Singer/Songwriter, Malia Grace, released her first self-titled EP back in October. The songstress from Austin, Texas has so far played at SXSW and CMJ, along with a few smaller gigs in her hometown. Inspired by rock and jazz, Malia Grace took a bit of a different route in college: she started studying opera.

In the interview below, she talks about her musical upbringing, career in Austin, her experience performing at the CMJ Showcase, and the crowdfunding of her first EP.

-Where do your roots in music come from? How important was it to your music career to have grown up in Austin, surrounded by the musical and artistic community?
My family has a deep love for music. My dad always had music playing at home and in the car growing up. He would also sing and play piano. My mom and sister have beautiful voices too, so I had a lot of inspiration around me. I think growing up in Austin really solidified my love for music and gave me the resources needed to grow in the field. I took every opportunity I could to learn more and better my talent. Most everyone around me was extremely supportive, and I’m not sure I would’ve had that elsewhere.-Who are some of the artists that have played a role in your upbringing of music? Who are two artists you would say have influenced you the most?
So many different artists played a role in my upbringing of music. I’m inspired by a pretty wide spectrum of genres and styles, but I’d say Jackson Browne and Aretha Franklin are the two main artists that influenced me the most from a young age.-What was the experience like performing at the CMJ Showcase? What other artists did you get to meet? Any other artist you’d love to work with?
Performing at the CMJ Showcase was such a blast—what a crowd! They really made you feel appreciated, which was truly special. I met a lot of other artists on my showcase as well as around NYC, and they were all really talented and great people. The Lost Wayne and I met at Postcrypt Coffeehouse for a non-official CMJ showcase that week, and we got along great. I think we’ll definitely be collaborating when I’m in NYC in the future. He has such a beautiful voice!-What was the most difficult part about crowdfunding the EP? Was the outcome what you expected?
The most difficult part about crowdfunding the EP was just the pure idea of asking people for money. That’s not an easy thing to do and I struggled with this conflict of: yes, I really need help financially to get this EP done. I don’t know if it will ever happen if I can’t get financial backing, but there are also people literally starving and/or living in terror and I’m the one asking for money? I still struggle with that, but I got through it by thinking of what I do as a business that needs a bit of a push. We see venture capitalism and other types of investments everywhere, and music is a strong force that connects people. When you’re a musician working as hard as most of us do, you’re basically a startup company and you have the potential to really help people with your music. Realizing that both helped me to cope with my worries about the campaign and also to better promote the campaign. The outcome was definitely better than I expected, and I will always be grateful and humbled by that. It’s a pretty amazing feeling when you realize how much support you have.

-What are your plans for 2016?
Nothing is completely solidified yet, but I plan on playing in NYC more and cowriting with some people in Nashville. I’m hoping to be in both of those cities once a month and really spread my time between Austin, NYC, and Nashville. I want to start selling some of my songs to other artists, so that’s definitely going to be a main goal in 2016.

For more about Malia Grace, check out her links: