Written in the Stars: Haviah Mighty is Here to Stay
Courtesy of Connor Tadao
8th October 2024
By Miriam Kimvangu
With a name like Mighty, it seems like it was written in the stars for Haviah Mighty to be the artist that she is growing into. Haviah returns to the scene with her new single, ‘Double the Fun’. While for some of you this may be your first introduction to her as an artist, many of you have seen or heard of her over the years without even realising it. I thought I was introduced to her through her performance of Imagine That at the COLORS studio. However, her song Vamonos was featured on Season 3 of the HBO hit show, ‘Insecure’. Some of you may have even been introduced to her through her song Trendsetter with Connor Price which garnered 7M views on YouTube and close to 41M streams on Spotify. In that way, she has been a part of many people’s music experience over the years without them realising and she is back with a bang.
Double the Fun is the first solo single since her last full length project, Crying Crystals and a feature run. The joy of being back was palpable through her answer as she explained, “It feels great. I missed it so much. The only other part that is as fun as releasing the music is creating it. I feel that’s the best part. Putting what you have created into the world is also so amazing. It’s very much a part of that process.” Coming back after a while, especially during a new era or sound means that as an artist, she never really knows how it will be received. It is impossible to know what listeners are expecting so part of the process is also seeing the reaction unfold and being able to take it for what it is. Double the Fun is what Haviah describes as “an underdog celebration”. It is a celebration of the experience of working really hard but also taking the time to acknowledge that. It is an opportunity to “live in the moment, smell our flowers while we can and we’re also going to express that side of the journey,” she says.
Courtesy of Connor Tadao
Haviah didn’t go into the process knowing that Double the Fun would be the next single. It was the product of a session that was spent working on other demos until her producers started creating a random beat from scratch. It was clearly made with her in mind but didn’t have a clear story direction. After deciding to take a chance and write to it, it ended up being one of her favourite demos and she fell more in love with the song throughout the process.
It’s worth noting that Haviah Mighty is very intentional about visuals when you choose to do them. This doesn’t just reflect in her music videos but even on stage. During her iconic performance at the Junos in 2022, she wore a gilet with a target on her back to punctuate the message of her performance. Talking about her relationship with creating visuals for her music, she says, “The songs are curated from a real place. You have to just remember to go back to the place when it comes to every part of the experience whether it's visual or live. You have to consider that exposure might be the first some somebody is receiving. The experience of listening to an artist’s album for the first time vastly differs from the experience of seeing them live or even hearing a song with the music video. It can completely change your relationship with the song.” She also makes a point of carefully choosing the correct people to work with when it comes to creating visuals and letting them use their expertise and interpretation of her music to turn it into a fitting and cohesive visual experience.
Courtesy of Connor Tadao
Besides having a name that seemed destined to push her in her current direction, Haviah also grew up in a very musical environment that exposed her to music in various ways which really shines through in her music. She took vocal lessons while her siblings took piano and was also surrounded by the music that her parents played. Her entire environment was musically charged and she naturally fell into it. She is grateful for the early exposure and hopes that the various influences and deep love for music transcending her genre can be picked and appreciated by listeners.
Haviah commands every space that she’s in but it was a journey to get there. “It’s not always been easy. Discovery is one of the most difficult things. Reaffirming myself along the journey as I go that I don’t always have to have the answers is important because the things that hold you back are also the things that need to be communicated.” Instead of focusing on what she thinks she needs to achieve, she pays more attention to the lessons she has learned through what she has had to leave behind. She makes a point of staying grounded through gratitude. It’s easy to set expectations about where one needs to be as an artist and that takes away from the impact that artistry has on others. She wants to be able to know that even if it was all taken away today, she would be happy with every step she’s made in her career, knowing it came from a place of authenticity.
Haviah has created a lot of impactful art over the years with one notable piece being ‘In Women Colour’. One of the lines that really stuck out to me was “I gotta do 2 times more to get 4 times less”. When I asked her if she still felt that it rang as true as 5 years ago when she initially released the song, she said, “Yes. 100%. We see it if we’re in the industry. We hear about it if we're not in the industry.” That particular line pertains to her experiences with both racism and colourism. “It doesn’t matter who the counterpart is, I’m gonna have to work harder.” She ponders if the progress that we are seeing is genuine or quota based? Is it box ticking? Regardless of what the answer is, she makes it clear that the only thing in her control is her continued effort to take up space and share experiences in hope that we start to see genuine change on a societal level.
Courtesy of Connor Tadao
Haviah Mighty’s album 13th Floor was a turning point in her career and is usually what people reference in terms of her work. It has been a few years since then and I wondered whether she felt the pressure to top that and other notable pieces of work or performances that are etched in people’s memories. “I do feel that pressure and I just have to remind myself that that’s just not how it works. But I do think those thoughts and times and I find myself creating with the wrong mindset that day and I can feel that when I listen back to the record.” The way she stays grounded and overcomes that feeling is by staying true to the process of each piece of music and staying present so that those thoughts have no space to enter.
Haviah has had amazing collaborations throughout her career so far, including the feature run that she was on before releasing her latest single. There are many artists she would love to work with including fellow COLORS performer, Lido Pimienta. “I feel like that would be a spiritual experience more than just making a song.” While she has many dream collaborations including artists like Ty Dolla Sign, Blxst and Lauryn Hill, Haviah puts a lot of emphasis on her desire to work with more of her peers and other Canadian artists. She named many artists and one worth mentioning is Jeremy Dutcher who was the artist that presented her with her Polaris award and is himself a 2x prize winner.
Despite the obvious connection in their name and appearance, many people might not know that her sister is another amazing artist, Omega Mighty who Haviah expressed the interest to work with on a larger scale than their previous collaborations. “I’ve loved seeing my sister doing her thing as an artist. People are finally seeing that her artistry is amazing”. She feels as if she’s seeing and experiencing Omega’s artistry as a fan as well and is sure that with them being on the same wavelength, they would work really well as a duo if given the chance. “I know we could come together and create magic.”
Courtesy of Connor Tadao
Now that she is back on the scene, Haviah has plans to release singles more frequently alongside working on her next project. “I’d like to be very busy in 2025.” Being known as a great performer, when asked where she’d love to perform in the future, she made it clear that, “Any place I’d wanna visit is a place I’d also want to perform.” Her extensive list includes Japan (due to their deep music culture), all over Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil and even Dubai.
Getting the opportunity to speak to Haviah and being able to hear not just about her love for her craft but also the mindset behind it, it is impossible not to see bright stars in her future as an artist. “I want to be remembered for music that is expansive. In the quality that I’m giving. In my abilities as a lyricist to tell a story. Just in a multitude of ways.”