Music Minute: Pia Mia

As you all already know, music has a very special place in my heart. I have such a passion for finding new artists that I love and who inspire me through their art. Today, let's get to know Pia Mia Perez, better known as just "Pia Mia." I first came across this musical powerhouse about six years ago, and let me tell you, this girl has been belting since she was just a baby.

Pia Mia was born on the island of Guam, and began her career singing at weddings in her home town. She competed in talent shows, and began her own YouTube channel. That's where things really took off. Pia Mia's videos reached hundreds of thousands, even millions of views! In 2011, she took a leap of faith and moved to Los Angeles to begin her professional career.

As soon as Pia landed in California, she made linked up with some pretty major stars. Her first big celeb friend was Bella Thorne. The two released a single together, "Bubblegum Boy", the same year she moved to L.A., 2011. Pia Mia and the Thorne family grew very close; she even dated Bella's brother, Remy, for a time. Unfortunately, soon the two had a falling out, and that was the end of Pia's relationship with the Thorne Family.

This wasn't the end of Pia's famous friendships, however. She soon began to run in the same circles as the ever-present Kylie Jenner. Pia was even so lucky to land a bit of airtime on the mother of reality TV shows, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Pia recorded a song as a prank for Kendall and Kylie on their mom Kris.

As Pia became better friends with the Kardashian family, a lot of doors were opened for her. She boosted her already growing modeling career by scoring a shoot for Rob Kardashian's sock line, Arthur George, and was lucky enough to be able to sing in front of Kanye West and Drake, who congratulated her on her amazing talent. As her fame grew, she was able to land appearances on top E! Network shows like The Fashion Police. She was also able to snag some featured vocal appearances on other artists' songs like "Faded" by Marc E. Bassy.

Mind you, all the while Pia Mia was working to put out songs and boost her music career. Her first ever single was "The Last Man on Earth", an early attempt at showing the world just how mature she could be. To be quite honest, this song really came before I feel that Pia was emotionally ready. It was released in 2012 while she was still but a little tween girl. Nevertheless, Pia kept working at her craft.

The singer's cover of "Hold On, We're Going Home," really thrust her into the spotlight. Drake himself heard Pia Mia's tribute to his hit, and thoroughly enjoyed it. With Drake's support of her talent, Pia Mia knew for sure she had something special. From there, she began working on her first major musical project.

In 2013, Pia Mia put out the singles "Shotgun Love" and "Red Love", which led up to her debut EP, "The Gift." Red Love became the single for her first official music video.

The following year, Pia teamed up with independent rapper and front man of The Social Experiment, Chance the Rapper, to create a song for the Divergent movie soundtrack. Following this, Pia Mia began to work releasing even more of her own music, hopefully in preparation for her own debut album.

Pia Mia got together with another artist I love, G-Eazy, to remix her song "With You." The two even came together to make a great music video for the hit. This young rapper proved to be just the beginning of an extensive list of incredible artists Pia got to work with.

This past year, Pia released her first official single, Do It Again. The chart topper featured big time R&B artist Chris Brown and rapper on the rise Tyga. The talented young songstress' single did exceptionally well and soared across charts and blasted in radio stations across the country. The record went gold in the UK and platinum in Australia and New Zealand.

Pia Mia released her most recent single in November of 2015. The emotional yet upbeat track landed her in the Billboard Top 100 for Australia, Ireland, and the UK.

Wow what a ride! Seems like artist Pia Mia Perez has been keeping herself awfully busy over the years. To check out some of her songs, click the link below!

Hope you enjoyed. Till next time pals!