Mia Berrin - Embodying Emotional Taboos: Musicians and Mental Health
Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health
Mad in America
4.8 • 201 Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mia Berrin is a songwriter, producer, and recording artist based out of Brooklyn, whose project, Pom Pom Squad, has garnered attention over the last few years for its grunge-pop sound and introspective lyrics. Her debut album, Death of a Cheerleader, was released in 2020 via Berlin-based label City Slang and has since been featured in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, and more. Mia has been open about the impact of her queer, POC, and bipolar identities on her career in music, and speaks with Karin Jervert and Amy Biancolli at Mad in America more about patriarchy, the music industry, and mental health.
***
Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Mad in America podcast, your source for science, psychiatry, and social justice. |
| 0:13.3 | I'm here today with Mia Barron, the frontwoman of the American indie rock grunge band from Brooklyn, |
| 0:20.3 | Pompom Squad. |
| 0:22.1 | The group with Shelby Keller, drums, and Alex Mercury guitar, cut their teeth playing |
| 0:28.1 | packed Brooklyn apartments, but they quickly graduated to packed Brooklyn venues alongside |
| 0:34.6 | artists like soccer mommy, adult Mom, and Pronoun. |
| 0:38.5 | The band's latest album is Death of a Cheerleader. |
| 0:41.4 | We're really happy to have her on and talk to her today. |
| 0:44.5 | Also, Mia, so welcome. |
| 0:46.5 | So glad to have you here. |
| 0:48.1 | Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here. |
| 0:50.5 | Mia, I'm just curious to hear how you would describe the stressors of the music industry. |
| 0:56.9 | Could you speak to that a little bit? |
| 0:58.8 | Yeah, I can absolutely relate to that. |
| 1:01.8 | I've been a full-time musician for the past, I'd say, two and a half years, |
| 1:06.3 | which has been a huge lifestyle change. |
| 1:08.5 | Before that, I was a student and I was doing day jobs. |
| 1:12.1 | And, you know, working retail requires different skill sets than working in the music industry. |
| 1:19.1 | In terms of the music industry, I quit my day job to go on tour and most of my job since then has been touring. I'm back home right now |
| 1:31.2 | for the first time. It's the longest consecutive amount of time I've been home in two years, |
| 1:36.8 | which has been three months. But for me, being bipolar, something like getting sleep is really important um taking my medication |
| 1:47.7 | at the same time uh you know making sure i'm eating properly making sure that i'm uh drinking enough |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mad in America, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Mad in America and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.