arranges with me in our studio.For The Desert, we originally had seven songs that we distilled down to four tracks, like the four directions.
What track (or tracks) from The Desert resonate with you the most?
I resonate with all of it but “Tell You Why” and “Down” are the heart of the project. They are also like two sides of the same coin so we made one music video for both of them. “Tell You Why” is about standing up to the Man, so to speak, and “Down” is about the codependent patterns that underpin the Empire. They feel like an appropriate testament to the times. Together they are essentially a lament for America and a prayer for peace.
Who are you currently listening to?
Oh yay, this is a fun question thank you for asking! I really love and respect Pom Pom Squad, PALOMX, Lizzie No, and all the emergent femme leadership in music and beyond. I am still not over 1000gecs and I’m learning a lot from Buffy Saint-Marie. I also have a playlist called CONJURE that I listen to often when I’m writing or drawing because it has no words and right now I mostly listen to Miarden because we are making new music.