5,000 Music Videos Promoted. A New Milestone for HIP.
December 3, 2025
There are artists who chase the moment, and there are artists who build something that lasts. Mýa has spent her whole career as the second kind — and this month she sat down with us for a HIP Spotlight livestream that made it plain why she’s still here, still relevant, and still doing it on her own terms.
The timing could not have been sweeter. Mýa just released Retrospect, her tenth studio album and her first full-length in eight years, out via her own independent label, Planet 9, in partnership with Virgin Music. The Grammy-winning, D.C.-bred R&B icon dug deep into the funk and soul of the ’70s and ’80s to make it — a record that looks backward and forward at the same time. Since it dropped, she’s been everywhere, with stops on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Revolt, and more. And somewhere in the middle of that whirlwind, she carved out time to talk with us. We’re beyond grateful she did.
HIP founder and president Andy Gesner hosted the conversation live on our YouTube channel. As someone who’s spent 25 years championing independent artists — and who’s been a working musician himself since 1980 — Andy was exactly the right person to draw out the parts of Mýa’s story that don’t usually make the press cycle.
What makes this conversation worth your time, especially if you’re an independent artist: Mýa has been doing this independently for 18 years and counting. She knows what it costs to bet on yourself, to release on your own schedule, and to keep an audience for decades without a major label’s machine behind you. That’s hard-won knowledge, and she was generous with it. For every musician out there still fighting the good fight, there’s something in this one for you.
Thank you, Mýa — for the music, the candor, and the time.
The full HIP Spotlight conversation is live on our YouTube channel now. Watch it here.
