10 Things We Love About: Haviah Mighty

Passionate about her craft, family and pushing boundaries, Juno award winning musician Haviah Mighty commences the new year with the vibrant and energetic visuals for Honey Bun/ Room Service, combining her Jamaican/Bajan heritage with her Canadian residence. Honey Bun/Room Service unites Haviah’s slick rap lyrics with her newly introduced Dancehall infused sound. With plan’s to take over the summer with her unique rap flair and aspirations of working with Grammy award winning artist Rihanna, Haviah Mighty is the international export who needs to be on everyone’s radar.

We love the visuals for your latest music video for Honey Bun/Room Service

What was the inspiration?

When coming up with the track I randomly put it to my Instagram followers and asked if anyone had any Afro infused type beats, a producer reached out to me and we instantly connected from there. With Room Service I really wanted to push my own limitations by exploring a completely different sound. When I was coming up with an idea for both Honey Bun and Room Service it only made sense to blend the two visuals together, as the narrative’s for both tracks have a natural synergy, embracing my Caribbean roots on Room Service allowed me to explore a whole bunch of ideas, and that’s when I decided to recreate my own vibrant dancehall. I wanted to tell two stories in one visual. Honey Bun is speaking about the toxic independence post break up, whereas Room Service is a bit of a reality check when you realise you’re not over the situation or person and play around with the idea of getting back together. It was a really interesting concept to play with and I just knew I could take it from any angle.

After going between different people, at the end of the video you actually see me leaving alone, the visuals are a representation of that unhealed feeling you get during a heartbreak.

We love how much you embrace your Caribbean heritage through your music

Is that important to you?

It's extremely important, as a musician who typically makes battle rap music didn’t want to confuse my audience, as I explored a new sound, but I thought this time round it would be great to embrace my Bajan and Jamaican background, this was a key objective for me. I wanted to incorporate my culture at the right time and this was it. The visuals for Honey Bun/ Room Service was a moment to embrace who I am, but it was also a time to show off my family by including my sister Omega, who has performed with me on stage many times and featuring my Dad’s in the original audio of Honey Bun. A lot of my wisdom comes from my family, as I am so close to them, they are all musical in some shape or form, my sister makes music and my other siblings are skilled in playing the piano and various other instruments. I’m Jamaican - Canadian and I really wanted to represent that through my music, there’s so many of us out here in Canada and I wanted to show up for us.

We love how passionate you are about your music.

What inspired you to become a musician?

Both of my parents are very musical, growing up my Dad had a huge sound system where he’d play Reggae and my Mum played a lot of Soul and R’n’B, Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill were constantly played around the house. From the age of 4 I was put into singing lessons, I continued that for 7 years also heavily exposed to musicals like Milan and Lion Kind - they were my favourites. I was surrounded by my cousins who introduced me to Hip Hop, I was surrounded by various genres of music, believe it or not there was also a lot of Celine Dion playing throughout my life, as many Jamaicans see her as musical royalty. Being exposed to a wide range of music at such an early age, meant it was only natural I became a musician.

We love how sensual your latest track is.

Were any artists past or present that influenced your sound?

I love it when artists like Burna Boy and Wizkid make their melodic Afrobeat tunes tracks, I would say they are a huge influence alongwith artists like Rihanna, Popcaan and Partynextdoor. A lot of the music that I make speaks to the people dem and I wanted to speak to my audience in a sexy and seductive manner.

We love how you’ve ventured out from rap music to dancehall infused sound.

Going forward is that something you’d like to delve into?

I’m not an artist who makes one type of music, I’m exploring a whole new flavour and sound, this is an exciting journey for me, I also love the eclecticism it gives my catalogue. In Honey Bun you get these hard bars and aggressive delivery, whereas Room Service showcase’s my sweeter and more delicate side. This is definitely the beginning of me exploring a brand new sound, I can’t wait to play with more genres and fuse unconventional sounds.

We love how you’ve really enforced female empowerment in the Honey Bun/Room Service visuals.

Is that something that important to you?

Yes, it's extremely important to me because when I was coming up in my career I would always get the same kind of comments, “Wow you’re really great for a girl” or “I didn’t think you’d sound like that”, people loved to make back handed comments based on how I present myself. At one point I felt like the underdog, but once I was on stage and began to get people’s attention, I slowly started to shift the narrative about what it is to be a female rapper.

We love how female rappers are thriving in the scene right now.

Who are some other female rappers that stand out to you?

I love Latto, Doechii - she’s super dope, Little Simz, Flo Milli, Nicki Minaj, I love how much space female musician’s are currently taking up, however we can’t forget the greats like Foxy Brown, Da Bratt, Queen Latifah and just all of those iconic female artists who have made me the musician I am today. I’m so so proud to see so many women running space right now, it’s just so inspiring. If you want to talk about R’n’B artists don’t even get me started on the unmatched talent that comes from Doja Cat and Sza.

We love how many female musician’s you’ve shown appreciation to.

Who would be your dream collaboration?

I’m going big with this answer, I’d definitely say Rihanna, even from my childhood she’s always been a huge inspiration to me. Rihanna has always played with the idea of fusing different sounds together and constantly pushed boundaries, lyrically and physically, plus she’s Bajan too. Even if I never get a chance to work with Rihanna, I’m just in awe of everything she has taught me as a young black woman, she is so authentic with everything she does. Some of the most inspiring artists to me are the ones who don’t stay in a box and that’s the type of artist I want to be.

We love how creative you are with your image and sound.

What inspires you?

My family, culture and fashion. I'm a tomboy who likes to wear baggy pants and a tight vest top. I love to express myself through my music and my fashion. I would say I'm not the type of person to ever conform.

We love the healthy discography of music you’ve released since debuting in 2016.

What can fans expect from you going forward?

I’m working on a new project right now that I’m hoping to release during the summertime. My intent is to take over summer with my sound. I also have some shows coming up all around the world from Canada to France, you’ll see me everywhere. I also want to explore my talents in producing music and even venture into acting.

Honey Bun/Room Service is out now