Rising star Mila Smith's been writing a lot of music: 'I'm conflicted between releasing an album or series of singles'

Mila Smith joins CapeTalk's Sara-Jayne Makwala King for a wide-ranging interview.

Singer-songwriter Mila Smith just recently turned 21 and is already making waves on the local music scene.

Nominated for Best Pop Album at the 2024 South African Music Awards (SAMAs) for her debut EP You Need Therapy, Mila was up against the likes of Tyla, who won the award.

The Cape Town musician's latest release, The Adults Are Talking,  is a pop-punk track seen to be marking a bold shift in her evolving musical journey.

It's touted as the first lead single from her highly-anticipated debut album set to release in late August, but she tells Sara-Jayne she's conflicted about whether to bring out an album or simply release a series of singles.

"I'm currently warring between if it's going to be this body of work or if it's going to be split up all into just single releases so each single has its time to shine."

Mila Smith, Singer-songwriter

"I've been doing a lot of promotion on TikTok and Instagram to put that song out there... People have come through, saying things like it's their gym song, or it's the song they listen to before work to hype them up, which is very complimentary."

Mila Smith, Singer-songwriter

A seemingly business-savvy Mila says it appears to be more cost-effective if you're doing singles as opposed to one big album release.

"It's also said that, as an upcoming artist, you're not a Beyoncé or a Sabrina Carpenter and the tracks that aren't your standout songs will kind of fall by the wayside... because people don't know how to search for them as they don't really know who you are."

Mila Smith, Singer-songwriter

Mila herself is an album fan in general, and says she would like to release one as she likes the idea of having a body of work like this.

So album fans, fingers crossed!

Scroll up to the interview audio to listen to the in-depth interview