Mýa is embracing nostalgia on her new album, Retrospect, both lyrically and sonically. Inspired by music from the ’70s and ’80s, the project pays homage to the era when she fell in love with music.
“This particular project was crafted from my living room, looking back at my childhood experiences, touching vinyl, putting the needle to the vinyl, watching the record rotate,” Mýa tells ABC Audio. “This is reaching back to those simpler, joyous times where I was a kid playing outside. There was no cellphone … FaceTime was face-to-face literally with another person.”
The album blends the “funk-oriented” sounds and “signature harmonies” of that time with “‘90s ad-libs” and “’90s R&B,” creating what Mýa describes as a more personality-driven project than her previous releases.
While much of the album is “joyful and celebratory,” Mýa says there is also an introspective side to the project.
“I am, of course, reflecting and going back to an era to pay homage, but … [the title] also comes from the word introspective,” Mýa explains. She says there are some moments on the album that “get a bit deep,” including “Face to Face,” “Just Call My Name,” “Life Is What You Make It,” “ASAP” featuring 21 Savage and “Games with My Love.”
Retrospect marks Mýa’s first studio album in eight years, a gap she attributes to the challenges of being an independent artist and her desire to release the project in spatial audio.
“It’s exactly the way I want it,” she says. “There’s so much technology being birthed every single day and it’s hard to keep up, but … I took my time to make sure I delivered it that way.”
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