Ms* Gloom basks in the glow of love with new electropop single “Got It In Tha Mix”

Blending booming bass lines with sparkling embellishments, “Got It In Tha Mix” is an immersive song, anchored by a mid-tempo 4/4 rhythm, that manages to feel simultaneously gritty and atmospheric. While it hinges mostly on the all-consuming feeling of love, it also touches on ideas of fear and doubt that can poison the euphoria. That duality of tenderness and darkness is a marker of much of Ms* Gloom’s discography, with textured singles like “Hi, Society” and “Joker”.

An alias for the LA-based Ava, who says her name, serendipitously, means “melody” or “song” in Farsi, Ms* Gloom’s glitchy, digital songs are often shaped by intimate lyricism. That fusion makes each track feel like it contains a multitude of worlds. “There is an inherent duality to the sound. I think it's naive and soft and youthful in a lot of ways, but also angry and confrontational and hard. That's very representative of who I am as a person,” she says. “I have contained a lot of my anger and darkness, and for a long time, none of my friends or family knew that side of me. I'm letting it leak out a little bit now, and it feels like a very honest version of myself.”

Duelling personas aren’t the only thing Ms* Gloom wants to let out in her sound. Her vision for the songs often goes into unexpected places. “I want it to feel annoying at times. I get insecure a lot thinking my songs are not easy listening, like maybe they don't provide a good ambience. But then I'm like, ‘you know what, I want it to be confrontational,’” she says. “I also want to imbue humour and some uncanny valley and some kookiness in my songs, even in the serious ones, because I really do wanna make light of the darkness I feel.”

The visceral reflects the truth of the love that “Got It In Tha Mix” is based on. “ This is one of the first songs that myself and Silent$ky, my boyfriend who produced the song with me, made together. At the time I didn't have a very stable living situation, and he offered me a place to stay. It was a tiny room that was also his studio at the time.”

While the situation started off mundane, Ms *Gloom began to feel a newfound passion take shape. “Over time it began to feel like this very insular, intimate world we had built together. It felt like the outside world didn't really exist anymore.” While the feeling was beautiful, it wasn’t long before other thoughts began to creep up inside. “Living there was really the most magical and raw time of my life. I have every square inch of that room memorised. But then I start thinking like, ‘oh, this is very intense. How long could this really last?’ That's why there's such a dual meaning to the song.”

Ms* Gloom’s relationship may have inspired the lyrics for “Got It In Tha Mix,” but she says her collaboration with Silent$ky – who helped produce Psykos, the first full-length album by Yung Lean and Bladee – has paved the way for more than that.  

She started producing music in 2017, but still considers herself an amateur: “I produce almost every day, but I don't really know the rules. He knows. He has been a musician since he was, like, six years old and he went to two music schools, so he brought this level of professionalism and tightness to the sound. I learn so much from him, and I think we're very yin and yang. We compliment each other really well.”

Ms* Gloom hopes the partnership doesn’t end anytime soon because of that creative fire. “I hope that we can work together forever.” With a new mixtape on the horizon, we might see more from that partnership, and maybe a few other collaborations, sooner than later. “ This project is a long overdue mix of stuff that I've been holding on to. There’s a lot of push and pull, because I'm experiencing that in real time. Some days I'm like, ‘I don't wanna make electronic music, I wanna make rock’, so it’s just really up and down,” she says.

“I'm really wanting to try everything I possibly can and I don't ever wanna stop learning. I have so much appreciation for a wide variety of styles and genres, and I so badly want to try all of them. That might take an eternity, but that's where we are.”