#10: Sadia — Music, SZA, Surviving a Tree Falling on You
Feeling alive with music, dancing, friends, and miracles.
Meet the secret agents of taste. Learn what lights them up, where they find inspiration, and what they think we should all be enjoying right now. This edition: Sadia Harper, a UX strategist, music curator, and the ultimate dancing buddy.
When I think of my music-loving brothers and sisters, almost no one is closer to me than Sadia. We worked together at YouTube back in the day and didn’t keep in touch for a few years after that. But fate had other ideas: we re-connected randomly in a shared Lyft, gushed about our love of dance music, and the next thing I knew we were living our best lives at a Lane 8 show. Since then, Sadia has been my music whisperer — she introduced me to Fred Again.., Rüfüs du Sol and DRAMA, among others — and I feel the freest on the dancefloor when I’m with her.
Recently, Sadia survived a traumatic accident. A tree fell on her, leaving her hospitalized for weeks and wheelchair-bound for months, not to mention multiple surgeries and ongoing rehabilitation. It has been tough to see my friend suffer, but I am so glad she’s alive, and we are already plotting our return to our happy place surrounded by happy people having the time of their lives. I can’t wait.
Until then, I’ll take what I can get via Sadia’s music project, “Another Day, Another Track.” She’s been recommending her favorite tunes and making playlists for years, but now she’s turned the project into an outlet for processing what has happened and how, for people like us, music really is medicine.
Do you think of yourself as a tastemaker?
I would say no, but I've also had to realize in the past couple of years that, while I might not call myself that, other people have shared how much my music project has opened their ears to new music.
I’m not the first discoverer, but maybe I'm someone who helps present artists to a larger population. It makes me even think about what we did at YouTube: we never gave ourselves the term “coolhunters.” So maybe outside of my head, I'm a tastemaker, but inside of it, I'm not.
What are your favorite sources for music discovery?
I still love and use Hype Machine — it’s always given me what's fresh. Looking at Popular is great, but also Latest is super interesting.
I can't wait to start using SoundCloud more now that they’re doing some really cool stuff.
I use Spotify a little bit, but I find their algorithm to be negatively affecting the music presented to me. They have their Discover Weekly and their Fresh Finds — but I don't think they are that fresh. They keep showing the type of music they think I’ll like versus letting me explore new genres and artists.
What are some of your rituals around collecting and cataloging your finds?
I discovered Google Keep, and now I'm obsessed with it because I love its checklist format. I love that I can have different areas of my life there.
I have one for Another Day, Another Track that has a list of songs and topics, and I keep them in reverse chronological order. Sometimes I will know instantly when I hear a song what I want to write about; other times I want to sit a little bit longer to see what comes up.
Why are you so passionate about music?
It’s the place where I feel the happiest. There's something about music where the creative side of my mind and the mathematical side of my mind can come together in a really nice partnership.
Why do you think human taste is important when it comes to music discovery?
Algorithms have nothing on human taste. Algorithms can pick up on data and certain taxonomies, like genre, BPM, and even keys, but they'll never pick up on the soul aspect. Like I don't know if algorithms will ever understand what makes SZA’s “Ghost in the Machine” so fucking awesome. It’s such a magical song! No two songs evoke the exact same feeling. Algorithms are focused on plays, whereas musicians are focused on feelings. Only humans can detect that.
What's the feeling SZA’s song gives you?
What's amazing about that song is, in every verse, I feel like I look at the word “humanity” in a different way. When she starts off, “humanity” feels like a very carnal, physical, superficial thing. In the second verse, it's tied to a lonely, hard element of the coldness of life. The third time it’s the softness of just wanting to be seen and loved. Every single time she gets that chorus, I’m like ‘Oh shit, you just made me think of humanity and the context of the verse before.’ I didn't realize until that song that we all might have different definitions of what humanity is.
So, what else are you enjoying right now?
📺 Beef
Talk about a journey! It’s a show everyone should watch, both from a storytelling perspective and from a cultural perspective. I loved how Ali Wong shined a light on Asian-Americans in a way that hasn’t been portrayed in film or television. I appreciate that, and I hope more people watch it.
🎥 Everything, Everywhere All at Once
I see it as a homage to motherhood. This movie shows how mothers get their worlds turned upside down by having children, and it just makes them see time in such an insane way. As children, we just fuck their world up. I don't know how these two male-identifying writers were able to like create such a beautiful and real story about a mother and her daughter but they did an amazing job. I hope everyone can see that connection.
👗 Stylist Law Roche
I'm obsessed. I think he's one of the most amazing cultural icons in the world right now. The interview he did with Lindsay Peoples at The Cut was fantastic. I loved hearing an artist talk about where they draw the line, where they protect themselves, and growing up in Chicago (that's part of why I love him too—I’m from Chicago).
🎙 The Taste of Taylor podcast
Taylor Strecher talks about Bravo and Bravo-adjacent topics, which I love since I’ve watched Real Housewives of almost every city. But she has a guest speaker on often, MacKenzie Green. I love the way MacKenzie sees things. She actually shared a story about Law Roche leaving the industry, coming back, and wearing a robe that belonged to Andre Leon Talley. I love a show that can go from talking trash about all that's happening right now and Bravo culture to the passing of the torch from Andre Leon Talley to Law Roche.
🎙 The Huberman Lab podcast
I wanted to hate this podcast and this guy so much, because I thought it was another one of those “optimize your life!” people. In reality, he's a nerdy Stanford professor that just geeks out on all this stuff and wants to make information accessible. He has three-and-a-half-hour-long podcasts that go into such detail! I just love listening to them.
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In case you haven’t noticed, I love people with good taste! In fact, I have a podcast about it for Flipboard. Check it out!
More Mia’s Queue: Kel • Tracy • Theresa • Vasha • Eva • Sarah • James • Adi • Letitia