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[0:13] Robert Bannon: Welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network. And you know, we love talking about artists who talk about art, but we've also spent a lot of time this year speaking about politics and health, especially in mental health, and some artists put it all together. Our next artist is inspiring to me for many reasons, reading about her and her journey. Listen, everybody, you don't have to be 19 years old to break into the music business. You can make it at all sorts of ages and stages, and you can put out a song that's in 15 different languages spread all around the world, giving hope, positivity, and light for all sorts of people. Miist, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here.

[0:54] Miist: Thank you so much for having me, Robert, and thank you for all the kind words about my journey and the song. It is very important to me.

[1:05] Robert Bannon: Well, and to me, and I want people to know that you could listen to the single "Could You Lend Me a Smile?" I was listening to it. I'm ready. It's catchy, it's beautiful. The instrumentation and the hook of it all is gonna be in your mind, and I hope you take the message with you. How did the song come to be?

[1:27] Miist: I read a story. I've always known this issue, but that story brought it really personal. I read about this young guy in Japan. He's only in his early twenties, and he died in his own apartment, and nobody found out until weeks later. And it turns out he didn't lack material things. He had his properties, and he had his habits. He had a life. He just had nobody. And when things went very wrong, he just basically gave up his life. That made loneliness so real to me. I could imagine how sad he was when he walked in such a busy city like Tokyo, and just nobody was willing to give him meaningful eye contact, a tiny bit of a smile, or a little bit of help, even just asking him, "How are you doing?"

Really, things like that might have changed his life. So the way I process emotions is to write songs about them. I wanted to end on the issue, the problem. So I imagined as he expressed how he's feeling, people start to listen to him, start to change, and maybe at the end, someone would lend him a smile. You don't even have to give it to him, just let him borrow it for a second. That could have saved his life.

[3:35] Miist: Then we realize that even though all over the world a lot of people speak English, from my personal experience, I can't speak English, but when I need to really understand something or feel something, I need to hear it or read it in my heart language, which is Mandarin Chinese. So I imagine it will be the same for other people all over the world. If we want this message to help more people, it needs to be in more languages, more of people's heart languages. That's why we got 15 so far, and there are more coming. The goal is just simply to have the message reach as many people's hearts as possible.

[4:25] Robert Bannon: It's so amazing, and what a great idea to get this important song and message out in whatever ways you can. And like you said, 15 languages across five continents with artists combining to sing with over 60 Grammy Awards and nominations. You yourself are the first native Chinese artist to break the Billboard’s Top 25 AC chart. You have come to music and your success, kind of like I alluded to in the introduction, in a roundabout way. You found it in your 30s. Did you ever dream that you would be charting the Billboard charts and releasing this at this stage in your life?

[5:11] Miist: Never. Never. I was so afraid of even thinking a tiny bit about it. In fact, discovering music was another way to say it. Actually, it was discovered by somebody who gave me this idea that I could write songs, but I fought the idea for six months. That's how afraid I was to even start to believe it's true. I fought it and fought it. At the end, I said, "I love you. I can't keep fighting you because you tell me such a wonderful thing, but I just can't do it. Let me sit down at the piano and prove you wrong so we can stop arguing about this." I don't like this way. So I sat down at a piano and I wrote three songs that day. It was mind-blowing. I saw how wrong I was.

[6:12] Robert Bannon: Well, the single, the pop and AC hit that we're talking about is called "It's Too Late to Love You," which you should check out as well. All of your music is streaming wherever music is heard, and you can listen to it and stream it. But what you do so well, differently than maybe some other artists, is that you're very intentional about your message. You write very powerful, strong songs about life experiences and positivity and building people up. You've been through quite a lot in your own life. Is that where you build your inspiration from?

[6:43] Miist: When I first started writing songs, I didn't intentionally think about the way I did it. It just came out that way. But now I look at it and think about it. You're probably right. My experience is probably why I write songs this way through all the struggles and the life experiences, like the early life abandonment and later, not very late, in my 20s, I dealt with cancer and surgery and treatment. I think because I struggled so much, I probably hoped there was something that could help me. So now, since I discovered music can help me personally so much, I want to share this method, and it's such an easier way to help. I want people to experience it. They can enjoy the music as well as getting some help or relief.

[7:48] Robert Bannon: I think you're absolutely right. I think it's amazing, and that's pretty fantastic. So you were born in Asia, in China, correct? And where are you now in the world?

[8:01] Miist: I split time between Washington and California.

[8:07] Robert Bannon: Okay. So we've stole you over here to the States. And at what age did you decide to come here?

[8:15] Miist: After college in China, I had an opportunity to move to Canada. So I went there, finished my accounting program, and started working as an accountant in a music store where I was the only one who was not a musician.

[8:32] Robert Bannon: Wait, so you graduated college and you were an accountant in a music store, but you still had not been a musician? You still had not written music?

[8:44] Miist: I had no idea. I was so amazed by all the musicians I met. I admired their work, and I enjoyed watching and listening to their music, but I had no idea I was a musician myself.

[9:00] Robert Bannon: So when did you—because you play piano?

[9:03] Miist: Well, that was when my friend challenged me to write music. He specifically said, "You have the ability to write music, and you can play by ear." So, yes, in my music videos and in songwriting, I play a little, but that was as much as I can play. I just taught myself a little bit.

[9:27] Robert Bannon: Okay, so when did you decide to sit down? Your friend challenges you to write a song, and when did you sit down and say, "Okay, I wrote my first song"?

[9:37] Miist: That was during COVID. I think it was 2023. Maybe I didn't decide to write the songs; I was trying to prove him wrong, but I was giving it a real try. That's the day I wrote three songs. Then all the emotions I couldn't find a way to tell anyone, or it was too hard, or it was too dark for me to even think about sharing, too embarrassed. Then all they all came out in music freely and easily, and I could share with everyone through music. I can't tell you, but I can show you with music.

[10:27] Robert Bannon: Your friend had caught on to something that you didn't even know yet, which is pretty amazing that this all happened. So, okay, so here's my million-dollar question for you. How do you go from just 2003? And then you now lean on how did you break into this as a professional musician? I hear that you got discovered.

[10:53] Miist: Yes. Wow, that's another crazy story. We like to look at houses just for fun. And at one house visit, we started talking to the agent there. And he said, "Oh, I'm a musician." And my husband said, "Oh, my wife is a musician too. You should swap music." That's what we do when we meet a musician. So we listened to each other's music. And he forwarded, he liked my music, so he forwarded my music to his friend who happened to be an assistant of Narda Michael Walden.

[11:32] Miist: And that's Justice. I'm so thankful to him. So Justice forwarded it to Narda, and we received a phone call from Narda saying, "I want to meet you." So I expected maybe a 30-minute meet and talk, but it turned out to be a three-hour music playing, jamming songwriting session. And at the end of that three hours, Narda said, "I would like to produce your album." But he did more than that. He helped me explore different genres I've never thought about writing. Now I think about it, he was intentionally training me to write in different genres, and he was also trying to challenge me to explore my ability. He also sang two songs on the album with me. He rapped in one of them and he sang the duet "It's Too Late to Love You" with me.

[12:48] Robert Bannon: Amazing. If you don't know him, you know his music. He's a drummer for Journey; he's a Grammy Award winner. I mean, he's worked with everyone from Whitney to A-Rei. I mean, everyone in the universe knows the Bodyguard album, which he won a Grammy for being Album of the Year. Was there fear? Is there any moments that you feel like this is not real or I'm an imposter, or what does he see? You know, I think we all struggle with that as artists. What is special about us?

[13:18] Miist: Every moment I spent with him was, like you said, unreal. At the end of the first meeting, I told him, "Narda, this is all so unreal. It's like walking in a dream." I'm still a little foggy here, but I think I'm not afraid to dream again. And he said, "You should write a song about it." So I did write that song for him, and he produced it, and it was also included in the album. Like you said, it's very unreal. And also, I don't know if you've read about this, but I've been having a lot of symptoms of imposter syndrome because everything happens so fast. I was not trained to do music, to sing, or to write. I'm doing this all by feeling. So I just can't believe I—every time I write a song, I can't believe I can't write a song this good again. I just don't know until it happens again.

[14:33] Robert Bannon: I understand. I think we all really struggle with it, and I can relate so much to what you write about, and I can relate so much to what you are saying on this show. I think it's so important that you've been using it to share your story, you know. Make Me Smile, which is your podcast, which has even charted on Apple and Spotify charts in the top 20, top 13, to be quite honest, which is really hard. There are millions of podcasts in the world because you talk about things that I think we need. We have so much anxiety and we're so tired and we're emotionally exhausted, and we are disconnected with more social media and digital age than ever, and you've taken your music and now the conversations on the podcast to great success. Why do you think people are longing for conversations like this?

[15:34] Miist: Thank you so much for asking. By the way, I love your podcast mostly because how thoughtful your questions are, how you dig out the real emotions out of people, and that's what makes your podcast so special, and you make some real connections. That's what we're missing. That's why we have the mental health problems. It's not because we're lacking all the help we need; it's probably just because we forgot some basic things we used to do like a little child, like smile at each other. To just walk up to someone without thinking about what they might feel, just say hi. And just be able to play with anyone.

[16:35] Robert Bannon: I agree with you a hundred percent more. I think we all need to, as corny as it may seem, we have to get in touch with that wonder and childhood excitement about life. Do you wake up? Yeah, I know you're a mother, I know you're a wife. You know, when I read your press release, I see all the fun and you're building furniture and unicycling and riding roller coasters and doing all sorts of fun things that you do in your life. Are you—I can't, this is not about me, but you—and thank you for what you say. I had imposter syndrome while you were complimenting me because I have it all the time when I have conversations with people. For me, it is surreal; like all of this is surreal. Talking to you is surreal; doing what I do with people listening to me speak is surreal.

For you, how do you stay grounded? How do you stay grounded with all of this going on professionally, but you still have to come home and be a mom and be a wife and a daughter and a friend, and accept whatever you are to everybody and still stay connected to what your message is?

[17:45] Miist: All the things I talk about in the podcasts, Make Me Smile podcast, are the things I try to do. Every time we look at why people are disconnected, then we find something. Oh, that's what happened there. So how can we fix it? Then, of course, it can't be done all in one shot. So we try to boil it down, boil it down, keep boiling it down until it's as small as a 15-second action. If we just do one 15-second action a day to remind ourselves how to be human again, how to be a kid again, then we can be, like you said, more grounded. But another thing that really helped me was, like I told you, I don't understand how this talent, how this gift works. So I truly believe it's from God. And if it's not from me, I'm just a servant using it. No matter what I do with it, the praise goes to God. Then it's not about me. I'm just me. Then we can stay grounded.

[19:02] Robert Bannon: I get that. And I think that's so important to stay grounded. And I feel the connection to a higher power every single day. Did you—for me, you know, I started at 33 years old. I had given up performing. And at 33 years old, I had kind of lived a whole other life. And then I was always afraid to be a performer. I never thought I would make it. I never thought I'd have money. I never thought I'd have a job. But since I made—I always felt it in my body and soul and spirit. And since I connected to that and I took the step forward, it has always been way easier than I thought because I feel like it's my mission. I feel like it's what I'm supposed to do. For you, I know it's hard, and I know it's hard work, but you feel like this is your lane. This is why you're here on this earth.

[19:48] Miist: Absolutely. Well, we're clear about what we're meant to do, and the purpose is good. We're sure of it. Then when we do it, like what you did with performance, what I did with songwriting, everything just feels—everything we do, if we go towards that, every little thing gives us a lot more satisfaction. We just feel content when we do that. But if we fight that, we try to convince ourselves, "No, I need to do this to make more money to support my family." That is a right reason. But if we're so far apart from what we're meant to do, it still feels like there's something missing. You never feel the 100% satisfaction and contentment.

[20:44] Robert Bannon: Agreed. Yes, I understand completely. So 15 seconds. We're gonna listen to the music. It's gonna give you more than 15 seconds of joy. It's gonna make you feel great. I was listening to your music, and I thought this is perfect for that. Come home from work, unwind, you need to connect back to yourself, to your family. And it is the perfect thing to listen to while you cook dinner, or you take a moment, or you read a book, or you have friends and family over. It's the perfect music. You can stream it wherever the podcast streams or wherever podcasts are heard. And the podcast talks about 15-second acts. Can you give an example of what is a 15-second act that we can do to make ourselves smile?

[21:26] Miist: Absolutely. We talk about smile, but that's—we've talked about it already. Let's do a different one. Oh, I have a cute—sorry, it's not here. I have a kindness cube that is given away on my website. You can just do—it's donation-based. You can do whatever amount, and it will be mailed to you wherever you are in the world. And it's a three-inch cube that has different actions on it. So you can pick one. I was gonna use it as an example, but there's one I love very much: tell someone "I love you" on the phone. Don't text. We tested it; it takes about 12 seconds to do that. I know we say that to families, to our loved ones, but this is a little different. It's to make a phone call just to do that.

Say, "Hey, I'm just calling to say I love you and have a good day." There we go. And when was the last time you received a call like that? How would that make you feel? And I'm thinking about the people that I love and how it would make me smile to call them and tell them. And I hope that—and how they'll feel to receive that. So I think that's our challenge for everyone: pick up the phone, call someone that you love, and just tell them, "Hey, I love you. Good to talk to you." That's it. That's all that—that's it.

[22:57] Robert Bannon: I think that's a challenge for all of us. I think that's a great idea. You are very positive in your words, and I know that's intentional. And I read about that. You're very into positive. Do you ever struggle? Is there ever a day where you want to say something not positive to yourself, to others? I can't picture you saying four-letter vocal bad words out here in these streets.

[23:23] Miist: I don't say bad words, but I struggle so much. That's why I work on this. I think there was a saying, you become an expert on the field that you struggle the most. That's why I suffer; I deal with so much bad self-talk. I can be very nice to everybody else, but to myself, it's so bad. And no, I'm not perfect. I work on this hard because of how much I struggle. So I think this is a journey that I'm trying to help myself, but I believe on the way, if we can do it together, we can all help ourselves.

[24:10] Robert Bannon: Amazing. I think it's really important. So Make Me Smile is the podcast. The new single, while we're talking about, is called "Could You Lend Me a Smile," which is available in 15 languages across five continents with singers with 60 Grammy Awards and nominations across the chart. Your album, the debut album, "The Songs from the Living Room," is out. People can stream that album as well. Is this single a piece of something that will be bigger coming the rest of the year?

[24:41] Miist: Yes. Just like "Could You Lend Me a Smile," focusing on solving loneliness through SMILE, I have another five important songs. Also, each brings up another issue, and we also have a solution there that we can start working on to solve it. It touches upon domestic abuse, which I personally experienced, and depression, and loved ones falling apart. But there will always be a 15-second action where we can start to work on solving it and bring back the connection.

[25:23] Robert Bannon: Oh my goodness, I need to stay up to date. I need to—we gotta follow, we gotta share, we gotta go to your website. All of the links and all of the information will be below us. If you're listening to us on the podcast, make sure that you look below. And if you're watching us on social media, YouTube, or on Spotify, make sure you also go below in the description and find all of your information. How do you wrestle with peace? Because, you know, we live in such a fast—the phone is in front of us, social media is in front of us. That's an important part of business; it's an important part of sharing your message. But then I know also that distracts us and takes us away from human connection. So do you have rules or advice about how we can live in both worlds?

[26:03] Miist: Well, we can't avoid using social media, and I admit that as a marketing tool or as a way to find some hacks or some other things. Social media is perfect. The only problem is social media promises the connection that everyone wants, but it doesn't give us that. It's a one-way connection. So we'll never get satisfied if we're going there to look for connection. So we still, as a team, as an artist, we still use social media to do what it does well. But I made this little 15-second sticker, if you can see there. Yeah, we also gave away for free as one of—with the kindness cube that you can put on your phone to remind yourself. We're saying you can go on social media as much as you want. But this—when you see this 15 sticker, pause for 15 seconds and think about what you're grateful for: our family, the air we're breathing, the sunshine we're having, the beautiful nature, the kids, the dogs. Then if you still feel the need to go on social media, go ahead. But a lot of times, the gratitude gives us enough dopamine to last a lot longer without social media.

[27:42] Robert Bannon: That's great advice. Well, everyone go to Instagram after your 15 seconds. Go to Miist the Singer on Instagram. It's M-I-I-S-T. And then the music is streaming wherever, and it's great music to put in the background, especially if you meditate, especially if you do yoga or you work out, or you just take a moment for yourself. This is the soundtrack that you need this summer in particular. And we will be following you to stay up to date. And I'm gonna call someone and tell them I love them, and I'm gonna smile the rest of the day just because of you.

[28:11] Miist: Thank you so much, Robert. That means the world.

[28:14] Robert Bannon: I'm so glad even this conversation only made you smile is all worth it.

[28:19] Miist: Well, thank you. I'm gonna take that to heart, and I appreciate that. And I want everyone to make sure you check out your—check out Miist's podcast as well as the music and listen to it wherever podcasts and music are heard. My show is your show anytime. Next time you have music out, come back and say hey. Even without music, I want to come back and say hey, we're just done say I love you.

[28:43] Miist: And I'm just gonna call to say I love you right on back.

[28:46] Robert Bannon: Thank you so much for being here.

[28:47] Miist: Thank you.