“If you want to get to know me, really listen to the music”: Getting a Little ‘Overstimulated’ With Miranda Joan

Atwood Magazine got pulled into the orbit of Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Miranda Joan down in Austin, Texas as she brought her sophomore album ‘Overstimulated’ to life onstage!

Stream: ‘Overstimulated’ – Miranda Joan

I think it’s less about landing the dart on the board, so to speak, and more so the act of continuing to show up to throw it… I don’t think life is about making it land; I think it’s about trying to throw it.

Still not over SXSW?

Perfect, because Atwood Magazine has yet another SXSW interview for your reading pleasure – this time with Brooklyn-based musician Miranda Joan!

A soul, pop, and R&B sonic concoction blends with magnetizing vocals as Miranda Joan pulls you in before you realize you’ve been swaying along this whole time. The Vancouver native proved she didn’t need anything other than her voice as she performed solo with only the aid of backing tracks at Esther’s Follies. With a hopeful and genuine voice, she sings, “It’s a long life if you get time, I wanna spread love while I’ve got mine, and I’m good, I’m good.”

Now gearing up to join The Killers as a vocalist on tour this summer, Joan has a few of her own shows planned in the UK and the U.S. She’ll also be releasing a few remixes of songs from her sophomore album Overstimulated, independently released in November 2023, over the next few months and through the summer season.

Atwood Magazine sat down with Joan just prior to her SXSW set, which revealed her to be just as alluring off stage as she is on. Joining me to catch some local music before our interview, I admittedly found myself so enamored in conversation and pulled into her orbit that it took me a few minutes longer than I’d like to admit to realize we headed off in a direction opposite the venue… but all’s well that ends well, thanks to Miranda Joan and an equally captivating set!

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:: stream/purchase Overstimulated here ::

:: connect with Miranda Joan here ::

Watch: “Bada Bing!” – Miranda Joan ft. CARRTOONS

A CONVERSATION WITH MIRANDA JOAN

Miranda Joan: Disney was my gateway [laughs]. And then it was boy bands and girl bands of the late 90s – early 2000s. In high school I was in soul band, jazz band. I started singing and doing everything, including musical theater and theater that I could get my hands on. I just became obsessed and it snowballed.

Miranda Joan: It became all consuming. It’s something that started and then just never stopped. It got to a point finally when I was studying in college where I realized this was it. There was no safety net.

Miranda Joan: I studied jazz in college so I think there’s an undercurrent of that as far as even how I hear harmony and the way that I think about performance and improvisation and trying to keep some of that alive in me. I think I draw a lot of inspiration from my community of independent artists in New York, and that has been possibly the most influential piece of my art.

Miranda Joan: Absolutely. I just love music and I think beyond all else I believe in the song. Whatever production or sound the song asks for is more what I’m interested in. I think the songwriter in me that sings the loudest just wants to be open to whatever it’s supposed to sound like, and I don’t feel as precious about genres and that kind of a thing. Because ultimately, I love a Carole King kind of life where there are other amazing artists singing these songs. I just feel open to that.

Miranda Joan: I care a lot about lyrics [laughs], which, I know we’re sort of in a vibe time. It’s all about the vibe, so I try to cater to both. I think this last album, Overstimulated, has more of a cohesive sound than previous records, and that was intentional. But at the end of the day, I really care about the story, the song, the cheese stands alone. If you take away the sound, what’s there?

Miranda Joan: Life. I pull my inspiration from life for sure. I would say, if you want to get to know me, really listen to the music. There are certain things that come from funny stories and jokes or things that I’ve overheard someone else say, but I would say for the most part the majority of my music is about my life and the things that I’ve experienced or thought or lived.

I think the songwriter in me that sings the loudest just wants to be open to whatever it’s supposed to sound like, and I don’t feel as precious about genres and that kind of a thing.

Miranda Joan: It’s all fun. I think performing live brings new life to the music. To be honest, I’m sick of listening to myself. When you finish a record, you feel like you should have a restraining order against yourself. I don’t want to hear it anymore. But to get to sing it and embody it feels really good. I love singing the song, “I’m Good.” I wrote it as a mantra to myself in a rough time to remind myself that I was okay and when I get to sing it, I feel like I’m doing that.

It’s a good day for a big night
Have a good time, think I just might
And I’m good, I’m good

Keeping good thoughts and I hold tight
Creating good love, keep my mind right
And I’m good, I’m good

Things are getting heavy now
I’ve been trying not to drown
If only I could figure out
How to live above the clouds
Holy things evading me
Like truth and trust and honesty
Taking time so I can see
The good things

It’s a long life, if you get time
I wanna spread love while I’ve got mine
And I’m good, I’m good

When you finish a record, you feel like you should have a restraining order against yourself. I don’t want to hear it anymore. But to get to sing it and embody it feels really good.

Miranda Joan: Overstimulated features songs that I wrote in the deep depths of existential crisis and lockdown, and then sort of goes through the reopening when we were back in life. There’s a lot that was written right up until the release, so it’s a mixture of two very distinct times.

The next project I’m working on is from a period of my life that I didn’t feel strong enough to look at quite yet. So I wrote all this music was and I was like, “We’re just gonna leave that right there and we’re gonna come back to it.”

Miranda Joan: I love Femme Jam. It is a collective, a jam session that I started with three of my friends: Camille Trust, Alita Moses and Melissa McMillan. It’s a house band of 11 women with a DJ. Every so often we do a jam session, usually in tandem with local organizations. Half of the ticket sales go toward [the organizations]… [it’s] just in support of local organizations that are doing work in the community and that’s been a huge part of my life.

And then the other thing I do is for the last decade I’ve done songwriting mentorship with The Stuttering Association for the Young. I’ve worked with youth 8 to 18 who stutter through different creative projects and music has been a huge part of that. And it’s been one of the greatest lights in my life.

Miranda Joan: Am I even doing it? You try. You try to stay on top of it. You try to surround yourself with people who love you, that want to support you and have the energy and the time to do it. I spent a lot of time waiting for fairy godmother to come along and connect a lot of dots and help me make a lot of things happen, and there was definitely a point of reckoning where I realized, “Maybe she’s late but right now she’s not coming… so I have to show up for myself.” If you love what you do and you are invested in it, it means something to you, [then] you have to show up for it. You have to care the most.

Miranda Joan: One thing I learned from SAY and that I’m constantly being reminded of, and that I want to be better at, is listening. I think that speaks to how we listen to each other and also how we listen to ourselves. Because I do think our intuition sings to us. I know in the times where I felt that my intuition has led me astray has been probably more rooted in the fact that I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying.

I think it’s less about landing the dart on the board, so to speak, and more so the act of continuing to show up to throw it. And just refining the technique and knowing that it’s not always gonna land. But I don’t think life is about making it land; I think it’s about trying to throw it. What’s the intention behind the action? And it’s not always gonna be right. We’re gonna make mistakes and the best we can do is try to learn from them and listen.

Miranda Joan: What’s one of the greatest lessons you’ve learned being an independent artist or in your artist career?

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:: stream/purchase Overstimulated here ::

:: connect with Miranda Joan here ::

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