Q&A: Empara Mi Unveils Seductive Single “On Call For You” as the Latest Chapter in ‘Monsters & Masochists’ Album
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
ALT-POP PROVOCATEUR — Empara Mi continues her genre-defying journey with the release of her hypnotic new single, “On Call For You,” the third installment in her ever-unfolding conceptual album Monsters & Masochists. Written and self-produced by Empara Mi herself, the track is a seductive dive into the soft ache of obsession, weaving together elements of shadowy R&B, ethereal pop and sweeping cinematic soundscapes.
“On Call For You” finds Empara Mi at her most exposed, stepping away from the armor of her past personas to reveal something softer and more complex. While Monsters & Masochists thus far has reveled in tension and darkness, this chapter briefly lifts the curtain on tenderness—a momentary flash of vulnerability that’s both deeply personal and universally resonant.
“I’ve always played the revenge girlie,” Empara Mi explains. “But lately, I’ve found there to be something sickly fascinating about the idea of obsession—having someone’s love in your hands and the power that comes with that. It’s kind of beautiful and terrifying.”
That duality is at the core of the song—and its accompanying visual. The visually striking, cinematic video that mirrors the song’s emotional undercurrents. Opening with a dizzying and disorienting shot, the video immediately pulls viewers into the emotional push and pull that defines Monsters & Masochists. It’s unsettling, alluring, and impossible to look away from—perfectly capturing the dichotomies that Empara Mi has built her artistic world upon.
There’s also an unspoken rebellion in the way Empara Mi handles the process itself. “I love that this is the type of song people would assume I hadn’t written and produced by myself,” she says. “It makes it more fun knowing no one had eyes on it. I don’t think I could have written those lyrics with someone sitting beside me.”
And it shows. The production is richer, more sensual and strikingly mature—offering a sneak peek into a side of Empara Mi that feels evolved, even liberated. With each chapter of Monsters & Masochists, she peels back another layer, refusing to shy away from the uncomfortable or the emotionally charged. Instead, she leans into it, making it all the more compelling.
As the album continues to unfold, it becomes clear that Empara Mi is building a universe. One where emotion isn’t filtered, contradictions are celebrated, and genre means little when compared to truth.
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what kind of atmosphere or sonic world do you aim to create for your listeners?
EMPARA MI: I am trying to build a multi-genre, cinematic world. I don't stick to a particular genre. I try to create a space where you feel free enough to dip into different sides of yourself and different little genres. I'm very influenced by so many different types of music and different artists that I just can't stick to one thing. You're interviewing me at a funny time, because the track I just released is more R&B influenced and the track before is more cinematic and dark. The next track is indie-rock. I think overall, it sits in that emotional, cinematic space. I love the idea of making music that doesn't just feel like singer songwriter. It goes beyond that and explores different themes.
LUNA: Are there particular moods or themes you find yourself gravitating towards when writing and performing? How do you channel these into your music?
EMPARA MI: It’s definitely darker themes in general so far. I don't necessarily get inspired by super happy things. I feel inclined to write when I'm a little bit sadder. I think that's the mood of everything so far, saying that the stuff that I'm just about to release does go into a little bit more of a hopeful space, but this next track is pretty angry. I do lean towards more dark things. I'm not going to be writing a super happy song just yet.
LUNA: Your newest single “On Call For You” is not only written and produced by you, but it also feels incredibly intimate and sonically rich. What emotions or themes do you explore?
EMPARA MI: I did write it as an ode to my husband. I got married two years ago, so I felt like I just got married, but everybody around me jokes that I write these man hating, revenge-esque songs all the time. I did write this as sort of an experiment for myself production-wise, because I also wanted to make it a little bit more sensual. There is a hint visually to it not being like, super lovey. It's exploring darker themes within the idea of it being quite a lovey song.
LUNA: “On Call For You” has an accompanying music video. What is the inspiration behind the video and how was your experience filming it?
EMPARA MI: I worked with my friend Eleanor and she was the director. I briefed her on all the different videos. We shot five videos just before Christmas, so I had some brief mood boards of how I wanted everything to tie together. The brief for this one was a Greek orgy-esque atmosphere. I styled everybody. I knew they were going to be dancers. We didn't necessarily have any choreography. We just went into it and just said do whatever feels comfortable to you guys. With all the different couples, it was a very free, lovely, safe space. We didn't really choreograph it and didn't try to push anything. I just basically stood there the whole time, and that plays into the song. It's like this stuff's happening around me, but I am loyal. I'm sitting here. Everyone else is touching me. That was the idea I was trying to get across. I'm trying to be loyal. I'm trying to be a great person and sit there and be the innocent one. I wasn't expecting everybody to get so into it, so it was really nice.
LUNA: “On Call For You” is a sneak peek into your upcoming conceptual album Monsters & Masochists. What does Monsters & Masochists mean to you and what messages are you aiming to bring to life with this project?
EMPARA MI: The idea of what I was saying with the music is that it's very polarizing genre-wise. There's some super dark stuff that nobody's heard yet, quite angry stuff, and then there's these big ballads. I just loved the idea of these monsters and masochists, them sort of being opposite to each other. So monsters hurting people, and that's my revenge side, and then the masochist, although it sort of means a similar thing, it's more of the reverse of I'm hurting myself, so everyone's hurting. The other side is the ballads, that sort of woe is me. It still comes from quite a darker place, but they work against each other. It just felt right. There was something about the idea, which is why I bring a lot of swords into my stuff, is that I love the symbolic feel to it. I liked the idea that it was like a symbol of war and hurting somebody, but then also protecting people as well. It plays into both sides of things. Am I evil? Am I a savior? What am I? Can I be both? It's saying that both these things can be me all at once.
LUNA: Do you have a personal favorite song on the album — one that feels closest to your heart or most revealing of who Empara Mi is right now?
EMPARA MI: It's called “Hair Like Me,” and it does have an orchestra on it, and everything starts off simple, goes pretty much as bold and as big as I ever would have dreamed to go sonically. I think the message is very honest and something that I didn't think I'd write about.
LUNA: You’ve described this project as unbound by anyone else’s rules. What were some rules or expectations you had to let go of in order to create this record?
EMPARA MI: A mixture of my own rules that I put on myself throughout years of doing this in different ways. Coming from a major label deal that I had straight away coming into music, I had to unlearn a lot of things that may or may not be true about the industry and how it should work, and what you should be doing, what you shouldn't be doing. Experience is sort of weighed against everything that I was told. I'm constantly confused. I do something that everybody's told me not to do, and it'll be the one thing that's working. Okay, maybe I should just trust my own instincts and just do what feels natural to me and do what I want and try. It's very hard to say and actually do at the same time, ignore what everybody else is doing, and you really try to not make it fit into something you think that people are going to like. Luckily, I have so much music that I can just keep going, release more music. I love the project as a whole, so I'm quite excited about getting it all out without just putting it online tonight. I want there to be a plan, but the plan is to get it all out and for people to hear the whole project and understand it as a whole.
LUNA: Compared to your debut Suitcase Full of Sins, this project feels even more genre-defying and emotionally unguarded. What risks — sonically, lyrically or visually — did you take this time around?
EMPARA MI: I think the biggest risk is doing so much myself again. Another thing I'm learning later on is that I could do so much more than I thought I could do, and I'm not sure I would have done it any other way if I'd known that earlier on. Out of necessity, I realized that I am in this alone, I might as well learn how to do it properly. That's when I started making music that I was really excited about. I think that feels like the evolution from that album to this album, is looking at it and going, I did that completely myself. That is honestly one of the hardest things but it shouldn't be. The idea of starting something and getting it down, writing it, producing it, getting it mixed, being happy with it, not going back and changing it 50 times is a process. At least when you're working with so many other people, you feel like you're working to their deadlines and that I have to get this over, and then that person moves on to thia. When you do it by yourself, there isn't an extra pressure, but it means that you don't stop until you really love it. That has been the best part of this album. It's been more blood, sweat and tears this time around.
LUNA: What do you ultimately want listeners to take away from this record once it’s all out in the world?
EMPARA MI: I want them to feel something, whatever that might be. I feel like the whole project will be a journey from one track to another. I was almost laughing at myself yesterday, trying to put together a track list order. I feel like I get bored very easily and I'm not always just sad or just angry or just pretending to be sexy. I hope that listeners can keep visiting it and revisiting it, depending on how they feel and their different moods. I hope people like it.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would like to share with Luna?
EMPARA MI: The rest of the year is quite exciting. I know everybody says this, but my favorite work, I haven't released, so I am getting really excited when I’m thinking of which tracks are coming next, and what that looks like at the end of the year. I'm now looking at booking all my first shows, which is something I feel like I'm quite late to, but I'm really, really excited about. I've tried to be brave, and I've gone to all the venues last week to book shows. I think that's where I love to be. I just want to be on stage and perform this music. It didn't feel right to do it until now. I've just got to go for it, so I feel like this will be by far the most exciting year ever for me.
