Q&A: Tia Gordon on Healing, Heartache and Wondering if She’s “Good Enough”
TIA GORDON’S SONGS ARE HER CATHARSIS — and her debut EP, with love. x, soulfully traverses the grief, longing, and devotion that become entangled in heartbreak.
The EP took root when Gordon decided to let the creative process, instead of heartache, consume her. “When I'm doing music, for some reason I kind of shut off the rest of the world,” Gordon says. “I just hone in on the feeling that I'm feeling.”
With love. x was released this April and marked the start of a new chapter for Gordon, creating a home for the feelings she could no longer hold in her heart. Through her dreamy melodies and gentle rhythms, she invites you to let go with her.
Gordon’s latest single, “Good Enough,” came just three months after the EP. Catching herself in a “shaky place,” she returned to the studio to sing out her insecurities.
Now a month out from its release, Gordon opens up about healing, songwriting, and her magnetic relationship with music.
LUNA: You’ve been releasing music for about two years now. How did you get started?
GORDON: I don't think anything inspired me, per se. Music is my thing. As much as I quit a few times, I always found myself looping back around to it. It's like I couldn't escape it. I was posting original songs on SoundCloud. People found them and were like, “These are really great.” I think that validated me, as scary as it was. I was like, “Okay, cool. Let’s see where this can go.”
LUNA: I love your Spotify bio. It says, “I write songs in my bedroom and then hope I’m not the only one who likes them.” Tell us more.
GORDON: At first, I was literally writing songs in my room with my guitar and my ukulele. Now that’s not the case. I’m writing songs in the studio, but that feeling is the same. So that's why it still sticks. I always say to any producer I'm working with, we can make a beat, and I'll know if I'm going to be able to write with it. I’ll just know. I’ll feel it. When I get attached like this, it kind of writes itself. You know when you get in that mindset when you’re cleaning your room? And you just zap your room? You just have to get everything done, and it's really lovely. It feels like it needed to come out. Other times, it's a bit of a slow burn. I do get quite frustrated, but I guess sometimes music takes time. And I’ve been told that by my team. Like, just chill with it.
LUNA: You released your debut EP, with love. x. this April. What went into creating the EP?
GORDON: So much… Feeling-wise, I’d just gone through heartache. That just pushed me into all of the songs. As I was going through different stages of healing, the songs changed form. The EP was hard to make because I was so upset. I was so sad. But it’s turned into this really beautiful thing that I'm so proud of. I don’t even know if I thought people were gonna hear the songs on the EP. It was more just for me to get them out, just to do something with the despair. Listening back to them, I think it’s so crazy how you can reflect on a time that you were in.
LUNA: It’s been a little over four months since you released with love. x. How has it been received?
GORDON: God, it feels like it's been so much longer than four months. Wow. Okay. It's been received with so much love, pardon the pun. I write music that’s so vulnerable and honest, and I don't think you can go wrong with it because people feel, you know. I didn’t realize it at the time I released the EP, but so many people needed some of those songs. I still read messages people send me that say things like, “This EP changed my life” or “This EP helped me through a difficult time” or “I didn't know I needed this song” or even “I have never felt as heard as I have listening to this song.” I'm like, okay. Cool. I'm doing something right.
LUNA: You just released the single “Good Enough” — congratulations! When I listen to it, I feel so much more self-doubt than I did listening to your EP. Where were you, emotionally and mentally, when you wrote this song?
GORDON: I love that you can hear the mindset I was in. I think with heartache… it’s grief, isn't it? And you go through different stages of it. So you can think you’re at a really healed place, and then all of a sudden, you’re back at square one. When something doesn’t work out like I wanted to, I always bring it back to myself, and I’m like I wasn’t enough. I know that will change over time, but right now it’s always the thing I fall back to.
LUNA: Does this song feel different to your EP?
GORDON: Oh, that's such a good question. Does it feel different? I think all my songs feel different. I don't really listen to my songs back, so I've never really sat down and listened to my EP in full. But I do remember how they felt when I was making them. I listened to “Good Enough” yesterday in the car just to make sure it sounded okay. It's quite gloomy, but I think the bridge takes you to a really hopeful place, even though the lyrics aren't hopeful. They are, but they're not. They're confusing. I think it feels different by the end of it.
LUNA: Is there a feeling that you hope your listeners walk away with after hearing your music?
GORDON: I love when people feel seen. I think when I was growing up, I didn't feel that seen, especially in the music space. I wanted to listen to a song and be like, “Ooh!” That's how I feel. But I remember searching for a feeling I couldn't find. So I’d love for people who listen to my music to be like, yes, that’s exactly how I feel. Because I'm not being as vulnerable as I am for nothing! It’s so exposing it feels so scary. I do it so that I can release that feeling within myself, but also so that someone else can recognize that we’re in the same boat. We're going through it together.
LUNA: What’s next for you, Tia?
GORDON: At the moment, I'm performing more than I've ever performed before, which is exciting. I’m honing in on who the hell I am. And more music and more writing and just releasing good music that makes me happy. Hopefully other people will like it as well, that’s always the goal. And hopefully a headline show at some point! Fingers crossed.
