megiapa - "SMT" new single/video out today /// debut Intl Anthem LP out September 25th 2026 /// LA release show at 2220 on September 24th
(photo by megiapa)
Today, Ohio-born, Los Angeles-based linguist, producer, visual artist, and vocalist megiapa shares “(SMT)” from her forthcoming International Anthem debut album Intentions, out September 25.
“(SMT)” was written in Chicago in the summer of 2020, as megiapa watched the protests and uprisings take place across the city and country in response to George Floyd’s murder. She explains: “The song reflects on all the hopes and prayers we send out for a better world, for our safety, and for our right to simply live. So many of our freedom songs are rooted in the promise of ‘someday.’ ‘We shall overcome someday.’ That future tense asks us to believe in a future we cannot yet see.
"(SMT)" is the moment between those hopes and actual change. Sometimes it feels like all we can do is talk about it, organize, repost, grieve, hope, pray, and wait for the world to catch up. I do believe people can create change. History has shown us that. But it rarely arrives quickly. Until then, we keep hoping, praying, and believing that another world is possible.
"(SMT)" stands for ‘So Much Time,’ but it also references ‘suckin’ my teeth,’ a paralinguistic expression understood across much of the Black diaspora that conveys impatience, frustration, annoyance, or disappointment without saying a word.”
Listen to “(SMT)” and preorder/presave Intentions here.
Today’s release of “(SMT)” on all music platforms is accompanied by a video for the track, directed and edited by megiapa, including video footage and still photography from Dr Tiffany R Smith’s activism and community involvement from 2015-present.
Watch the video for “(SMT)” here.
Last month, megiapa shared another track from Intentions, “on the spaceway (frfr),” via a music video directed by Eric Coleman and B+ of Mochilla (known for their visual work with MF DOOM, Madlib, Sudan Archives).
Watch the music video for “on the spaceway (frfr)” here.
In July, megiapa shared the album’s lead track “Open Your Eyes” along with a video she directed and edited herself.
LA Album Release Show
On Thursday September 24, megiapa will debut a new live band, performing music from Intentions at an album release celebration at 2220 Arts+Archives in Los Angeles. The band will include vocalist Aankha Neal, drummer Mekala Session, bassist ghalani of Greenwood, keyboardist Jesse Justice, flute player Aisha Mars, and percussionist Allakoi “Mic Holden” Peete. Chicago DJ selective listening will be opening and closing the event.
Tickets for Intentions release show September 24 at 2220 Arts+Archives here.
(Intentions cover art by megiapa)
“A timeless journey into the cosmic worldbuilding of megiapa. Omnipresently magnificent! “ - King Britt
megiapa’s sound was forged over a decade of development on Chicago’s underground beat scene, where she regularly played standing nights like Push Beats, Open Beats, and Fresh Roasted, alongside artists like Sev Seveer, Radius ETC, Elijah Jamal Asani, and DJ Moppy. Majorly inspired by the contemporaneous Low End Theory scene of Los Angeles and artists like Madlib, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Flying Lotus, and Daedelus, megiapa’s early music was made in headphones at home, where she stitched together samples in Audacity. When she started playing out, she was one of few female artists on the Chicago beat scene, and was also unique in that world in that she brought a mic to sing over her own beats. As curator, event producer and International Anthem community leader King Hippo began weaving beatmakers into the fabric of the label’s live presentations, megiapa was one of the earliest crossovers he introduced, inviting her to open for artists like Makaya McCraven, Bottle Tree, and Ben LaMar Gay back in 2015.
Intentions is a collection of music birthed by megiapa during her time in Chicago (initiated in part by a grant from the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, in fact), but was made truly possible by the surge of growth she experienced after relocating to Los Angeles in 2023. In three years on the West Coast, megiapa has had a full and enthusiastic embrace from the LA jazz, beats and underground hip hop communities, and has become a regular collaborator of artists like Stacy Epps, Mocky (Stones Throw), and innovative bassist/multiinstrumentalist The Growth Eternal. As she found her voice and place in the LA scene, megiapa’s vision for her new album coalesced, and she finished the music by incorporating live instruments from ghalani of Greenwood (aka The Growth Eternal), pianist Ahmad Muhammad aka Kafari (known for his work with Sudan Archives), drummer (and Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra musical director) Mekala Session, Telemakus, Will Miller (of Resavoir) percussionist Allakoi “Mic Holden” Peete, and others, plus vocals from Voices of Creation singer Aankha Neal, and additional contributions from Blvck Spvde, 10.4 ROG, and more. megiapa then returned to Chicago in February 2026 to do final mixing on the album at International Anthem Studios with engineer Dave Vettraino.
In his liner notes for the album, writer Marcus J. Moore says Intentions “feels handmade in the truest sense: every synth patch, vocal harmony and drum pattern carries the residue of lived experience… By the time Intentions concludes, what remains is the feeling of having accompanied someone through a profound shift. The album asks listeners to relinquish their fear of the unknown. Again and again, megiapa returns to the same guiding principle: trust the process; everything will work out.”
About what she learned through her work, and what she hopes to communicate with Intentions, megiapa says: “Fear is a hindrance to our dreams and our goals and the beauty of life. Please dream with me. Please take a moment to reflect. And please be okay with things being uncertain.”
Intentions is out September 25, preorder here.
DELUXE VINYL PACKAGE
Intentions comes on 140 gram vinyl inside a heavyweight jacket, with IARC obi strip & poly-lined inner-sleeve. Lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST, pressed at Pallas in Germany.
Limited Edition *Crystal Clear* Vinyl - $29
Classic Black Vinyl - $27
!!! SUMMER '26 BUNDLE IS HERE !!!
Intentions is the first of three new IARC releases to be announced over the next couple months. And, per our norm, the LPs are available to purchase together, as part of the Summer ‘26 Bundle.
A purchase of the Summer ‘26 Bundle (on either classic black vinyl or color vinyl) comes with a bundle-exclusive discount of 10% off the LP prices + a discounted shipping cost.
The LPs included are:
IARC0114 megiapa - Intentions
IARC0115 tba soon
IARC0116 tba soon
Bundles will ship from warehouses in the US, EU and UK, but don't sleep.. the quantity available in each warehouse is limited! Early purchase is recommended to ensure the lowest possible shipping and tax costs.
All items will ship around October 16th. Download codes will be sent via email for all the releases by, or before, the ship date.
Order Summer '26 Bundle on
COLOR VINYL here
Order Spring '26 Bundle on
BLACK VINYL here
(photo by Sam Lee)
About megiapa
Ohio-born, Los Angeles-based linguist, producer, visual artist, and vocalist megiapa makes jazz-influenced experimental beat music.
With deep roots in Chicago’s underground beat scene, her work blends R&B, electronic, and hip-hop influences into an immersive, emotionally rich sound. What began as small sampled moments stitched together in Audacity has evolved over the course of a decade into wide-ranging production defined by vocal harmonies, deep-rooted rhythms, and crisp, futuristic soundscapes.
Within Chicago's experimental scene, megiapa refined her craft through regular live beat performances and a sample-based practice that incorporated recordings by artists such as Ben LaMar Gay and Angel Bat Dawid. During this period, she released a series of singles, short EPs, and eventually the essential collection diddies vol. 1 before relocating to Los Angeles in 2023.
Her most recent work, Intentions, is a full-length debut released by International Anthem. The album expands on the sample-cut-mix foundations of megiapa’s earliest sounds while bringing her songwriting, production, and vocal abilities into sharper focus. The result is a 40-minute master class in synth-heavy, jazz-informed Neo-soul, signaling a new chapter in a practice that continues to evolve through experimentation, collaboration, and creative growth.
Across her work, megiapa invites listeners to dream beyond limitation and embrace uncertainty as a space for curiosity and reflection.
megiapa LIVE
Los Angeles CA - Thursday September 24th
Intentions release show @ 2220 Arts+Archives
