Uncensored Mila

Reinvention
In answer to the burning question at hand, Mila swiftly explains that her hiatus from the industry is only a self-improvement venture as she has spent the last four years learning how to compose her own music and focusing on mastering the instruments she intends to work with. She has also focused on making her own studio as she wishes to establish herself as a complete musician rather than only a singer. She feels that there is a unique sense of completion when one is actively a part of all the aspects of making a song come to life. However, she finds it especially challenging to meet the benchmarks set by the previous big-name directors and producers she had worked with, as they are much more knowledgeable in the field through their expertise gained from the years of experience. Still, she is determined and will give her best effort to succeed as this will add a whole new dimension to her music. According to her, she has always been a lively person with an enthusiasm to perform, and she thinks of herself as more of a performer and entertainer rather than a singer and since her primary focus was always in making performances, her talents as a singer came secondary to her back when she started. But over the years, she feels she has kept that focus on keeping her performances key to her popularity while working to improve on her singing talents.

Motivation
When talking about her inspiration to become a more wholesome musician, she says that the music industry is quite male dominated and she plans on setting herself up as a role model for female aspirants by establishing herself as a mainstream music director in addition to her persona as a performer and singer. She says that there are many talented female singer-songwriters, but few actually compose their own music, and she hopes her venture in music composition will make opportunities to work with other talented artists of the industry.

Innovation
Asked about how technology and the internet has affected musicians and the music industry, she was confident that this is just another changing phase in the industry and Bengali music will survive as it always has done through the ages. She says that artists should take it as an opportunity rather than a threat as nowadays it is easier to increase popularity over the internet and the advent of smart phones have increased people's accessibility to content. Artists can now use websites like YouTube as earnings sources, so they are not just restricted to the recording labels anymore and as long as the talent is there, she thinks such elements should be used as platforms for increasing the reach of the artist to the audience. The last four years has already changed much in the industry as nowadays people think more about promoting over the internet and social media rather than just being restricted to television and radio. The music industry has developed a visual side through the internet's entry in the form of music videos on streaming sites, and Mila has used this change to her advantage as she believes she has recently received more response from the fans through the videos of her performances. She believes this is why most artists nowadays put more of their time and energy into performances, both on stage and in front of the camera.

Down the road
On her upcoming project, where many of the songs will be both written and composed by Mila herself, she hopes to bring about something completely different to the Bangladeshi music industry. Showcasing her life, upcoming as a celebrity, and the obstacles associated in the industry, she plans on portraying such aspects to her audiences in the form of a musical documentary film titled "Uncensored". A teaser song "Nacho", featuring elements of tribal music and dance, was released on YouTube as a form of promotion for the film which is scheduled for release very soon.

Interviewed by Rafi Hossain 
and Narrated by Mohaiminul Islam