Mikayla Geier

“I Get Bored Easily, That’s Why I Love Theatrics And Drama”

Words By: Jossdotcom

“You married Mr C-Section, oh, he’s avoiding labour,” are the opening lyrics ensuring Mikayla Geier’s latest single, HOTLINE, is instantly memorable. The tongue in cheek lyricism, cinematic alt pop sound and orchestral winks are all a part of the rising star’s flamboyant world. Selected as one of Spotify’s Artists To Watch 2026 (alongside Adela, who has achieved meteoric success this summer), Geier’s 9th show she ever played was for an audience of 10,000. When I asked how this happened, she told me she wrote in her empty manifestation journal, I will open for Marina (of Marina and the Diamonds fame). The offer to support the UK leg of The Princess of Power Tour came a month later. “I’m a witch.Yay!”

For most, performing to such a large crowd so early on in one’s career would be daunting. However, this was not Geier’s first rodeo. Leaving her home of Vancouver at the tender age of 14, she moved to Washington D.C. to study to be a ballerina at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, an institution (randomly) founded and bankrolled by Korean cult, The Unification Church. Despite her love for the practice, she left the academy due to the intense demands of the training in favour of obtaining a business degree.

Geier had grown up learning classical piano, and as a kid played around, writing her own songs. It was during her time at university she returned to music, brewing her distinct, baroque indie pop signature, and learnt that ballet wasn’t the only way to express herself. In 2024, her EP Here We Go Again… was born and last year HOTPOT! followed suit. Because of her background in dance and movement, how the song will be performed is top of mind for her when she’s writing. “I force everyone to do dance tests with me to different tempos till we find what’s groovy!”

Despite being in the early years of her incarnation of alt pop princess, the Mikayla Geier Cinematic World has a deeply defined visual language. “I want people to feel like they can connect to the music on a deeper level after seeing the visuals.” A part of this is the exploration of Geier’s Chinese heritage; the red of her costume for the Marina and the Diamonds tour complete with pánkòu detailing, the “fortune cookie says I’m pretty” line in her song Diva, the artwork for her album HOTPOT!, and of course the name of the album itself, to name a few. ‘My heritage is a huge part of who I am as a person and impacts how I move through the world,” Geier says. “I think as an artist you have this amazing opportunity to show your unique perspective, and my heritage has shaped mine a lot.”

A distinct part of her process, that contextualises the audience within her world, is her ritual of creating trailers for each of her new singles. She is a business major after all….

“We normally do them on a super quick turn around and a tight budget. A lot of the time we just work the whole concept around the question: what is even possible given the constraints?” Her first short film explained how she went from a ballerina to writing songs. “I get bored easily, so that’s why I love theatrics and drama. When I was a kid I was always reading books that transported me into a new world, and that’s how I want people to feel about my music and the art I make surrounding it. The photo shoot we did in London was so fun because it really captured how whimsical and fun a new city can be. Dannii (the photographer) did such a great job assembling a team to build something that lived inside my world!”