When you dream of making it as a musician, you picture the rush of stepping out onstage, the magic of hearing people singing your lyrics, the glow of your name in neon lights.
You don't picture yourself hunting for discount thermals while your own voice haunts you through the store speakers.However, that's exactly what happened to Mia Wray on a recent shopping expedition. Prepping for her upcoming European tour, Mia was deep in the change rooms of a Melbourne Patagonia outlet when her own voice filled the store.
"I was like, 'oh my god, this is so awkward'," she says, laughing at the memory. Things got even more embarrassing when she made it to the counter and the cashier recognised her.
"I had a lovely exchange with someone who listens to my music," she says, "but amongst the social anxiety of that moment, I was like, 'okay, well now I have to buy all this stuff'; and it was so expensive. Thank God my card went through because that would have been so embarrassing. Musicians are poor."
With her debut album – 'It's Nice To Meet Me' – out today, and an Aussie tour lined up in the coming weeks, Mia can likely expect more of these uncanny moments. In fact, one of her first stops on the Aussie leg of her tour is at Solbar – a hometown venue that comes with some awkward memories of its own.
"I used to play there when I was 16, 17, and I'd literally have to leave the venue during my break because I was underage," she recalls with a laugh.
"I have so many memories of looking up to people who are now my peers. I remember watching Sasquatch play there, thinking they were the coolest band ever – and seven years later, three of them became my band members. They're my community now."
The symmetry of returning as a headliner to the same stage where she once played front-bar sets between mandatory underage exile isn't lost on her. However, this is just the latest in a series of surreal moments for the rising star, who's already caught the ear of industry titans (Elton John and John Mayer have both joined her growing list of high-profile admirers).
The genre-fluid but mostly indie artist recently finished a run of intimate, mid-winter, thermal-demanding European shows; prior to those dates, Mia had only just returned from a writing trip to LA that coincided with the city's wildfires.
These huge geographical shifts and intense climatic changes mean taking extra care of her voice, her body, and her mental health. They're also a weirdly perfect fit for the album she's about to release, which represents a period of profound personal transformation.
She agrees that the timing of it all has made it an even wilder ride. "When the first single was released, everything was still very much happening and unfolding, and to be promoting that as a product while also going through it is a very delicate balance. I had never gone through that before; and fair enough, who f...ing has?"
The album feels like a love letter to the chaos that arises when you stop hiding from yourself and start accepting who you are. Genres collide, moods shift, styles morph, but for Mia, this inconsistency is precisely the point.
"If you were coming in and listening to it without knowing a thing, you'd be like, this album is so weird, it doesn't make any sense," she says, "but I had a really turbulent time, so I'm like, this makes sense. This album is chaotic, it doesn't make sense, and that's why it makes sense."
Mia sees this oddball collection of folk-pop, indie, bluesy, soul-infused songs (that even features a club banger) as a family rather than an album. This idea frees her from the need to make them all conform to any one genre or style. "'The Way She Moves' is just like the weird uncle that no one wants to talk to; and that's fine because he's still blood," she explains with a grin.
Like any real family, it's the outcasts and oddballs that make the whole picture feel complete. "Some of the songs on this album just have no place there, but I think that's why it's great.
"To me, I think, you know, sometimes that's just the way things happen, and it's just more about accepting it rather than trying to fit it into a box that it doesn't want to be in."
This ability to let her music breathe, let it be what it needs to be, traces all the way back to a panic attack she had while working in hospitality at age 23. "I was desperate to be back in music; and I just thought, 'well, if I'm gonna make it my job, I need to be good; and if I'm gonna be good, I need to believe in myself because no one else is going to if I don't'."
Mia refers to the fearless version of herself that rose out of that panic attach as her "Elvis" – a persona she still tries to channel. "I always ask, what would my Elvis do? I think about the girl that sung 'Work For Me' at the Athenaeum Theatre and could have had any budget she wanted. . . and I was like, 'nah just give me a mic, and I'll just stand alone onstage and sing a capella on a national TV show'. That bitch was crazy, but I also need to tap into that again."
Mia Wray 2025 Tour Dates
Thu 27 Mar - The Brightside (Brisbane)Fri 28 Mar - Vinnies Dive Bar (Gold Coast)
Sat 29 Mar - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Thu 3 Apr - Republic Bar (Hobart)
Fri 11 Apr - Barwon Club (Geelong)
Sat 12 Apr - Volta (Ballarat)
Fri 18 Apr - Stag & Hunter (Newcastle)
Sat 19 Apr - Mary's Underground (Sydney)
Sun 20 Apr - La La La's (Wollongong)
Mon 21 Apr - Smith's Alternative (Canberra)
Thu 24 Apr - The Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
Sat 26 Apr - Tanswells (Beechworth)
Thu 1 May - Jive Bar (Adelaide)
Fri 2 May - Mojos (Fremantle)
