Q&A: min.a Finds Her Way Through the Spiral on “guess who?”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SHEVON GREENE ☆
Photo by Deanna Yee
THERE’S NOTHING WORSE THAN A LATE NIGHT SPIRAL—where you find yourself questioning anything and everything about how you’re perceived. For Michelle Bae, who goes by the moniker min.a, one of those very nights became the inspiration for her newest single “guess who?”, a pop-rock reflection on the uncomfortable question of what people might say about you when you’re not in the room.
The title of the song itself comes from the classic party game, specifically when min.a had played a personalized version of it with her friends. This led to later on wondering how those same descriptions might sound if she were one of the faces on the board.
This track continues the guitar-driven direction min.a has been aiming towards over her recent releases, but this time makes it that much more special as she’s making a return to her roots in production too. Bringing her producer TK The Architect a demo she produced herself after stepping back from production for a while, making “guess who?” helped her fall back in love with that side of creating. While her 2025 single “bite” introduced the indie-rock direction and her 2026 track “good fight” pushed a bit more into the heavier and cinematic space, “guess who?” lets her explore that guitar-driven sound even more while reconsidering how she wants to make her music.
Luna caught up with min.a to talk about separating intuition from insecurity, how social media feeds into our worst assumptions, finding her way back to production and what five years of making music have taught her about the kind of artist she actually wants to be. Read below for more.
Photo by Deanna Yee
LUNA: When we last talked about "good fight," you mentioned that experience made you question some of your other friendships and even how you show up in the world. "guess who?" feels like it taps into that insecurity from a much broader perspective. Was there a connection between those two songs, or was this its own experience?
MIN.A: Maybe subconsciously they're connected, but the song came about because it was one of those nights where I was lying in bed thinking about every embarrassing thing I've ever done (laughs). It triggered this memory where I had been playing the game Guess Who? with some friends. It was trending on TikTok where you make cutouts of people you know and create a more personalized game.
As I was playing and describing other people that I know and love, or just public figures, I started spiraling and wondering what other people may say about me and how they may describe me. A big part of that is definitely the friendship breakup, thinking, "I wonder how they are portraying me," but it was a broader scope in terms of crashing out, if you will.
LUNA: When you’re spiraling, what usually helps you recognize when something is your intuition versus your own insecurity filling in the blanks?
MIN.A: Honestly, it's something I still really struggle with. A big thing that's helped is talking to other people about it, and definitely writing this song. I actually brought [TK The Architect] the demo that I had produced. I took a big step back from production for a hot second, and this song was me falling back in love with producing.
TK also produced my song "bite," and it was really reassuring to bring him this demo because I think he's an incredible producer, artist and friend. He kept telling me, "This is really good. You should be proud of what you're doing." It was really impactful to have someone I look up to and think is really talented tell me that he also thinks I'm talented and good at what I do.
It's much easier to put yourself under a magnifying glass and think about everything that's wrong with you. Other people aren't looking at me under a microscope and are able to point out good qualities that maybe I don't even recognize. Being reminded that not everyone thinks poorly of me is something I've been learning as I get older.
LUNA: There's something frustrating about knowing logically that someone probably isn't talking about you, but emotionally still being convinced that they are. Did writing this song help quiet that voice, or was it more about externalizing those thoughts?
MIN.A: Maybe a mix of both. I'm so used to sitting in bed thinking about every embarrassing thing I've ever done or anything I regret. Coming from Korean culture, everyone's talking about K-pop and all of the glorified things about Korean culture, but a really big part of Korean culture is gossip and this feeling of needing to fit in and do all the right things: go to a prestigious college, get a good job and get married to a rich man.
It was ingrained in me to constantly think, "These are all the things that I haven't accomplished, and I'm sure everyone who knew me in Korea is thinking, 'She hasn't done this yet' or 'She's gained weight' or 'She let go of herself.'" Especially being a musician, it's definitely straying from the ideal Asian stereotype.
I didn't realize I was internalizing that until I was lying in bed, crashing out, thinking that maybe that's the way I view the world, but that's not necessarily the way everyone else sees me or sees the world.
It was helpful to realize that I am in my head and have to think about myself 24/7. My view is skewed because of the way I was raised and the mental illnesses that make my brain work, but that is not how everyone else potentially sees me. I think it was very eye-opening to write this song, and I wanted to put it out because it felt like a good representation of where I am in my life.
LUNA: Do you think being an artist makes that insecurity harder? Your work is constantly being put in front of people to interpret and have opinions about. Does that ever bleed into how you assume people perceive you personally?
MIN.A: Absolutely. I'm surrounded by so many musicians, which I'm so grateful for. The music scene in New York is pretty intimate and small, so I have so many friends that I'm constantly in awe of, and also people that I may not know or we're just mutuals. I think, "I wonder if they think my music is good."
There's a lot of imposter syndrome that comes with being an artist. A big factor is also that I’m a woman, and being a female producer is a whole beast of its own. It definitely bleeds into the way I carry myself as a musician.
When I'm on stage or put out a song, I constantly wonder, "Do these people who are also artists and musicians think this is any good?" They have a very technical lens they're looking at my music through. This is all I've ever wanted to do and my passion in life, so I think it might be one of my bigger insecurities because it's such a big part of who I am.
If someone doesn't think my music is good, that's not necessarily a personality thing. It's a skill issue, if you will. Maybe someone thinks I'm awkward on stage. Granted, all art is subjective and everyone has their tastes, but I wonder if people think my music was done professionally.
Photo by Deanna Yee
LUNA: Do you think social media has made that second-guessing worse for you?
MIN.A: Oh my god, absolutely. It's corny and cheesy to say, and you hear everyone say it, but social media is a highlight reel. I'm sure there are parts of my presence where people think, "She has it so good." But once you start having conversations with artists and people in general, they're cherry-picking the great accomplishments in their lives because rarely do you see someone posting, "This is how I failed. This is what I did wrong."
You can't help but think, "Other people have it together. Other people know who they are and are so much better at their artistry. I'm falling behind because I have to work a day job." But there's so much going on behind the scenes that you don't see or understand.
It's especially hard with TikTok and artists having to post constantly to gain any sort of traction. If you see someone else gaining traction, you can't help but think, "What am I doing wrong? I haven't gotten there yet. I don't have a million followers." Social media is shoved in your face because, as artists, we have to be on it even if we don't want to.
LUNA: I noticed the guitar in the production immediately. I love how it starts more restrained and then picks up in the chorus. You mentioned bringing TK a demo. How much of the final production was already there, and how did it evolve together?
MIN.A: It was the beginning of me trying to get back into producing. I think I was coming to terms with the fact that if I don't like certain parts of the creative process, I don't have to push myself to do them. I'm making music because I love it. If I really hate making bass lines, but TK is very good at it, then we can work something out.
I recently saw an interview with PinkPantheress where she was explaining her process and said she takes what she has to a co-producer who does the drums. Seeing someone as incredible as PinkPantheress do that made me realize it's common to not enjoy every part of creating a song. If someone else enjoys it and is good at it, why not pass that on to them?
I brought TK a demo with a rough guitar situation, and the chords were written out. I really enjoy working with him because he hears me as a person and wants to understand what the song is about and what kind of world we want to create sonically. He's a guitarist and is so good at it, so he helped re-record the guitar parts and brought more of his background in rock music, which is a genre I've been more interested in.
He was like, "The last song we made was really sad, so maybe go into something that's a little more fun." I don't remember if we went into it thinking it should sound like a 2000s Disney song because it kind of does (laughs). Granted, it's still a pretty sad emo song. It was really collaborative. It was nice to bring my own production into it and then have him reassure me, "This is a great idea, and you should not feel bad about it."
Photo by Deanna Yee
LUNA: The first time we interviewed you was back in 2021. Would the version of you making music now surprise the version of you we interviewed then?
MIN.A: Oh my gosh! Definitely. They are two very different people. Around that era, I was going for more electronic indie pop, and now I've been diving more into rock-based music.
In 2021, I was producing a lot by myself. Taking a step back from production helped me understand what I like about it and what my strengths are. I realized there are so many people I can work with, and I had to take away that ego of being like, "If anyone else is mentioned on a song for production, people are gonna think I had no hand in it," especially being a woman and the imposter syndrome that comes with being a producer.
Now I'm more focused on what I love about music and what will help me grow as a person and an artist. I'm more lyrically driven now. I think in certain aspects I was a lot more confident at 17 because I knew less about the world and the impact and consequences of my actions, which I'm now dealing with and unpacking in my music.
I've learned the weight of how you speak and carry yourself, and that's maybe why I'm more lyrically driven. It's more introspective and thought through than the version of who I was in 2021.
I think my music is much better now. Not to say that I'm not proud of my previous music, but I'm more comfortable acknowledging that if there are parts of the production process I don't want to do, I don't have to. No one said those are the rules. I've become more comfortable realizing, "This is my life, and I have to live it."
LUNA: You've released a few songs that lean further into this guitar-driven, rock world. Are you starting to see them as pieces of something bigger, or are you letting each song exist on its own for now?
MIN.A: At the current moment, they're individually by themselves rather than an EP. It's a lot of work to put out a body of music, and where I'm at with my life and as an artist, I want to focus on quality over quantity. Right now, I'm not at the capacity where I can focus on thinking, "I'm going to perfect four songs, five songs at once." But I'm sitting on a few more songs that I'm hopefully gonna put out this year.
They're mainly about me reflecting and sitting with my thoughts and thinking, "Why do I feel this way? Is it my fault I feel that way? Is it the way my brain was wired, or is it because I grew up in a specific culture?" So, a lot of self-reflecting in the future songs to come, for sure.
LUNA: If "guess who?" could answer the question its anxious version of you keeps asking—"What are they saying about me?"—what do you think you'd actually want the answer to be?
MIN.A: Recently, I had a little picnic for my birthday in June, and one of my friends asked, "What's your favorite thing about Michelle?" Everyone went around, and a big thing was everyone saying that they felt really safe talking to me and that I'm a really good listener. That's not something I necessarily thought about myself.
Taking that into consideration and then writing "guess who?”, it was a realization that people do think positively of me. Hearing that people felt safe talking to me and that I was a good listener was especially meaningful because that's something I had been insecure about.
I think writing "guess who?" was me pushing myself to understand that the way my brain is wired, my chemical imbalances upstairs may force me to spiral and crash out at 3 a.m., but that's not necessarily reality.
That's what I would want to hear: "No, everyone thinks positively of you." But I don't think I would want to hear the negative things people have to say because, unfortunately, not everyone you come across will like you. I think it's important to recognize that it may not be a you problem. It could be an external factor.
