INTERVIEW: Pania releases new single 'Proof': "My music is how I feel when I’m most vulnerable - it’s like a diary to me"

Image: Juliette Langlois

Melbourne’s rising R&B singer Pania today releases her new single ‘Proof’. The track is a divinely smooth, mellow soul-R&B track backed by an addictive, syncopated beat. Lyrically, Pania says the song explores being in a relationship where you are “re-assuring a lover and making them feel like they’re the only one. I’m pouring my all into them, even though it never feels like it’s enough”.

‘Proof’ is the follow-up to Pania’s debut single ‘Icyy’ which dropped last year and then morphed into this year’s ‘Icyy Part 2’, a collaboration with Keziah Feterika. Inspired by her Indian and Maori heritage and growing up in West Melbourne, Pania’s music is warm and entrancing and with her remarkably flexible voice that can switch from deep and throaty to light and dreamy she creates a listening experience that connects deeply with your soul.

"My music is how I feel when I’m most vulnerable, it’s like a diary to me," she says. "All the toxic thoughts, the vulnerable ones, the simp nights, the things we all feel but sometimes might be afraid to say."

With her debut EP slated to be released in 2022, Pania is one of the most promising new artists in the ever growing Australian R&B scene. We recently met up with her to find out more about creating ‘Proof’, her career to date and her plans for the future.

Pania, hello! I have just been listening, rewinding and listening again to 'Proof', what layers and layers and layers. But before I get into that, tell me how are you?
I'm really good. I'm feeling good. Looking nice. It's a nice day!

‘Show me the ropes and let me grow’…you know what I love? When you've got this velvet sofa of a song that you can totally get into the groove, but when you listen to the lyrics you go, ‘hold on a second…’ Can you please talk me through the creation of this perfectly delicate swagger of a song?
It was actually a demo for so long. I was really into those Afro B and reggaeton kind of bounces in the beats. My producer Hamley gave me this beat, and we're just freestyling, then we had the chorus and a little bit of a verse and I sent it to my friend. I didn't really like it, and he's like, ‘no, no, you have to finish this song, this is the one’. So we went back and tweaked it a little bit. I just had the first verse and that chorus melody just hit every time, but it didn't have lyrics. It took a while but we got there in the end. We just wanted to make it one of the more vulnerable tracks from what we have been making.

What I like about it is it's vulnerable, but at the same time, it's so ‘I've got this’. So much swagger to it. And it follows ‘Icyy’ where you've got these beautiful, heartbreaking melodies, your vocals at the forefront. But much like ‘Proof’, the juxtaposition behind the word ‘icy’. Usually when you hear ice you think ‘she's cold’ but it s more like ‘I'm looking at myself, I've become cold’ and it's an empowering thing. Is that something you've always done when you've written, found the meaning and then flipped it and looked at it from another perspective?
I do do that sometimes. I'll look through other people's eyes or people that I've been with from their perspective. From ‘Icyy’ and ‘Proof’, it was just all inside and the most vulnerable parts, but in a way where I'm good, I got this. Both of the emotions are me, I'll show some vulnerability, but then I'm like ‘you did that and I'm pretty cold now’. You can have a little piece of my heart, it's still there, but you only hear it in the lyrics when you really delve deep into it.

It's really beautiful and also really refreshing to hear because quite often, particularly with female artists when singing about heartbreak, things that have done you wrong, it comes from this piece of I'm still on the floor and it's really bad. Although you might have done that, both songs are like ‘yeah, I did that for a bit but now I'm good’
Yeah, I'm just cold now, that’s all you get! Until I fall in love again

Get your ice pick! Have you always written, have you always sung? What has your musical journey been to date?
No, I’ve always been really, really shy. I didn't pick up singing until late high school. But I always grew up around like a lot of friends that would sing and I'd be like, ‘damn, I wish I could sing’. I always just really connected with music and lyrics. So late high school. I'm like, I really want to get some like cheap vocal lessons. So I did that for a little while and I didn't really like it. So I just started singing on my own when no-one was home. I learned a little bit of guitar, I bought an electric guitar, and I discovered neo-soul and Amy Winehouse, I really liked that sound of music and that inspired me to write love songs. I did that for a bit, they were really bad! So it wasn't until late teen years I really found a love of songwriting, I didn't grow up with it.

And when did you realise that actually, you could sing and by could I mean really well?
I was doing YouTube karaoke when I was younger and no one was home. I was listening back and was like, ‘Okay, I'm actually alright, my tone’s kind of nice’. But all the other stuff, I was so bad, I had no control.  

And how did your music get from you dabbling in it to where you're at now for everyone else to hear it?
I released the first song I ever wrote on SoundCloud a few years ago and a local Melbourne producer hit me up after he heard it. He took me to his studio and then I met a lot of the underground local scene in Melbourne, and I have just built from there.

It’s actually quite beautiful the world we're living in now with regards to people making their own music. Once upon a time, you needed GarageBand and then you needed the money and then you needed the studio. Whereas now people, can put things together in their room and people like yourself that are quite shy or have any kind of social anxiety with regards to performing can just put their music up quietly and not tell anyone and see where it lands.
Literally, even with the PinkPantheress blow up, she's so shy. She doesn't even show a face on all the videos and it just went crazy on TikTok. With this generation, and how accessible social media is, it's so much easier for people like me, people that aren't super extroverted to put their art out there for the world to see. It's really, really beautiful.

And are you finding your connections with other artists, you're finding you have much more in common with that because the networking is so different than it used to be, you're not having to attend every single event, you can actually just hit someone up on Instagram?
100%. All it takes is a reply to a story now and you are friends. 100% it's so much easier now.

Australia historically has been man rock at the forefront. Two questions. How have you found or how do you find your style of music, indie R&B is received in Australia? And also how do you find it as a female soloist going at it in man rock capital?
Australia has like a long, long way to go when it comes to recognising the R&B scene. It's still growing, but it is so rich culture and different sounds, there’s so many little pockets. It really, really needs to be spotlighted a lot more. Being a woman on top of that you have to really, really stand your ground and be strong. It's very male dominated. But I feel like it's definitely progressing. There's amazing females doing their thing, especially in Melbourne and Sydney and because they're being pushed to the forefront it is making room for more artists to be inspired and just do their thing.

Now your vocals, you've got some serious pipes on you, your range is quite incredible. It lends beautifully to the kind of music you're creating. Because of that range, is there any genre, or style that your listeners would also be surprised that you want to have a try at or that you listen to? Because I think with a voice like yours, you could knock it out of the park, whether you're doing death metal or opera.
I really love some Avril Lavigne and punk rock kind of vibes. Even Willow Smith’s new stuff that's kind of more towards that realm. It's so fire. I'd love to dip my toes in that. I don't know how it would go, but something like that would be crazy.

I think you should totally dip your toes in it, get on TikTok and hit someone up. Lastly, before I leave you what is on the horizon for you, what's coming up?
Well the single ‘Proof’ is out today. I've got another couple of singles coming out early next year with a few videos and we've also got an EP in the works. So a lot of music dropping, which is exciting.

‘Proof’ is out now via Warner Music Australia. You can buy and stream here.

To keep up with all things Pania you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.