Paris WYA is an artist who erased all cultural boundaries even before recording her first track. Born in Shanghai and raised between Paris and New York, she has become the perfect embodiment of a cosmopolitan pop artist of Generation Z. By day, she studies the harsh laws of economics at the business faculty of the prestigious Cornell University, and by night she transforms into an independent pop diva. While music critics debate what defines her more – vocal polish or conceptual art-pop – Paris is storming the charts: her new EP “MANNEQUIN” has just landed on playlists, and the lead music video has already amassed half a million views. We spoke with Paris about her childhood dreams of being a “little princess,” her internal linguistic map, and why good music is impossible without high fashion and a touch of personal therapy.

Paris, hi! We’re happy to meet you and grateful that you agreed to answer our questions. While the whole world is trying to wake up to an alarm clock, you somehow manage to study at Cornell’s business school, shoot fashion videos, and release pop hits. Our team is still trying to figure out where you hide your Time-Turner, but first things first: what is it like to wake up with the status of an artist whose new music video has just passed the half-a-million-view mark?

It’s a strange feeling: you spend so much time alone with a song, and then suddenly it belongs to other people. That part still catches me off guard. But I’ve learned not to sit in it too long. The milestone is real, and I’m grateful for it, but it doesn’t change what I wake up thinking about.

Your geography is impressive: from the traditions of Shanghai to the avant-garde of Paris and the rhythm of New York. It’s obvious that such a multicultural upbringing is a major contribution from your family. What were you like as a child? What did little Paris love to play, and were there already hints in those games that one day you would be putting on performances on stage?

I was definitely a bit of a princess. I had the wildest, most delusional dreams. I wanted to be a pop star. Everyone around me, including myself, thought I’d eventually grow out of it, yet here I am. I was also the kind of kid who wanted to try everything. I played five instruments, a handful of sports, and was actually a nationally ranked fencer in China for a while. I sometimes wish I’d focused just on music earlier, but I think trying so many things made me a more complete person, and it gives me a lot more to say.

I spent a lot of time watching movies, television, and music videos, completely fascinated by the people on screen. I performed a lot growing up too: with bands, musicals, and a cappella groups. There were hints. I loved any excuse to be in the spotlight. Music was always part of my life; I just took the scenic route to making it the center of it.

Trilingualism is a Generation Z superpower. But everyone who grew up between Asia, Europe, and America has their own emotional “language map.” If we put your inner translator through a crash test: in which linguistic harbor do you hide when you need to pour out pure emotions, and why did you choose English as the main instrument of melancholy in your music?

English is probably my most honest language. I grew up mostly attending international schools in Asia, so English was the language I used with friends, teachers, and the world around me. It became the language where I know how to say exactly what I mean, which is why it’s the main language I write in. Mandarin is more personal and familial. It connects me to family, childhood, and a different part of my identity. I also think I’m better at math in Mandarin.

French is different again. I learned it through immersion programs and living with host families in France, so it feels less like a language I studied and more like a language I lived in. Each language gives me access to a different part of myself. English is where I’m most emotionally precise right now, but I’d absolutely love to incorporate Mandarin and French into my music at some point.

Your early releases were more “digital” and electronic, but now you’ve moved toward dream-pop and synth-pop in the spirit of the ’80s. Is that nostalgia for the era, or do ’80s synthesizers possess some special magic for breaking hearts?

Before I started working on the Mannequin EP, I knew I wanted a change — something that felt more honest and more like me. My earlier releases were more experimental, but I wanted this project to have a different kind of vulnerability and a sense of timelessness. The synths became part of that. There’s something about those sounds that feels both emotional and elegant at the same time. They can make a song feel huge and cinematic while still feeling deeply personal.

So yes, there’s definitely some nostalgia there, but I don’t think I’m chasing a particular era. I’m chasing a feeling. Artists like Ariana Grande, The 1975, and Valley all do that really well, and I’ve always been drawn to music that feels emotionally immediate while still carrying a certain sense of scale and romance.

Music critics compare your vibe to Ariana Grande’s, but with the caveat that you have much more art-house sensibility and fashion visualism. How do you personally feel about such comparisons? Is it flattering, or do you want to say, “Guys, look at my videos-I’m creating cinema, not just pop tracks”?

Honestly, that comparison is incredibly flattering. She is one of the artists I admire most, and I definitely drew inspiration from the dreamy, ethereal qualities of her music while making this EP, so hearing that connection means a lot. At the same time, I’ve always been drawn to artists who build entire worlds around their work. The visual side of the project is just as important to me as the music itself. Fashion, cinematography, storytelling: I think of all of it as part of the same creative language. The songs are the foundation, but the goal is for people to step into a complete universe rather than just listen to a track.

So I don’t necessarily see it as music versus visuals. The most exciting artists, in my opinion, make those things impossible to separate.

There’s a lot of vulnerability, heartbreak, and self-discovery in your songs. Is writing about these things a form of therapy for you, a way to get through personal drama, or do you sometimes think, “Oh, that argument was terrible, but it’s going to make a great bridge for a new song!”?

Definitely therapy!! So healing

You’ve released your new EP, MANNEQUIN, and the video for the title track has already reached half a million streams. Congratulations! The title is intriguing. What does this image mean to you, and why a mannequin specifically?

Mannequin = me, what it was like growing up

The visual aesthetic of MANNEQUIN looks as if a major fashion house campaign escaped from the pages of Vogue and turned into a music video. How many hours (or days) went into selecting the looks, and how did your neck survive all those complicated fashion poses?

I have Domen & Van de Velde to thank – very high fashion editorial 

And finally, Paris: MANNEQUIN is already conquering the charts, but we all know that a pop diva’s ambitions can’t be stopped. What’s next? A world tour, a full-length album, or a well-deserved vacation somewhere on an island without a phone or internet?

Lots of things – next moving to LA, more live, more new music, world tour is the ultimate goal, vacation does sound nice though – very WYA coded.

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