Miso Extra has shared the latest single from her recently announced ‘MSG’ EP – ‘R10’ seesMiso crafting some “sassy, sassy bars” in this new cut, with its R&B infused acoustics, bouncy beats and flawlessly controlled lyrical flow.
Out today, Miso Extra says of the song “It’s about exploring the balance between self-confidence and arrogance. The difficulty in practising humility. The song title is taken from one of the lyrics, ‘R10 level elite, dancing feet’, which is in reference to the footballer Ronaldinho who is famously known as R10 and whose goal celebration was often a dance.”

‘R10’ follows the recent single ‘Space Junk’, which was released in tandem with the news of her signing to Transgressive and the announcement of her forthcoming EP ‘MSG’, coming 18th August. ‘Space Junk’ has set the airwaves alight, with multiple spins on BBC Radio 1 from Clara Amfo, Jack Saunders, Sian Eleri and Arielle Free, plus Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant on BBC 6 Music, and further support across BBC 1Xtra and Apple Music Radio. Both singles mark a glorious return for the artist who turned many heads upon the release of her debut ‘Great Taste’ EP last year. Miso Extra is the solo project and moniker behind the fast-rising artist. Born in Hong Kong to a British father and Japanese mother, she moved to Japan when she was a child and later relocated to the UK.

Growing up, she learnt how to play the violin and loved to sing. Her musical influences include J Dilla, the late MF DOOM, Daft Punk and Kelis. Aside from music, anime has been a huge inspiration, with all these references woven into her work today.

Though she was musically inclined from a young age, music wasn’t a path that Miso envisioned for herself due to the lack of Asian representation in the industry. As someone who often bottles up her feelings, music has enabled her to articulate herself, providing her with a conduit through which she can express and make sense of her emotions. “A lot of the music is my observations on self-reflecting. It’s the form of self-talk. Being part Japanese and British, it’s trying to marry that gap of being Asian but not Asian enough and being Western but not Western enough. It’s trying to
toe that line constantly.”

In 2020, during the UK’s lockdown, Miso began to finesse her skills. As the world hit pause, Miso Extra – her musical persona – was born. The name is a pun derived from the racism that the artist experienced growing up in the UK. Having received taunts such as “me so horny”, and subverting the stereotype of Asian people being quiet, she reclaims the phrase, flipping it into “me so extra” – or Miso Extra. The alias is an anime-inspired character; a musical entity who lives in an alternate world, known as the Misoverse. Miso Extra is a peace-loving warrior who leans away from violence,
but will engage in conflict if necessary. She chooses to see the good in people and values real talk, but isn’t so naive as to not see the truth from them. Miso Extra is hopeful; a character who values love and sees insecurities as learning curves for us to push through.

With the release of her 2022 ‘Great Taste’ EP, which included the lauded introductory singles ‘1013’, ‘Adventures of Tricky ‘n’ Duke’ and ‘Deep Fried’, Miso Extra quickly became hotly tipped as an artist to watch. Singing and rapping in both her native languages, combined with the unique production in her material which references pop culture from both countries, the artist coined the idiom “Umami for the ears” in describing her sound. She was soon being championed by tastemakers as wide-reaching as FADER, NME, Vogue, Clash, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, Notion, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC 6 Music and Apple Music 1, as well as adorning stages at Pitchfork Festival, BBC Introducing at Reading & Leeds Festivals, Primavera Weekender, The Great Escape and as support to Thundercat at O2 Brixton Academy, London and Marc Rebillet on his UK tour. Since then, Miso Extra has been busy in the studio writing and recording with her producers TrickyNDuke and her forthcoming ‘MSG’ EP release marks the start of much more groundbreaking new music to come.