Tiana Kocher’s self titled EP is all the feels: Listen

From Manila to Los Angeles, American singer, songwriter Tiana Kocher transitioned to the entertainment capital in 2018, in order to cement her career in music. Since signing with Manila Music, Tiana has collaborated with several GRAMMY award-winning recording artists including TLC, Faith Evans, Sage the Gemini and Latin artist J. Álvarez among others, as well as multiple award-winning songwriters in both mainstream pop and R&B for her new album, released November 2020. Her debut single release, ‘Just My Type’, hit the Top40 Indie Chart followed by ‘Paint the Town’ and ‘Swing Batter’, which appeared in the Cîroc commercial for the motion picture ‘What Men Want’. Her record ‘U Tried It’, released October 2019, was produced by four-time GRAMMY nominated record producer RoccStar and has reached over 140,000 streams to date. Last week Tiana released her self titled EP and shared her thoughts behind the project.

HR: What three words describe your new EP and why?
TK: Vibrant, dynamic, real.

HR: What was the most challenging part in creating this EP from start to finish?
TK: I actually recorded over 11 songs, narrowing it down to 7 was the hardest part.

HR: When did you know the EP was complete?
TK: I didn’t until I uploaded on Distrokid. I was actually still on the fence about including “Boy, Bye’ because it was a really last minute addition, but I ended up going through with it anyways because it felt like the perfect ending to the EP’s musical journey – from “Open Season” to “Boy, Bye”. 

HR: What kind of ‘sound’ did you have in the back of your mind, prior to entering the studio?
TK: I actually didn’t have any particular “sound” I wanted to portray or create, I really just went with the flow of things. I didn’t hear any of the beats prior to entering the studio, so everything we created was from scratch and on the spot. I fed off the vibe in the room, and my own personal experiences.

HR: What did you do differently compared to your previous projects?
TK: This is my first EP so when writing I definitely had to find a way to tie each song together. As opposed to writing singles which are “one-off’s,” I had to make sure each song flowed into the next. 

HR: What are your favorite songs and lyrical highlights and why?
TK: “Dive” and “Woah” are my favorite. Definitely the most meaningful to me, I actually wrote “Woah” in around 30 minutes and cut it in an hour but “Dive” took 26 hours in the studio. I wouldn’t say that I have favorite lyrics in particular because both songs just mean so much to me, but the process and the story behind the song make it really special.

HR: What overall theme / mood were you trying to capture while writing for this EP?
TK: This EP is my story, it’s what I’ve been going through for the past two years.

HR: Are there any ‘crazy’ behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
TK: I wouldn’t say that there are any crazy behind the scenes stories, other than I became mildly addicted to the Westlake Studios cookies, drank copious amounts of honey tea and that my Corgi dog Ferg was with me in the studio everyday! I also wrote “Woah” in 30 minutes with my co-writers and spent 26 hours in the studio perfecting “Dive”, but I don’t know if people would consider that crazy!

HR: Why this EP and why now?
TK: I was actually supposed to release this EP on March 26 and have a really big launch party but the pandemic said no. So I focused on releasing single after single while building up momentum to eventually release my EP.

HR: Now that the EP is out, what’s next?
TK: More singles then a full length album out next year!

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LISTEN TO TIANA KOCHER