Love Like A Rolling Pin: An Interview with Jia About Her New Single

Blending retro charm with contemporary introspection, Taiwanese-Canadian artist Jia is steadily making her mark on the indie scene. Her latest single, “Love Like a Rolling Pin,” draws from the timeless ache of vintage ballads while leaning into the raw vulnerability that defines her recent work. The single builds on the emotional textures she’s been exploring over the past year, but “Love Like a Rolling Pin” feels especially personal, something that Jia captures with both lyrical precision and melodic warmth. I had the chance to chat with Jia ahead of her latest release to talk about her inspirations and creative process. Read the full interview below, and check out “Love Like a Rolling Pin,” out now!

Emma Zoe Polyak: Let’s start at the beginning; how did you get into music?

Jia: It's been a long time. I grew up singing in church and performing in school talent shows. I remember my first vocal performance, I sang Lea Salonga’s “Reflection” from Mulan at the Michael J. Fox Theater, my local theater in Burnaby, BC. There were a lot of seats. The whole school was there and looking back it was a big thing for me to do, and I have no idea how I did it.

EZP: Do you think you were too young to realize the magnitude of it?

J: I was definitely too young to realize what was happening. I think I just got up there, and I couldn’t see anyone because it was dark, so it felt like I was just singing to nobody. But it was a full theater. But yeah, that was the first vocal performance I remember doing, and I was very, very nervous.

I used to be obsessed with pop culture, I loved coming home from school and putting on Much Music on TV or going down a Youtube rabbit hole watching interviews and music videos. I’d play music trivia on the bus with my classmates where they’d sing a part of a song and I’d have to guess it. I’d get them all right. Then, during high school and university, my music taste started to expand. A lot of what I was listening to came from friends. I was introduced to artists like Elliott Smith, Nirvana, Florence + The Machine, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys, City and Colour, the list goes on.

When I was in university, I went on a study abroad trip to Barcelona, and I realized people there were living such different lifestyles. They lived slowly, and they stayed in the mundane. They sat down for dinner with their families. It sounds so cliché, someone saying study abroad changed them, but it was the first time I was living away from my family and from Vancouver. It was a revelation, like, “Okay, reality can be whatever I make it.” So, then I was like, “Okay, I want to pursue music.” It’s something I’ve always loved, it’s just with my upbringing I didn’t even know I could take it seriously. During COVID, I wanted to challenge myself to write my own music… and here we are.

EZP: What does your writing process look like? Is it usually the same or does it vary?

J: I wish I had a set schedule, that would make my life a lot easier. I’m trying to get to a place where I can write whenever, but it varies with every song. I know everyone says that, but I really feel like I’m driven by concepts. Once I can immerse myself in a concept and build a universe within the song, everything flows very easily.

Sometimes what triggers that is a lyric or a couple of words I’m thinking of, or a thought I have while walking, or a melody I’m humming and recording in voice notes. Usually, things really take off once I land on a concept.

EZP: That makes sense. With your new song “Love Like a Rolling Pin,” what inspired that?

J: I knew I wanted something really badass – something I could see myself feeling powerful in. And I love Tarantino movies; he always has these badass female protagonists. Kill Bill is my favorite movie of all time, and I wanted a song where I could see Uma Thurman walking through the desert about to slay some bitches, you know?

EZP: I definitely see that. When I was listening to it, it felt very cinematic, so you saying you were inspired by Tarantino makes total sense.

J: I’m glad that’s coming through! I’m very inspired by filmmakers like David Lynch, Wong Kar-Wai, Jean Luc-Godard, etc. Now that I’m doing more live shows and getting a better grasp on the kind of music I want to make, I feel like a song like that would be so fun to play live, and it has been!

EZP: That’s actually a great point – how performing songs live changes your approach. I’ve heard people say they try to write an upbeat song just so they could bring a different kind of energy to live shows.

J: Totally. I feel like a lot of my songs are so sad; I don’t know why, that’s just what I’m drawn to writing I guess. And when I write, it’s usually when I’m feeling low. But when I was performing live, I realized the sad songs are great for creating intimacy and closeness with the crowd, but I needed something to get the crowd going.

I remember playing “Poltergeist” at a show, and you could just feel the energy heighten. It was so sick! That feeling was incredible. I was like, “I want another song like that.” Just to get the crowd moving. I feel like “Love Like a Rolling Pin” does that.

EZP: I can imagine it does! Earlier, you said your songs often come from a phrase or lyric. Do you have any favorite lyrics that you’ve written?

J: That’s a really great question. I have a song coming out that’s probably my most vulnerable one. There’s a lyric in it that goes:

“Your silence was heard when I broke down and wept. Your silence was learned, so my tears collect in the hotel swimming pool.”

EZP: Love it, I can’t wait to hear the full song!

J: Thank you!

EZP: Sticking with that – when artists make a vulnerable song, it’s often hard and scary when it’s time to release it. Is that something you’ve experienced and had to deal with as well?

J: Absolutely. I think that’s why I love being poetic and nuanced in my songwriting, because I don’t want to be too direct. I think I try to wrap things in poetic language to make myself feel more comfortable putting them out. Because writing for me is like journaling, it’s very personal, and songwriting helps me process emotions. With “Love Like a Rolling Pin,” the lyrics come from a very vulnerable place; it’s about conditional love, generational trauma, and how we’re conditioned by others and then pass that conditioning down without realizing it. That was the first song where I was like, “Okay, I can write about something really vulnerable.” So yeah, that song is badass and anthemic, but the lyrics are still quite vulnerable and sad.

 EZP: Switching gears a bit, I like to ask about the type of music you listen to. What is the last song you listened to?

 J: I think it was “The End of the World,” the Julie London version. It’s a song from the ’60s, a classic. I’m actually very inspired by that era, and Julie London is amazing.

EZP: What are three albums you’d bring with you to a deserted island?

J: I’d bring The Archer by Alexandra Savior. I could listen to that a million times and never get bored of it. My comfort album for sure. Then, Souvlaki by Slowdive. Another comfort album. I love shoegaze, I’m very inspired by it, and I could see my own music headed in that direction someday. I’d also bring Everything You’ve Come to Expect by The Last Shadow Puppets. It’s got that western-y vibe and it’s super catchy, so I feel like it’d be good music for setting up a tent or finding food and still feeling cool while doing it. It’d keep things moving. 

EZP: Oh my gosh, I love The Last Shadow Puppets! What’s a controversial song pick – something that you love that most people don’t, or a super popular song you’re not into?

J: Ooh, I’ll kinda stay on the Last Shadow Puppets route and say that Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino by Arctic Monkeys grew on me a lot and it gets more hate than it deserves! I spent many late nights in the fall driving to that record and it was such a vibe. I just love a great concept.

EZP: Last one – what do you think is the best song of all time?

J: “Forwards Beckon Rebound” by Adrianne Lenker. She’s just a legendary artist. I think that everything in life can be soundtracked to one of her songs. No matter what the moment is or what you’re feeling, she has something for it. She’s just timeless.

Listen to Jia's music below!