Below, Miesha talks with RANGE about the emotional weight behind the track, collaborating with Buzzalino, and her visions for the next era of Miesha & The Spanks.

“Smiling” feels heavy, cathartic and strangely triumphant all at once. What emotional space were you in when you wrote this song?

When I wrote “Smiling” I had just been hit with some big news that my mom very suddenly had cancer. She’s a huge part of my life, my kids’ lives, and it was a lot to process. There was a lot going on for the band as well then, and it was too early to really explain the gravity to my kids, so there wasn’t much more to do than just put on a brave face and maintain as much normalcy as possible. My mom is the queen of smiling through it, you wouldn’t know to interact with her that anything was going on and that definitely inspired me. Still smiling, still fighting. 

You’ve described the track as “smiling through it” while everything crashes down around you. What does that phrase mean to you personally right now?

I think there’s a negative tone when you hear “smiling through it,” and in some cases, yeah for sure, but I do think there’s something to be said for projecting a more positive experience. We’re still in the weeds with my moms cancer, but she’s proven a lot of stats wrong already, smiling through it. I’m navigating newborn and music career life AGAIN — wasn’t planning to — but here we are, and it isn’t easy. That being said there’s a lot of joy in the house with a new baby, so when my eyes are bulging out of my skull because I haven’t slept and a grant is due and album art is due and the label wants more socials and my baby is cluster feeding (that means she’s basically glued to my boobs) — I can find a smile that is rooted somewhere in actual happiness for the privilege to be in such a crazy situation.

There’s a tension in the song between vulnerability and resilience that feels really powerful. Was it difficult to channel something this personal into a loud, fuzzed-out rock song?

I think I’m the type of person who can only channel their feelings into loud fuzzed out rock songs. It’s hard for me to finish the song sometimes, because it becomes such a big part of me I really want to do right by it. I draft a lot of the song myself before even sharing it with Sean to get help on the arrangement/sound part, and that’s because it just is so personal, and it’s probably the first time I’m even saying some of these thoughts out loud.

The video, shot and directed by Sebastian Buzzalino, has such a raw photographic energy to it. What was it like collaborating with Sebastian on bringing this song to life visually?

I’m so grateful to have Sebastian collaborating on this video. Like I said my life is crazy right now so trying to dream up and orchestrate a music video is not a simple task. We’ve been working with Seb on photos, videos, tours, so much over the years and he’s a very close friend, so to bring him in when he already has such a strong understanding of what’s going on in my life was amazing. I gave him my basic idea to include burlesque as the ultimate showman’s smile and he took that and ran with gorgeous execution. He’s an artist I truly admire and trust.

“Smiling” is our first glimpse into the new EP. What does this track reveal about where Miesha & The Spanks are headed creatively?

I think we’re embracing the overall noise and energy of our live set. There’s always been some disparity between our live show and our recordings, mostly because we add more layers to a recording than we can realistically give on stage without adding tracks. But recording with Hill, she found a way to capture that live feeling while keeping it a high quality production, and personally that makes me really excited to just fuck around and get messy and find out what happens next.

VISIONS is set for release on Sept. 18 via SUPERCONNECTED.