Today we’d like to introduce you to Ka Lia Universe.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ka Lia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Well, I’m from Saint Paul, Minnesota and started my music journey ten years ago. I self-taught myself how to write songs, sing, play the guitar, piano, ukulele, and engineer my own music. I went from performing at open mics to now performing at festivals and sold-out concerts. In the grand scheme of the overall music scene it might seem small, but as a single mother, minority, and female artist who started from the ground up, it means the world to me. I’m only 23 years old now and I have over 60 unreleased songs just sitting on my laptop that I can’t wait to release to the world. Things haven’t been easy since 2020 has started, but I can already envision how 2021 will look like, and I can’t wait to perform again!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Being a single mother and a mother at a young age has definitely been quite hard, especially when your dream is to make music your full-time career. But my 3-year-old daughter has taught me love, innocence and the beauty in sacrifice. Now, I have even more reasons to keep working hard and moving forward for the sake of my family and the future of my daughter.
My career has been ten years in the making. I started writing music when I was 14 years old. Being a Hmong American daughter in today’s world has gotten a lot better, but back in the day, getting support from your peers and family was very difficult. It wasn’t until I showed my father a royalty check from YouTube that he finally believed that music could be a career for me. But that was me kicking butt and working extremely hard. I understand where my parents are coming from though; especially my father. They came from a place where providing food to put on the table was difficult. My dad always had two jobs just to keep the family from starving, but it led to a very difficult childhood. I moved over 30 times in my life and to this day I’m still moving around. My brothers were drug addicts, so growing up it was easy to fall into a feeling of hopelessness. Yet I never lost faith. I continued to work on my music as my escape and with any luck, my way out.
Growing up, I was an introvert in high school and stayed away from drama. I excelled in choir and was given the opportunity to sing a lot of solos furthering my love for music. I competed in every talent show and competition I could, and ended up winning quite a few of them which showed me that maybe I could have a future in music. I was also “the girl who made videos on YouTube”. Just typical high school stuff I suppose. I wasn’t very popular, and I guess I can see now why people disliked me even though they didn’t know me. I probably seemed like a girl who always had it all, but in reality music was my only escape. Behind it all I was going through depression and skipping school a few days a week throughout my whole entire four years in school because I couldn’t cope with the stress. One of the only reasons I didn’t drop out entirely was because of my choir teacher who loved me dearly. I owe her so much.
There were so many struggles along the way. I went from losing everything I loved to being where I am now. I’m nowhere near where I’d like to be, but this is a far better place than where I was before. Broken, broke, and not making music. I now can see a future for myself and push myself closer to it every day.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I am one of, if not the only Hmong artist to make mainstream music that mixes my native language with English to create a modern and trendy sound. Hopefully taking risks like this will pave the way for other Hmong American artists to do the same. The way I try to present myself and my style, my morals, my mentality is very different from the normal way of thinking when it comes to my culture. I am trying to break that mindset and ignite a new wave of music, lifestyle and thinking.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My manager Jordan who is also like a mentor to me has helped me tremendously since he’s been in my life. He’s helped elevate my music to the next level, even though he’s only been in the picture since November 2019. I can’t picture my music career without him now.
My partner Chin Thao, also known as “Chin Chilla”. He is also an artist, and we both make a lot of music together. We have a separate project in the works as well. He also plays a huge role in my career. He’s been my backbone and #1 supporter. When I had nothing, he lent me his studio to record my music and that’s how I recorded my album “So Good” last year. I wouldn’t know where I would be without him.
My cousin, best friend, and soulmate, Zoua Yang. She’s seen me grow from inside and out. She’s seen me in all phases, stages and levels of my life. She was always the first person I’d show my music to. I always tell her that one day when I make it and become wealthy, I would hire her just so she can be by my side throughout my music journey.
My mother, though we’ve had ups and downs, in the end she always opened her doors for me. She always loved me through all my mistakes, and never once did she ever doubt me mentally when it came to my music. She knows how much it means to me and she’s one of the only people who actually help me with my daughter as a single mother. I love her deeply.
My choir teacher from high school. We called her Ms. Stroebel. She believed in me the first time she heard my voice. She always pushed me to do better and would have talks with me. Though there were bumps and hiccups, at the end of the day, I knew she cared about me and saw that I could go very far. She was the first adult to see the potential in me. Not even my family at the time cared, but she did.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaliauniverse.bigcartel.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://INSTAGRAM.COM/kaliauniverse
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/kaliauniverse
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaliauniverse
Image Credit:
Dee Thao, Angel Xiong
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