A lot has changed for Gia Woods. The singer-songwriter had a whole different year planned out. Still, despite the setback, Gia has kept busy writing new music and shooting music videos. She’s a self-professed “queen of music videos” and is dedicated to learning how to grow and keep moving forward, especially during a pandemic.
Here, the 24-year-old gives GAY TIMES an exclusive break down of her brand new EP, Cut Season.
0.1 CUT SEASON
Gia Woods: I wanted it to be called Cut Season because every song that I have was written under a theme. I was writing a lot of songs that had very toxic traits and I was like ‘how do we connect these under one story?’ Then I wrote the song Cut Season where I was venting about the relationship that I was just getting out of. I noticed every song was about this girl that I was in a four year relationship with. I was so heartbroken, but I started to see all the things that I couldn’t when I was with her. Everything was from hindsight at this point.
Interesting enough, the girl I wrote it with knew my ex. It’s really crazy because I was venting about my ex and I was like ‘every song I’m writing right now is about this girl. I’m so annoyed’ and she was like ‘I know your ex and I wrote with her’. It was just crazy to put those two together. We wrote the song in 30 minutes and with the the title of Cut Season because it exactly what I’ve been trying to say about getting rid of toxic things.
0.2 EGO
Gia Woods: For Ego, I wrote this song about my ex. We both wanted our relationship to work so bad, but it was always on our own terms. I felt like we had so many power struggles and lots of pettiness and, honestly, neither of us were willing to drop our egos and see eye to eye. You need to let your guard down when you’re in a relationship and let go of expectations, and I feel like egos can really get in the way of doing that. Sometimes it’s good to have an ego, but there’s a time and place. I really needed to say this because I was trying to understand why we couldn’t make this relationship work, and I kept coming back to the fact that we both had really big egos. I know some people don’t really state who they’re talking about, but what’s the point of putting it out there if you don’t want to tell the whole story.
0.3 NAIVE
Gia Woods: Naive was written, interestingly enough, around two past relationships — the one I was in before and the partner before that. I wrote it because I was in the studio talking to the co-writer and how I just got out of a relationship, I was heartbroken and I wanted to write something under the theme of being naive. Both of my exes said something along the lines of ‘you never felt like my girlfriend’ and it was so weird to hear that come from the last people I dated. I felt like I’d put everything into those relationships.
At the time, we were both really young and we had a deep connection, but in the back of my mind, I knew these relationships weren’t going to work out. We’re in our early 20s and have a lot of growing up to do. I think it’s really difficult to be fully dedicated to another person while you’re still developing your own life and figuring out where you want to go. It takes dating multiple people to know what you want. When you’re young, you’re just a little naive and you don’t want to believe that. I think my last partners were a bit more naive than I was and that’s how that song came about.
0.4 HUNGRY
Gia Woods: I wrote Hungry during a time I was getting a lot of outside advice. People were criticising me left and right with so many opinions. It’s easy to do that to an artist, especially a growing artist , who’s trying to figure themselves out. During the time I was writing, I was getting so much feedback from people. I literally said I’m not hungry, so leave me alone, and that line was the main message that I really wanted to say. At the end of the day, I know what I want and I trust my own guy more than anything else. So this song is kind of like a fuck you to all those people. I appreciate your opinions, but I’m not asking for it. I know, truly, what I want and when I want it and that was my statement.
I’m 24 now and it’s been a long growing process, but it makes sense. I feel like I started fresh with music and then stepped away from the spotlight. That’s why I feel like I am still growing. I did take a little time away from it and then I went back to it. I started to get so many people’s opinions because I’m in the studio now, back to writing and back to doing music full time, so I was overwhelmed with how much I was being told.
0.5 CHAOS
Gia Woods: A lot of my EP was inspired by a toxic relationship and this one is no different. Relationships are great because you get comfortable with each other, flaws and all, but when things aren’t working, it becomes more of a codependency. I spell it out in the lyrics, but in this relationship, I felt like my ex would only build me up so she could knock me down again. It became a never ending cycle that made us both resent each other, but we were addicted to the highs of it at the same time. We were constantly putting each other down and it became the foundation of our relationship.
0.6 SABOTAGE
Gia Woods: Sabotage was one of the hardest realisations that I had and it was that I was getting in my own way. I was recognising these toxic patterns while being my own worst enemy and involved in a relationship. I feel like we have our own inner sabotage and this song kind of mocks it and makes fun of it. It’s kind of like ‘what are you doing to yourself?’, but also having fun and accepting that I’m self-sabotaging even now!
0.7 INTO IT
Gia Woods: For Into It, this song was about those people in your life who you let get away with anything. I don’t know if like most people have been in the amount of unhealthy relationships that I have been, but I became a little too involved with my partner where it became kind of like my whole world, and to the point I was kind of suffocating myself with them, and ignoring every negative red flag possible. No matter no matter how bad the situation was, I kept going back to that person who was hurting me, and this song is a bit masochistic because I feel like I was so aware of this person getting away with everything that they were doing. But, at the same time, I was just allowing it to happen and I was doing it for a very long time.
0.8 ALL I KNOW
Gia Woods: I’m so fucking happy All I Know is finally coming out. For this one, I felt like my EP highlights the messed up patterns that we have in relationships, so I kind of wanted to balance it out. I want to end the EP with a positive, because I think it’s so hard to find a genuine connection with someone. Sometimes I think we overthink it when we really like someone. This song’s about that euphoric feeling and it takes me back to a time where I was going through a lot of self discovery. But this song, for me, was acknowledging we all have flaws, but we also need to love ourselves in spite of needing to outgrow them.
All I Know is highlighting that side of things and knowing no matter what that I have myself. It’s kind of corny to say but all you need is a little bit of love. I’m all about positivity. It’s mainly about being happy with yourself because, at the end of the day, you’re stuck with yourself. So, it’s important to be happy in your own skin and learn how to love yourself. When you’re involved with someone for so long, you really forget to think for yourself and you start thinking like the other person. I don’t know, maybe it’s also being a lesbian thing!
Gia was one of the few artist picked for Calvin Klein’s Pride Campaign. Gia tells GAY TIMES what it meant to be picked for such an iconic brand.
“It was such an honour to be selected as one of the artists to be involved in the campaign. It was a dream come true. Calvin Klein is one of my favourite brands and it was just crazy to think that they thought of me. For me, it’s important to have that visibility for other people so they have someone to look up to, especially in my culture. I always want to represent my Iranian culture as much as I can. In Iran, it’s illegal to be gay to this day which is insane to think about,” she says. “So, representation is so important and, hopefully, it reaches people out there. All I want is for people to know is that there’s nothing wrong with how they’re feeling or how they identify. Everything they’re going through and feeling is completely normal.”
Now Cut Season is out for fans to enjoy, Gia does have a final, supportive message for her fans. “I just want my fans to be mature in moments that they need to be and look at any situation and recognise when it’s worth being involved in something or not. Everyone needs to make those kinds of healthy cuts and we all need to make healthy decisions for ourselves,” she explains.
“Sometimes it means to leave those people we love so much and we care about them, but you need to do the right thing and step away from a situation. Sometimes you have to put yourself first and it’s okay to do that. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it and it’s probably the right thing. It’s okay to completely walk away from it.”
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