Kiana V On “Got Away,” Her New Album, And Why She’s Only Just Getting Started
Ahead of her forthcoming album, the R&B singer-songwriter is now open to letting her listeners know her better while writing and making music creatively in a space where she gets to embrace her own.
Courtesy of Kiana V
Courtesy of Kiana V
After a decade of writing, releasing music, and the contemporary local music scene, Kiana V is only just getting started.
Now based in Los Angeles, the singer-songwriter behind “Does She Know” is embarking on a new era of her artistry, both creatively and personally, with her latest single “Got Away” — a spin on the familiar “the one that got away” narrative.
Ahead of the release of her forthcoming album I Know Better, Billboard Philippines speaks to Kiana about “Got Away,” creating music on her own terms, and finding a creative environment where she can make the music she wants while continuing to write songs for other artists.
Billboard Philippines: You released your new single “Got Away,” which is co-written alongside platinum songwriter Rosemarie Tan and produced by Grammy-nominated producers Taydex and Wes Singerman. How was it working with these collaborators?
Kiana V: Rose is a longtime collaborator of mine, actually. We have worked on songs together like “Sana,” my previous release “Dare You,” and “Falling Out.” She really has become my mentor since moving out here. So it’s really amazing to learn from her. I guess she’s really paved the way for me to collaborate and work with other like-minded creatives. So that in itself is such an amazing experience.
I think that every time that I walk into a studio, I approach each project kind of like a sponge — like I’m just really ready to learn. I didn’t go to music school or anything like that. So any chance that I can learn from my peers and from those around me, I really, really take it, and I don’t take that for granted at all.
So, in a way, even after a couple of years of releasing music, you’re still kind of learning as you go?
Absolutely, yeah. I recently started working with a vocal coach, and so I’m learning things about my instrument, which is my voice, that I had never learned in the past. And I didn’t know that I could reach certain notes. I didn’t know how I could manipulate the tone of my voice. Now I really do. And it’s just forever being a student in this craft is something that I really value.
How did working on this track compare with your past releases?
When I started working on “Got Away,” I was very intentional because I really wanted to release a full project, and “Got Away” is part of that project. I guess what made it different from some of my previous works is that I know it lives within a bigger story. So some of the lyrics are very specific because it adds details to a much larger story.
The song is a spin on “the one that got away” narrative, which can be quite a common inspiration for heartfelt and emotional songs in the OPM space. What inspired you to create the song’s narrative, and why this specific direction?
To be honest, I just feel like the one that got away has always been treated as such a sad, heartbreaking topic. But I wanted to flip the narrative; I wanted to flip the perspective. And when you really think about it, especially coming from me, someone who’s married, right? It’s kind of funny now because I found my person. So I don’t really think about the one that got away. But as a person who has moved on and is actually very happy, it’s funny to think that I might be the one that got away.
I just wanted to approach it from a different perspective. I try to approach my music and my creativity with a little bit of my sense of humor as well. That’s where I was coming from. When the producers started playing this beat, which I had explained to them, I really wanted something fun and lively, something I could imagine myself listening to with my girlfriends and just having a good time screaming the lyrics. It kind of just naturally progressed into that — just viewing the one that got away through a funny lens.
I guess it is quite a sad topic, if you really think about it, that certain people will look at a person, reminisce, and think of all the things they could have possibly done better, and then their regret lives within this certain person. I wanted to step away from that and just view it through my reality, which is a little bit unbothered, just kind of moving on with my life and having a good time. But it is obviously inspired by previous experiences, as well as stories that my friends have told me, just like the rest of my music.
Courtesy of Kiana V
“Got Away” captures watching someone realize what they lost while remaining unbothered. What makes it cathartic to channel these kinds of emotions through songs?
I’ve always been the type of artist who has to get through the emotion or who has to get through the experience before I can really write about it. Kind of like I have to process it first, and then I can step in the studio and really dive into all the emotions.
I guess that’s what it was like for me with this song and with the rest of the songs that I’m so excited to share with you guys. I’m not living it at this moment, but I went through it, I got through it, and I came out on the other side — I would say a much better person, with some really great stories to tell.
Ultimately, it emphasizes having closure on one’s own terms and remaining peaceful, even as old habits linger. What are some of the old habits from your past artistically that you have now come to terms with?
I have this running joke now within my circle that I have this need for optimization, like everything needs to be perfect before I put the pen to paper. Everything has to be fixed before I give myself permission to just create.
Honestly, that’s something I’m still working through. I find that creatives just need to create. It’s innate within us. The more we fight it, actually, and suppress that, the harder it is to stand in our own truths and to be who we are. That just creates a domino effect of negative feelings and emotions.
I would say that that’s a bad habit that I’ve had for a very long time — kind of needing permission, waiting for permission, needing things to be perfect instead of just doing it.
The song also acts as a major transition now as you navigate Los Angeles as part of your current era and gear up to release your latest album, I Know Better. What can your fans expect from this era of yours?
It’s a lot of, I think, just letting loose. Because for the past few years, I’ve just been overthinking everything. Right now, I just want to release what I have to release. These songs that are about to come out tell the story of someone who I used to be. I guess what my fans or my listeners can expect from this era is to just get to know me a little better.
They’ll hear a little more of my story, and that will help them understand the evolution that I am bound to go through again. But right now, this is where I’m at. I’m singing about a piece of my life and, quite frankly, wrapping it up because I’ve moved on as well. This is it. This is a part of my story that I’m sharing with all of you.
Courtesy of Kiana V
2026 marks 10 years since you’ve been releasing music. Looking back, how would you describe your evolution as an artist?
Over the past few years, especially since spending more time in Los Angeles, I’ve been experimenting a lot. When I first started releasing music 10 years ago, I really had no idea who I was. I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to take my music sonically. I didn’t feel like I had anything really to say. I was just playing. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say. I didn’t have the tools to express myself the way I wanted to.
I feel like now, through building community and finding my mentors and just practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing, as well as writing for other people, I know now what I like and what I don’t like, how I want to say things, and how other people say things that I don’t relate to but I can still appreciate.
I just feel honestly like I’m just getting started. I actually feel myself evolving right now. Parts of me are breaking off, and new parts are growing. I’m curious to see how that’s going to translate into the music.
Would you say these are the songs that you really wanted to make?
I am making music that I want to make right now, yes. I have a lot of unreleased music as well. Again, I do love the songwriting process, and a lot of people don’t know that I write songs for pitch. Meaning we come into the studio and we make a song on that day with a certain artist in mind, in hopes of them picking that song up, or we give it to another artist.
Aside from the music that I’m making for myself, I get to travel through all these different genres, which I wouldn’t have been able to do 10 years ago. So yes, I am making the music that I want to make through the lane of my artistry and for others as well.
Are the other songs on I Know Better reminiscent of the vibe of “Got Away”?
There are a few other ones on the project that have this vibe, and I would love to dive into it more when it’s out. I would like people to interpret the music before I give my side of the intentions behind it. But there are a few songs in there that make you want to sway and dance a bit.
